Carolineld

LATEST ARTICLES ( 790 )

• 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

• Ghost Signs (114): Victorian Correspondence

  

  In neighbouring Glastonbury and Wells are two signs (one not strictly a ghost sign) which remind us of the days when letters were sent by post rather than email. Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Below the Water Line

  

  I've walked around locks, taken boat trips through them, but recently the Canal River Trust gave the opportunity to walk along the bottom of one. Happily, it... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Clay Pipes and Anti-slavery

  

  From the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, clay pipes were used somewhat as cigarettes are today: they offered a relatively inexpensive way of smoking, and... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2015 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Top Ten of 2014

  

  The final hours of 2014 are a good time to look back at my blogging year, so here are the ten most popular posts. First, the five most popular written this... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Tay Bridge Disaster

  

  This week marks the 135th anniversary of the Tay Bridge Disaster, which saw a train plunge into the River Tay during a storm on 28 December 1879. All those on... Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Poisonous Plants and a Modernist Masterpiece

  

  In the depths of midwinter, it's good to look back at the brighter days of summer. Courtesy of a visit during Open Gardens Weekend, let's wander round the... Read more

  Posted on 23 December 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Duchess of Deptford

  

  Hogarth's prints are full of detail, much of it significant to his eighteenth-century audience but obscure to the modern viewer. Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Murals in and Out: Camberwell Library and Bath House

  

  The Edwardian building housing Camberwell's former Passmore Edwards Library Bath House has two murals. The first is something of a local landmark, its tiles... Read more

  Posted on 13 December 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Please Adjust Your Dress

  

  While I don't actively plan my visits around the presence of Victorian cast-iron urinals, it's always a joy to come across them - at the National Railway Museum... Read more

  Posted on 29 November 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Crystal Palace in Paris

  

  The amazing Crystal Palace, star of the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park and later of Crystal Palace Park in Sydenham, was destroyed by a fire in 1936. Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Speaking Arms - the Chappe Telegraph

  

  In the eighteenth century, it took the best part of a week to get a message from Paris to the naval port of Brest and receive the reply. By 1800, it could be... Read more

  Posted on 08 November 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (113): Lewisham Paint

  

  This lovely ghost sign on Belmont Hill was uncovered earlier this year when a hoarding was removed - many thanks to Alan Burkitt-Gray for telling me about it. Read more

  Posted on 25 September 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• London Exploration, Large and Small

  

  If you want to explore London this weekend, there are some exciting options available. The biggest, of course, is the annual Open House weekend. Read more

  Posted on 18 September 2014 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY