Our first port of call today was the Sir John Soane Museum.
The Soane Museum is found at the north side of Lincoln's Inn Field and is free to go round. I think there is a limit of 90 allowed in at a time as it is very cramped with exhibits etc. No photography is allowed inside but it is full of an architectural hodge podge. As and architect he was very interested in the Classical period and his most famous work, the Bank of England shows this. The house is full of statues and pices of buildings that show off design that he and his pupils could draw into their work. He first purchased No.12 to the left and then next door and finally just before his death No.14 too. He used the block to experiment on how to light interiors and other matters as well as being a place full of inspiration. He had two sons, but only one out lived him. He had to seek an Act of Parliament to leave the estate to the Nations, 'as largely unchanged as possible' as he didn't want his son George to inherit as he thought of him as a gambler and waster and knew that everything he had collected etc would be sold off. The collection has two series of Hogarth's paintings that are housed in a special small gallery that the walls open up to reveal more paintings behind. A clever use of space. They open the walls to see the Hogarths a few times a day and is well worth looking out for. They also do free tours of the private apartments above a few times a day and I would really recommend signing up for them as soon as you get there as they are also beautiful. The museum is well worth going but for we it was just too busy, not really in visitor numbers, although there were plenty there, but in the number of exhibits crammed into the very small space that runs around the house that is really unrecognisable behind all the items.
We were walking over to Soho to complete a book guided walk when we passed Freemason's Hall and saw that they had a free museum to look around. The building is very grand and we would have been silly not to take a peek inside, especially as it is the 300th Anniversary of Freemasonary. The museum is up stairs and just the staircase was worth going for. This chair was made for when the Prince of Wales was installed as the Grand Master. It is over 6' tall and could fit at least two bottoms I think,
This is one of the numerous lodge rooms in the building. The Master's chair is to the left and in front is the junior wardens chair. The senior Warden would sit on the opposite side of the rectangle to the Master. There are many ceremonies and symbols that are supposed to mean something in the many rituals that they perform that is supposed to reinforce the bonds between the members.
I loved this corridor as it just oozed oppulance despite it just being a corridor.
This is the museum proper and has much regalia and items from the past to the future. There is much to see and it is good that the Freemasons are making efforst to breakdown the idea that they are in some way a 'Secret Society'.
The Masons have had a place on Great Queen Street since 1775 and this is the third building on the site. It was built between 1927 and 1933 as a memorial to the 3225 Freemasons that lost their lives in WWI. It was originally called the Masonic Peace Memorial, but changed to Freemason's Hall on the outbreak of WWII. It is in the Art Deco style and the money to build it was raised by the Mason in a Million Memorial Fund. It is home to the Grand Lodge and Chapter and most of the lodges in Greater London and some of the Home Counties too.
Helen took this photo as we were waiting for the bus near our hotel. Despite BREXIT building seems to be going on apace and there seems to be as many cranes on the skyline as ever.
The next day we decided to go the Highgate and look round the cemeteries there as well as a walk form our book. The weather was lovely so it was very nice to walk around the east cemetery looking round. Before paying our £4 entry we went over to the Eastern Cemetery and booked on the walk round there as it is normally closed to the public. The cost of the walk included the entry to the west cemetry. The Cemetery was needed as by the 1830's the industrial revolution had brought about a huge increase in the population of the capital and this in turn had meant that London's graveyards had reached capacity too. An Act of Parliament was passed to allow private companies to set up on the outskirts of the city to take new burials. Highgate was one of seven companies that set up in competition. The broken column in this memorial is a symbol that often meant that the dead were taken young, but not in this case, as it represented the broken column of life.
Douglas Adams was of course the author of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. He was born in Cambridge but died in California, at the gym. (Who says fitness is good for you). His ashes were placed here. More modern memorials are much plainer than of old, but the addition of the pen pot certainly brings colour to the stone.
In the early 1970's the cremation of the dead became very popular and private cemeteries suffered a 'loss of trade' and most went bust. Highgate was just left and there was much vandalism. In 1975 the Friends of Highgate Cemetery were formed and by 1981 they had got the freehold of the east and west cemeteries. Their plan is to preserve them in a state of managed neglect and the atmosphere that is evoked around both sites is just right. As and when money becomes available they recover and restore tombs and areas, meanwhile the land does it's thing that just adds to the feel of the place.
As it was a money making idea plots at the front were more than at the back. The Victorians don't seem to have had a problem with walking over other graves as there are no paths between rows etc. There are around 170000 people buried here in 53000 graves. You may think that it would have a bit of a sinister feel to it but on a beautiful sunny day like today with the dappled shaded it just felt a great place for a walk, which is what folk did in the past. At it's peak there were around 30 burials a day. It must have been a real jam trying to get all the undertakers, hearses and horses let alone the mourners in and out in that time.
These vaults have recently been restored and when built were very expensive so were definitely the place to be buried. I think up to 6 people could be placed in the tombs.
Many of the tombs and memorials carried symbols that gave clues to the occupation of the occupant. This lion asleep on the grave of George Wombwell reveals that he was a Menagerist or circus owner who made a fortune from his travelling show.
This tomb of Thomas Sayers was the most visited one in the place at the time as Thomas was a bare knuckle fighter and is famous for his last fight that is thought of as the first world championship as he fought John Heenan of America. Bare knuckle fighting was illegal but a bling eye was turned. In fact the police chief was a spectator. Thomas was eight years older than Heenan, forty pound lighter and five inches shorter, plus his arm was damaged early on and he fought most of the match with one arm. He had managed to close Heenan's eye. The fight went on for over forty round and well over 2 hours in legth. Heenan then tried to finish the fight by strangling Sayers and the crowd went wild. In the end the police had to intervene and the fight was declared a draw. Thomas died a few years later partly through drink, but he was so well loved the street were lined with mourners for miles on the approach to the cemetery. Before his death he discovered that his wife had had several affairs so decided to have his very loyal dog 'Lion' by his grave as a permanent symbol of his snubbing his wife.
The girl showing us round told us that this memorial was her favourite in the cemetery and with the dappled light on it it certainly looked beautiful. The symbol of a sleeping angel is there for all to see and the stonework is beautiful.
A visit to both the east and west cemetery is well worth the trip, especially on a lovely sunny day like to day. I would certainly book the tour as well. On entry to the east cemetery you receive a plan that marks the more prominent people that are 'resting' there, so you can carry out a sort of people watching as you walk around the beautiful grounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment