It’s #MuseumWeek on Twitter and museums all over London are among the more than 2,000 institutions worldwide already tweeting away. Among those, large and small, taking part in London are the @hornimanmuseum, @ExploreWellcome, @JewishMuseumLDN, @BFHouse, @HRP_Palaces, @NMMGreenwich, and @drjohnsonshouse (pictured). Each day of the week they’ll be tweeting on a different theme until Sunday (today’s is #souvenirsMW). For the full stream, head to @MuseumWeek.
LondonLife
LondonLife – An ancient guardian sits watch…
Marking the boundary of the City of London on Victoria Embankment is this large statue of a dragon holding a shield bearing the City’s coat-of-arms. One of a pair, these two statues were originally mounted above the entrance to the Coal Exchange in Lower Thames Street and were moved here in 1963 following the building’s demolition. They’re just two of numerous dragons which guard the City’s outer edges.
LondonLife – Astrologer, former Lord Mayor and Leveller among those buried in Bedlam, new research finds…
The remains of an astrologer believed to have been stoned to death by an angry mob, a former Lord Mayor of London and a member of Civil War era dissenting group, the Levellers, who was executed by firing squad may be among those exhumed from the former Bedlam burial ground in Liverpool Street in the City of London in a new archaeological excavation.
A research project carried out ahead of the planned excavation of the new eastern entrance of the Liverpool Street Crossrail Station has unearthed the names and backgrounds of more than 5,000 of the 20,000 Londoners who were buried on the site in the 16th and 17th centuries.
They include Dr John Lamb, an astrologer and advisor to the Duke of Buckingham, who a mob apparently stoned to death outside a theatre in 1628 after allegations against him of rape and black magic, Sir Ambrose Nicholas, Lord Mayor of London in 1575, as well as victims of riots by ‘Fanatiques’ (as noted in the diaries of Samuel Pepys in January, 1661) and, according to a report in The Independent, Robert Lockyer, a member of the Leveller movement who was executed by firing squad in 1649 during the English Civil War.
Some 3,000 skeletons will be disinterred in the excavation along with, it is expected, Roman and medieval artefacts. The dig will start next month and will be carried out by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology). The skeletons will be analysed before they are reburied in consecrated ground.
The research into the backgrounds of more than 5,000 of those buried on the site – which was established in 1569 to help alleviate overcrowding caused by outbreaks of plague and other epidemics – has been carried out by 16 volunteers with the results compiled into a new online database – the Bedlam Burial Ground Register. Plague was the most common form of death followed by infant mortality and consumption.
“This research is a window into one of the most turbulent periods of London’s past,” said lead archaeologist Jay Carver. “These people lived through civil wars, the Restoration, Shakespeare’s plays, the birth of modern industry, plague and the Great Fire.”
Crossrail workers recently discovered the gravestone of Mary Godfree who died in September, 1665, as a result of the ‘Great Plague’ which reached its peak that year.
PICTURES: Courtesy of Crossrail.
We’re running a bit behind this week, so the next instalment in our Churchill series won’t appear until later this week.
LondonLife – Riverside gaze…
Detail of the stonework on the facade of Somerset House, on the north bank of the Thames. For more on Somerset House, see our earlier post here.
LondonLife – Mary and infant Jesus back on display in St Paul’s…
This Victorian-era marble statue of the Virgin and Child has gone back on show in St Paul’s Cathedral more than 70 years after it taken down following bombing during World War II. Part of an ornate high altar and reredos installed at the cathedral’s east end in 1888, the statue – the work of Thomas Garner – was put into storage after that part of the cathedral took a direct hit during the Blitz of 1940 and what remained of the altar was dismantled (the statue and a crucifix were the only parts retained by the cathedral). It can now be seen in the Chapel of St Erkenwald and St Ethelburga (also known as the Middlesex Chapel) in the north transept. For more, see www.stpauls.co.uk. PICTURE: The Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral.
LondonLife – Prince Albert keeps his lonely vigil…
LondonLife – Sir David Wilkie’s ‘A Young Woman Kneeling at a Prayer Desk’ rediscovered…
Thought to be lost for more than 140 years, a painting by Scottish artist Sir David Wilkie went on display at the National Gallery off Trafalgar Square last month. A Young Woman Kneeling at a Prayer Desk was discovered in the US having previously been last heard of in 1872 when it was sold by a relative of the 1st Earl of Mulgrave, Henry Phipps, whose daughter, Lady Augusta Phipps, was thought to be the subject of the painting which dates from 1813 (she died that year at the age of just 12). While the work was known to exist thanks to it having featured in an oil sketch the artist had sent to his brother – an army officer in India, it was only recently rediscovered when spotted by London-based art dealer Ben Elwes in a catalogue advertising its sale in New York. The National Gallery says it was only able to purchase the painting thanks to late Birmingham art teacher Marcia Lay, who left a bequest to the gallery. The painting is displayed alongside masterpieces by the likes of Turner, Constable, Gainsborough and Reynolds in Room 34. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk. PICTURE: David Wilkie, A Young Woman Kneeling at a Prayer Desk, 1813, © National Gallery, London.
LondonLife – Oliver Cromwell’s coffin plate goes to auction…
The copper gilt plate found on former Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell’s breast when his body was exhumed will be put up to auction in London later today. Sotheby’s says that according to contemporary reports, the plate was found in a leaden canister lying on Cromwell’s chest when the coffin – interred in 
the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey – was opened by James Norfolke, Serjeant of the House of Commons, on the orders of parliament on 26th January, 1661 – just two years from Cromwell was buried. Norfolke apparently took the plate which was subsequently handed down through his family. It was not the only relic associated with Cromwell to survive – while Cromwell’s body, along with that of regicides Henry Ireton and John Bradshaw, was hanged at Tyburn and then apparently buried in an unmarked grave pit, his head was placed on a spike above Westminster Hall and remained there for more than 20 years until it blew down in a gale and was taken by a guard. It apparently subsequently passed through numerous private hands before, in 1960, it was interred in a secret location in the chapel of Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge. Meanwhile, the plate – which bears the arms of the Protectorate on one side and an inscription in Latin with the dates of Cromwell’s birth, inauguration as Lord Protector and death on the other – is listed with an estimated price of between £8,000 and £12,000. For more on the item, see www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/english-literature-history-childrens-books-illustrations-l14408/lot.3.html.
LondonLife – Thames life…
LondonLife – Rotherhithe from the Thames…
Pictured is the south bank of the Thames showing the buildings of the former Thames Tunnel Mills (now converted to residences). The tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin is in the background – the church dates from 1716 and was designed by John James, an associate of Sir Christopher Wren.
LondonLife – Another perspective on a London icon…
The Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament, home to Big Ben. For more on it, see our earlier posts on the Palace of Westminster, the Clock Tower and Big Ben. PICTURE: Tony Kerrigan.
LondonLife – Sheep in the City…
A small flock of sheep made their way across London Bridge this week as the Freemen of the City of London exercised their ancient prerogative to drive sheep over the span. A reported 600 Freemen from the City’s 110 livery companies took part in the annual drive along with a score of sheep – all in an effort to raise for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. There’s a permanent reminder of the tradition of driving sheep in the heart of the City in Paternoster Square near St Paul’s Cathedral where Dame Elisabeth Frink’s bronze sculpture of Shepherd and Sheep can be found (pictured above).
LondonLife – Admiral Arthur Phillip honoured in Westminster Abbey…
A memorial to Admiral Arthur Phillip, described as the “father of modern Australia”, was unveiled in Westminster Abbey back in July. Admiral Phillip (1738-1814) commanded the ‘First Fleet’ which left the UK in 1787, transporting convicts and military to the new colony Phillip founded as New South Wales. Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, attended the memorial’s dedication service on 9th July which was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, Dr John Hall, who credited Admiral Phillip – a “modest, yet world-class seaman, linguist and patriot”- with laying the foundations “on which was developed the Commonwealth of Australia”. Among other dignitaries who attended was Dame Marie Bashir, the Governor of the Australian state of New South Wales, who described Admiral Phillip as “enlightened, far-sighted and indeed humane” and paid tribute to his attempts to actively foster harmonious relations with the Aboriginal people. Carved from Sydney sandstone, the memorial is set in the floor of the nave of the minster close to memorials of David Livingstone, Thomas Cochrane and Isaac Newton. The memorial stone is among a number of projects around Britain instigated by the Britain-Australia Society to mark the bicentenary year of Admiral Phillip’s death. For more on the abbey, see www.westminster-abbey.org. PICTURE: Andrew Dunsmore/Westminster Abbey.
