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Home , Animals in War Memorial, Cannizaro Park, Chiswick House, Crown Lands Act 1851, Elfin Oak, Hampstead War Memorial

LONDON’S GREEN WALKS 20 Walks Around the City’s Best Parks, Gardens & Waterways

by David Hampshire

City Books • Bath • Acknowledgements

First published 2018 he author would like to thank all the many people who helped with research and provided information for this book. Special thanks are due to Alex Browning for her invaluable research, TGraeme & Louise Chesters and Richard Todd; Robbi Forrester Atilgan for editing; Peter Read for additional editing and proof-reading; Susan Griffith for final proof checking; John Marshall for DTP, photo selection and cover design; and Jim Watson for the lovely maps. Last, but not least, a special thank you to the many photographers All rights reserved. No part of this publication – the unsung heroes – whose beautiful images bring to life. may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or recorded by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Copyright © Survival Books 2018 Cover design: Eoghan O’Brien Cover photo: Hyde Park Maps © Jim Watson

City Books, c/o Survival Books Limited Office 169, 3 Edgar Buildings George Street, Bath BA1 2FJ, +44 (0)1305-266918 ACCESS [email protected] All parks and gardens provide wheelchair access unless noted www.survivalbooks.net and www.londons-secrets.com otherwise. Note, however, that this doesn’t always apply to buildings within parks or WCs. Contact parks and gardens if you have specific requirements. The Disabled Go website (www. disabledgo.com) provides more in-depth access information for many destinations.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the

ISBN: 978-1-909282-82-7

Printed in China Author’s Notes Contents

Please note the following regarding the walks in this book. INTRODUCTION 7 ♦♦Length & Duration: The length of walks is approximate – shown to the nearest half or quarter mile – as is the time required to complete 1. HYDE PARK & 11 them, particularly if you make a lot of stops (coffee, lunch, museums, shopping, etc.). The average walking speed is around 3.1 mph but 2. & ST JAMES’S PARK 23 we have allowed for a much slower pace of 2 mph. (The idea isn’t to 3. REGENT’S PARK 33 get from the start to finish in as short a time as possible.) You can, of course, start a walk from either end and combine a number of walks 4. & KYOTO GARDEN 41 to make a longer walk. Most walks are graded easy or moderate with relatively few hills or steps. 5. & KENWOOD PARK 49 ♦♦Opening Hours: Most of the green spaces included in the walks 6. & HILL GARDEN 57 are open seven days a week (opening hours are shown); times may differ for weekdays/weekends and in winter and summer. However, 7. REGENT’S CANAL 65 some private gardens are only open for limited hours on certain days or in certain months (as indicated). Almost all parks and gardens 8. CITY OF LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 73 offer free access, unless otherwise indicated. The opening hours of 9. INNS OF COURT GARDENS 85 many sights and museums (etc.) are listed. Bear in mind that these are liable to change. Where there’s an entry fee, it’s noted. 10. THAMESIDE GARDENS 93 ♦♦Transport: All walks start and end at or near a tube or railway 11. PARKLAND WALK 103 station. Most can also be reached by bus (routes aren’t listed as there are simply too many to include them all) and sometimes by 12. NEW RIVER PATH 111 river ferry. The postcode of the starting point is shown should you wish to drive. However, you should bear in mind that the nearest car 13. SOUTHWARK GARDENS 119 park or on-road parking may be some distance away, particularly in 14. 127 central London, and can be expensive. 15. FULHAM PALACE GARDENS & BISHOP’S 135 ♦♦Maps: Note that maps aren’t drawn to scale. Points of interest are numbered. An overall map of London is included on pages 8-9 PARK showing the location of walks. 16. HOUSE GARDENS & 143 ♦♦Food & Drink: Recommended ‘pit stops’ have been included in all walks – shown in yellow in the map key and in the text. If you’re planning to stop at one of the recommended places bear in mind 17. & CHELSEA GARDENS 153 that many only serve lunch between, say, noon and 2.30 or 3pm. Many pubs are also open in the mornings for coffee, etc. When not 18. 161 listed a pub/restaurant’s opening times are the ‘standard’ times, e.g. noon-2.30pm and 6-11pm, although some are open all day 19. 169 and may also serve food all day (as do cafés). Telephone numbers 20. HALL PARK & 177 are shown where bookings are advisable, otherwise booking isn’t usually necessary or even possible. A price guide is included INDEX 185 (£ = inexpensive, ££ = moderate, £££ = expensive); most recommended places fall into the inexpensive category. ♦♦Dogs: Some parks and gardens don’t permit dogs or they may need to be kept on a lead. Where applicable, this is noted. Introduction

