London Walk 3: Waterloo to Charing Cross via Lincoln's Inn Fields
Leave Waterloo Station by main entrance
1 Waterloo Station
* Britain's busiest station originally opened in 1840.
* Station was very chaotic until rebuilding in early 20th century when 24 platforms were put under one roof. Finally completed in 1922 when the victory arch and war memorial were opened by Queen Mary.
* In Jerome K Jerome's 1889 comic novel, Three Men in a Boat, the protagonists spend some time in the station, trying to find their train to Kingston upon Thames. After being given contradictory information by every railway employee they speak to, they eventually bribe a train driver to take his train to their destination:
We got to Waterloo at eleven, and asked where the eleven-five started from. Of course nobody knew; nobody at Waterloo ever does know where a train is going to start from, or where a train when it does start is going to, or anything about it. The porter who took our things thought it would go from number two platform, while another porter, with whom he discussed the question, had heard a rumour that it would go from number one. The station-master, on the other hand, was convinced it would start from the local.
* The London Necropolis Company ran a daily one-way funeral train to Brookwood cemetery from 1854 until 1941 when the station received a direct hit.
* With just under 100 million passenger entries and exits between April 2013 and March 2014, Waterloo is Britain's busiest railway station by passenger usage.[9] The Waterloo complex is the 15th busiest passenger terminal in Europe,[10] and the 91st busiest railway station in the world.
* Eurostar platforms opened in 1994 but closed in 2007 when trains transferred to St Pancras.
* L&SWR War Memorial in entrance
2 Walk down to Royal Festival Hall terrace.
This was the site of the Festival of Britain held in the summer of 1951 to provide entertainment and education for post-war Britons across the nation.
* Construction of the South Bank site opened up a new public space, including a riverside walkway, where previously there had been warehouses and working-class housing. The layout of the South Bank site was intended to showcase the principles of urban design that would feature in the post- war rebuilding of London and the creation of the new towns. These included multiple levels of buildings, elevated walkways and avoidance of a street grid. Most of the South Bank buildings were International Modernist in style, little seen in Britain before the war.
* The Festival became associated with the post-war Labour government of Clement Attlee and the South Bank Exhibition site (with the exception of the Royal Festival Hall) was rapidly demolished by the incoming Conservative administration of Sir Winston Churchill.
3 Cross over to east side of Waterloo Bridge
The first bridge was built in 1811-17 designed by the famed engineer John Rennie. It was opened on the second anniversary of the victory at The Battle of Waterloo, for a private firm who charged tolls to cross. The bridge was taken into public ownership in 1877.
Following damage to the two northern piers particularly in 1923, a temporary bridge was built alongside. Eventually the bridge had to be demolished in 1936. Its replacement was started in 1937 and completed in 1942; the new bridge was built to the designs of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
Ladies’ Bridge – As the bridge was completed during the Second World War the work force was eventually predominantly female and the bridge was known as the Ladies’ Bridge. Little documentary evidence exists to prove this but people with memories of this are being discovered, not least the daughter of the owner of the firm who built the bridge, who visited it during the course of construction.
Artistic Inspiration -There have been three films called Waterloo Bridge, a poem about the end of a relationship by Wendy Cope which became a song by Jools Holland and of course Ray Davies’ Waterloo Sunset.
Garden Bridge – there are plans to build a bridge between Temple Gardens and the South Bank. It will be a pedestrian bridge, planted with trees, bushes and flowers. It is controversial because of the public funding involved, the loss of the classic view of the City and the building work that will be required North and South of the River.
Turn right at Strand and go into Somerset House
4 The first Somerset House was built as the London home of the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour the Duke of Somerset and uncle of Edward VI.
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d.1522), obtained a grant of land at "Chester Place, outside Temple Bar, London" from his brother-in-law King Henry VIII. When his nephew the boy-king Edward VI came to the throne in 1547, Seymour became Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector. In about 1549 he pulled down an old Inn of Chancery and other houses, a church, used stones from demolished monastic buildings.
Two storey house built around a quadrangle with a gateway rising to three stories.
Seymour fell out of favour and was executed in 1552 with Somerset Place becoming Crown property. Before becoming queen Elizabeth lived here.
In the 17th century, the house was used as a residence by queens consort. During the reign of King James I, the building became the London residence of his wife, Anne of Denmark, and was renamed Denmark House. Then Henrietta Maria of France, wife of King Charles I,
Royal occupation of Somerset House was interrupted by the English Civil War. Part of it served as an Army headquarters, General Fairfax (the Parliamentary Commander-in-Chief) being given official quarters there; lodgings were also provided for certain other Parliamentary notables. It was in Somerset House that Oliver Cromwell's body lay in state after his death in 1658. This was not well- received by the populace. With the Restoration, Queen Henrietta Maria returned and in 1661 began a considerable programme of rebuilding, the main feature of which was a magnificent new river front. After she left in 1665 it was then used as an occasional residence by Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II.
Somerset House gradually went into a state of decline and during the 18th century and the building ceased its royal associations. Old Somerset House began to be demolished in 1775.
During the 18th century there had been growing criticism that London had no great public buildings. Government departments and the learned societies were huddled away in small old buildings all over the city.
In 1775 Parliament passed an Act for the purpose of, inter alia, "erecting and establishing Publick Offices in Somerset House, and for embanking Parts of the River Thames lying within the bounds of the Manor of Savoy". The list of "Publick Offices" mentioned in the Act comprised "The Salt Office, The Stamp Office, The Tax Office, The Navy Office, The Navy Victualling Office, The Publick Lottery Office, The Hawkers and Pedlar Office, The Hackney Coach Office, The Surveyor General of the Crown Lands Office, The Auditors of the Imprest Office, The Pipe Office, The Office of the Duchy of Lancaster, The Office of the Duchy of Cornwall, The Office of Ordnance, The King's Bargemaster's House, The King's Bargehouses".
Sir William Chambers, Surveyor-General of Works was appointed at a salary of £2,000 p.a. to design and build the new Somerset House. He spent the last two decades of his life, beginning in 1775, in several phases of building at the present Somerset House.
Chambers died in 1796; most of the building was completed after Chambers' death by James Wyatt.
The building housed various learned societies, including the Royal Academy, which Chambers was instrumental in founding, and the Royal Society and Society of Antiquaries (the RA had been among the last tenants of the previous building). The University of London also had accommodation there and the learned Societies retained a presence in the building until the 1870s.
Government use
The main government department in the early days was the Admiralty, leading to the legend that Nelson worked in the building for a time
Other departments in Somerset House during the first half of the 19th century were the Poor Law Commissioners and the Tithe Commissioners; in 1837 the Registrar General of Births, Marriages and Deaths set up his office in the North Wing, establishing a connection that lasted for almost 150 years. This office held all Birth, Marriage and Death certificates in England and Wales; indexes to these are now at The National Archives. From its foundation in 1837 the Government School of Design, which was much later to become the Royal College of Art, was housed in the complex, until in 1853 the Registry needed to expand its space.
HMRC previously occupied the East, West and New Wings of Somerset House until early 2009 when almost all staff relocated with most moving across the street to Bush House. In 2004 it was proposed that the newly proposed Supreme Court of the United Kingdom be housed in the New Wing because of its proximity to the legal quarter nearby, the Royal Courts of Justice and Inns of Court; however, a decision was made to use Middlesex Guildhall instead.
The West Wing of the House is home to the Representative of Anguilla, the diplomatic mission of the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla.[6] Courtauld Institute of Art, including the Courtauld Gallery, which has an important collection of old master and impressionist paintings
In the winter the central courtyard is home to a popular open air ice rink,
The central courtyard also hosts ‘live’ concerts, film screenings and is used for film locations
Leave Somerset House by south entrance turn left and walk past Kings College University
5 King's College London was founded in 1828-9 by a group of eminent politicians, churchmen and others. They wanted a Church of England alternative to what later became University College London (UCL, founded in 1826), known as 'the godless college in Gower Street'. King's was granted a royal charter by King George IV on 14 August 1829. Governors and Professors had to be members of the church but not the students. * The Duke of Wellington, victor of the Battle of Waterloo and Prime Minister, chaired the public meeting which launched King's on 21 June 1828. Early in 1829 the Earl of Winchilsea publicly challenged Wellington about his simultaneous support for the Anglican King's College and the Roman Catholic Relief Act. The result was a duel in Battersea Fields on 21 March. Shots were fired but no-one was hurt.
* Famous alumni included Lord Lister, Keats, Florence Nightingale and Desmond Tutu.
* Kings College has been at the forefront of DNA research for 30 years.
Walk up to Strand and turn right.
6 St Mary le Strand
First church was established here in 1147 and was dedicated to the Nativity of Our Lady and the Innocents. It was demolished in 1549 to make way for the first Somerset House with the promise of a replacement church which did not arrive until 1714. It was designed by James Gibb who was the architect of St Martin’s in the Field
Given its position it was often under the threat of demolition and indeed is need of constant repair given the volume of traffic passing by, passage of time, weather and the blast of a Second World War bomb. It escaped demolition which it escaped but the bodies in the churchyard were removed to Brookwood [Necropolis Railway]. Look for the vault markings.
On a more uplifting note it was in here in 1809 that Elizabeth Barrow married John Dickens a clerk in the Navy Pay Office.
The church is the church of the Women’s Royal Naval Service and has been since 1982. Not designed by Wren but Home to the Wrens.
Turn right again into Surrey St
7 Closed Aldwych Piccadilly tube station
* Opened in 1907 as Strand station but re-named Aldwych in to avoid confusion with the Bakerloo station at Charing Cross with the same name.
* It ran as a little-used shuttle train service from Holborn and closed in 1994
* Served as an air raid shelter and store for important artworks during the war and has been regularly used for filming. Allegedly haunted.
Turn right into Strand Lane
8 Strand ‘Roman’ Bath
We will now visit a bath that is not all that it purports to be. In various books and writing such as Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield’ this is referred to as a Roman Bath. There is no evidence that it was a roman bath. There are various suggestions as to its origins and purpose but there is no reliable evidence as to the whys and wherefores of this bath. The only certainty is that it is fed by a natural spring.
The baths remained open to the public at the end of the 19th century
Walk down to Temple Gardens
9 Cabbies' Shelter.
Created between 1875 and 1914, sixty of these structures were built by the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund established by the Earl of Shaftesbury to enable cabbies to get a meal without leaving their cabs unattended and were no larger than a horse and cart so they might stand upon the public highway.
Today, only thirteen remain but all are grade II listed and welcoming homely refuges where a cup of tea can be had for just 50p.
Two Temple Place is one of London's architectural gems, an extraordinary late Victorian mansion built by William Waldorf Astor on Embankment.
The house is owned by registered charity, The Bulldog Trust and supports the charitable activities of the Trust through exhibitions and events hosted in the building. It also provides a unique setting for both corporate and private events, from weddings to conferences.
The house was designed for use primarily as Astor’s estate office by one of the foremost neo-Gothic architects of the late nineteenth-century, John Loughborough Pearson. Astor had emigrated to England in 1891 as arguably, the richest man in the world and no expense was spared when work began on Two Temple Place in 1892. In addition to the extraordinary, opulent interior, when it was finished in 1895, Two Temple Place contained the largest strong room in Europe as well as two other enormous fortified safes.
It is known for its architecture, and contains notable works by the likes of William Silver Frith, (1850– 1924), Sir George Frampton RA, Nathaniel Hitch (1845–1938) and Thomas Nicholls (1825–1900).
On 28 October 2011, Two Temple Place opened as a public gallery. It is a London venue specifically to showcase publicly owned art from regional collections in the United Kingdom, and is only open to the public during exhibitions
11 Royal Courts of Justice
It was built to provide a permanent and convenient home to the superior courts concerned with civil cases. In legal term time the court sat in Westminster Hall but at other times it sat in various highly inconvenient locations.
In 1865 funds were secured to clear a notorious slum (Clare Market?) and to pay for the building. G.E Street was appointed architect. Foundations laid in 1871-72, worked started in1874 and scheduled to take six years. Eight years later the courts were formally opened by Queen Victoria on 4th December 1882. Street sadly died of a stroke almost exactly a year before his death being attributed to the vexations associated with the project. The building is primarily brick (35 million)and is said to comprise 1000 rooms and 3 and half miles of corridor. Over the main entrance are statues of Jesus flanked to the west by King Solomon and to the east by King Alfred whilst a statue of Moses watches over the back door.
12 Twining’s Tea
The Twining family originate from Gloucestershire and there they held the occupation of weavers and fulling millers. Although their ties with the county went back many centuries, recession drove the family to London in 1684. With them went nine-year-old Thomas Twining, founder of the tea business.
In London, it seemed natural for Thomas to follow his father's profession by taking an apprenticeship with a London weaver. The ambitious young Thomas Twining became a Freeman in 1701 at the age of 26.
