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LATEST ARTICLES ( 803 )

• Ghost Signs (85): Subscription News Room

  

  At the top of Saddler Street, Durham, near the castle, is an early nineteenth-century building. Above its door is a painted sign: Subscription News Room. Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Tea, Fish and Finance

  

  The sinuous ceramic fish I shared a few days ago is just one of the decorative features in the lobby of Lloyd's Bank, Law Court Branch. Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Margate Ghosts

  

  Right outside the railway station is a good, if faded, sign for Dominion Motor Spirits. Like many signs, it partly owes its survival to the newer advertising... Read more

  Posted on 19 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Kew Gardens, Culture and Empire

  

  In 1910, a Japanese-British Exhibition was held in White City. Among its attractions was a large and elaborate gateway, a four-fifths size replica of the Gate o... Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Thomas Myddelton, Lord Mayor of London

  

  Today, Sir Thomas Myddelton (c1550-1631) is pretty much forgotten in favour of his younger brother Hugh of New River fame. However, Thomas was pretty important... Read more

  Posted on 14 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Boy and Serpent, Weston-super-Mare

  

  I'm very fond of cast-iron fountains, and Weston-super-Mare has a lovely example on the sea front. It has been in place since 1913, and was recently restored... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Conservation up Close

  

  The Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich is one of Britain's baroque masterpieces. It has also spent the last three centuries as a tourist... Read more

  Posted on 10 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Sunlight

  

  Although you can no longer wash your clothes here, the enamel sign for the Sunlight Laundry still brightens up Pimlico Road. The company was founded in 1900, an... Read more

  Posted on 07 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Scooby Kew!

  

  Scooby Doo appears to have visited Kew Gardens!He is actually one of the Queen's Beasts, ten heraldic animals representing the genealogy of Elizabeth II. Read more

  Posted on 05 March 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• From Ladywell to Travancore

  

  Ladywell may be a local cemetery, but many of its gravestones have international links. Among these is the memorial to Augusta Mary Blandford, who died aged 71... Read more

  Posted on 28 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ladywell Cemetery, Motor Buses and 'the Black Death'

  

  As London's churchyards became dangerously overcrowded in the nineteenth century, new facilities had to be established outside the city centre. The most famous... Read more

  Posted on 26 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Hawksmoor, the Underground and Amazing Grace

  

  We should be grateful to the engineers of Victorian London that St Mary Woolnoth still stands. The church is directly above Bank station, so any mistake in thei... Read more

  Posted on 24 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Cambridge's Mission to Ilderton Road

  

  A church on Ilderton Road, Bermondsey is a reminder that Victorian missionaries did not always work overseas. Many public schools and Oxbridge colleges ran... Read more

  Posted on 22 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Deptford Slipper Baths

  

  Almost in the shadow of Millwall Football Club's stadium, the building now looks a little awkward and isolated. However, a carved sign above the door reveals it... Read more

  Posted on 20 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Buvez Cacolac

  

  When I visited the Breton village of Guenroc, I was really there for its distinctive carved chimneys. However, I also found an old sign, rusted and half-obscure... Read more

  Posted on 17 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Unusual London Places

  

  Over the years, I've shared my visits to all sorts of London places - so it seemed a good idea to bring them together and make them easier to explore. Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• St Mary Aldermary

  

  One of the numerous City of London churches, St Mary has two outstanding features. The first is its slender, elegant tower which caught my eye as I walked... Read more

  Posted on 12 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Firepower

  

  The Royal Artillery Museum dates back to 1820, and the regiment's connections with Woolwich go back further still. Now known as Firepower, the museum is... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• St Paul's Cathedral Library

  

  'Of making many books there is no end' (Ecclesiastes 12:12)Imagine your dream library. If it has wooden bookcases, a gallery, a fireplace, random busts for... Read more

  Posted on 08 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• St Paul's Cathedral Geometric Staircase

  

  Officially known as the Dean's Staircase, the broad spiral gained its 'geometric' nickname thanks to its extraordinary character. Read more

  Posted on 06 February 2013 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY