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Bethlem Burial Ground

  Crossrail is Europe’s largest construction project. As work continues archaeologists from the Museum of London have had the chance to investigate Bethel Burial Ground, near Liverpool Street Station. From 1569 and for another 170 years some 20,000 corpses were buried, mainly from the working and middle classes. During that time London’s population quadrupled to half a million. Archaeologists have made some fascinating discoveries as they dug up 3,000 bodies. They haven't identified any of the corpses but volunteers have trawled through some of the parish records of the 124 churches. Many of the deceased were not Londoners but came from as fa...

A Bridge over Hammersmith

Currently closed for 3 years, Hammersmith Bridge is one of London’s most attractive crossings. There’s been a bridge connecting Hammersmith and Barnes for nearly 200 years, and ever since the first one was opened in 1827 there have been complaints about its strength. With Hammersmith becoming an important agricultural and industrial part of west London there had been an increasing need to add more river crossings. With this in mind the authorities turned to local engineer William Tierney Clark, who’s best known for the Széchenyi Chain Bridge that spans the Danube in Budapest. Even at the start of the work, when the Duke of Sussex blessed the bridge,...

Track the Vintners' plaques

The Grapes, Lime Street  As you turn right out of Mansion House Station and walk down Garlick Hill, look up to your left and you’ll see two Vintners’ plaques positioned high up on a redbrick building. The property is no longer in the Company’s possession but it reminds us that across the centuries, throughout the City, several addresses were acquired by the Vintners’ Company.  Despite a change of ownership, and indeed in most cases a complete rebuild, you can still find clear signs of our previous extensive involvement in real estate.    Just to the east of Leadenhall Market is Lime Street, a curving street that leads up to the Lloyds building...

The door, the statue and the City of London

200 miles north of London, near the cathedral city of Ripon, lies Newby Hall. It’s a handsome house, originally built by Sir Christopher Wren and enlarged and improved by John Carr of York and Robert Adam. It was once owned by the Weddell family, and later became the home of the Marquesses of Ripon. Today it’s owned by the Compton family, who are descendants of the family and who have maintained its beautiful gardens. They’ve even installed a miniature railway (and Gyles Brandreth’s collection of teddy bears). Walk around the extensive grounds and aside from the herbaceous borders, an enchanting rock garden and the gentle River Ure, you’ll find a weat...

A Place of Peace

  In 1915 a young army chaplain, Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton (1885-1972) opened the Everyman’s Club at Talbot House, in the small Belgian town of Poperinge. The club was situated close to Ypres but was a world away from the horrors of the front line. Instead, soldiers found an oasis of peace and tranquillity, where they could, for a short time, forget about the war. Talbot House was named in memory of Lt. Gilbert Talbot, the brother of Padre Neville Talbot. Soldiers called it Toc H, the army signallers’ code for TH. Formally owned by a brewer who had fled the war, it needed complete refurnishing. Gifts, including 2 pianos, hundreds of books - e...

A Deer Little Ship

    Across the river on the Southwark side, opposite Cannon Street Station, you can see a small Tudor-like ship. This is the Golden Hinde II, a full-sized replica of Sir Francis Drake’s famous ship that circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1580 and made Drake and Queen Elizabeth I very rich. In December 1577 Drake set out from Plymouth with 5 ships, which included the Pelican; however this was changed to the Golden Hinde, in honour of Sir Christopher Hatton, one of the patrons of the voyage. His coat of arms featured a female red deer - a ‘hinde’. This epic voyage brought Drake into the Pacific, where he managed to plunder Spanish shi...