Aldwych, Strand, Fleet Street, St Paul's Cathedral

We were living for some months in the UK when Gergő's parents came to visit us. We knew the 'classic' London yet so we showed it them: The River Thames, Big Ben and Parliament. Unfortunately, they were not able to walk too much so we got on the bus number 11 at Westminster stop. After Trafalgar Square we reached Strand then Fleet Street and I saw that it was an absolutely different area from others that I had known.

Firstly, let's start with Aldwych and The Strand, which are also special places. Walking next to the huge buildings you can feel that England was once a great empire.

We started our walks on The Strand Underpass. At the corner of Aldwych is the London School of Economics and Political Science. The High Comission of India and Australian Centre are also there. The former is in the Bush House which was the headquarter of BBC until 2012.

Bush House

Rich people had lived in Strand since the 12th Century. It was bishops's and courtiers's residence for centuries. Unfortunately, from the 17th Century, their mansions were demolished and new houses were built in their places.

However, one house looks like an old palace. Somerset House was demolished as well, but was rebuilt in 1775.

Entrance from Strand

Courtyard

When Henry VIII died in 1547, his son, Edward VI was too young for the throne. Therefore his ambitious uncle, Edward Seymour proclaimed himself "Lord Protector' and bestowed the title 'Duke of Somerset' himself. Because he believed that the wearer of these titles really deserved a palace, he immediately started to build his own one. He owned this area and demolished some churches and chapels for building materials, which was against the law at that time. Therefore, in 1549, he was imprisoned, but achieved to escape in a short time and continued the construction. In 1551 the palace was completed, but the Prince didn't enjoy it for a long time, because his rivals reached his execution in January 1552 for high treason.

The terrace of the palace

The building is currently owned by The Courtauld Institute of Art. There is a great collection of paintings in its museum: Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Gauguin, Cezanne, Gainsborough, Goya, Tiepolo, Rubens and Botticelli - so next time we will visit it!

The palace Thames's side

I think these very ugly figures are male sirens. According to Irish legends they had green hair - it matches after all :-)

I don't know who he might be, but he isn't pretty either... We didn't find anywhere though there are lots of images of the others reliefs. As the others are Roman gods, he is probably Sol, the god of Sun.

The Strand forks two times and both times due to a church. The closer is St Mary le Strand Church, the further is St Clement Danes which is at the end of The Strand.

St Mary le Strand Chruch and St Clement Danes

St Clement Danes is the Royal Air Force's church. At the left side of the church is situated one of the wings of The Royal Courts of Justice.

The Royal Courts of Justice in the background

Samuel Johnson's statue stands at the back of the church. According to the inscription, he was a critic and essayist, philologist, biographer, wit, poet and moralist, playwright, political writer and speaker. Oh, if I had just one job from this list... His dictionary played a major role in the development of modern English language. He was a tall and robust man who was known for his special gestures and tics. He probably suffered from Tourette syndrome.

There are some not politically correct definitions in his dictionary. For example the meaning of oat: 'a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but Scotland supports the people'. I think he was amused when he guessed the definition of 'dull': 'to make dictionaries is dull work'. Or 'lexicographer': 'A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.'

Samuel Johnson's statue

Where the two halves of The Strand unite again, stands The George pub. Originally, it was a coffee house in 1723, later was transformed to a hotel in 1830 but nowadays it is only a pub. It is supposedly haunted by a headless knight in its cellar, but he doesn't hurt anybody. The pub looks as if it would have been built in the 18th Century but it was only renovated in that style in the late 1890s. 

The George pub is at the left side

Further down on the right side of The Strand is the Twinings shop. In 1706, Thomas Twinings bought Tom's Coffee House. Soon, he changed it to tea and coffee shop and it has been working since then.

Twinings shop

The next house is owned by Lloyds Bank.

Lloyd's Bank

Originally it was built as a hotel in 1883, therefore it has a beautiful hall:

As far as they knew, they've hidden the ATM

Temple Bar is well seen from here. This is the place where The Strand and Fleet Street meet. It was originally the barrier between Westminster and the City from the late 17th Century until the late 19th Century and it regulated the trade. But it was an important symbol as well: the independence of City. The reigning monarch had to stop here when they wanted to step into the City. Then the mayor offered them the Sword of State (one of the royal insignias) as a token of his loyalty, and granted the freedom to enter to the monarch.
Originally Christopher Wren's arch stood here. It was very narrow so it was moved to Hertfordshire then not too long ago to the neighbourhood of Saint Paul's Cathedral. There is a dragon sculpture in its place.

Temple Bar

The statue of Queen Victoria on Temple Bar

The building of The Bank of England was built based on the plans of Sir John Soane in 1887. Previously two pubs stood in this place. Most part of the building was destroyed and rebuilt by Herbert Baker (another famous architect) between 1925 and 1939. According to another famous architect it was the biggest architectural crime of the 20th Century.

The lease contract of the bank has expired in 1975. After that, a construction company was hiring it. Its present tenant is Fuller's Brewery which transformed it to the elegant Old Bank of England pub. Unfortunately, it isn't open at weekends, so I don't know when we can visit it. 

Old Bank of England pub

These houses are beautiful, aren't they?

Street view

Walking further we noticed an interesting sign:

Sign on the building of Barclays Bank

But these are squirrels, not goslings :-) The solution is that Twining brothers founded the Goslings Bank in the 'Sign of Ye Three Squirrels' house in 1825. The bank merged with Barclays Bank in 1896.

Ye Old Cock Tavern stands a few doors down. Originally, its name was 'Ye Cock and Bottle'. It was built in 1549 and this is the narrowest public house in London. As a matter of fact, originally it wasn't here, but on the opposite side of the street: it was moved to its present location in 1887. In addition, a fire destroyed many of the 'original' decorations in 1990. They were reconstructed on the basis of photographs. Anyway, it looks old, which is the point.

Ye Old Cock Tavern

On the other side of the road, wedged between houses, is towering the building of St Dunstan in the West Church.

St Dunstan in the West Church

The newspaper publishers have moved away long time ago from Fleet Street, but I somehow still feel how it could have been in the golden age of journalism.

Dundee Courier's building

A little further there is the formal building of Daily Telegraph. Currently, it is owned by Goldman Sachs.

The formal building of  Daily Telegraph on the right

The name of Fleet Street was synonymous with journalism. Printers and publishers began to settle down here around 1500. Their clients were mainly lawyers of the four Inns of Courts. Then England's first daily newspaper - Daily Courant - was printed here in 1702.
I was a bit surprised that I hadn't learned in the university that its publisher was a woman: Elizabeth Mallet. Apparently, a woman having a business wasn't exceptional at that time.

The Daily Post was founded by Daniel Defoe in 1719. The Daily Universal Register which is now known as The Times, was first published in 1785. The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper appeared in 1791. Lots of more newspapers settled here between 1821-1930: Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Times, The People, Daily Express, Sunday Express, News of the World, Financial Times, Daily Mirror and Morning Star.

Newspapers and news agencies obviously attracted actors, artists and intellectuals: they were guests of many pubs and cafes in the area, including Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth, William Wordsworth and John Keats.

At the beginning of the 20th Century publishers had enormous power. They not only reported on the news, but also shaped them (the methods have been refined since then :-)). In the beginning of the 80s, conflicts between journalist, printers and publishers became rife. The former two groups did not want to switch to the new computer based techniques, and their discussions were related to working time as well. In 1986, 6,000 workers went on strike when Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul broke off their negotiations. They did not know that Murdoch had already built up a new printing office in one of the East London districts. The new technology was much faster and cheaper than the old one, and three years later each of the newspaper and news agency owners started to move from Fleet Street. The last 'grand old', the Reuters, left the street in 2005.

In spite of their move, journalists go back to ‘their church'. There is a narrow street, almost at the end of Fleet Street on the right side. Here rises St Bride's Church. The original building was probably the first church in London in the 6th Century. It was destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666, and was rebuilt on the basis of Christopher Wren's plans. Unfortunately, Germans had bombed almost the all during the Blitz: only the wedding cake-like tower survived it. Fortunately, it was rebuilt successfully. Traditionally, the church commemorates those journalists who currently died in war or killed by terrorist and there are commemorative services of famous newspaper owners, editors and journalists, too.  

St Bride's Church

Some pictures of Fleet Street:

Fleet Street ends by Farringdon Street. After the junction it is called Ludgate Hill. From here, you can see St Paul's Cathedral:

St Paul's Cathedral

On the left side of the cathedral is an arch which used to stand by Temple Bar.

