Author: exploringlondon

What’s in a name? – Soho

by exploringlondon

The first in an occasional series looking behind some of London’s place names. To kick it off, we’re taking a look at the origins of the name of the inner metropolitan suburb of Soho.

The name was apparently taken from a hunting cry – ‘So Ho’  and is believed to have been first used to describe this area of London in the 1600s (the cry was also later used as a rallying cry by the James Scott, the Duke of Monmouth’s men when he tried to overthrow James II at the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685).

The area was used as grazing lands before becoming part of Henry VIII’s hunting grounds and then in the later 1600s started to undergo development, becoming known as a refuge for immigrants from Greece and France (the French Protestant Church on Soho Square is indicative of the diverse population who have lived there).

It later morphed into a somewhat seedy and bohemian entertainment district and became home to some big name writers, artists, intellectuals and musicians. Over the years, famous residents have included everyone from Karl Marx to poet William Blake.

These days, while elements of entertainment industry remain – in particular the film industry as well as some seedier establishments – the area, bordered by Oxford and Regent Streets, Charing Cross Road and Piccadilly Circus to the south, is also home to large numbers of trendy cafes, pubs and restaurants and still boasts a healthy nightlife.

10 sites in London you may not know about – 10. Highgate Cemetery

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Cemeteries can often provide a fascinating insight into past lives and among the most prominent in London is Highgate Cemetery, located in the city’s north.

With the population of London growing rapidly in the early 1800s, the 17 acre Highgate cemetery was first opened in 1839 with the first burial taking place in May that year.

The cemetery quickly became one of London’s most fashionable and was extended by 20 acres before the opening in 1856 of a new cemetery to the east. These days both are open to tourists although the West Cemetery can only be explored on a guided tour, thanks at least partly to vandalism.

The atmospheric East Cemetery is primarily known for being the resting place of Karl Marx but also features the graves of authors George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and Douglas Adams, Australian painter Sidney Nolan and co-founder of Foyles – London’s famous Charing Cross bookstore – William Foyle.

Features at the West cemetery, meanwhile, include an avenue of Egyptian-style vaults and the vaults in an inner ring known as the Circle of Lebanon. Among those buried there are physicist Michael Faraday and the parents and brother of Charles Dickens.

The cemetery is now operated by a non-profit charity, the Friends of Highgate Cemetery.

WHERE: Swain’s Lane. Nearest tube is Archway; WHEN: Eastern Cemetery – daily from 10am (11am weekends) to 5pm (4pm between November and February), Western Cemetery – guided tours only (weekdays at 2pm with phone bookings required, weekends hourly from 11am to 4pm (3pm between November and February); COST: Eastern Cemetery – £3 adults/£2 students, Western Cemetery tours – £7 adults/£3 children aged 8-16; WEBSITE: www.highgate-cemetery.org

Around London…

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• A 145-year-old replica of an Eleanor’s Cross was unveiled outside Charing Cross railway station last month following a major restoration. The monument, located near Trafalgar Square, was built in 1865 and was a copy of one of the 12 which were constructed by King Edward I to mark the route where the body of his wife Eleanor of Castile rested each night on its way to Westminster Abbey following her death in 1290. Only three of the original crosses remain intact – at Geddington north of Northamptonshire, Hardingstone near Northamptonshire, and Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire. The original monument at Charing Cross, which was demolished in 1647, marked the point from which distances are measured from London (a plaque now marks the site). The restoration involved replacing some 100 damaged and missing features. Due to deterioration, the monument has been hidden behind scaffolding for the past five years.

• None of London’s Barclay bikes will be available to tourists until the end of the year, reports the London Evening Standard. The newspaper says plans to widen the scheme to allow tourists to hire the bikes have been put on hold after the emergence of logistical problems. The hire scheme was launched for locals at the end of July.

• A new heritage trail has been opened at Kenley Common in the city’s outer south to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The 56 hectare common in Surrey surrounds Kenley Airfield, a former Battle of Britain airfield these days used by the RAF for glider training. The trail, which was an initiative of a range of organisations including the Kenley Airfield Friends Group, RAF Association, Tandridge District Council, English Heritage, the Ministry of Defence and City of London Corporation, kicks off at the RAF Tribute on Kenley Common (off Hayes Lane in Surrey) and features a series of interpretative panels, the first two of which are mounted on scaled down Spitfire wings. These explain the role the area played in defending London from attacks and the significance of the tribute and the World War II blast pens. For more information, follow this link. For information on London’s Battle of Britain memorial, head here www.bbm.org.uk.

Famous Londoners: Richard ‘Dick’ Whittington

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In the first in an occasional series on famous Londoners, we take a look at who Dick Whittington really was.

While he’s remembered by many today as a poor boy who made a fortune by cleverly trading his mice-catching cat, Richard Whittington was in fact born into a noble Gloucestershire family around 1350 and, after coming to London, rose in power and influence to become a four time Mayor of London who, after his death, set a new standard in philanthropy.

Sir Richard was born in the 1350s as the youngest son of Sir William Whittington, Lord of the Manor of Pauntley. As the second son, he was not able to inherit and so left home when his father died to seek work in London. There he served as an apprentice, before becoming a mercer (a dealer in costly fabrics) and subsequently became a supplier of valuable materials like silks and cloth of gold to King Richard II and later King Henry IV as well as other members of court.

Growing in wealth and influence (as well as dealing in cloth, he lent considerable sums to both kings and as a result was granted part of the wool tax collected at various ports), Whittington became a city alderman in 1393 and was chosen by the king as mayor in 1397 when the incumbent, Adam Bamme, died. He was subsequently re-elected in 1398, again in 1406, and in 1419.

Whittington died in 1423 and, as he and his wife Alice (who had died before him) had no children, he left his substantial fortune – estimated at some £5,000 – to charity. The money was used to establish almshouses (entrusted to the care of the Mercer’s Company, of which Sir Richard was master three times), as well as libraries and other public works including rebuilding Newgate Gaol and building a public lavatory known as ‘Whittington’s longhouse’. The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington is still operational. It’s undoubtedly his charity which touched so many Londoners which led to his fame.

While many versions of Whittington’s life have been told since the first recorded retellings in the late 16th and early 17th century, the story as we generally know it today (and one which has become a panto favorite) is that he was a poor boy from Gloucestershire who walked to London to seek his fortune and indeed found work there in the home of a rich merchant, Fitzwarren. He slept in the attic and kept a cat to keep down the numbers of mice.

Fitzwarren is said to have invited his servants to invest in a sailing voyage and as Dick had no money, he offered his cat, usually named ‘Tommy’, instead. Some time later he decided to leave London for his home and set out on foot but when on Highgate Hill on his way out, he heard the bells of London summoning him back, saying ‘Turn again, Whittington, three times Lord Mayor of London’. (Although Whittington actually served as mayor four times, the first two times were back-to-back, meaning some may have considered it as three).

So he did and returning to the merchant’s house, he found the ship had returned and that his cat had played a starring role in saving the court of the King of the Barbary Coast from being overrun with mice. The king apparently paid a large sum to buy the cat and Whittington became a wealthy man, marrying Fitzwarren’s daughter Alice and, as the bells prophesised, becoming ‘Lord Mayor of London’ (actually mayors at the time of the real Dick Whittington weren’t given the title Lord).

These days a statue of Whittington’s cat – the Whittington Stone (picture above) – still sits on Highgate Hill, marking the site where he apparently ‘turned again’ (among other references to Dick Whittington in London is the Dick Whittington ‘ale trail’ – a free downloadable pub guide).

As to whether he actually had a cat? While there’s apparently no evidence he did, it’s nice to think there was a real cat behind the myth (even if he didn’t rid the Kingdom of Barbary of its mice)!

10 sites in London you may not know about – 9. Regent’s Canal

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Opened in 1820 as a link between the Grand Junction Canal and the London docks in the east, Regent’s Canal remains a terrific way to see another, oft forgotten (at least in visitor terms), part of the city.

Once at the heart of London’s goods transportation system, the canal is now a recreational and residential precinct. There’s a terrific tow path which runs between Camden Lock, home of great markets including terrific food, and the pool of Little Venice in Paddington – taking in Regent’s Park, canal-side mansions, and the London Zoo along the way.

If you don’t want to walk, you can take a boat trip (among those offering trips between Little Venice and Camden Lock are the London Waterbus Company and Jason’s Trip; for kayaking, see Thames River Adventures) along largely the same route (although the tow path takes you over the top of Maida Hill while the boats head through a tunnel underneath).

