Author: exploringlondon

Wren’s London – 5. Royal Hospital Chelsea

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Known as the home of the scarlet-coated ‘Chelsea Pensioners’, the Royal Hospital Chelsea’s origins go back to December 1681 when King Charles II issued a Royal Warrant authorising the building of a royal hospital to care for old and maimed soldiers.

Sir Christopher Wren, then Charles II’s Surveyor-General of Works, was subsequently commissioned to design and construct the new buildings on a site next to the River Thames in Chelsea. Sir Stephen Fox, a commissioner of the Treasury, had the unenviable task of finding enough money to fund it – a task he managed through tapping a range of different sources.

Charles II didn’t live to see the completed project (although he did inspect the partially complete work just before his death in 1685) which was finally finished in 1692. The first pensioners were admitted in February that year.

Wren’s initial design comprised a single quadrangle with accommodation blocks for more than 400 veterans and their officers on the sides, and a chapel and great hall in a colonnaded building at the northern end while the southern end is open to the river (the picture above shows the ‘rear’ of the Hospital as seen from Royal Hospital Road). Known as Figure Court, it was named after a 7′ tall statue of Charles II which stands within it and which depicts the king as a Roman general.

Before the work was complete, however, Wren had realised that the design would not be large enough and added a two further quadrangles – one on each side of the original, they are known as Light Horse and College Courts – to the design.

There are some 300 ‘in-pensioners’ who still live in the hospital’s ‘berths’. When inside, they are encouraged to wear the Royal Hospital’s blue uniform while their famous scarlet coats with tricorne hats are worn on ceremonial occasions including Founder’s Day.

Held on a day close to 29th May – Charles II’s birthday and the date of his restoration – Founder’s Day commemorates his escape after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 and is known as Oak Apple Day in remembrance of the story that the fleeing Charles had to hide in an oak tree to avoid capture by parliamentary forces.

Women were first admitted to the hospital in 2009.

WHERE: Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea (nearest tube station is Sloane Square); WHEN: Entry to the courts, chapel and Great Hall is from 10am to 12pm, 2pm to 4pm; the museum is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to noon, 2pm to 4pm and Sundays 2pm to 4pm (closed Sundays from October to March); COST: Free; WEBSITE: www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk

Around London…

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• A new online portal showing the history of women through their relationship to buildings around the UK – including in London – has been launched. Visible in Stone: A history of women through buildings, 1850-1950 is the work of English Heritage in conjunction with the London Metropolitan University Special Collections, The Women’s Library and TUC Library Collection. Among the collection of historic photographs, posters and advertisements are the stories of many London buildings – everything from the 18th century Unitarian Chapel at Newington Green in the city’s north where women’s rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft found “support and stimulation” when founding her school, to the Harrod’s Shoe Lounge as it looked in 1919, and the first public conveniences built for women (the Ladies’ Lavatory Company opened its first, near Oxford Circus, in 1884). English Heritage is also asking people to upload images of buildings that played a role in the lives of their grandmothers. To do so, head to www.flickr.com/groups/visibleinstone.

• Milestones passed in the past week include the 15oth celebration of London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. The charity was founded in October 1860 by Mary Tealby after she found an abandoned puppy and commenced caring for it and other lost dogs in a disused stableyard in Holloway. Writer Charles Dickens was among it’s early supporters. The home has cared for more than 3.1 million animals since it was established (it started caring for cats in 1883) and in 2009 took in more than 10,000 dogs and cats. For more information, see www.battersea.org.uk.

• Lastly, London’s free Metro newspaper is holding a ‘Postcards from the Future’ competition showing images of London as it might become should our worst fears about the impact of climate change be realised. View a gallery of stunning images (or find out how to enter) here.

LondonLife – Tower Bridge opening

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Tower Bridge opens up to allow a boat to pass up the Thames. The bascule bridge (the word ‘bascule’ is taken from the French for ‘see-saw’) was completed in 1894 and was built to cater for East End traffic while minimising disruption to boats moving up and down the rive. It was the first bridge built to the east of London Bridge (a bridge which many often confuse it with!). For more information, see www.towerbridge.org.uk.

Where’s London’s oldest…pub?

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There’s a number of contenders for this controversial title and a number of different ways of looking at the question. So, rather than take sides, we’ll just canvas a few of them.

Our initial contenders are:

• Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (145 Fleet Street, the City). Built in 1667 after the Great Fire of London, the current building replaced one previously on the site. The cellar is apparently 13th century and forms part of the remains of an old monastery on the site. Dr Samuel Johnson, who lived just around the corner while creating his famous dictionary, was a regular here and the pub is also said to have been frequented by writers Mark Twain, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

• The Spaniards Inn (Spaniard’s Road, Hampstead). Located on the edge of Hampstead Heath, the Spaniard’s Inn dates from around 1585. The story goes that it was named after the Spanish ambassador to the court of James I who lived here for a time (another version says it was two Spanish brothers who first converted the building into a pub in the 1700s). Other historical figures associated with the inn include the highwayman Dick Turpin (some say he was born here while others say he used to wait here while watching for vulnerable coaches to pass by), the poets Byron and Keats and the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds – who apparently visited, and Charles Dickens who mentioned the inn in the Pickwick Papers (it also gets a mention in Bram Stoker’s Dracula).

• The Lamb and Flag (33 Rose Street, Covent Garden). The building has been occupied since Tudor times but it’s only been a licensed premises since 1623. The pub, certainly the oldest still standing in Covent Garden, was previously associated with prize fighting and was apparently once called the Bucket of Blood. The poet John Dryden is said to have been involved in a fight here.

• The George Inn (77 Borough High Street, Borough). Located on the south side of London Bridge, the George Inn is a rare surviving galleried coaching inn. Now owned and leased by the National Trust, the current building dates from 1676 after the previous inn was destroyed by fire. The inn is mentioned in Dickens’ Little Dorrit and the author himself was apparently a regular visitor.

UPDATE: It seems we left one of the list which is certainly worth mentioning –  The Prospect of Whitby in Wapping (57 Wapping Wall). There’s been a tavern on this site on the bank of the Thames since 1520 and during its early days it became known the ‘Devil’s Tavern’ due to its rather dodgy clientele, alleged to have included smugglers, prostitutes and thieves as well as more famous people such as diarist Samuel Pepys, the notorious Judge Jeffreys, known as the ‘Hanging Judge’, and much later, Charles Dickens. Later destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt and given the new name, The Prospect of Whitby, after a ship that moored nearby. The building now incorporates a ship’s mast.

The Tip – Cheaper palaces?

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Thinking of visiting the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace while in London? Become a member of Historic Royal Palaces and you could make substantial savings, especially if travelling as a family. The annual pass allows you to enter all five Royal Palaces – including Hampton Court and the Tower as well as Kensington Palace, the Banqueting House and Kew Palace – as many times as you like during the year and brings with it invitations to members only events. It’s certainly worth checking out whether its worth it. For more information, see www.hrp.org.uk/SupportUs/Membership/Default.aspx

Around London – Strawberry Hill to reopen; ‘Films on Foot’ festival; and images of a London menagerie…

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• Horace Walpole’s Georgian Gothic villa Strawberry Hill will reopen its doors this weekend after a £9 million restoration project. The house at Twickenham in west London was built between 1747 and 1792 had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it had been listed as one of the world’s most endangered heritage sites in 2004. The son of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister, Walpole built the house as a summer getaway and created an architectural masterpiece incorporating the features of cathedrals into the property. For more information, see www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk.

• Walking charity, the Ramblers is holding a Films on Foot festival celebrating London’s film heritage this October. The festival, which runs from 13th to 28th October, coincides with the 54th Times BFI London Film Festival and will feature 16 free “films on foot” walks taking in different areas around London which have been used in films. The walks will start every weekday at 7pm and every weekend at 1.30pm (you simply have to turn up at the starting place to take part). There is also a self-guided film walk along South Bank available for download. For more about the festival, see www.ramblers.org.uk/walkthemes/filmsonfoot/

• Animals from across London feature in a new exhibition at National Theatre. A London Bestiary features the work of photographer Ianthe Ruthven who has captured some of the most famous and lesser known animals around London – everything from the lions guarding Nelson’s Column to the statue of a dog in Highgate cemetery and an elephant and camel from the Albert Memorial. Runs until 31st October. For more information, see www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/60094/exhibitions/a-london-bestiary.html.