The old gate of Temple Bar

Allegedly, there're still some spikes on it, executed heads were stick on there - next time I'll check it. As you are walking below it, you will reach Paternoster Square, one of my favourite places where the old and new are blending very nicely.

Paternoster Square

Then we went back to the cathedral, and walked into its churchyard garden where a tailless squirrel lives. Of course every tourist gives food for it.

Churchyard Garden of St Paul's Cathedral

From here, we cut through Cannon Street and walked along Peter's Hill which is a pedestrian street. It leads to the Millennium Bridge.

Millenium Bridge

On the other side of the Thames, in front of the bridge stands Tate Modern museum. There is no charge and there are really good, permanent and temporary exhibitions of modern art in it. 

Tate Modern

But if you just want to relax a bit, you can visit the cafe or a terrace - the view is pretty good!

View from one of the terraces of  Tate Modern

From there you can walk along the bank of the Thames, but we'll show that walk in another post. The pictures of this post are based on several walks. The walking distance - if you do not go into a pub or a church, just stroll - is at most 2 hours.

Temple and Lincoln's Inn

On this walk we visited London's legal districts.
Inns of Court are associations containing chambers of barristers. As far as I know, barristers are the highest ranked lawyers, and every barrister must be a member of one of the chambers.
Each of the Inns has library, dining and lodging facilities. In addition, there is a church or chapel. London has four Inns of Courts: Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Grey's Inn.



Though we could also have started from Temple station, now we got off at Blackfriars station.

The station is not far from The Black Friar Pub which is in 174 Queen Victoria Street.
Built around 1875, it has a very nice Art Deco interior. The statue of a black monk on the façade and the Black Friar name refer to the time when this part of the City was the property of Dominican monks whose monastery was hereabout.

On the other side of the street, you can see the Neoclassical and Art Deco building of Unilever House which looks to the River Thames. They started building it in 1929 and  became the main office of Unilever in 1930.

The bridge at the left, Unilever House at the right

We turned to Tudor Street, and started off toward the Temple Court which contains Inner Temple and Middle Temple Inns. 

Alsatia used to be the name of this area, which in the 15-17th Century, due to certain privileges had become haven for criminals. The authority had no right to take action here, so it was the most infamous quarter of London at that time. But it also gave refuge to Daniel Defoe in 1692, when he was wanted for some of his writings. Alsatia in 1697 had lost its this type of independence and later slowly consolidated.

Temple Avenue is the Inn's eastern border

Temple entrance from Tudor Street

The eastern entrance of the Temple can be accessed from Tudor Street
From the 12th Century until 1312 here stood the church of the Knights Templar (Temple Church) and its two halls. In 1312 the Templar order was disbanded, and their estates were confiscated, so the London one, which was given to the Knights of Saint John by the Pope. But Edward II did not accept this, and treated this area like his private estate. The Temple was divided into inside (Inner Temple) and external (Outer Temple) parts, and it formally became possession of England in 1324. The king appointed of one of his minions as head,who two years later were executed due to the influence of the queen. That same year, the king was deposed and brutally executed.in 1327.
Afterwards the Mayor of London became the owner, and in 1333 William de Langford minion of Edward III got a 10 years lease.
However, in 1337, the King leased the western part of the Inner Temple to a lawyer. Thereafter there was a sanctified and a profane (Middle Temple) area .
Once Henry VIII dissolved the religious orders, the lawyers remained there as tenants - and still are. The current lease contract's start date is 1608.

After entering we turned right and so reached Temple Church. The church featured in Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code', and since tourist interest has increased significantly.
We can see a column with a statue on the top in front of the church: two knights sharing a horse with each other which is a Templar symbol. Surprisingly, this statue has been here since 2000, and marks the place where the great Fire of London was stopped in 1666. So this is a counterpart of Sir Christopher Wren 's Monument (more about that another time), which towers on the starting point of the fire .

In front of the old, round part of Temple Chruch stands a column with an old templar symbol on the top; knights sharing a horse with each other

The church was built in the 12th Century by Templars. Originally, only the round part was built based on the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and later added the rectangular part of it.

View of the interior of the church from the old part. The famous effigies are on both sides.

Previously, the Templars had a smaller, also round-based church in Holborn, but from there they moved to the present location. The church was consecrated  in 1185 during the reign of Henry II by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. After the Great Fire of London it was renovated by Sir Christopher Wren and was added the organ as well.

Grotesque heads all over on the wall of the round part

'Memento Mori' symbol on the grave of Sir Edmund Plowden

Then we walked through beautiful yards and gardens to the Middle Temple, where the famous 16th Century Middle Temple Hall was built. A lot of interest fact is bound to this place, such as here was the first performance of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' in 1602. Probably here was where Robert Louis Stevenson - who was a member of the Middle Temple - found names for a well-known novel of him. It's thought so, because several coat of arms can be found on the famous window of the hall - the Chancellor's Window - , especially of important families' arms and two of them are of a certain Josephus Jekyll's, while another is Roburtus Hyde's...

Middle Temple Hall

The building is used for meetings and meals by the students of Middle Temple as usual. It had many famous residents: in addition to the already mentioned Stevenson, Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales, Sir Francis Drake, the 'pirate' of Queen Elizabeth I, Gandhi and Tony Blair.

The Middle Temple Hall from the garden side

The hall is between Middle Temple Lane in the East, which formerly led till the River Thames, and the Middle Temple Gardens in the West.

Middle Temple Lane from the Temple

Middle Temple Lane from the Thames

At the end of the courtyard of the Middle Temple Hall (Fountain Court) is a small fountain, which has inspired several writers, such as Dickens.

Fontain Court

From the fountain, facing the Thames we saw the Middle Temple Gardens, which might have been a garden during the time of the Templars, based on some sources.

Middle Temple Gardens

West from the Temple, near the River Thames is the Astor House, also known as Two Temple Place. We left the Middle Temple Gardens  through one of its west gate to take a look. Although it seems very old, in fact, it was built in 1895 as apartments and offices of Lord William Waldorf Astor. The exterior is early Elizabethan-style, while the interior invokes the French Renaissance. Currently it is owned by the Bulldog Trust Charity. Sometimes exhibitions are held in it, and then you can visit the house.

The model of Santa Maria on the roof of the Astor House

Columbus's ship the Santa Maria has been added to the roof to symbolize the Astor family's relation to America. Indeed, the builder's ancestor, John Jacob Astor was a businessman who founded one of the first major U.S. companies and he was the first American multi-millionaire as well.

From the Temple you can start off in several directions toward The Strand to the north, such as next to the Astor House in the cosy Milford Lane:

Millford Lane with the fence of the Astor House in the left

But if we stay on the temple, you can exit to the Devreaux Chambers, from where we got to the George Pub in The Strand.

Exit towards The Strand

George was launched in 1723 as a coffee house, transformed in 1830 to hotel, and later to pub.

The interior of the George

Its look seems to be from the 18th Century, though it was renovated in the late 1890s in that style. A headless knight is haunting supposedly in the basement, but doesn't hurt anyone.

On the other side, just opposite is the neo-Gothic building of the Royal Court of Justice. The building was inaugurated by Queen Victoria in 1882. This is the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

The Royal Court of Justice from the George

In The Strand at the eastern part of the building is the Temple Bar, which marks the official western boundary of the City. As the name implies, in the Middle Ages a barrier was here, and according to tradition, the King or Queen went through it only in the presence of the Lord Mayor.

The Temple Bar

Sir Christopher Wren's gate stood in this place in the 17-19th Century, but then, due to a road expansion it was demolished and rebuilt in a private estate in Hertfordshire in 1880. In 1984, the Temple Bar Trust repurchased it (for £1), and in 2003 they moved it next to St Paul's Cathedral so now it is the entrance of Paternoster Square.

Since 1880 there is a monument in the original site atop a dragon, which is the symbol of the City of London (see the picture above).

A little further to the east, The Strand continues as Fleet Street. The latter is Anna's big favourite, so she definitely will write about it once in another post. In our walk we did not follow it, but turned north instead to Chancery Lane and aimed Lincoln 's Inn.
Chancery Lane connects Fleet Street with High Holborn, and many interesting sites can be found here .
The Maughan Library is one of the main libraries of King's College (one of London's major universities). The 19th Century neo-gothic building was the Public Record Office until 2001, and then became the property of the University.