espite its reputation for noise and pollution, London is more verdant than any other world city of its size. Green spaces cover almost 40 per cent of Greater London, providing a Dprofusion of places where you can walk, play, relax, exercise and commune with nature. The capital’s green bounty ranges from magnificent royal parks and garden cemeteries, full of intrigue and history, to majestic ancient forests and barely tamed heathland; from elegant squares and formal country parks to enchanting ‘secret’ gardens. The 20 walks in this book take in prominent destinations, such as Hyde and Regent’s Park, but also many smaller and less familiar (but no less beautiful) parks and gardens, such as the New River Path and Ravenscourt Park, most of which cost nothing to explore. When you need a rest there’s usually somewhere to sit down, thanks to Londoners’ long tradition of donating benches in memory of departed loved ones. With the exception of the royal parks – which owe their existence to the British monarchy’s (and particularly Henry VIII’s) passion for chasing deer – the majority of London’s public parks were founded by the Victorians, from the 1840s onwards, as part of a range of measures to improve the living conditions of the working classes. London’s living network of green lungs and waterways is still vital to the health and wellbeing of its inhabitants today. It also provides food and refuge for the city’s flora and fauna, which – despite living alongside almost 9 million people – is extraordinary in its abundance, variety and scope. Most walks are between two and five miles in length, with the average around 3½ miles. However, it’s best to allow a half day for the shorter walks and as much as a full day for the longer walks – particularly if you plan to partake of the many excellent pubs, restaurants and cafés along the routes (for your author, a good lunch is a prerequisite of a good walk) – not to mention the many diversions along the way, such as museums, galleries and churches. Our aim was to take the ‘scenic route’, visiting as many interesting landmarks as possible, rather than simply getting from A to B. Writing London’s Green Walks has been a fascinating, edifying and enjoyable journey of discovery. We hope that you enjoy these walks as much as we did; all you need is a comfortable pair of shoes, a sense of adventure – and this book!

David Hampshire January 2018 Stag, Richmond Park

13 12 10 8 11 5 9 7 6 4 3 2 1 Places ofInterest St Govor’s Well & St Govor’s Tiffany Fountains Serpentine Gallery Isis Sculpture Princess ofWales Fountain The Lido Queen CarolineMemorial Serpentine Bar&Kitchen Holocaust Memorial Weeping Beech Boy &DolphinFountain Rose Garden Food &Drink 19 18 17 16 15 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 14 Henry Moore Arch Jenner Statue Italian Gardens Two BearsFountain Peter PanStatue The LongWater Physical EnergyStatue Diana, PrincessofWales Memorial The Orangery The RoundPond Coalbrookdale Gates 28 27 30 29 32 31 Speakers’ Corner Reformers’ Tree Old PoliceHouse SerpentineSacklerGallery Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens 38 35 34 33 37 36 Pet Cemetery Queen ElizabethGate of Achilles Statue 7th JulyMemorial Joy ofLifeFountain Animals inWar Memorial

Walk 1 Walk 1 Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

Serpentine Bar & Kitchen crosses the Serpentine Distance: 5m (8km) (lake); the western Terrain: easy, flat terrain section of the lake, , lies within i Duration: 2½ hours Kensington Gardens. Open: Hyde Park, 5-6am to midnight; The eight royal parks Kensington Gardens, 6am to dusk – which include the largest green spaces in Start/End: tube central London – cover Postcode: SW1X 7LY a total area of almost 4,900 acres (2,000ha). In addition to the two parks or such a large and crowded city, London featured in this walk, is unusually rich in parks, and among the Green Park and St James’s Park as its branches descend from largest and most rewarding are Hyde Park and (Walk 2), Regent’s Park (Walk 3), the crown and look like roots. FKensington Gardens – two of the city’s eight ancient Greenwich Park (Walk 14) and Continuing along the path you royal parks. Originally owned by the British monarchy Richmond Park (Walk 18) also pass the Nannies’ Lawn on your and used for their private recreation (mostly hunting), feature in this book. right and the Holocaust Memorial with the increasing urbanisation of London in the 19th 4 on your left, inscribed with century, some royal parks were preserved as freely Start Walking… the words: ‘For these I weep. accessible open space and, with the introduction of Leaving Hyde Park Corner tube Streams of tears flow from my the , 1851, they became public parks. station, enter the park and take eyes because of the destruction of Today, they are managed by the Royal Parks charity the path immediately on the left my people.’ (www.royalparks.org.uk) and provide Londoners with a which leads to the lovely Rose At the end of the path you come wealth of vast green playgrounds in and around the city, Garden 1 . Look for a pair of low to the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen often aptly referred to as the city’s green lungs. gates slightly to the right of the 5 , which serves good seasonal Hyde Park is the largest of central London’s royal path. These take you towards two food at reasonable prices in an parks, covering 350 acres (142ha). It was created fountains: the Huntress (erected in attractive garden setting. Continue in 1536 when Henry VIII seized land belonging to 1899) on the left and the charming south along the eastern edge Abbey to use as a deer park (deer were Boy and Dolphin 2 on the right, (head) of the Serpentine 6 – an hunted there until 1768) and was opened to the public featuring a pre-Raphaelite marble artificial lake created in 1730 in 1637 when it quickly became a popular destination, sculpture of a cherub and dolphin for Queen Caroline (wife of particularly for May Day parades. The Parliamentarians by Alexander Munro dating from King George II) from a string of assumed control of the park for military use during the 1862. Look carefully and you’ll natural ponds along the River Civil War and Charles II enclosed it for the first time see that the water flows from Westbourne – which, along with after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. the nostrils of the dolphin, not its the Long Water, divides Hyde Kensington Gardens were formerly the grounds of mouth. Park from Kensington Gardens. Nottingham House, which became Kensington Palace Opened in 1994, the Continue along the southern when William III acquired it in 1689. Originally part of spectacular Rose Garden features bank of the lake, passing the Hyde Park, the gardens (275 acres/111ha) have been trellises and rose and herbaceous Queen Caroline Memorial 7 , a separate green space since 1728. They were first planting (it’s at its best in early an unprepossessing stone urn on opened to the public in 1733, but only on Saturdays summer), creating rich seasonal a plinth overlooking the lake. or Sundays, and there was a strict dress code that flowerbeds and enticing aromas. Follow the lake’s edge and required visitors to wear wigs, feathers and (for the Close by you’ll find the Weeping after a few minutes you arrive at

ensington G ardens & K ensington Hyde Park ladies) wide hooped skirts. The official boundary with Beech 3 (on the right), also Lutyens Drinking Fountain (there’s Hyde Park is West Carriage Drive and the bridge that known as the Upside Down Tree another on the opposite side of the

