Monuments/memorials/gateways

Curious London memorials – 2. The Albert Memorial

by exploringlondon

No list of London’s memorials could ever be complete without mentioning the extravagant Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens.

Completed in 1876 at a cost of £120,000, the monument – officially known as the Prince Consort National Memorial – was commissioned by the Queen after Prince Albert died of typhoid in 1861. Queen Victoria, devastated at his loss and wanting a public memorial for Albert, invited seven leading architects to submit designs. In the end she chose the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott which featured an ornate canopy and spire standing to a height of 176 feet (54 metres) over a larger-than-life gilded bronze figure of Prince Albert sitting in regal splendour.

The resulting memorial – described “visual feast” – is an exemplar monument of the Victorian era’s Gothic Revival style. It highlights Albert’s role as a patron of the arts. Around the base of the podium is a frieze containing images of sculptors, composers, painters, architects and poets while at the four corners of the canopy are four clusters of statuetry relating to agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing.

Further out, on the corners of the base, stand another four groups of statues – these relate to the continents of Europe, Asia, America and Africa. The canopy itself features mosaics and statues depicting historical figures associated with the arts as well as statues depicting the artistic and scientific disciplines, and angels and virtues.

The statue of Albert, sculpted by John Henry Foley, gazes benevolently towards Royal Albert Hall – another monument dedicated to the Prince Consort – and holds in its hand a catalogue of the Great Exhibition of 1851 (Albert was a key player in the exhibition’s organisation).

The monument, which was apparently used as a landmark by German bombers and Zeppelin pilots in World War I, underwent an extensive restoration in the 1990s which involved dismantling its entire upper half and then reassembling it.

While entry to the memorial is free, there are paid for tours available for those keen to find out more about the monument. For more information about the tours, see www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington_gardens/tours/index.cfm.

WHERE: Kensington Gardens (nearest tube station is High Street Kensington or South Kensington); WHEN: Accessible when the park is open (6am to dusk) but it can be seen from Kensington Gore; COST: Entry is free (there are paid tours, see above); WEBSITE: Royal Parks has a page on its website, www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington_gardens/tours/index.cfm.

Curious London memorials – 1. Watt’s Memorial in Postman’s Park

by exploringlondon

To kick off the year, Exploring London is taking a look at 10 of the more unusual memorials in London. First up is the Watts Memorial in Postman’s Park.

Located between St Martin’s le Grand and King Edward Street, just off London Wall next to St Botolph-without-Aldersgate, the park is actually located in what was the former churchyard of St Botolph, Aldersgate, St Leonards, Foster Lane, and the graveyard of Christchurch, Newgate Street. It was apparently named for the fact that the southern boundary once adjoined the General Post Office and its popularity with postal workers.

The G.F. Watts Memorial To Heroic Self Sacrifice was first unveiled in 1900. It had been conceived by the Victorian artist George Frederic Watts initially to mark Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1887 but wasn’t constructed until some time later.

The memorial features a series of ceramic ‘tablets’ embedded in the wall which record the names and deeds of those who died trying to save others. According to the memorial, “Watts believed that these ‘everyday heroes’ provided models of exemplary character and behaviour”. The memorial also quotes Watts as saying that “the material prosperity of a nation is not an abiding possession; the deeds of its people are”.

Watts, a prominent artist of the Victorian period – so much so that he was apparently once dubbed ‘Britain’s Michelangelo’, put up 13 tablets but after his death in 1904 his wife Mary added a further 34 after his death.

The plaques celebrate those who gave their own lives in rescuing people from house and factory fires, runaway trains, sinking ships and drowning. Not all were successful and while some of the plaques recall the heroic feats of police or firemen, others who died making the ultimate sacrifice were factory workers, ballet dancers, children or in the case of Alice Ayers, the daughter of a bricklayer’s labourer, who saved three children from a house fire (her story is featured in the recent film Closer).

Most of the tablets date from the late 1800s and early 1900s and until recently the most recently dated from 1931. In 2009, however, a new memorial was added – that of Leigh Pitt, a 30-year-old reprographic operator, who died on 7th June, 2007 after saving a boy from drowning in a canal at Thamesmead in the city’s south-east.

A moving tribute to those who gave all they had to save the life of others.

WHERE: Postmans Park, between King Edward Street and St Martin’s le Grand (nearest tube station is St Paul’s or Barbican); WHEN: The park, managed by the Corporation of London, is open 7am to 8pm or dusk (whichever is earlier) ; COST: Entry is free; WEBSITE: The Watts Gallery in Surrey has some information about the park on its website, www.wattsgallery.org.uk/exhib_postmanspark.html.

Let me know if you know of a curious memorial you think should be mentioned. Just leave your comment below or send an email to exploringlondon@gmail.com.

Around London…

by exploringlondon

• 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.

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.

Around London…

by exploringlondon

• 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.

10 London sites you might not know about – 2. The Monument

by exploringlondon

The MonumentIt was a toss-up whether to include The Monument in this list but, surprisingly perhaps, there are still many visitors to London who overlook what is a unique site in the old city of London and a reminder of one of the key events which have shaped the city.

The tallest free-standing stone column in the world, it was built between 1671-77 to commemorate the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the subsequent rebuilding of the city. The fire broke out in a baker’s shop in nearby Pudding Lane on Sunday, 2nd September, 1666, and burned until the following Wednesday, destroying much of the city in the meantime (although, thankfully, there was actually little loss of life).

Sir Christopher Wren (architect of St Paul’s fame and then Surveyor-General to King Charles II) and Dr Robert Hooke (Surveyor to the City of London and Wren’s assistant) designed the memorial which is topped by a drum and copper urn from which flames are emerging and stands 61 metres above the ground and which, if toppled, reaches the point in Pudding Lane where the fire began.

A spiral stone staircase winds it way up the column’s middle to a platform where you can get come stunning views of the city (but be warned at 311 steps, it’s quite a climb, although at least since 1842 there’s been an iron railing around the platform).

The reliefs on the western side of the base shows Charles II in all his glory while inscriptions on the other three sides tell the story of the great fire (incidentally, the main inscription, was altered in 1681 to include the words “But Popish frenzy, which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched” which were removed in 1831). The site is now owned by the City of London Corporation.

WHERE: Junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill (Nearest Tube station is Monument). WHEN: Daily (9.30am-5.30pm). COST: Adults £3/concessions £2/children £1. WEBSITE: www.themonument.info

The return of the Temple Bar

by exploringlondon

Temple Bar, LondonIt’s been a while since I was in London so I was delighted to find that the Temple Bar had been restored (not to its original site, but to the city as a whole!). The only surviving gateway into the city of London, it was constructed in 1672 to replace a crumbling wooden predecessor and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren (he of St Paul’s fame). The Temple Bar stood at the junction of Fleet Street and the Strand until 1878 when, to help traffic flow, it was removed. Apparently it was intended that it would be rebuilt somewhere else in the city, but time passed and no suitable site was found, so it eventually ended up on an estate in Hertfordshire. Where it remained until 2004 when – thanks to the work of the Temple Bar Trust – it was able to be returned to the city – it is now located between St Paul’s and Paternoster Square – for all to now enjoy.

WHERE: Between Paternoster Square and St Paul’s Cathedral. Nearest tube station is St Paul’s. COST: Free to see (actual building not open to public). WEBSITE: www.thetemplebar.info.

The Temple Bar isn’t the only ‘monument’, for want of a better word, which has been relocated in London. Another is the Wellington Arch, a magnificent structure which was originally finished (though not really completed) in 1830. Then known as the Green Park Arch, it stood parallel with the Hyde Park Screen (it was created to be seen in conjunction with it) and was later adorned with a huge – and controversial – statue of Wellington. But by the 1880s, traffic flow was again a problem and so it was decided to move the arch to its current location, perpendicular to the Hyde Park Screen. As a footnote, when the arch was moved in 1883, the statue of Wellington was not placed back on top but moved to a new site – Aldershot, where it is now.

WHERE: Grosvenor Place, Westminster, SW1X 7. Nearest tube station is Hyde Park Corner. COST: Adults £3.70/child £1.90 (English Heritage members free – there is a joint offer for others combined with Apsley House). WEBSITE: www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/wellington-arch/.