LondonLife – Isaac Newton comes to life…
Eduardo Paolozzi’s 1995 statue of Isaac Newton which stands on the British Library’s piazza in King’s Cross has been granted a ‘voice’ as part of a new project called Talking Statues. Visitors who swipe their smartphones on a nearby tag will receive a call from the famous scientist – voiced by Simon Beale Russell – as part of the initiative which is being spear-headed by Sing London. It is one of 35 different statues across London and Manchester which will be brought to life by a range of public identities. Among the other statues in London which have been brought to life are Samuel Johnson’s cat Hodge in Gough Square (voiced by Nicholas Parsons) and Dick Whittington’s Cat in Islington (Helen Lederer), John Wilkes in Fetter Lane (Jeremy Paxman), the Unknown Soldier at Paddington Station (Patrick Stewart) and Sherlock Holmes outside Baker Street Underground (Anthony Horowitz). The British Library and Sing London are also holding a competition to give William Shakespeare a voice by writing a monologue for the statue in the library’s entrance hall which will then be read by an as yet unannounced actor. Entries close 17th October. For more, visit www.talkingstatues.co.uk.
PICTURE: British Library
LondonLife – Poppies at the Tower of London…
More than 800,000 ceramic poppies are being “planted” in the moat of the Tower of London to commemorate the centenary of World War I.
The work of ceramic artist Paul Cummins, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red will grow throughout the summer until, by Armistice Day, 888,246 ceramic poppies are ‘planted’ in the dry moat, each one representing a British or colonial military fatality during the war.
The first poppy was planted by Yeoman Warder Crawford Butler back in July (pictured) and the work was officially “unveiled” today – 100 years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the war.
More than 8,000 volunteers will be involved in planting the poppies which can be purchased for £25 with 10 per cent from each poppy plus all net proceeds shared equally among six service charities: the Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO), Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help for Heroes, Royal British Legion and SSAFA (formerly the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association).
Starting today, the public will also be able to witness the daily twilight reading of a roll of honour featuring the names of 180 serving military killed during the World War I from Tower Hill terrace. The reading will be followed by the bugler playing the Last Post. Members of the public can nominate a name for the roll of honour.
For more, see poppies.hrp.org.uk. PICTURE: Photo: © Richard Lea-Hair/Historical Royal Palaces
LondonLife – A ‘rainforest’ in Bedford Square…
Rainforest by GUN Architects, located in Bedford Square in Bloomsbury outside the offices of the Architectural Association, has been one of the highlights of the London Festival of Architecture, now into its final week. The five metre high tree-like structures, created by the German-Chilean architectural practice, feature fabric stalactites which drip water into pools below. As well as installations like Rainforest, the festival features debates, exhibitions, film screenings, walks, cycle rides, open studios and family events which focus on the importance of architecture and design under this year’s central theme of ‘capital’. The festival runs until 30th June. For more details and a full programme of events still to run, see www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org.
PICTURE: © Valerie Bennett
LondonLife – Solitary vigil…
LondonLife – The Tudor Pull…
Crowds lined the banks of The Thames last weekend as Her Majesty’s Watermen rowed from Hampton Court Palace to the Tower of London in the annual “Tudor Pull”. The palace-to-palace rowing event on Sunday kicked off around 10am with a ceremony at Hampton Court during which the ‘Stela’ – an ancient piece of medieval water pipe made from a hollowed-out tree trunk which symbolises the power of The Thames – is passed to the watermen who then took it up river to the Tower in the royal barge Gloriana. The barge, which was accompanied by a fleet of other traditional rowing craft, stopped at several locations along the journey, before it arrived at the Tower in Sunday afternoon where the ‘Stela’ was presented to the Governor. The event is also said to commemorate the sinking in 1256 of Queen Eleanor’s royal barge under old London Bridge. For more on the Historic Royal Palaces in London, head to www.hrp.org.uk.
PICTURE: Courtesy of Historic Royal Palaces.
Our new special series will kick off next week!
LondonLife – Rooftops in Chelsea…
Angular rooftops stacked one upon the other in Chelsea in London’s west.
LondonLife – Brompton Road tube station sells for £53 million…
The Brompton Road tube station, which closed in 1934 after being made redundant following the opening of other stations, sold for a reported £53 million over the weekend. The former Piccadilly Line station, located between South Kensington and Knightsbridge stations, opened in 1906 and was designed by architect Leslie Green for the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. It was used as a command centre for anti-aircraft guns during World War II and the story goes was where Nazi Rudolf Hess was interrogated after being captured in 1941. Owned up until the sale by the Ministry of Defence, it was most recently used as a training centre for air cadets and naval reservists. It will reportedly be converted into residential flats.
Exploring London 