12 13 Walk 1 Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

swirls and bubbles before meeting designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and Rotten Row in a calm pool at the bottom. unveiled in 1872. It incorporates Kensington Palace The Row, which runs parallel to the Straight ahead is the Isis a gilt-bronze statue of Albert and Kensington Palace has been a Serpentine, was originally called the Sculpture 10 , a striking bronze by celebrates the achievements of royal residence since 1689 – before Route de Roi (King’s Road), which Simon Gudgeon, inspired by the the Victorian age and empire, with Buckingham Palace was built – and was later corrupted into ‘Rotten has a fascinating historical and Row’. It was a fashionable place for Egyptian goddess of nature. Some massive marble sculptures of the archaeological heritage. It was built upper-class Londoners to be seen 100m further on you come to West continents and a delicately carved in the early 17th century for the Earl on horseback in the 18th century Carriage Drive. Cross over the frieze of painters, poets, sculptors, of Nottingham and was purchased in and is still maintained for this use 1689 by King William III and his wife today. If you’re lucky you may see road and take the path straight musicians and architects. Mary II, who wanted to escape from the Queen’s Household Cavalry ahead, then turn left almost Continue along South Flower damp and dirty Whitehall Palace. exercising their horses here. The immediately and take the right- Walk and take the next path on For many people it’s inextricably Row was also the first place in Britain hand fork (away from the lake), your right and then the diagonal linked with the late Diana, Princess to have street lighting. of Wales, and the vast sea of floral which leads to the Serpentine path to the left leading to tributes spreading out from the Gallery 11 (see box). Kensington Palace. Along the way gates following her death in 1997. lake), named for one of Britain’s From the gallery take the you’ll pass a bandstand (1931) on Fittingly, her son William and his wife Catherine (the Duke and Duchess finest 20th-century architects, Sir diagonal path in the southwest your right and, a little further on, of Cambridge) live there now. You corner (behind the gallery), the St Govor’s Well and Tiffany can access the spectacular palace crossing over the Flower Drinking Fountains 13 ; the gardens free from Kensington Walk to the magnificent former marks the site of an ancient Gardens without paying to visit the palace. See www.hrp.org.uk/ 12 Albert Memorial . spring and is named after a 6th- kensington-palace for information. Situated on the southern century hermit. At the junction of edge of Kensington Gardens Mount Walk and the Broad Walk, – opposite the Royal Albert turn right and almost immediately Coalbrookdale Gates 15 were Hall – it commemorates on your left is Kensington Palace designed by Charles Crookes and ’s adored 14 (see box). One of London’s made for the in husband who died of typhoid best-preserved palaces, it’s where 1851. Opposite the Palace is the fever in 1861, aged just 42. Queen Victoria was born (in 1819) Round Pond 16 , a 7-acre (2.8ha) This grand, high-Victorian and lived until her accession to the ornamental lake created in 1730 Gothic extravaganza was throne in 1837. The magnificent by George II, popular with model Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944). It’s ornate wrought-iron yacht enthusiasts (and waterfowl!). located just before the Lido 8 , home to Britain’s oldest swimming Serpentine Gallery club – and the venue for their Housed in a classical 1934 tea Cup Christmas Day pavilion, the Serpentine Gallery is Race. Less hardy bathers should one of London’s most important take a dip from May to September contemporary art galleries. Its world-renowned temporary exhibition when the water is warmer – programme showcases works by there’s also a café and bar. Carry the world’s finest contemporary on along the edge of the lake, artists working across a wide variety of media (entrance is free). In passing the Diana, Princess of summer, the gallery’s lawn is the Wales Memorial Fountain 9 on venue for the Serpentine Gallery the left; designed by Kathryn Pavilion commission, an annual Gustafson and opened in 2004, programme of temporary structures by internationally acclaimed the fountain aims to reflect Diana’s architects and designers. See life, flowing from the highest point www.serpentinegalleries.org for in two directions as it cascades, information. The Orangery 14 15 Walk 1 Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

