General Chat

The Heart of Richard (1) (the lionheart) is said to be buried somewhere in the north part of the churchyard of All Hallows by the Tower, beneath a chapel built there by Richard in the 12th century. The chapel is now long gone.

The oldest Annually contested sporting event in Britian is The Dogget's Coat and Badge Race, it is a 4-mile rowing race from London Bridge to Chelsea. It was established in 1715 by Thomas Doggett an Irish actor and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre, as an incentive for apprentice watermen. The prize is a scarlet coat, a silver badge and a special lunch is held at Fishmonger's Hall in the winner's honour.

Behind the Guildhall in London is the tiny churchyard of ST Mary Aldermanbury. The church was bombed during the Blitz and the remains were shipped to Fulton, Missouri, where they were re-erected as a memorial to Sir Winston Churchill.

The museum of London at London Wall is the Largest Urban History Museum in the World.

Dirt Dick's at No 202 Bishopsgate has been a pub since 1804. The name refers to the nickname of a previous owner, Nathaniel Bentley, who refused to wash or clean up after the death of his fiancee on the eve of their wedding, and lived the rest of his life in squalor. The remnants of Bentley's untouched wedding breakfast and his dead cats , were displayed in the pub until health and safety ordered their removal in the 1980's

Wow!!

Postman's Park small green space locked in the middle of a huge traffic system. Sheltered by a long arcade along one wall are a collection of ceramic tablets made by Doulton, commemorating people who gave their lives in acts of heroism to help others, but who received no recognition and might otherwise be forgotten. They include eight-year-old Henry Bristow of Walthamstow, who saved his little sister's life by tearing off her flaming clothes and caught fire himself in 1890; Alice Ayres, who saved three children from a burning house in Borough at the cost of her own life in 1885; The memorial was the inspiration of Victorian artist G.F Watts, who put up the first tablets and encouraged others to do the same.

The author Anthony Trollope used to work at the General Post Office in St Martin-le Grand, and while there he Invented the Pillar-Box.

John Bunyan (1628 - 88) the author of England's first best-seller, The Pilgrim's Progress, died in Cock Lane from a fever caught by going out into the rain. In medieval times, Cock Lane was the only place in London where prostitution was legal.

Hatton Garden is the centre of Britian's diamond trade. It takes it's name from Sir Christopher Hatton a favourite of Elizabeth 1, who was so impressed with his dancing that she made him her Chancellor.
Hatton sponsored Sir Francis Drake's round-the-world voyage, and Drake showed his gratitude by naming his ship the Golden Hind, in honour of Hatton's family crest.

In 1697 Nell Gwynn's Mother is believed to have stumbled, while drunk into a pond in Chelsea, and drowned.

Peter Jones Department Store in Sloane Square is named after Peter Rees Jones (1843 - 1905) the son of a hat manufacturer from Monmouthshire. His first venture was a small shop in Hackney, and he moved to Nos 4 - 6 King's Road, on the site of the present store in 1877.

Charles Dickens was married to 20 year-old Catherine Hogarth in St Luke's Church in Sydney Street in 1836.

King's Road was laid out by Charles II as a route from the Palace at Westminster to Hampton Court. Only those with a King's Pass were allowed to use it.

Now a food store and restaurant , the Bluebird Garage on the King's Road was The Largest Motor Garage in Europe when it was buit in 1924. Accommodation was provided for lady drivers only.

Thanks for the thread.............very interesting.
Do you have any more info?

Deb

If you walk down pall mall and look at the top of the lamposts you will see a ship atop each one...then if you look to see which way they point you'll see they all point in the direction of trafalgar square...the ships are nelsons fleet and the great man can always watch over his fleet of ships!

One of the best views in London is from the top of the Monument – it’s 202 feet high because it is 202 feet from the site of the baker’s house in Pudding Lane where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. There are 311 stairs to climb.

Marble Arch is a well-known landmark, seemingly lost on its own island. It was originally built as the entrance to Buckingham Palace but not used. Inside the Arch is a tiny office which used to be a police station.

On the traffic island at the junction of Edgware Road & Marble Arch is a plaque which most people ignore, marking the site of the Tyburn Tree, London’s main execution spot, where about 50,000 people were executed. Nearby in Bayswater Road is the Shrine and Tyburn Convent where the nuns still pray for the souls of those whose lost their lives.

Covent Garden is really a spelling mistake! The area used to be the market garden for what is now Westminster Abbey monastery and convent.

At one stage the Tower of London was like a zoo - it housed a menagerie of all kinds of animals includings lions. The moat used to have water in it but was drained in 1843 and during the war was used to grow vegetables.

Much of the land is London is still owned by The Crown and a handful of rich families. The largest and most lucrative of these historic estates is that of the Grosvenors, much of whose land is in Mayfair & Belgravia. Part of the reason that this area looks so smart is because the Grosvenor estate exercises strict control over the upkeep of properties, ensuring they are all regularly painted in a magnolia cream colour, don’t have satellite dishes and in some cases have the coat of arms on them. You can get a walking tour map of Mayfair & Belgravia from the estate office.

Even in run down areas, you can often spot signs of grander days. Look out for bootscrapers, hooks to hold back window shutters, lamps… Examine the knockers on fine Georgian buildings and you’ll see a clue to the house’s past. In Spitalfields in East London, many door-knockers are in the form of a hand with lace around the wrist, telling of the Huguenot silk-weavers who brought their craft to the area. Some houses by the side of the Thames in West London are built in a similar style but have door-knockers with a more maritime or fishy theme.

Until 1902 Harrods sold pure cocaine to the public

Soho was part of King Henry VIII's hunting grounds. When a hunter spied a deer, he yelled "Tally-Ho!", but with a smaller prey, the cry became "So-Ho!"


Alexander Pope planted the first Willow Tree in England in his garden at Twickenham. All the willows in Britain are related to this tree

What an amazing thread. Thank You x

Hi

I think this right

Less people died in the bombing of London in WW2 than were killed in the bombing of Dresden( might be Hamburg) in one night

Pete

The Women's Social and Political Union, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, campaigned for women's right to vote. The newly opened Women’s Library has a rich collection of ephemera from the Suffragette Movement.

The Metropolitan Police, London's first police force, was created by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel (hence the name Peelers and, eventually, Bobbies) in 1829 with headquarters in what would become known as Scotland Yard.

Annie Besant was a prominent Fabian Socialist and well known campaigner. She was friends with George Bernard Shaw and had long been an advocate of birth control. She is best known for supporting the first successful industrial strike by the ‘match girls’ at the Bryant and May factory. The controversial statue of William Gladstone for which the girls had to pay, is in Bow, East London.

Sir Christopher Wren designed many churches but is best known for St. Paul's cathedral. His "pupil" Nicholas Hawksmoor designed the West towers of Westminster Abbey and 6 London churches, in East London, Greenwich, near the Bank of England and the British Museum.

Pearly Kings and Queens, so called because they wear clothes studded with countless pearl buttons, were originally the 'aristocracy’ of the costermongers and elected to safeguard their rights from competitors and rogues. They now undertake many charitable functions and can be seen at the annual Harvest Festival at St. Martin's in the Field

Cross Bones is a post-medieval disused burial ground in The Borough, Southwark, south London, in what is now known as Redcross Way.

It is believed to have been established originally as an unconsecrated graveyard for "single women," a euphemism for prostitutes, who were formerly known locally as "Winchester Geese" because they were licensed by the Bishop of Winchester to work within the Liberty of the Clink. The liberty lay outside the jurisdiction of the City of London, and as a consequence it became known for its brothels and theatres, as well as bull and bear baiting, activities not permitted within the City itself.

The age of the graveyard is unknown. John Stow (1525–1605) wrote of it in A Survey of London in 1598 calling it the "Single Woman's churchyard. By 1769, it had become a pauper's cemetery servicing the poor of St. Saviour's parish. Up to 15,000 people are believed to have been buried there.

Even in the hot sunny summer..(tongue in cheek)
there is a wall of ice in the middle of London..

Inside Ellis Brigham camping and mountianeering shop..right at the back. of the shop...on the corner of Southampton street. (by covent garden)

Its used for training ice wall climbers...Its cool man

Before the 17ft statue of Nelson was erected on top of the Trafalgar Square column in 1842, 14 members of the memorial committee who had commissioned the work held a dinner party on the 170ft-high plinth.

Aileen xxx

please add any interesting or little known facts.

Oddities in London.

The Royal Law Courts of Justice eight acres was originally 343 dwelling houses.they were errected in 1874- 1882 high up in the apex of the central hall facade are statues of three lawgivers. Christ. in the center flanked by two secular ones. Solomon and Alfred the Great. Moses is at the back of the building..

southwark Cathedral is on the site of St Mary Overy Church and became a Cathedral in 1905.it has associations with Shakespear.acted at the Globe theater nearby and his brother Edmund is buried here. there is also a chapel named after John Harvard who was born in the Parish in 1607 and was baptised in the church he was founder of Harvard University . nearby is a memorial and tomb of Lyonell Lockyer a Quack Doctor of the seventeenth century who died in 1672..


rita

If you lean over the embankment and look along the river you will see well below the parapet at regular intervals fixed into the stonework are lions' heads with mooring rings hanging from their mouths.

This was an early flood warning system before the Thames Barrier was built.

Every policeman whose beat took him along the embankment on either side was told to keep an eye on the lions' heads. If the water reached the heads flooding was a serious danger. Once the water reached the heads all Underground stations were to be closed and London was put on red alert.

At the South East corner of Trafalgar Square is a lock-up which is possibly the smallest prison in the world.

It looks like a fat lamppost but has a tiny door and window. There is just enough room for 2 people to stand upright inside.

It had, and still has, a direct telephone line to Scotland Yard.

The Lords Prayer in Latin is carved into a stonework plinth that encircles the Houses of Parliament.