John Nash, designer of Regent’s Park, was one of the proponents of the canal seeing it as nice addition to his park (he apparently originally wanted the route to run through the park but was convinced otherwise thanks to some fears over the language of those involved in steering boats along the canal).

He become one of the directors of the company which developed the canal following the passing of an act of parliament in 1812. It was named for the then Prince Regent, later King George IV.

You can find out more about the history of the canal at the London Canal Museum, located further to the east on the Regent’s Canal between St Pancras Lock and the Islington Tunnel.

WHERE: While the canal runs to the docks, the journey from Camden Lock to Little Venice is a walk of around 5 kilometres. Nearest tube stations are Warwick Avenue at the Little Venice end and Camden Town at the Camden Lock end; WHEN: Daily, tow path is open from dawn to dusk between Camden Lock and Little Venice (see the boating company websites for trip times); COST: The tow path is free, one way trips on boats between Little Venice and Camden Lock start at around £6.50; WEBSITE: For more on the history of the Regent’s Canal, see www.canalmuseum.org.uk/history/regents.htm.

The Tip – In Westminster and need to go?

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There’s nothing worse than getting caught without a toilet nearby – especially when travelling with kids. Westminster City Council operate a handy text service, Sat Lav, to locate the nearest public toilet to where you are. Just text 80097 and they’ll reply with the location. It’s in operation 24/7.

Around London…

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• London’s bicycle hire scheme is up and running. The scheme was launched at the end of July and boasts 5,000 bikes which can be found at 315 docking stations. More than 21,000 people signed up in the first weeks and some of the early popular hire sites included Soho Square, Drury Lane in Covent Garden and Wardour Street. The bikes are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Members of the scheme must be 18 years old and you must be at least 14 years old to ride the bikes. A membership key costs £3 while the membership itself costs at £1 for a 24-hour membership, £5 for seven days and £45 for an annual membership. The first 30 minutes of any journey is then free (with fees applicable after that). As the bikes don’t come with a lock, it’s expected people will simply make a journey to another docking station before getting off. For more information on the Barclay’s Cycle Hire scheme, see Transport for London’s website at www.tfl.gov.uk. Meanwhile, in other transport news, the first air-conditioned Tube train is now in active service on the Metropolitan Line.

• A cafe has been opened at Buckingham Palace, 173 years after Queen Victoria first moved in following her accession to the throne. Located on the West Terrace overlooking the lawn and lake, the Garden Café is open during visiting hours. The Palace’s State Rooms, meanwhile, are open to the public until 1st October. The palace this year hosts The Queen’s Year exhibition which features displays of ceremonial robes, gifts, uniforms, dresses and jewellery, as well as archive photography and film in an illustration of the monarch’s work throughout the year at everything from the State Opening of Parliament to the Garter Day ceremony at Windsor Castle and investitures, garden parties and State Visits. Entry to the State Rooms – which comprise just 19 of the palace’s 775 rooms – is £17.00 an adult, £15.50 concessions, £9.75 for under 17s and under fives are free. Family tickets are £45 and combined tickets – including the Royal Mews and the Queen’s Gallery – are also available. www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=30. For more on the special exhibition, see www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/thequeensyear/

• The Tower of London was the most visited royal site in Britain last year, attracting 2.4 million tourists, according to a report from VisitBritain. The tourism agency found that while overseas tourists spent some £4.6 billion while in the UK last year, more than £500 million was spent on tourism associated with the Royal Family. The top 10 most visited sites included several royal attractions – Edinburgh Castle came in at number six with 1.2 million visitors, Windsor Castle at number seven with 987,000 and Buckingham Palace at number 11 with 402,000. Other top London sites included the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich (#2 – 2.4 million), the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington (#3 – 2.3 million), St Paul’s Cathedral (#4 – 1.8 million), Westminster Abbey (#5 – 1.4 million) and Hampton Court Palace (#9 – 541,646).

LondonLife – A maze in Trafalgar Square

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Trafalgar Square has been transformed with a temporary hedge maze which takes visitors through a potted history of some of the streets of London’s West End. The maze, created by the West End Marketing Alliance, is full of fascinating facts – did you know, for example, that the area we now know as Covent Garden was originally known, during Saxon times, as Convent Garden? Or that the Beatles last ever gig was performed on a rooftop in Savile Row? The maze is only in Trafalgar Square for this week, so get in quick if you want to visit (and pick up a free badge for your effort in conquering the maze). When Exploring London visited, waiting time was only about 10 minutes. For more, see www.WestEndLondon.com.

10 sites in London you may not know about – 8. Jewel Tower

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Overshadowed by its more impressive neighbours, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, the Jewel Tower is just one of few remnants of medieval London left in the city.

The L-shaped, three story tower was built of white Kentish stone in the mid 1365 during the reign of Edward III in order to provide a safe place to store the king’s personal jewels (as distinct from the Crown Jewels which were held in the Tower of London).

It remained in use as the home of the King’s Privy Wardrobe until 1512 when, following a fire at the Palace of Westminster, the court moved to Whitehall and the jewels were taken to a new home there. Later, in 1621, it became the official house for the records of Parliament and in 1869 it changed roles again, this time becoming the home of the official Weights and Measures Office.

In 1938, the Standards Department moved to a new location in Westminster and, following the war – during which the timber roofs were extensively damaged as a result of air raids – it underwent substantial conservation works.

Now in the care of English Heritage, the building currently houses a fascinating exhibition on the history of parliament and its own past as well as giving access to some of it’s most impressive original features including a vaulted ceiling in the ground level room, complete with carved stone bosses.

Worth visiting to gain a sense of what the medieval Palace of Westminster must have been like not to mention the exhibitions it contains, the Jewel Tower is itself a jewel in London’s medieval heritage.

WHERE: Abingdon Street, Westminster (opposite Victoria Tower at the southern end of the Houses of Parliament). Nearest tube is Westminster; WHEN: Daily, 10am-5pm (summer hours); COST: £3.20 adults/£2.70 concessions/£1.20 children; WEBSITE: www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/jewel-tower/

Around London…

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• A team of archaeologists from the Museum of London have unearthed the remains of a brewhouse close to the purpose-built theatre, known simply as The Theatre, where Shakespeare first acted. The brewhouse could represent what became a dedicated ‘tap room’ aimed at theatre customers and may well have been a watering hole of the Bard himself. It – and a nearby bakehouse – were originally part of Holywell Priory, once one of the richest in England, which was dissolved in 1539. You can follow the dig’s progress here: www.mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/blog/category/excavations-at-shakespeare’s-theatre/

• London’s Dickens Museum has unveiled the long-lost tombstone of a cartoonist who took his own life after he was believed to have been rejected by the famous author. Robert Seymour apparently took his own life after Charles Dickens was believed to have informed him that he would no longer be employed to illustrate The Pickwick Papers (there remains considerable debate over whether Dickens should be blamed for his death). The gravestone had been missing for a century but was reportedly discovered in the crypt of a London church by scholar Stephen Jarvis. It will now be displayed in the back garden of the museum which is housed at 48 Doughty Street in Dicken’s only surviving London home (he lived there between 1837 and 1839 while writing novels including The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist). The museum is preparing to celebrate the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth in 2012.  www.dickensmuseum.com

• Sir William and Sir Joseph Hooker – the father and son responsible for transforming Kew Gardens in the nineteenth century – have been honored with a blue plaque at their former home on Kew Green. The home where Princess Alexandra was to unveil the plaque became the official residence of the garden’s director when Sir William moved there in 1851. Sir William had been appointed director of the Botanic Gardens 10 years before and during his 24 year tenure not only greatly expanded them but also opened them to the public. His son, Sir Joseph, had travelled aboard the HMS Erebus as it explored the southern oceans between 1839-1843 before succeeding his father as director upon his death in 1865. www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/princess-alexandra-unveils-blue-plaque-for-former-directors-of-kew-gardens

The Tip – Walk under the Thames

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Walk under the Thames. Heading to Greenwich for a day out? While the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) will take you from Tower Hill to Cutty Sark station in the heart of Greenwich itself, get off a station early at Island Gardens and you can walk to Greenwich instead, taking the foot tunnel under the Thames. Opened in 1902, the 387 metre long tunnel, which runs about 15 metres underneath the river, was built so labourers from south London could walk to work in the docks on the Isle of Dogs and surrounding areas. Signs mark the way to the tunnel which is marked at either end by a dome at each end containing stairs and a lift. http://bit.ly/aQMujS

10 sites in London you may not know about – 7. Geffrye Museum

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Tucked away just north-east of the city of London, this surprisingly interesting museum features reconstructed interiors of London homes from the 1600s through to modern times. The museum is located in former almhouses built in the early 1700s by the Company of Ironmongers using a bequest left them by Sir Robert Geffrye, a former twice-master of the company and a former Lord Mayor of London.

Worth visiting for the almhouses alone, these were used until early in the 20th century when, given the overcrowding in Shoreditch, the company decided to relocate the remaining pensioners. Thankfully, due to the fact that the almshouses were built around a large garden not to mention the lack of public open space in the area, the almhouses and grounds were preserved; the former to be used as a museum.

The museum itself features a series of informational rooms between those in which the lavishly detailed reconstructions – which are largely of the main living rooms – are contained and there’s an audio guide which is well worth taking the time to listen to as you work your way through. There’s also a restaurant and special exhibition spaces on site (contained in a modern wing opened in 1998) and preserved within the museum are the chapel once used by the pensioners and the promenade which overlooks gardens at the rear.

For those who want a closer look at what life was like for the pensioners, for a £2 fee you can take a tour of one of the former almshouses which has been restored to show the living conditions of the almhouses in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the rear of the museum, meanwhile, lies some magnificent gardens including a walled herb garden filled with herbs from Roman times onward and a series of ‘period garden rooms’. Keep an eye out as well for the statue of Sir Robert which adorns the front of the building.

WHERE: 136 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch. Nearest tube is Liverpool Street or Old Street (a fair walk) or Hoxton Overground Station (next door); WHEN: Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10am-5pm or Sundays and Bank Holidays, 12-5pm; COST: Free (admission to almhouses £2 at set times during the day); WEBSITE: www.geffrye-museum.org.uk

Around London…

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• This year marks the 400th anniversary of Ham House in south west London. Located on the south bank of the Thames, between Richmond and Kingston, the property was built for Sir James Vavasour, Knight Marshall to James I with later owners including William Murray, the ‘whipping boy’ of Charles I (that is, the boy who took Charles’ punishment if he was naughty – let’s hope they got on well!), and his daughter, Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart. To find out more about the property, now under the care of the National Trust, and how they’re celebrating the 400th anniversary, see http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-hamhouse.

• The former treasury in  the crypt beneath St Paul’s is hosting a new exhibition – Oculus: An Eye Into St Paul’s – which aims to bring 1400 years of the history of the church and surrounding streets of London to life through a 270 degree film experience. The film takes visitors from the streets of Saxon London in 604 AD when the first cathedral was constructed on the site to the its destruction in the Great Fire in 1666 and the days of the Blitz in World War II when it stood as a symbol of English defiance. The exhibition also opens up access of areas of the cathedral to the less mobile – with virtual tours of the dome including the Whispering Gallery and the view from the Golden Gallery. See www.stpauls.co.uk.

• The Monument has won the City of London’s City Heritage Award for 2010. The city has recently spent £4.5 million in a restoration project which included a new balustrade on the viewing platform of the memorial to the Great Fire of 1666, regilding the flaming orb, and the installation of a real-time feed of the panoramic views from the top to web with updates every minute. See www.themonument.info.

10 sites in London you may not know about – 6. Borough Market

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London has a plethora of markets selling everything from fresh flowers to antiques and clothes. For food, it’s hard to beat Borough Market. Located next to Southwark Cathedral on the south bank of the Thames, the market stalls are contained in a maze of passageways which, when it’s in full swing, buzz with excitement and color.

The market’s history goes back to the Middle Ages when traders gathered close to London Bridge to sell produce and livestock and was officially located around it’s current site in the 1700s

With about 130 individual stalls, there’s everything here you could want – fresh seafood and meats, fruit and vegetables, cheeses and dairy products and all the cakes and pastries you could want as well as a range of alcoholic drinks.

It’s a great place to do some shopping but equally good as a place to duck in for lunch – the Boston Sausage Company’s sausages make for a great bite on the run or to eat while sitting in the cathedral grounds watching the passersby.

WHERE: Between the Thames River and Borough High Street, Southwark. Nearest tube is London Bridge or Borough.  WHEN: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; COST: Free to enter; WEBSITE: www.boroughmarket.org.uk

10 sites in London you may not know about – 5. Richmond Park

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OK, something this big can’t exactly be a secret but due to the fact it lies well out of the city centre, the vast expanse of Richmond Park in the city’s outer south-west, not far from the Thames, can get overlooked.

At almost 1,000 hectares, Richmond Park is the largest open space in the city and is home to some 650 Red and Fallow deer who roam about at will.

While the park’s royal connections go back to Edward I (1272-1307) when the area was known as the Manor of Sheen, a name which was changed to Richmond during the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509), it wasn’t until 1637 that Charles I decided to enclose the land with walls that remain to this day.

Deer aside, the park is also home to Pembroke Lodge which in 1847 became the home of then Prime Minister Lord John Russell (and is now a restaurant). The park’s features include King Henry’s Mound – which boasts great views on a clear day including that of St Paul’s Cathedral (12 miles away) – and the Isabella Plantation – an ornamental woodland garden.

WHERE: The park is located south of the Thames-side village of Richmond. Nearest tube is Richmond.  WHEN: 7am in summer to dusk; COST: Free to enter; WEBSITE: www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond_park/

Image: Courtesy of Royal Parks. © Giles Barnard

Around London…

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• The British Military Tournament takes up where the Royal Tournament left off. The abolition of Royal Tournament in 1999 ended almost 120 years of tradition and left a significant gap in London’s annual events calender. No longer. The concept has been reborn as the British Military Tournament which will be held on 4th and 5th December this year. Presented by ABF The Soldier’s Charity, the spectacle will feature 500 troops, 145 horses, massed bands and the “field gun run” among other things. Tickets start at £29 for adults/£22 for children.  www.britishmilitarytournament.com.

• A rare sketch of pre-1666 St Paul’s is to be auctioned. The drawing, made less than 10 years before the Great Fire consumed the cathedral, is by Bohemian artist Wenceslaus Hollar and was created for William Dugdale’s illustrated history of the cathedral. www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23851487-long-lost-sketch-of-medieval-st-pauls-cathedral-for-sale.do

• On Now – Treasures of Lambeth Palace Library. At the Lambeth Palace Library (open Monday to Saturday (10am-5pm), admission £8 adults/£7 concessions, www.lambethpalacelibrary.org/content/treasuresexhibition). Held in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the library’s foundation, the exhibition in the palace’s Great Hall features some of the most significant books and documents in the English-speaking world including a Gutenberg Bible – the first great printed book in Western Europe using moveable type, the warrant for the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, signed by Queen Elizabeth I, the 9th century Irish McDurnan Gospels, the 13th century Lambeth Apocalypse, and a rare edition of the Babylonian Talmud. Exhibition closes 23rd July.

The Tip – Free online guides to walking in South Bank

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The first in a regular section of tips to make the most out of your time in London…

South Bank Walks. Five free online walking guides, each of which comes with maps and detailed descriptions of points of interest along the way, are available on the South Bank Walks website, created by the South Bank Employers’ Group . The walks take in more that just South Bank – one starts in Soho and finishes in South Bank; another starts at St Paul’s and ends up at Borough Market – and include a guide specifically designed for young people. The website also has a terrific building and street search feature. www.southbankwalks.com

10 sites in London you may not know about – 4. Sir John Soane’s Museum

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Sir John Soane’s Museum is still unknown to many but that is starting to change as growing numbers of tourists descend upon the property at Lincoln’s Inn Fields (as evidenced by the queues you can now often find waiting patiently outside).

The museum is housed in the former home of noted architect and collector, Sir John Soane, who left it to the nation after he died in 1837 by an Act of Parliament with the caveat that it be kept “as nearly as circumstances will admit in the state” it was on his death.

Sir John, born the son of the bricklayer in Oxfordshire in 1753, rose to become a famous – and somewhat controversial – architect, his most famous contribution being the Bank of England.

Having married into money – his wife, Elizabeth Smith was the daughter of a wealthy builder whose fortune he inherited, Sir John bought 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1792 and subsequently demolished and rebuilt it. In the early 1800s, he bought the property next door, number 13, and again demolished and rebuilt it, and, in the 182os bought number  14, which received the same treatment, eventually creating the delightfully odd and expansive home which now occupies the site.

