Do gooders and docks.

After our visit to the Highgate cemeteries we did some of another walk around the area.

The land in the area below Highgate Hill had belonged to Angela Burdett-Coutts of the banking family. Angela new the great and the good of the times, The Duke of wellington, Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens dedicated 'Martin Chuzzlewit' to her. She and her husband used their wealth in very philanthropic ways. Part of this land held the Lady Workers' Homes Co. that provided homes for single girls as secretaries and clerks etc. After her death her husband sold the land and the Holly Lodge Estate sprang up in the 1920's. I have never seen mock Tudor apartments before. The roads are gated and it seems to be quite a nice spot to live.

Further down the hill is Holly Village that was built in the 1860's with 8 houses round a green and was probably built for the elderly and retired estate workers to live in, once again by Angela Burdett-Coutts. It is now a private residence. Apparently the statue you can see is of Mrs Burdett-Coutts. On the other side of the arch is her companion Hannah Brown.

This is just part of the Neo-Gothic detail on the building.

The Alexandra Trust Dining Rooms were built in 1898 just north of Old Street near our hotel. It was from an idea from the Royal Family but the majority of the money was put up by Thomas Lipton the tea Merchant. He thought that good meals could be provided commercial for much less than the normal price by 'up scaling'. In fact the kitchens were on the top, fourth floor and below were three large dining halls where 500 could sit down at a time in each one and be served by 100 waitresses in smart uniforms. They could serve 12000 meals a day. For 1/2d you got a cup, of tea or coffee, soup or porridge, slice of bread and butter with jam or marmalade, piece of cake pastry or pudding and veg and pickle. For 41/2d you could have a full three course meal with all the trimmings. At this time a labourer may have been earning about 14s.

Another building of note close to our hotel is the Leysian Mission. It was built between 1903 and 1906 and rstored following WWII in 1953. It was set up by past pupils of the Methodist Leys School in Cambridge who were very concerned about the welfare of the poor in London. The Mission was built not far from Wesley's Chapel just round the corner and provided medical facilities, services of a lawyer, a relief committe and feeding programmes as well as clubs and meetings for men and women and musical training. After WWII and the Health service it was sold off and the building is now apartments and shops in a very grand building.

The next day we decided to return to our nautical theme and St. Katherine's Dock. There is an elephant statue on each of the pillars of the gate into the Ivory Dock and they give you a clue as to why the name. Ivory, including mammoth tusks, and other rare and valuable items were brought here.

After leaving the dock down Wapping High Street you come to a lovely quiet garden area called the Hermitage Riverside Memorial Garden and it is dedicated to the civilians lost in East London during the World Wars. The dove frames today.s picture of the Shard

These are dock officials homes that were once at the entrance to the lock into Wapping Basin. There was another Basin at Hermitage as well as at Shadwell. These were like half tide basins leading into the main London docks that were built a little further inland in 1805. I wonder how much the building is worth today. It has a great view of the river and is in a nice peaceful spot too.

This was the School of St Johns Church. As you can see the school was built in 1760 four years after the church was erected. All that remains of the church is the tower. The rest was destroyed in the blitz. There were plans to pull that down after the wr but the locals protested and it has been preserved tacked on to a development of apartments that blend in quite well.

This was the wall that was built round the Tobacco Dock. The dock was built in 1812 to receive tobacco spirits and wine and the like. They made sure there would be little pilfering with walls like this.

The main gate is adorned with a sculpture of the barrels and boar's heads  to mark the use of the dock. Animal pelts was another of the rich commodities that were stored here. The Grade 1 warehousing in the Dock are the only major piece of the London Docks that have been preserved since their closure in 1971.

The warehouses themselves are struggling to find a use, but there are some shops opening up. This is a view from the entrance to the Tobacco Dock where you can see the wine vaults. You can see a statue of a bear to the left and just to the right is part of a boy and a tiger. These celebrate the fact that near to this site was Jamrach's animal emporium, a competitor to Wombwell's Menagerie whose tomb we saw in yesterdays post. Seaman would arrive in the docks with all sorts of animals bought on their travels and sell them to him.

Just by Tobacco Dock is the church of St. George in the East that is only one of six churches built by W£ren's pupil Nicholas Hawksmoor. The tower is 160 and was designed so the clock could be seen from the river. It was burned out during WWII but the exterior was saved and the interior has been rebuilt to a modern design.

I thought I would close this blog with something maybe a little more worthy than usual. Just back downtowrds the river is Raine's Charity School. Like the St John's School there are figures of period boys and girls above the entrance, and between them is this quote from when the school was erected in 1719. An early form of 'mission statement' I think.