LONDON
"If you're tired of London, you're tired of life."
So said Samuel Johnson, the powerful presence who lumbered, bear-like, up and down Fleet Street in the 18th century. We trod where Johnson tread on that very same street, which runs eastwards from the Strand towards Ludgate Hill and St Paul's Cathedral. We were just as pleased with the place as old Sam, for it led us directly to the pub, where he and his illustrious group gathered to talk about the times - Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.
When we arrived at the door of that celebrated site, they were just locking up for the afternoon break. We really wanted to visit the place made popular by that famous fellow, and asked the waiter to please allow two weary travellers to enter. "We have come all the way from Canada and may never return." With a sigh that said he had heard that line before, he beckoned us to come in. Front and centre on one wall was the famous face of Dr. Samuel Johnson. It was great to sit and savour the same aura and atmosphere, where he and his cronies had once discussed the events of the day. We had steak and kidney pie, which I washed down with a flagon of ale. When we left, we walked directly to Johnson's house, which is just around the corner from the pub.
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:Leisure and Lunch at Johnson's Favourite Pub |
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Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese |
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Palace of Westminster |
One of this great city's well-known landmarks is the Palace of Westminster. Once Edward the Confessor's palace, this roomy, rambling place was the main residence of England's monarchs for 450 years. By the early sixeenth century, because of the ravages of time, the palace had begun to look pathetic and its occupant decided it was time to move. The man who was then monarch was Henry VIII, a king not known for putting up with people or places that no longer took his fancy.
Henry looked about for a suitable site for a sovereign, and his glare fell upon the lavish lodgings of his next door neighbour, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey had unwisely flaunted his place and possessions before a king who couldn't abide being upstaged. In 1529, when Thomas refused to toe the line and recognize the king's latest love, Henry stripped him of his government office and properties, which included his magnificent manor of York. As soon as the cardinal removed himself from the manor, Henry took possesion and renamed York, the Palace of Whitehall.
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Big Ben |
At the time we were in London, Big Ben was bedecked in scaffolding and plastic coating, as part of Operation clean the capital and lighten up London. Londoners had traditionally depended on coal as their major source of energy, and burning this fossil fuel resulted in fumes that polluted the air and coated everything a dull, grimy, gray. Sandblasting and spraying were ongoing across the city, and when the soot of centuries had beeh removed, attractive, cream-coloured, structures were revealed. In 1952, the fumes also produced a deadly fog, that resulted in the deaths of four thousand people. This led to laws that mandating the use of electricity and gas.
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Big Ben Being Renewed |
When Henry vacated Westminster, Parliament and the highest court in the land stayed behind and Westminster became the place from which the country was governed. In the mid-nineteenths, the old Palace of Westminster burned down. A competition was held and out of 96 entries, Sir Charles Barry was chosen. Begun in 1840, the New Palace of Westminster, as the Houses of Parliament are officially known, took twenty years to build instead of the projected six.
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Victoria Tower |
The one great tower, which houses Big Ben, the national symbol, is balanced at the opposite end of the structure by the huge 336-foot Victoria Tower, which houses Parliamentary documents. A curious one is a long petition from East Africa signed with thumb prints.
Some medieval remnants remain along side the Palace of Westminster's Neo-Gothic architecture and these include the magnificent 240-foot Westminster Hall which was begun in 1097. Its hammerbeam roof dates from 1394-1401 and is said to be the greatest in the world. Little wonder when the Commons was hit by a German bomb in May 1941, that Winston Churchill urged the firemen to "save Westminster Hall at all costs."
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Westminster Hall |
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This reproduction of the sculpture The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin, was purchased by the British Government in 1911 and positioned in the Victoria Tower Gardens in 1915. |
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The Buxton Memorial Fountain, originally located in Parliament Square, was removed in 1940 and in 1957 placed in Victoria Tower Gardens. It was commissioned by Charles Buxton MP, to commemorate the emancipation of slaves in 1834 and was dedicated to his father, Thomas Fowell Buxton. The monument was designed by Gothic architect Samuel Sanders Teulon (1812-1873) in 1865. |
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A 1930 statue of the suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, Women's Rights Advocate, 1858-1928 |
London is filled with many, many, must-see places and one of these is the Tower of London, which was once a palace, not a prison. Now, its formiddable, foreboding sight recalls the harrowing history its walls have witnessed. This fortress was begun in 1078 by William the Conqueror, who was determined to stamp his authority on his new country. It was completed by Edward I who died in 1307. The fortress is an excellent example of early "medieval military architecture, with its two concentric walls wrapped around a central fastness."