Maughan Library

The library was named after Sir Deryck Maughan and his wife Lady Maughan who supported the university with significant amount of money. The building was completed in 1851, designed by Sir James Pennethorne, but many alterations and additions had been made yet between 1868 and 1900. The building is grade II listed.

Roughly opposite the library is The Law Society. This is the organization of Solicitors who are lawyers also but do different things comparing with barristers.

The Hall of the Law Society

Also on Chancery Lane is located Ede & Ravenscroft's shop. The shop was founded in 1689 and  makes, sells and lends lawyers and judges formal suits since then.

The backdoor of the shop of Ede & Ravenscroft

From Chancery Lane we turned to Carey Street where the bankruptcy courts used to be. Weekdays you can go into Lincoln's Inn from this street - it was the entrance we chose that day.

Carey Street

Henry de Lacey, the earl of Lincoln donated this land to the law students in the early 14th Century. This time this area was still countryside with a pond in the middle and earlier a religious order owned it.
Thomas More was the most famous resident of this college, who became later an adviser of Henry VIII and then lord chancellor. He wrote 'Utopia', which describes the society he considered perfect. In his work kids only get crumbs, rest from the elderly; young people serve the elderly, and elderly have the responsibility to strictly punish even the slightest offense. The priest's duty is the education of children - who are owned by the Republic - to instil obedience into them and thus will play a big role in the maintenance of the state. The priests - since they have the less survival instinct - have, however, the finest women, so their offsprings are not stunted.
This is an interesting contradiction that utopia allowed the clerical marriage, and this was against the Catholic doctrine, but More opposed the divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine Aragon. As the Pope didn't allow the annulment, Henry assigned himself at the head of the English Church though had not yet completely broke with Rome. From this position he allowed himself a divorce and married Anne Boleyn. Morus resigned and didn't attend the wedding, which the king disliked. After the wedding, the Pope excommunicated Henry, who in response proclaimed himself the only head of the Church, and expected all his subjects to attest to him. As Morus refused it because he thought that lay person could not be the head of the Church, Henry imprisoned him and after his further oppositions Morus was beheaded.

The statue of Thomas More in Carey Street, close to the  Lincoln's Inn

This Inn is much more transparent, less labyrinthine than the Temple courts. First, we set off towards the Chapel and the Old Hall.

Lincoln's Inn Chapel and the Old Hall

Lincoln's Inn Chapel was built around 1620. Many mother left their babies alone at the imposing, arched undercroft beneath, to be raised by the Inn. These children were often given the first name Lincoln.

The interior of the chapel

The arches of the undercroft, under the chapel

The later built Great Hall and the library are located in the western part of the Inn. The Great Hall's role is the same as for the Middle Temple Hall, ie meals and gatherings, but concerts are held here either.

The library of the Lincoln's Inn

Over the library is the western entrance of the Inn from Lincoln's Inn Fields, which is London's largest square.

The entrance of Lincoln's Inn from Lincoln's Inn Fields

They started building the first houses in 1638 in Lincoln's Inn Fields; earlier they used this area for knightly sports and tournaments, but also for executions. Here, for example were quartered and hanged 14 members of the Catholic Babington plot against Elizabeth I in 1586 as well.

In the garden of Lincoln's Inn Fields

South-East corner of the square

The only remaining original building  can be seen on the western side of the square: Lindsey House (59-60). In the 18th Century, after the area began to deteriorate, the residents got permission to close the square, so it could start improving slowly.

Lindsay House at the right

The most famous houses are on the north side of the square, the buildings of Sir John Soane Museum (No12,13,14). Sir John, who though was a son of a simple mason, became a famous architect, designed the house himself, which became a museum after his death. We saw his mausoleum in another walk of ours.

Sir John Soane Museum

Since Sir John was a collector, he accumulated an incredible amount of artefacts in his house. The museum is not a traditional one, because it's terribly crowded. It's free to visitors, but unfortunately taking photos is not allowed. 

After visiting the museum, we walked northward to High Holborn and from there we went to the Cittie of Yorke, which we have previously mentioned. 

The Grey's Inn would be relatively easy to access from there, but we will present it another occasion. 

The Inns of Courts are worth visiting on weekdays, as they are not completely opened on weekends; in addition it is rather extinct that days, and so provides a completely different impression.