Sir John was an avid collector of statues, furnishings, paintings and curiosities and the uniquely designed house remains filled with his collections – ranging from the Sarcophagus of Egypt’s Seti I (dating from around 1370 BC) to Sir Robert Walpole’s desk, medieval European stained glass, and William Hogarth’s famous series of paintings, A Rake’s Progress.

This is a museum worth visiting for its sheer eccentricity but it should be noted that it’s not really a place for young children – many of the rooms are small and crowded with artefacts that may just prove too tempting.

WHERE: 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Nearest tube is Holborn. WHEN:10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday; COST: Free to enter (there is a museum tour on Saturdays for £5); WEBSITE: www.soane.org

The Weekly Roundup

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Each week, we’ll be bringing you a round-up of some of the news affecting historic and interesting places in London. So, to kick it off…

• The gardens surrounding the neo-Palladian masterpiece Chiswick House have been reopened following a £12 million restoration. The 65 acres of gardens, known as the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement, were designed by Lord Burlington and William Kent in the 1720s and 1730s. They were created as a backdrop for the magnificent house Lord Burlington designed and had built on the west London property following a grand tour of Italy. The garden’s original vistas have been restored and statutory and garden buildings repaired – including a 19th century conservatory housing rare camellias. More than 1,600 trees have been planted – some of which were propagated from the original 18th century Lebanon cedars planted in the garden – and the Walled Gardens have also been restored (these will only be open to the public on special occasions). There’s also a new cafe designed by award-winning architects Caruso St John. ~ www.english-heritage.org.uk/chiswickhouse

• Four new Blue Plaques have been unveiled in London. They include one for Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949), painter and printmaker (1 Pilgrim’s Lane, Hampstead); another for Charles Rolls (1877-1910), motoring and aviation pioneer (14/15 Conduit Street, Mayfair); Baron Carlo Marochetti (1805-1867), sculptor (34 Onslow Square, South Kensington); and, Wing Commander FFE Yeo-Thomas GC (1902-1964), secret agent (24-28 Queen Square, Holborn). ~ www.english-heritage.org.uk/blueplaques

• On Now – Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art. At the British Library (open daily, admission free, www.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/). The exhibition contains some 80 spectacular, mainly European, maps, dating from as far back as the Roman era, and explores how they have been employed for various purposes – as propaganda, works of art, teaching aids and indoctrination. Included in the exhibition are the world’s biggest and smallest atlases – the latter created for a doll’s house. Exhibition closes 19th September.

10 sites in London you may not know about – 3. Temple Church

by exploringlondon

Located just outside the west end of the medieval city walls, the Temple Church is an anomaly in a city where, thanks to the Great Fire of 1666, few medieval churches remain.

First consecrated in 1185, the church – like all Templar churches – features a round nave – known as the Round Church – modelled on that of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It adjoins a ‘Hall Church’ which features three bays dating from the 13th century.

While they have been moved several times, the Round Church contains a number of tomb effigies including those believed to be that of William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke and one of the towering figures of the 12th and early 13th centuries.

It also features a series of faces around the outer wall (these were renewed and replaced in the 1820s), each of which shows a different and, at times, plain odd expression.

The church is located in the midst of what was once a large landholding – located between Fleet Street and the Thames – once owned by the Templar Knights which included quarters for the knights and serjeants. Following the disbanding of the order in early 1300s, the Temple Church passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitaller and then became the property of the Crown during the 16th century reformation.

In 1608, James I granted all the Templar’s land to the societies of the Inner and Middle Temple, two of London’s Inns of Court – the inns are still dedicated to housing those studying and practising law and it’s the inns which maintain the church today.

One of the most famous figures connected to the church is Richard Hooker, Master of the Temple between 1585-91, and author of Of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, an important document in Anglican theological thought.

Christopher Wren also left his mark here – he refurbished the church’s interior in the 1670s although much of work was later removed – as did World War II – the roof of the Round Church was brought down during the Blitz.

Make sure you pop in for one of the free organ recitals which are held over lunchtimes each Wednesday.

WHERE: Off Fleet Street and down Inner Temple Lane (nearest tube station is Temple); WHEN: Check website for times; COST: £4 (free to under 18s and seniors); WEBSITE: www.templechurch.com