Wren’s London – 4. Hampton Court Palace

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Hampton Court Palace in London’s outer south-west is known to many as the palace of Henry VIII. Yet a considerable part of the complex of buildings we see today was also created during the reign of some time joint rulers William III and Mary II.

It was to Christopher Wren – assisted by the able Nicholas Hawksmoor – that the rulers turned when looking to update the Royal Apartments. Wren’s designs for a domed baroque palace to rival Versailles in France were apparently so ambitious that they were only half-built (and built in haste – two workmen died and another 11 were injured when the main wall collapsed in 1689). The death of the queen in 1694 also meant work on the palace stopped – it was resumed in 1697 (under control of Wren’s deputy William Talman who had offered a lower price than Wren) but again stalled after the death of the king in 1702.

Wren’s imprint is on the palace we see today is nonetheless considerable and includes the Baroque-style South and East Front (the size of the formal gardens which radiate out from the latter give a glimpse into the grand plans Wren had for the palace), Fountain Court which replaced the Tudor Cloister Court and around which were located new state apartments for both the king and queen, and the Orangery.

Among those who worked on the interiors of were the famous woodcarver Grinling Gibbons and painter Antonio Verrio.

WHERE: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey (nearest station is Hampton Court from Waterloo); WHEN: 10am to 6pm everyday (winter hours 10am to 4.30pm from 31st October to 26th March); COST: Adult £15.40, Concession £12.65, Child under 16 £7.70 (under fives free), family tickets, garden only tickets and online booking discounts available; WEBSITE: www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/

Famous Londoners – Samuel Pepys

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A navy administrator and an MP who lived in London for much for the 17th century, it is for his remarkable diary – filled with reflections on great events and the intimate goings on of daily life – that Samuel Pepys is renowned around the world.

Born the son of a tailor in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street (the site is now marked with a plaque), on 23rd February, 1633, Pepys (pronounced ‘peeps’) attended St Paul’s School before moving on to Cambridge University. After graduation, he entered the household of one of his father’s cousins, Sir Edward Montagu, as a secretary around 1655 – the same year he married Elisabeth de St Michel.

Under the patronage of Sir Edward – after he became the Earl of Sandwich – Pepys was appointed Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board – a task which saw him playing a key role in shaping the English fleet which fought (unsuccessfully) in the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667).

In 1673, he became Secretary to the Admiralty and the same year was elected an MP for Castle Rising in Norfolk (he later became an MP for Harwich). Pepys also served as president of the Royal Society from 1684-1686, and even visited Tangier where he was involved in the evacuation of the short-lived English colony there. He was imprisoned twice in later years – at least once on suspicion of supporting the Jacobites – but the charges were dropped and he retired at the age of 57 in 1690.

In 1701 he moved out to a house in Clapham and lived there until his death on 26th May, 1703 (his wife Elisabeth had died many years earlier in 1669 and they’d had no children). His extensive library – including his six volume diary – were bequeathed to Magdalene College at Cambridge.

Despite an illustrious public career, it is his diary for which Pepys is most celebrated. Covering the years from 1660 to 1669 (he only stopped writing for fear he would go blind), it records his reactions to such monumental events as Charles II’s coronation (he was present as a youth at the beheading of Charles I), the Great Plague of London in 1665 and the Great Fire of London the following year as well as intimate details from his personal life including how he spent his leisure time, his various illnesses and his sexual liaisons. Written originally in a form of shorthand, it was first published in 1825 – and only fully published in 1976 – and has since gone on to enthral and entertain millions around the world.

Among places in London which still hold a Pepys connection are St Bride’s Church (he was baptised there), All Hallows by the Tower (it was in the tower from which Pepys watched the Great Fire), St Olave’s on Seething Lane (pictured above) where Pepys and his wife are buried (he was living in Seething Lane when he started the diary and St Olave’s served as his parish church between 1660 and 1674). Further down Seething Lane, there is a bust of Pepys in the gardens which now cover the Navy Office where Pepys once lived and worked.

There is also an exhibition on Pepy’s in Prince Henry’s Room at 17 Fleet Street (the building dates from around 1610 and was a pub when Pepys was alive), although it is currently closed.  An online version of Pepys’ diary can be found at the website Pepys’ Diary. For more on Pepys’ life, we do recommend Claire Tomalin’s best-selling biography Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self.