Just past the Palace is The in the northwest corner of the of them intriguingly gnarled Orangery 17 , once the setting gardens, is the Diana, Princess and mangled by time, wind and Erected in for Queen Anne’s sophisticated of Wales Memorial Playground lightning strikes. 1912, the statue court entertainment, with its 18 , opened in 2000. Nearby you The path continues to the left by Sir George soaring ceilings and classical find theElfin Oak 19 (1930) – a with the Long Water 21 , the Frampton was 18th-century architecture; today, much-loved sculpture made from northern ‘tail’ of the Serpentine, commissioned and paid for it’s a restaurant, and a spectacular the hollow trunk of an oak tree, on your right. Look out for the by J.M. Barrie, setting for breakfast, lunch or carved with fairies, elves and famous bronze statue of Peter creator of afternoon tea. A little further on, animals – and Time Flies, a clock Pan 22 (see box) on the left Peter Pan (the ‘boy who tower and drinking fountain. overlooking the lake – playing his wouldn’t grow pipe, surrounded by fairies and up’). Barrie woodland creatures – in a part of chose the Food & Dr i nk the gardens that’s rich in birdlife, location himself, claiming it’s the spot where Peter landed in Peter Pan in including ducks and herons. Kensington Gardens. Today, it’s one Just ahead, opposite the Italian of London’s most popular statues, Gardens, is the much loved Two beloved by generations of children. Bears Fountain 23 , featuring a statue of two bears embracing. It Anne’s Alcove, designed by Sir 5 Serpentine Bar & Kitchen: This iconic café/ was installed in 1939 to mark 80 Christopher Wren in 1705. Look years of the Metropolitan Drinking out for Albert and Victoria’s initials restaurant serves delicious Fountain and Cattle Trough carved on the wall of the pump seasonal English classics Association, which promoted house, which contained the steam (8am-6/7pm, £-££). Physical Energy temperance, i.e. abstinence from engine that powered the fountains. 8 Lido Bar & Café: Enjoy a Retrace your steps back past alcohol, as well as providing water Follow the path around the eastern cuppa or a glass of wine the clock tower and take the for animals. side of the Long Water, where overlooking the Serpentine first path on the left, passing The splendid Italian Gardens there’s a large bronze statue of (8am-8pm, £). the Round Pond on your right, 24 at the top of the Long Water Jenner 25 ; Dr Edward Jenner heading for the centre of the is an ornamental water garden (1749-1823) was the pioneer of 17 Orangery Restaurant: From Shetland salmon to gardens and the impressive – created in 1860 to a design the smallpox vaccine and is often 20 by by James Pennethorne at the called ‘the father of immunology’. Cornish yogurt, thoroughly Physical Energy Statue George Frederic Watts, OM RA instigation of Prince Albert – The statue, by W. Calder Marshall, British fare served up in (1817-1904). The large bronze an enchanting over-the-top was originally erected in Trafalgar Queen Anne’s magnificent sculpture depicts a naked man, confection of fountains, urns and Square in 1858, before being greenhouse (10am-6pm, astride a horse, shielding his classical sculptures carved in moved here in 1862. £-££). eyes from the sun and is based Carrara marble. There’s also an Follow the path south along 27 Magazine Restaurant: on an equestrian monument Italian summerhouse and Queen the Long Water in an area called The stunning restaurant Watts made in 1870 of Hugh Buckhill, passing the Buckhill in the Serpentine Sackler Lupus, an ancestor of the Duke Shelter on the Peacock Walk, until Gallery is the perfect of Westminster. Take the second you come to the Henry Moore setting in which to enjoy of the two paths leading left Arch 26 sited alongside the lake. contemporary European from the statue and at the next This 20ft (6m) travertine marble cuisine (9am-6pm. closed junction, a short way ahead, turn sculpture (weighing 37 tons) Mon, £-££). sharp right towards the Long was donated by Moore in 1980, Water. This quiet and secluded and perfectly frames a view of part of the gardens has some Kensington Palace. Just past the particularly attractive trees, some Italian Gardens 16 17 Walk 1 Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

the Royal Parks police force, it’s Victoria Cross Speakers’ Corner now part of a group of buildings The first-ever Victoria Cross that include the Ranger’s Lodge Long a magnet for free speakers investiture took place in Hyde Park and pedagogues, Speakers’ Corner on 26th June 1857, when 62 heroes & Cottage, Serpentine Lodge and became a favourite place of protest of the Crimean War were decorated the Royal Parks HQ & Information in the mid-19th century. To begin by Queen Victoria in the presence of Centre (020-7298 2100). At the with the gatherings were illegal and Prince Albert and other members of crossroads continue straight often dispersed, but in 1872 it was the royal family. officially recognised as a place where ahead to the Reformers’ Tree 29 , people could publicly state their a circular black and white mosaic opinions on Sundays, provided they (2000) that marks the spot where weren’t blasphemous, seditious or likely to incite violence. Speakers’ the original Reformers’ Tree stood. Speakers’ Corner Corner became famous – indeed, This noble oak was the focus of it became an institution – and huge protests in 1866 by the Reform although it’s the permanent crowds gathered to hear speakers, including such famous orators as League, campaigning for all adult location for Still Water 32 , a giant Karl Marx and George Orwell. To men to be given the right to vote. bronze horse’s head (33ft/10m, gain attention, speakers would stand From the mosaic take the weighing 6 tons) by Nic Fiddian- on wooden crates used for shipping diagonal path northeast towards Green, installed in 2009. As you soap – hence the term ‘to get on your soapbox’ – and heckling and 30 Marble Arch , a white Carrara stand here, take a moment to banter were all part of the spectacle. marble monument designed by reflect on the 50,000 people who Sadly, the crowds began to dwindle John Nash, which stands on a lost their lives near this spot, for in the late 20th century as social traffic island just outside the park this was the site of the infamous media provided a universal but less Serpentine Sackler Gallery entertaining soapbox. at the junction of Oxford Street Tyburn Gallows, and a place of statue you reach the Magazine and , almost directly execution from 1196 to 1783. To Gate, Serpentine Bridge opposite Speakers’ Corner 31 the north of the park (at 8 Hyde beyond which lies a grass mound and the Serpentine Sackler (see box). Completed in 1833, the Park Place), the Tyburn Convent with a cavorting horse and a dog. Gallery 27 , a sister gallery of arch stood in front of Buckingham is dedicated to the memory of Park Lane has been a sought- the Serpentine Gallery you Palace until 1851, when it was martyrs executed here (and after and upmarket address since visited earlier. Designed by the moved here. In front of the Arch is elsewhere) for their Catholic faith. the 1820s and remains one of late Zaha Hadid (1950-2016), a changing display of statues, Continue south along the London’s most fashionable streets. the striking gallery is housed Broad Walk, which runs parallel However, in the 20th century many in a former 1805 gunpowder to Park Lane, and just outside the of the great houses that once lined store and opened in 2013. The park (on the central reservation, the road were demolished and it’s Sackler presents world-renowned opposite Upper Brook Street) – a now mainly home to offices and exhibitions of art, architecture short distance past the kiosk – is hotels, including the Dorchester and design throughout the year one of London’s most poignant and Hilton. (entrance is free and there’s also memorials. The Animals in War a fine restaurant). Nearby is the Memorial 33 by David Backhouse Allotment, where visitors can is a tribute to the millions of garner useful tips about growing animals that served, suffered fruit and vegetables. and died alongside the British, Take the main path behind the Commonwealth and Allied forces Gallery and follow the Policeman’s in the wars and conflicts of the Path, with the Central Royal 20th century. It features two Parks Nursery on your left, to heavily-laden mules trudging the Old Police House 28 . Built towards an opening between two in 1900 as the headquarters of swelling screens, Still Water Joy of Life Fountain 18 19 Walk 1 Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

