Carolineld

LATEST ARTICLES ( 803 )

• Stationers' Hall

  

  The Stationers' Company is over 600 years old, but unlike many of the oldest livery companies such as the Drapers, its members are still largely active in the... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Let's Swim in the Thames!

  

  However hot the day, jumping into the river in central London is not currently recommended! (Even the moral rural stretches of the Thames can be risky... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (9): William Freer Lucas

  

  According to his obituary in the British Medical Journal, William Freer Lucas was just 23 years old and acting resident medical officer at the Middlesex Hospita... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Beyond Bedlam

  

  As Crossrail progresses, so does its archaeology programme. The dig at Liverpool Street has been featured in the news recently, thanks to its discovery of the... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (8): George Stephen Funnell

  

  George Funnell, a 33-year-old ex-soldier turned police constable, was on his beat in Hackney when he noticed a fire in the Elephant and Castle pub on Wick Road. Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (116): Ealing Broadway

  

  Although this old advertising sign is on the wall of a building in Ealing Broadway, it is not painted on brick but on tile. It has outlasted the furniture... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (7): Alfred Smith

  

  Police Constable Alfred Smith was killed during an air raid while evacuating a street in Finsbury and ensuring that women from a factory took cover. The date ma... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (6): the Silvertown Explosion

  

  On 19 January 1917 at 6.52pm, the Brunner Mond munitions factory explosion claimed the lives of 73 people in Silvertown, east London - the youngest only 4 month... Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (115): Rodboro Buildings, Guildford

  

  Now a Wetherspoons pub, the Rodboro Buildings in central Guildford wear the marks of their industrial past. The structure was built in 1900 as the Dennis... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (5): Alexander Stewart Brown

  

  Most of the events commemorated in the Watts Memorial involve working-class people living in poorer areas. Their deaths are often a result of dangerous work or... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (4): Tragedy in a Sewer

  

  Walter Digby was employed by East Ham District Council as a sewage worker. One of his daily jobs was to descend the sewer shaft in the pumping-station yard and... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Archaeological Find at Hampton Court Palace

  

  When a palace is 500 years old, and has undergone endless modernisations and remodelling, it's unsurprising that new work can lead to new discoveries. Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (3): Mary Rogers

  

  The twin-screw steamship Stella was operated by the London South Western Railway Company between Southampton, Jersey and Guernsey as an extension of its... Read more

  Posted on 15 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Drapers' Hall

  

  The Drapers' Company received its Royal Charter in 1364 and is third in the order of precedence of City Companies. Originally its hall was in St Swithin's... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Postman's Park (2): Alice Ayres

  

  Alice Ayres was employed as nursemaid to her sister Mary Ann or Martha Chandler's children; neighbours described her as a quiet, hard-working young woman. Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Chester Cathedral: Heat and Light

  

  Originally part of an abbey founded in the 11th century, Chester Cathedral is an unusual survivor: it avoided ruin in the Reformation when Henry VIII decided... Read more

  Posted on 04 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Return to Postman's Park

  

  Long-time readers of this blog may remember a series of posts looking at the stories behind each plaque on the Watts Memorial to heroic self-sacrifice in... Read more

  Posted on 01 March 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Cheeky Chip!

  

  I can never resist the dubious allure of freaky food models. Self-saucing hot dogs, I-scream cones, hungry heifers, daffy doughnuts and cannibalistic coffee... Read more

  Posted on 25 February 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Two Temple Place

  

  One of London's newer, and most extraordinary, art galleries deserves a visit as much for its building as for its exhibitions. Read more

  Posted on 21 February 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Resin, Rays and Restoration

  

  The Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich must be one of Britain's grandest dining rooms - and is certainly one of its greatest Baroque... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY