Carolineld

LATEST ARTICLES ( 787 )

• Aux Belles Poules, Paris

  

  In England, prostitution has for centuries occupied a strange position in law: it is legal, but most surrounding activities are not. Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators

  

  Five men were executed, 200 years ago today, for their part in the Cato Street Conspiracy. This plot to kill the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, as the first... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Secret Moorgate Station

  

  A Sunday just before lockdown began: even the public areas were quiet!A busy station in the heart of the City of London, with tube and railway lines, is hardly ... Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Deptford Sewage Pumping Station

  

  Now known as Greenwich Pumping Station, this site just to the east of Deptford Creek has long fascinated me. For many years, this meant peering through the fenc... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• United Nations in London

  

  It's not all that well-known, but the United Nations has one organisation whose headquarters are in London: the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Behind the Scenes in Westminster Cathedral

  

  Westminster Cathedral, the distinctive neo-Byzantine building near Victoria Station, is a striking landmark. It has welcomed worshippers and tourists since the... Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Purfleet Magazine

  

  On the margins of London, on the edge of Rainham Marshes, and on the banks of the Thames, is the Essex town of Purfleet. Its residents are probably right to fee... Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Dinan

  

  Just because you can never have too many pictures of beautiful Dinan. This town in Brittany, built on a hillside above the Rance river, has buildings from... Read more

  Posted on 29 February 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• London Scales, York Merchants

  

  In York's Merchant Adventurers' Hall is a fine pair of scales, dated 1790. As well as the year, they also have the maker's details: De Grave London fecit [De... Read more

  Posted on 22 February 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (140): Portsea Ghost

  

  Above Demon Dave's barber in Bishop Street, Portsmouth are the faded remnants of a ghost sign. Having been painted over, it's difficult to decipher. However,... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Lincoln's Inn: No Broken Windows

  

  Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court. These Inns are both professional bodies to which all barristers in England in Wales belong, and physical places... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (139): Chester, Platform 3

  

  This ghost sign is an intriguing fragment, visible between the posters on platform 3 of Chester railway station. It seems to have directed passengers to ...... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Cap Frehel in Winter

  

  One of the finest places in Brittany is Cap Frehel, a peninsula on the Emerald Coast. The rugged coastline is watched over by two lighthouses and protected by... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2020 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Deptford Ragged School Archive

  

  Deptford Ragged School was founded 175 years ago, changed its name to the Princess Louise Institute over a century ago, and still survives as the Deptford Ragge... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2019 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Fake London Facts

  

  There is only one street in Britain where you drive on the right. It's Savoy Court, the short and taxi-filled road from Strand to the front door of the Savoy... Read more

  Posted on 12 December 2019 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Election 1888: Scawen Blunt in Deptford

  As Britain again votes in a general election, we revisit a story from Deptford's 1888 by-election.When decorator Samuel Newson was prosecuted for impersonating ... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2019 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• On Top of York Minster

  

  York's gothic cathedral is the most famous, and visible, of the city's buildings thanks to its vast size and three towers. While the current building dates... Read more

  Posted on 10 December 2019 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Memorials to William Huskisson, Liverpool MP

  

  Imagine having a successful political career, including spells as a cabinet minister and Leader of the House of Commons, yet only being remembered nearly two... Read more

  Posted on 09 December 2019 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (138): Gravesend Ghosts

  

  Two very diferent shop signs survive in Gravesend, neither ghost signs in the strict sense. Rather than being painted, one is tiled and the other a faint trace... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2019 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY

• Ghost Signs (137): The Grave Maurice

  

  Engraved letters are all that mark a once-famous East End pub, the Grave Maurice. Established in 1723, it was - as the sign says - rebuilt in 1874. Read more

  Posted on 07 December 2019 CULTURE, DESTINATIONS, HISTORY