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White Tower of London |
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White Tower Ravens and remnant of the medieval wall that enclosed a square mile of London |
Outside its walls, ravens were hopping about on a spot that has some of its grimmest memories. The paved enclosure is the site on which two of Henry VIII's wives. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, his second and fifth wives, and Elizabeth I's favourite lover, the Earl of Essex, were beheaded. Their special status saw them decapitated in comparative dignity, far from the crying crowds who always gathered in eager anticipation of any execution.
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A little decorum, please! |
Many others came to their dismal last domicile, knowing their harried hopes were finally fading as they made their watery way through the low arch of Traitor's Gate. A guide told us the moat, which opened onto the Thames River, at one time was regularly filled by a deep tidal race. When we were there, a pool of murky, muddy water made the place more ominous.
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Traitor's Gate |
The last person to be taken from the Tower to be executed for his part in the Jacobite Rebellion was Lord Lovat who was beheaded in 1747, The last prisoner to be housed here was Hess, Rudolf Hess, the "maggot in the apple" as Churchill called him. Hess had flown his own fighter to Scotland in May 1941 on his improbable peace mission.
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Lord Lovat was the last to lay his head on this block. This axe, that notched many necks, dates from 16th century. |
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Westminster Abbey |
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Rose Window of Westminster Abbey |
Christian worship has been offered daily in this great Abbey for nearly 1000 years. As the burial place of kings and queens and the last resting place of men and women famed in the history of the English race, Westminster Abbey holds a unique place in the world. Edward the Confessor in 1042 founded this abbey and was laid to rest within its walls.
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Edward the Confessor's Shrine |
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St Margaret's Church and Rose Window of Westminster Abbey |
The dome and twin towers of St. Paul's Cathedral crown Ludgate Hill. These views of the magnificent Cathedral are less seldom seen.
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St. Paul's Cathedral |
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St. Paul's Cathedral |
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Open the Doors of St. Paul's Cathedral |
Enter these massive doors of the largest Protestant church in the world and mingle among the monuments of of those who made Britain great. Written in Latin on a plain, black slab are the words,"Reader, if you seek a monument, look about you." This is the fitting epitaph of Christopher Wren, the architect who designed and supervized the construction of London's magnificent cathedral. It took 35 years to complete, no mean fete for an elderly man already in his forties when his plans were approved.
Among others entombed is the Duke of Wellington. An arch commemorates the Iron Duke, whose tomb, in pink and black marble, rests on four sleeping lions, surrounded by candles, while high above, the Duke is depicted atop his prancing horse.
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Duke of Wellington |
Another notable, his impressive physique draped in a Roman robe, is Samuel Johnson, "the second most quoted Englishman who ever lived." One of the great masters of the English language, Johnson needed the presence of others and the stimulus of good talk to arouse his native genius. "There is in this world no real delight, but the exchange of ideas in conversation."
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Samuel Johnson |
Field Marshall Lord Kitchener, who drowned off Orkney in 1916, lies asleep in his dress uniform.
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Lord Kitchener |
Lord Nelson, hero of Trafalgar, is encased in a huge, black marble sarcophagus which was originally carved for Cardinal Wolsey. Like other possessions of that great priest, it was confiscated by Henry VIII. It lay unused at Westminster Abbey until resurrected for the naval hero, who did his duty because England expected it.
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Lord Admiral Nelson |
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Isaac Brock Memorial |
Monuments of many other greats share the sacred stage, including our own, Isaac Brock.
It is interesting to speculate that these two military heroes, who share such noble shafts, may have met. Both were involved at the Battle of Copenhagen on Apirl 2, 1801. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson led the main attack and famously disobeyed Admiral Parker's order to withdraw. Brock's regiment, the 49th, was chosen to be the main component of the military force carried by the British fleet. The 49th Regiment was distributed among the ships, and Brock was in the Ganges. However, at the end of the action, he visited Nelson's flagship, the Elephant. doubtless to catch sight of the man whose reputation was on the rise. It is unknown whether he had the opportunity to meet and speak with him.
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Queenston Heights |
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Trafalgar Square |