By that time he had turned his back on weaving and was learning a new trade working for a wealthy merchant and handling some of the early shipments of tea.
Thomas was fascinated by the possibilities offered by this fast-growing beverage. He learned well and quickly and by 1706 knew enough to strike out on his own.
It was in that year he bought Tom's Coffee House on London's Strand and so began the world famous tea business.
At this time in history popular drinks of the masses were gin, ales and coffee, people would even drink these at breakfast because the water was so contaminated. Thomas Twining took full advantage of this…
Knowledge of tea gave Thomas Twining a competitive edge over other coffee houses. Despite high taxes and opposition from vested interests, the fashionable classes flocked to buy tea from Tom's Coffee House.
Competition between coffee houses was stiff. Fresh ideas and unusual promotional twists were what kept the business alive. The difference at Tom's was the tea.
Holder of a royal warrant, Twinings has been owned by Associated British Foods since 1964. Still afamily connection, In fact, Stephen Twining still works at the Twinings HQ and he is an important figure in making sure that everything is up to standard, spreading the Twinings message across the globe and helping to make sure Thomas's promise is never broken.
13 Royal Courts of Justice Restaurant
Now the Law Courts branch of Lloyd’s Bank was originally the premises were built in 1883, as a restaurant, which unfortunately failed (twice) within a few years of opening. The building then stood empty until it was bought by Lloyds Bank in 1895.
The interior is renowned for its magnificent Doulton tiles, which commemorate the history of the site. It includes a portrait of the Palsgrave Frederick - the failed restaurant was named in his honour. Frederick, later King of Bohemia, was married to James I’s daughter, Eliza.
The origins of the branch, however, go back much further. Twinings, the tea and coffee merchants established in 1706, decided to diversify into banking. They set up an office just off The Strand, offering services mainly to family and friends. This side of the business grew, and in 1824, the bank was established as a separate entity. The Twining family was still heavily involved some 70 years later, when the bank was taken over by Lloyds in 1892. Three years after that, the branch moved into its Law Courts premises.
14 Law Courts Branch Bank of England
Branch of Bank of England
In the 16th and 17th centuries, two taverns stood on the site of the Old Bank of England. ‘The Cock’ (another pub on south side of Fleet Street called the Cock)and ‘The Haunch of Venison’ were both demolished in 1888 to make way for the construction of the Law Courts’ branch of The Bank of England.
The Bank of England traded here for 87 years, until 1975, when the premises were sold to a building society. In 1994, London brewers, Fuller, Smith and Turner took over the lease and began a major refurbishment - with the aim of restoring the splendid building to its former glory.
The Old Bank of England also has a more grisly connection with the past, for it lies between the site of the barber shop owned by Sweeney Todd, ‘The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’, and the pie shop owned by Mrs Lovett, his mistress. It was in the tunnels and vaults below the present building that his victims were butchered before being cooked and sold in the pies to Mrs Lovett’s unsuspecting customers.
As the former branch of The Bank of England, the basement still contains the original vaults used to store bullion, and indeed some of the Crown Jewels during the First World War. Whilst two safes have now been changed to hold our cellars and kitchens, the main vault is intact – and still contains the huge steel bullion cupboards
Turn left into Bell Yard and left again into Carey St
15 Seven Stars pub and Roxie Beaujolais
* There has been an alehouse on the site since at least 1602, probably under the same name. Inns were called the Seven Stars to honour the seven provinces of the embattled Netherlands, and to attract Dutch seamen.
* Landlady is an Australian named Roxie Beaujolais. She used to run front-of-house at Ronnie Scott's club.
Walk to New Square
* New Square laid out between 1685 and 1697 on the former Ficket's Field owned by the Knights Templar by Barrister, Henry Serle.
* Dickens spent some unhappy times in solicitors offices here.
* Old Square and Old Buildings were built between 1525 and 1609
Walk through Lincoln's Inn Fields
16 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
At one time this area comprised there open fields that were variously used for pasture by local inns or for recreation by students from Lincoln’s Inn such usage dating back to C14th. Ownership reverted from the Hospital of St John and the hospital of St Giles to the Crown in 1537. Theye were still leased as pasturage but were also used as places of execution in to the late C16th.