Some 400m further on you come installed in Hyde Park. It was to the Joy of Life Fountain 34 , also London’s first public naked also known as the Four Winds statue and caused considerable Fountain, by T. B. Huxley-Jones. controversy, a fig leaf being added Unveiled in 1963, it was donated later to cover Achilles’ appendage by the Constance Fund – an (it isn’t recorded whether this, too, organisation founded by the was modelled on the Duke’s). painter and art patron Sigismund To the right of the statue is the Christian Hubert Goetze (1866- magnificent Queen Elizabeth 1939) and named after his wife Pet Cemetery 38 Gate 37 , unveiled in 1993 to Constance – which encouraged commemorate the 90th birthday In the garden of Victoria Gate art sculptures in London parks. Lodge, just off Bayswater Road of Queen Elizabeth the Queen The fountain features two bronze (near Lancaster Gate tube station), Mother (it’s also known as the figures holding hands seeming to is one of Hyde Park’s curiosities: a Queen Mother’s Gate). The pint-sized cemetery full of miniature dance above the water, while four headstones. It’s the last resting gate railings and lamps are by children emerge from the pool. place of over 300 much-loved pets – Giuseppe Lund and made of Around 60,000 daffodil bulbs are mainly dogs – buried between 1881 forged stainless steel and bronze, planted near the fountain, creating and 1903. The first dog interred, a while the central screen is by Maltese called Cherry, belonged a spectacular display in early to friends of the gatekeeper, Mr David Wynne. spring. Continue south along the Winbridge. The epitaphs are heartfelt, As you exit the gates and head Broad Walk for around 300m and even if some names are strange: back to the tube station at one of ‘residents’ include Fattie, Tally-Ho you pass the 7th July Memorial and Pomme de Terre! Sadly, the London’s busiest junctions, it’s 35 , a short distance to the left cemetery can only be viewed through difficult to imagine how it appeared off the main path. The memorial the railings or by appointment. Today, many centuries ago, when honours the victims of the London it serves as a touching reminder of Kensington and Knightsbridge the special relationship that exists Bombings on 7th July 2005 – each between animals and humans. were just small villages and a tollgate on this spot marked the western entrance to London. of the 52 stainless steel pillars represents one of those killed in the atrocity. As you return to your starting point at Hyde Park Corner, on your left is the imposing bronze Statue of Achilles 36 , standing 18ft (5.5m) tall and made from cannons captured during the Duke of Wellington’s campaigns in France. The Greek hero of the Trojan War carries a sword and shield with his armour beside him, although his head is said to be modelled on the Duke of Wellington. Sculpted by Richard Westmacott, it was unveiled in 1822 and was the first statue Achilles 20 21