Around London – where did you go last weekend?

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Exploring London visited the home of 19th century artist Lord Frederic Leighton in Kensington last weekend as part of Open House London.

Built over a period of more than 30 years from 1864 until Lord Leighton’s death in the home in 1896, the house is a monument to the decorative arts with a series of intricately decorated halls and rooms including the superb domed ‘Arab Hall’ featuring tiles brought from Damascus in Syria and an overhanging lattice window from Egypt.

The house, which once hosted Queen Victoria as well as nineteenth century luminaries poet Robert Browning and artist William Morris, was preserved as a museum as far back as 1900 and is now in the care of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

WHERE: 12 Holland Park Road (nearest tube station is High Street Kensington); WHEN: 10am to 5.30pm, closed Tuesdays; COST: £5 adult, £1 concessions ( with free return entry within 12 months); WEBSITE: www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums/leightonhousemuseum.aspx

So where did you go as part of Open House London and what was good about it? Share your experiences with us here…

Wren’s London – 3. The Royal Observatory, Greenwich

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Leaving Wren’s churches momentarily, we turn this week to another of Wren’s designs, that of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in London’s east.

Commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II, the first part of the observatory – Flamsteed House, named for the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed – was designed by Wren with, it is believed, the assistance of architect and scientist Robert Hooke.

Built using second-hand materials including stone brought from a Tudor fort at Tilbury, Flamsteed House was located on the former site of Greenwich Castle which had been previously used as a guest house and hunting lodge by Henry VIII. It is said to be the first purpose-built scientific research facility in the country.

The turreted building includes the Octagon Room from which Flamsteed made observations of events in the skies (although its position meant its use for this was somewhat limited), as well as living quarters for the astronomer. On top of the house is a red time ball which, since it was first used in 1833, has marked the time by falling at 1pm each day.

These days part of the National Maritime Museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, the site also hosts the Prime Meridian and is the place from where Greenwich Mean Time, since 1884 the basis for all world time, is calculated.

WHERE: Blackheath Avenue, Greenwich (nearest DLR station is Cutty Sark); WHEN: 10am to 5pm Monday to Sunday; COST: Entry is free; WEBSITE: www.nmm.ac.uk/places/royal-observatory/

LondonLife – the Thames near Richmond

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Sun reflects off the River Thames in a view from Richmond Hill Road, looking westward. Beyond the island on the far back is Marble Hill House, built Henrietta Howard, mistress of King George II when he was Prince of Wales, which is set in almost 27 hectares (66 acres) of parkland. Richmond is located in the south-west of the city.

What’s in a name? – Bloomsbury

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Famous for its literary, intellectual and artistic heritage, Bloomsbury covers an area in central London which lies between Holborn and Euston Road.

The area, which became a fashionable residential district in the 17th and 18th centuries, derives its name from an earlier era and is named after William de Blemund (‘Blemundsbury’ means the manor of Blemund), who acquired land there in 1201.

It was later owned by the Earl of Southampton, who had begun developing the area in the 1660s – a task which was continued when the land passed, through the marriage of his daughter, into the hands of the Dukes of Bedford. Successive dukes were then involved – to varying degrees – in the development of series of residential squares and streets which eventually included the likes of Bedford, Russell and, of course, Bloomsbury Squares.

In the early 20th century, the area become home to what is known as the Bloomsbury Group – its members included the writers Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey and EM Forster. These days the area is noted for being home to the British Museum (first opened to the public in 1759) and the University of London.

Treasures of London – The Great Vine at Hampton Court Palace

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PICTURE: Historic Royal Palaces/newsteam.co.uk

In the first in a series looking at some of the treasures held in museums, galleries and other collections London along with some of the more unusual things you’ll find in the city, we’re heading out to the southwest of the city firstly to Hampton Court Palace and what is perhaps a lesser known treasure, the Great Vine.

Claimed to be the oldest and largest vine in the world, it was believed to have been planted by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown around 1768 and has prospered ever since, now being an astonished 12 foot (3.65 metres) around the base and boasting ‘rods’ of up to 120 metres in length.

