London Remembers

Lionel Logue

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:44:50 +0000

City of Westminster
Lionel Logue, C.V.O., 1880 - 1953, speech therapist to King George VI, practised here, 1926 - 1952.

George VI statue

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:42:50 +0000

{On the plinth:}
George VI
{On the base of the statue:}
W. McMillan 1954

Christ Church Hall

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:31:40 +0000

Christ Church Hall
Built in 1719 as a French Hugeonot church it stood back from the road behind a paved, tree-planted, courtyard in which there was a pump. In 1740 La Patente church moved into the building. Their plaque of the royal arms, signifying the patent granted by James II, is still mounted in the hall. The Three Crown Court church in Wheler {sic} Street then joined La Patente and by the 1760's the congregation was noted for being large and prosperous. During this time John Wesley preached here. In 1787 it became a German Lutheran church, the Baptists then moved into the building and renamed it Jireh Chapel and during the period that it was occupied by the United Free Methodists. Charles Dickens used the building for public readings of his works. In 1864, the building was extended to cover the courtyard and the original stone facade was destroyed. Christ Church bought the building in 1887 and it was converted for use as their church hall. The building was used by the matchstick girls to hold their strike meetings in 1888 organised by Annie Besant and Eleanor Marx-Aveling (Karl Marx's daughter). These led to the establishment of the British Trade Unions. As Christ Church Hall it has, in many ways, served the needs of the church and community in Spitalfields over the past century.

Ghost bike for Eilidh Cairns

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:35:54 +0000

25 South Street

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:23:49 +0000

25 {the houe number}

{Are the 2 girls pushing the two bearded men with strange headgear down to hell, to join the one already there? Why is another girl straddling the “25” spacehopper? And the 4 monkeys?}

Phiz

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:20:29 +0000

Hablot Knight Browne alias 'Phiz', 1815 - 1882, illustrator of Dickens's novels lived here 1874 - 1880.
English Heritage

Dickens bust - SW1

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:51:14 +0000

Chaucer bust - SW1

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:51:14 +0000

Marshalsea 5 - stone - at gates

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:21:29 +0000

Both the Surrey County and Marshalsea Prisons had a long, thin site running towards the present Tennis Street.

This site had been occupied by The Surrey County or White Lion Prison until 1799.

Marshalsea 4 - stone - spiral

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:21:29 +0000

But whosoever goes into Marshalsea Place ... will find his feet on the very paving-stones of the extinct Marshalsea jail ... and will stand among the crowding ghosts of many miserable years.

Marshalsea 3 - stone - Little Dorrit

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:21:29 +0000

The heroine of Dickens' novel Little Dorrit was one resident who was not a prison.

Marshalsea 1 - stone - round

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:21:29 +0000

Melancholy streets, in a penitential garb of soot, steeped the souls of the people who were condemned to look at them out of windows, in dire despondency.

Marshalsea 2 - steel

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:21:28 +0000

Angel Place
This alleyway lies on the site of the old Marshalsea Prison where the author Charles Dickens' father was incarcerated, and which featured strongly in his great book 'Little Dorrit.' The old prison wall still stands.
Thanks to an active local steering group, we now have new lighting, paving, and a new gateway to St George's Gardens. The wall mounted artworks adapt the original illustrations from Little Dorrit. The themes of wealth and poverty, freedom and imprisonment, which run throughout the book, are visually explored. Children from the local St Joseph's and Cathedral schools collaborated on the project and appear in the scenes along with their drawings. This project was completed and opened on 24th September 2004, and was funded by Southwark Council to make the area safer and easier to use.

Bankside Open Spaces Trust, Art in the Park, Southwark Council

Marshalsea Prison - garden

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:30:13 +0000

Marshalsea Prison
Beyond this old wall is the site of the old Marshalsea Prison, closed in 1842. This sign is attached to a remnant of the prison wall. Charles Dickens, whose father had been imprisoned here for debt in 1824, used that experience as the Marshalsea setting for his novel Little Dorrit.
Historic Southwark

St Olave's Church

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:49:00 +0000

St Olave's Church
Forward! Christ - Men. Cross - Men.
"Our own church" - Samuel Pepys, who came through this gate from the Navy Office and his home in Seething Lane to worship here.
"My best beloved churchyard, the churchyard of St Ghastly Grim" - Charles Dickens, 'The Uncommercial Traveller'.

From the burial register:
1586 Sept. 14th Mother Goose
1665 (the Great Plague) 365 names
1703 June 4th Samuel Pepys Esq. buried in a vault under ye communion table.

First Blackfriars Station

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:39:52 +0000

SER Blackfriars Station
This is the entrance to the former Blackfriars Station. Commenced by the Charing Cross Railway Co. on its line from London Bridge to Charing Cross, it was taken over by the South Eastern Railway Co. before opening in January 1864. Closure came five years later when the South Eastern Railway opened its Waterloo Station (now Waterloo East).

The glazed brick bridge abutments show evidence of bomb damage from the Blitz of 1940 and a V2 rocket in December 1944. Buildings in the surrounding area were damaged beyond repair, including The Ring boxing arena, formerly the Surrey Chapel, on the site of 197 Blackfriars Road.

Restoration of the bridge and station entrance in 2005 was funded by Blackfriars Investment and Royal London, Cross River Partnership, Network Rail, Railway Heritage Trust and Southwark Council.
{The emblem is that of the SER.}

South Bank mosaic - Daley Thompson

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:39:26 +0000

Daley Thompson

South Bank mosaic - Lilian Baylis

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:39:26 +0000

Lilian Baylis

Sylvia Richardson 2007

South Bank mosaic - Ernie Izzard

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:39:26 +0000

Ernie Izzard

George Lookwood AKA Slim of Peckham

South Bank mosaic - Vivien Leigh

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:39:26 +0000

Vivien Leigh

Zahir '07