From the early C17th there were repeated attempts to to build residences on parts of the property but after objection form the Society of Lincoln’s Inn such requests were refused. In 1617 the Society together with four adjoining parishes attempted to establish the fields are formal open space and petitioned the King to seek funds for this “As a meanes to frustrate the covetous and greedy endeavours of such persons as daylie seeke to fill upp that small remainder of Ayre in those partes with unnecessary and unprofitable buildings.”
Little activity took place but eventually a Royal Commission including Inigo jones recommended demolishing any existing structures to reclaim the open space.
By the 1630s William Newton had acquired the lease of the two remaining fields the one to South had be subsumed into what is now Carey Street. Newton petitioned the King to be allowed to build 32 houses and in spite of the Society of L I permission was granted provided the main parts of the fields be left open and unbuilt. By 1641 most of the houses had been built but although a desirable place to live executions still took place occasionally.
And despite the presence of illustrious residents Lincoln’s Inn Field was not the viewed as the safest of places and in 1716 John Gay speaks of the Fields in his "Trivia" as the head-quarters of beggars by day and of robbers at night:—
"Where Lincoln's Inn's wide space is railed around,
Cross not with venturous step; there oft is found
The lurking thief, who, while the daylight shone,
Made the walls echo with his begging tone.
That crutch, which late compassion mov'd, shall wound
Thy bleeding head, and fell thee to the ground.
Though thou art tempted by the linkman's call,
Yet trust him not along the lonely wall;
In the midway he'll quench the flaming brand,
And share the booty with the pilfering band."
Over the year Lincoln’s Inn Field became to the home to nobility and eminent Lawyers, such as the 1st Earl of Sandwich, 1st Earl of Lindsey whose house at 59-60 was repuredly designed by Inigo Jones. The Duchess of Portsmouth, a mistress of Charles II lived here as did Nell Gwynne and her son Charles Beauclerk to become 1st Duke of St Albans. Various Lords Chancellors, William Pitt had chambers here (1778) as dis Spender Perceval in Lindsey House (only PM to be assassinated). A later PM lived in LIF namely Ramsay MacDonald who lived here between 1896 and 1911, his six children were born here and his wife Margaret died here, Statue.
Buildings on the South Side, include Land Registry Building now part of the LSE, Royal College of Surgeons including Hunterian Museum, Nuffield College of Surgical Sciences, Imperial Cancer Research Fund.
AT one time on the West were the Queen’s Solicitors, Farrer and Co at 66 it is now Barristers’ Chambers.
17 Sir John Soane’s Museum
John Soan ( the ‘e’ arrived later) was born in 1753 in Berkshire the son of a Bricklayer. He became a pupil of the eminent architect of the day George Dance. He moved to London architecture at the Royal Academy. His reputation was such that he was sponsored by George III to take the Grand Tour through Europe. He was appointed architect to the Bank of England in 1788, In 1791 he started his collection of architecture, art and other artefacts. In 1792 he bought and rebuilt non 12 as a family home with an office at the back. In 1813 he moved next door to No.13 which he rebuilt as a home and a museum. In 1815 after his wife’s death he bought and rebuilt No.14. He rented out the house and used the stable yard at the back for his Museum.
The collection his eclectic and extensive, including casts of architectural features, paintings by Turner (a good friend), Hogarth’s the Rake’s Progress, The Election. A pastiche of the fashion for things Gothic with a Monk’s parlour. Sometimes his architectural models are on display. His Parlour, Breakfast room. Defies description.
Not many of his buildings survive. Pitshanger in Ealing, churches in Marylebone and Walworth. Dulwich Picture Gallery. Influenced later architects not least Giles Gilbert Scott. Should you visit the Dulwich Picture Gallery or the Soane family Mausoleum in the church yard of Old St Pancras you will see the inspiration for the classic phone box.
Before he died, Soane ensured that the collection would remain in safe hands as he did not trust his sons. He instigated the necessary legislation to ensure that the collection was left intact as a museum left to the state. The legislation was enacted on his death and the museum formally opened in 1837. Still open to the public, it is free and the only requirement is that visitors sign. In the midC19th there were other conditions.
18 Old Curiosity Shop
* Alleged to be the home of Charles Dickens child heroine, Little Nell from the eponymous book published in 1841. The building dates back to the sixteenth century, but this name was added after the novel was released, as it was thought to be the inspiration for Dickens's description of the antique shop.
* At one time it functioned as a dairy on an estate given by King Charles II to one of his many mistresses. It was built using timber from old ships, and survived the bombs of the Second World War
19 Walk through LSE buildings to Kingsway
* The London School of Economics and Political Science (commonly known as the London School of Economics or LSE) is a public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society.
* Famous LSE alumni include 45 prime ministers and presidents, David Attenborough, Lloyd Grossman and Mick Jagger.
* Site of Clare Market described as a cluster of narrow dirty streets and passages lined with butchers' and greengrocers' shops. All was swept away when Aldwych and Kingsway were redeveloped in 1900 as part of a Victorian attempt to solve traffic congestion in this part if the west end.
* Tram subway to Embankment closed in 1952 when the trams were withdrawn. Might one day become reopened we hope!
Turn right at Aldwych
20 Cross over Strand and go down Savoy Street
* Site of the 13th Century Savoy Palace granted by Henry lll for annual rent of 3 barbed arrows! Owned by John O'Gaunt and destroyed in the Peasants Revolt in 1381.
* Became a hospital by 1505 until the 17th Century after which buildings started to be used by tradesmen such as glove-makers, printers etc.
* The Savoy Chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist was built on the site of the earlier chapel. In 1937, it became the Chapel of the Royal Victorian Order and renamed the King's Chapel of the Savoy and is a private chapel of the Sovereign exempt from episcopal jurisdiction.
* Savoy Hotel opened in 1889 and has been the hotel of choice for the rich and famous ever since. Claude Monet painted Waterloo Bridge from a balcony in 1903. Fred Astaire danced on the roof in 1923. The forecourt road is the only one in the country where drivers keep to the right!
Walk through Embankment Gardens to York Water Gate
21 Victoria Embankment
The Metropolitan Board of Works was founded in 1855 for ‘the better management of the metropolis in respect of the sewerage and drainage and the paving, cleansing, lighting and improvements thereof’.
The urgent task was to prevent all or any part of the sewage within the metropolis from passing into the Thames in or near the metropolis.
Little was done until the Great Stink in 1858. Such was the smell that the House was forced to adjourn. This combined with Dr John Snow’s work in Soho concerning the contamination of water from a fountain related to incidences of cholera led to Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s great achievement. Ag a grand scheme of interlocking sewers both North and South of the River with outfalls further East. It was completed in 1875 at a cost of £6.5 million still serves today.
There are 1,300 miles of sewers, 32 acres of mud were excavated enabling 3.5 miles of embankment gardens at Chelsea and here to be reclaimed. Sturdy parapets, handsome thoroughfares, plane trees and cast iron dolphin lamps a tribute to Victorian engineering. Attracted the baronial New Scotland Yard and underneath run Circle and District Lines.
The gardens became a place for repose and for a Hall of Fame of late Victorian notable in statue form, including Sir Arthur Sullivan and a later memorial to the Camel Corps.
22 York Watergate
The Watergate is the last remnant of York House.
It was built as the London home of the Bishops of Norwich not later than 1237, and around 300 years later it was acquired by King Henry VIII. It came to be known as York House when it was granted to the Archbishop of York in 1556 and retained that name for the rest of its existence. For about seventy years from 1558 it was leased to various Lord Keepers of the Great Seal of England, including Nicholas Bacon, Thomas Egerton and Francis Bacon.
In the 1620s it was acquired by the royal favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and after an interlude during the English Civil War it was returned to George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who sold it to developers for £30,000 in 1672.
He made it a condition of the sale that his name and full title should be commemorated by George Street, Villiers Street, Duke Street, Of Alley, and Buckingham Street. Some of these street names are extant, though Of Alley has been renamed York Place, Duke Street is now John Adam Street and George Street is now York Buildings. Villiers Street runs along the eastern side of Charing Cross railway station.
The Italianate York Water Gate, built about 1626 (2009)
23 Craven Street
An ancient street that led straight to the Thames and which was used by boats to land coal, hence the Ship and Shovel l pub. The ‘Shovell’ now refers to the Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell but once referred to the ‘Shovel’ used to unload coal.
Various people of note have lived there. Master Carver Grinling Gibbons ( St Paul’s and Petworth House); German poet Heinrich Heine; whilst representing the Colony of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin lived here (Museum). Dr Charles West founder of Great Ormond Street Hospital lived here. Herman Melville also lived here.