No.1 daughter had work to do so we were accompanied on our walking tour by Joe. We headed for Oxford Street. I would normally dread this as it is not my idea of fun trawling through the shops, that are just bigger versions of ones we have at home, with loads of other people, most of which don't seem to understand how to act in a crowd. But today we were starting the walk at the end of the street at Mable Arch.
Marble Arch is actually on a traffic island. However it did start life right in front of the centre of Buckingham Palace. It was designed by John Nash of Carrara Marble in 1827. It was moved, not because the state coach would not pass through, but because Queen Victoria had so many children and such a large court that Buckingham Palace had to be extended. The original two wings were infilled with rooms that form the front we know now, including 'the' balcony. It was moved in 1851 to the corner of Hyde Park. Park Lane was widened in the 1960's so from 1964 it has been stranded. There are three small rooms inside the arch that were used as a police station!
Stuck in the middle of a traffic island close to Marble Arch is the site of the Gallows at Tyburn. From 1196 to 1783 prisoners were executed here. Execution days were public holidays and up to 200,000 people could turn up. The relatives of the condemned would rush forward to pull on the legs once the cart had been driven away to hasten death. A permanent gallows was set up in 1571 and in 1649 24 were executed at the same time! It is estimated that about 50,000 went to meet their maker from here. When we see reports of the terrorists etc it reminds us that we are probably only separated from them by 4 or 500 hundred years!
From there we walked through Portman Square, part of the 110 acre Portman Estate that was given by Henry VIII to his Lord Chief Justice Portman in 1533. It turned out a good gift for his family. We passed Home House where the Courtald Institute of Art was housed until 1989 and where the 5th man of the Soviet spy ring, Anthony Blunt confessed. We were soon in Manchester Square and at Hertford House where the Wallace Collection is housed. It has free entrance to see the numerous treasures within. There are paintings by Titian, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Gainsborough, Velazquez and the 'Laughing Cavalier' by Hals. The rooms are beautifully decorated and there are rooms full of armour too. It is well worth a visit. The dining looked lovely. It is in the covered atrium and seemed to be calm and un-busy for a special meal or snack. It is now on our list of returns.
We were soon walking to Marylebone High Street that certainly had a feel of the old village with a good mix of shops. Octavia Hill, who we met on yesterday's walk, started her work just off the High Street buying houses in the slum there. Down Grotto Passage we came to the Ragged and Industrial School opened in 1846. These schools were for the very poorest folk around the slums of London and it is thought that around 300,000 children were educated in their schools.
We walked through the Garden of Rest that was where St Mary's was founded in 1400. This was how the area got the name, St Mary's was by the Tyburn Brook, or bourne! It was bombed in WWII. Francis Bacon, Charles Wesley the hymn writer and brother to Methodist John Wesley, Nelson, Lord Byron and William Hogarth are all associated with this church. Round the corner were these tiles and statue. The building has now been converted to a teaching are and theatre for Regent's University, London.
A little further on was St Marylebone church of 1817. It took over from St. Mary's as the older church had become too small. It is heavily associated with Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett as it is where they were married. She was an invalid and the when the writer Browning read some of her poetry he fell in love. Her father tried to block all his children from marrying. However the couple met and married in this church in secret and then she returned home until they fled to Italy a while later. There she wrote the immortal lines 'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love the to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.'
We wandered down the many mews that led of the roads that housed the horses and grooms of the big houses. We were soon on Wimpole and Harley Street. We walked over Portland Place that was laid out by the Adam Brothers and is supposed to be so wide because of a promise made to the owner of the house where the Langham Hotel is now, that his view of the countryside at the end of the road would not be blocked. The Langham Hotel above was built in 1860's and was very lavish even then. It was frequented by Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain when in Town, Napoleon III, Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward and Emperor Haile Selassie.
Just round the corner is the art deco Broadcasting House. As it was Sunday the courtyard was not in use, and I didn't see the characters of NW1 riding in on their folding bikes. It is all much smaller than you think and makes you realise that there are a lot of smoke and mirrors involved, and that is probably why TV is supposed to put pounds on you!
The Medical Society of London was founded in 1773 and moved here in 1871. Was I alone in not realising that there were more than one medical Society. It was the first that accepted all branches of medicine so that each could learn from the other. There were at one time 10 Societies and now I think there are 6, some of which meet at this place.
Just off Cavendish Square I saw this at the entrance to a grand house. There was one on either side of the door way. I was fascinated by the trumpet like item half way up. I thought it may be for snuffing out a burning torch but it doesn't really seem big enough to fit a torch in, unless they were much smaller than appear in films etc. there would be no need to snuff out candles as they could be just blown and if they were in a lamp they wouldn't fit. Has anybody any other explanation of it?
Just off Oxford Street are Brown Hart Gardens that are a quiet oasis away from the shopping bustle. It is a special place as the gardens are above a substation. When the current large house buildings were put up in the late 19th Century they all had a square with a small garden. in 1902 the Duke of Westminster leased the square to the electric company for a sub station. He insisted though that the garden was not lost and had to be added to it's roof. Over the years since WWII it became more and more derelict but has been recently improved and is a definite place to stop to get away from the rush of shopping. There is the glass walled cafe and plenty of benches etc.
http://londonunveiled.com/2013/11/07/brown-hart-gardens/
The very distinctive Grade II listed sub station and garden.
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