The vine, which is housed in a purpose-built greenhouse in the gardens, still produces a whopping 22o to 32o kilograms (500 to 700 bunches) of black, sweet grapes annually (you can even buy the grapes in Hampton Court’s Garden Shop – they’ve been sold to the public since the 1930s), although this is well down on the 2,245 bunches of grapes picked in 1807.

WHERE: Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey (nearest station is Hampton Court from Waterloo); WHEN: 10am to 6pm everyday (winter hours 10am to 4.30pm from 31st October to 26th March); COST: Adult £15.40, Concession £12.65, Child under 16 £7.70 (under fives free), family tickets, garden only tickets and online booking discounts available; WEBSITE: www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/

Around London…

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• A 9 ft (2.7 metre) tall bronze statue of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, commander of the RAF in London and the south-east during the Battle of Britain, was unveiled in Waterloo Place, just off Pall Mall, this week. Sir Keith, a New Zealander who joined the RAF after fighting at Gallipoli and the Somme during World War I, was described as the “brain” behind London’s air defences. The unveiling of the statue on Battle of Britain Day (12th September) follows a three year campaign to honor Sir Keith, who died in 1975, with such a monument. A prototype of the statue occupied the Fourth Plinth at Trafalgar Square for six months after it was unveiled in November last year. For more information, see www.sirkeithpark.com.

• Spend a night at the museum (well, part of one anyway). The Natural History Museum is opening its doors for one night only as part of European Researchers’ Night on Friday, 24th September. Scientists will be on hand to chat and there will be opportunities to see rare specimens not usually on display including a giant squid. There will also be three bars offering drinks and food. The event, which we can promise won’t include you being chased down hallways by dinosaur skeletons, runs from 4pm – 10pm. For more information, see www.nhm.ac.uk.

• Don’t forget! Open House London kicks off this weekend. For more information, see last week’s Around London post.

Wren’s London – 2. St Bride’s

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While St Paul’s Cathedral is certainly his best-known work, Sir Christopher Wren designed 50 other churches in London in the wake of the Great Fire of 1666. Rather than look at each individually, we’ll just highlight a couple with the first being the “wedding cake” church, St Bride’s.

The site of St Bride’s has been home to at least eight churches, the first of which is believed to have been founded in the Dark Ages. Dedicated to the sixth century Irish nun St Bride – or St Bridget, the church – thanks to its location on Fleet Street – has had a long association with printers and later newspapers and journalists and, despite the fact most news organisations have long since departed the area, is still regarded as “the journalist’s church”.

The medieval St Bride’s was completely consumed in the Great Fire but a new church was opened in 1675 after works were carried out to Wren’s design (among his assistants on the job was Nicholas Hawksmoor who became a celebrated architect in his own right).

Despite the return of worshippers, however, the building remained unfinished and Wren was approached in the early 1680s about constructing the steeple. This was completed in 1703 and has become a London landmark with many believing its tiered design was the basis for the modern “wedding cake” design.

The steeple – at 226 feet or almost 70 metres, the tallest in London – was one of few things which survived after a firebomb destroyed much of the building during the Blitz in 1940. The church was subsequently restored according to Wren’s original designs (albeit with a shorter steeple than Wren’s original – eight feet or 2.4 metres were knocked off when it was struck by lightning in 1764.)

As well as its association with the printing industry and the press, these days St Bride’s is also notable for its US connections – the first American child of English descent, Virginia Dare, was the daughter of two former St Bride’s parishioners (there is a bust of Virgina above the font). The parents of Edward Winslow, three-time Governor of Plymouth in Massachusetts, were also married in St Bride’s.

The crypt contains remains dating back to Roman times.

WHERE: Fleet Street (nearest tube St Paul’s); WHEN: 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 11am to 3pm Saturday, 10am to 1pm and 5pm to 7.30pm Sunday; COST: Entry is free but guided tours are available on Tuesday afternoons at 3pm for £5 a person; WEBSITE: www.stbrides.com.

Famous Londoners: Samuel Johnson

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The man behind what is perhaps the most famous quote about London – “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life” – Samuel Johnson was a noted writer, critic and raconteur of the 18th century whose work included a then unparalleled English language dictionary.

Often simply referred to as “Dr Johnson”, Johnson was also the subject of one of the most famous biographies ever written – that of his friend James Boswell’s aptly named Life of Samuel Johnson.

Born in 1709 in Lichfield, Staffordshire (the home is now a museum), Johnson – who often struggled with poor health and depression – was the son of a bookseller who managed to help fund his brief time at Pembroke College in Oxford before lack of funds meant he had to leave without a degree (he was later awarded an honorary degree).

He worked with his father and as a tutor before eventually, in 1737, heading to London with his friend and former pupil, actor David Garrick, and there worked for the rest of his life as a writer producing works including magazine articles and essays, poetry, sermons, and biographies.

In 1746, he was commissioned to produce the dictionary and rented  a property at 17 Gough Square, not far from Fleet Street, where he would spend the nine years working in it. Published in 1755, the dictionary was a remarkable work which not only won him acclaim ever since but also resulted in King George III granting Johnson a modest pension for the rest of his life (he had previously been arrested for debt).

The Gough Square house is these days open to the public and includes an exhibition on Johnson’s life, particularly with regard to his time there (there’s a statue of his cat Hodge in the square itself). Other sites which Johnson is known to have frequented include Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street, the Anchor Inn in Bankside, the Theatre Royal Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera House) in Bow Street where the Beefsteak Club met, and St John’s Gate in Clerkenwell where he once had an office.

Johnson married an older widow, Elizabeth Porter, in 1735, but she died in 1752 and it was following her death that Francis Barber, a former Jamaican slave, moved in as his servant, eventually becoming Johnson’s heir.

Johnson’s friends included some of the great luminaries of the time, including artist Joshua Reynolds, philosopher Edmund Burke, poet Oliver Goldsmith, and, of course, Boswell.

Following a series of illnesses, Johnson died in 1784 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The 300th anniversary of his death was marked with a series of events last year including a re-enactment of the walk Johnson and Garrick made from Lichfield to London.

Dr Johnson’s House (17 Gough Square, nearest tube is Temple, Holborn or Chancery Lane) is open Monday to Saturday, 11am-5.30pm (5pm from October to April). Entry costs £4.50 an adult, £3.50 for concessions, £1.50 for children and family tickets are available for £10. For more information, see www.drjohnsonshouse.org.

Where’s London’s oldest…cinema?

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The oldest purpose built and continuously operated cinema in London is believed to be the Phoenix in East Finchley, north London. Built in 1910, it opened in 1912 and has known several incarnations including as the East Finchley Picturedrome, the Coliseum, the Rex and the Phoenix. It was one of the first theatres in the UK to introduce pictures with sound (it did so in 1929). The theatre, which has appeared in several movies including The End Of The Affair, recently reopened following a £1.1 million restoration. There’s a touring exhibition of the cinema’s history (follow this link to find out where you can see it). Other contenders for the oldest cinema in London include the Electric Cinema in Portobello Road, Notting Hill, which opened in 1911.

Around London…

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• It’s only a week to go until the annual Open House London event. Held on the 18th and 19th September, Open House London is your chance to get inside all manner of buildings – from private homes through to grand edifices – which are often normally closed to the public. Be warned, however, that some buildings, such as the BT Tower (open for the first time) require bookings to be made. These close 15th September, so you’ll have to be quick. The free event, which has run for 18 years, also includes neighbourhood walks, cycle tours and talks. For more information on the event, to purchase the guide (an electronic copy can be downloaded for £3.50) or to find out how to book, head to www.openhouselondon.org.uk.

• Looking for a weekend out of the city? English Heritage’s Heritage Open Days program – which doesn’t cover London – runs from today until Sunday and grants free access to properties around the country which are either normally closed to the public or usually charge admission fees. The program includes buildings ranging from medieval castles and Georgian townhouses through to World War II cemeteries and 21st century eco-homes. Among the properties within easy reach of daytrippers from London are Waverley Abbey in Fareham, Surrey – founded in 1128, it was the first in England housing Cistercian monks; an historic ‘net shop’ in Hastings, East Sussex; the Battle of Britain command centre at Bentley Priory in Stanmore, Hertfordshire (see picture of the entrance hall above); and, the new Aardman Animation headquarters in Bristol, home to the creators of Wallace and Gromit. Some places require prebooking so check before heading off. For more information, see www.heritageopendays.org.uk.

• The headless skeleton of a rare North Atlantic right whale recently found in the Thames has gone on display at the Museum of London Docklands. The seven metre long, half tonne skeleton was unearthed at Bay Wharf Greenwich by archaeologists and is believed to be the largest single object ever found at an archaeological dig in the city. The skeleton is only on display in the museum’s foyer until 14th September when it goes to the Natural History Museum. Entry is free. For more information, see www.museumindocklands.org.uk.

Wren’s London – 1. St Paul’s Cathedral

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In a new special, we’re taking a look at some of the key sites London landmarks designed by renowned 17th century architect Sir Christopher Wren. To kick it off, we’re taking a look at the building for which he is most known, St Paul’s Cathedral.

Wren’s involvement with the current St Paul’s came after the Great Fire of London in 1666 left the old medieval cathedral in ruins (there is believed to have been four previous cathedrals built on the site with the first dating from around the early 600s). He had already been involved in repairing the old cathedral and had even submitted plans for a new domed cathedral on the site when the Great Fire swept through the city.

Wren had already been appointed Surveyor to the King’s Works when, in 1668, he was asked to submit plans for the a new cathedral. After his first few designs were rejected and abandoned, Wren’s plans, albeit substantially altered, were finally approved and the first stone laid in 1677.

The design was ambitious and the church now features what is the second biggest dome in the world after that of St Peter’s in Rome as well as a monumental west-facing facade complete with two towers (the final form of the western facade wasn’t settled until 1707 and both of the towers were originally designed to hold clocks. In the end only the right tower did.)

Building took more than 30 years and it wasn’t until 1710 that the new cathedral was officially declared completed. Interior features include the Whispering Gallery (located 30 metres above the floor below the central dome, it gets its name from the fact that a person whispering into the wall can be heard across the dome by someone who puts their ear to the wall), choir stalls which feature the work of renowned woodcarver Grinling Gibbons, and poet/preacher John Donne’s memorial from 1631, the only pre-Great Fire monument to survive intact. There are spectacular views over London from the Stone Gallery or the highest point of public access, the Golden Gallery.

Since its opening, St Paul’s has hosted the burials of numerous of Britain’s luminaries – the tombs of Admiral Horatio Nelson and the Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, are both in the crypt as are those of 18th century painter Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin along with a host of memorials. Others events hosted at the cathedral include Winston Churchill’s funeral and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1981.

Wren, who died in 1723, was the first person to be interred in the crypt. His tomb bears an inscription in Latin which says: “Reader, if you seek a monument, look around you.”

WHERE: Ludgate Hill. Nearest tube is St Paul’s; WHEN: Monday to Saturdays, 8.30am to 4pm. COST: £12.50 adults/£11.50 seniors/£9.50 students/£4.50 children (aged 6-16)/£29.50 family; WEBSITE: www.stpauls.co.uk

Marking 70 years since the Blitz began…

by exploringlondon

Today – 7th September – marks 70 years since the start of the Blitz when, between 7th September 1940 and 10th May 1941, more than 43,000 civilians were killed, at least 140,000 injured and an estimated million homes across the UK suffered damage or destruction as a result of air raids.

London, which suffered 57 consecutive nights of attacks starting on 7th September, features numerous memorials relating to World War II including the National Firefighters Memorial located on the Jubilee Walkway, just south of St Paul’s in the City. It depicts firefighters in action during the Blitz and serves as a tribute to those who fought against the fires caused by the raids as well as commemorating the lives of all firefighters who have died while on active duty. For more on the memorial, see www.firefightersmemorial.co.uk.

For a series of interesting reconstructed photos showing the difference between London during the Blitz and now, visit Sky News here. Or for more on the history of the Blitz, see the dedicated BBC website here. And for a terrific graphic showing fire brigade callouts in London on the first day of the Blitz, see The Guardian’s datablog.

Meanwhile, the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden has today opened a new exhibition, Under Attack, which explores the role public transport played during World War II in three cities – London and Coventry – both of which are marking 70 years since the start of the Blitz, and Dresden in Germany which is marking the 65th anniversary of the Dresden Firestorm. The exhibition, developed in conjunction with Coventry Transport Museum and the Verkehrsmuseum Dresden, runs until 31st March next year. For more details, visit www.ltmuseum.co.uk.