DC Editor Adam writes…
As regular Daily Constitutional readers and some London Walkers will know, on my days off I like to stride out and walk London. I'm a big fan of the Capital Ring orbital walking route and I love to walk the Thames. Many of the pictures and ideas that end up on this blog are born out of my rambles.
On Wednesdays here on The Daily Constitutional, I'll be sharing some snaps, random observations and the odd bit of trivia picked up along the routes of my wanders. Starting with this one…
Old Kent Road to Whitechapel
As regular Daily Constitutional readers and some London Walkers will know, on my days off I like to stride out and walk London. I'm a big fan of the Capital Ring orbital walking route and I love to walk the Thames. Many of the pictures and ideas that end up on this blog are born out of my rambles.
On Wednesdays here on The Daily Constitutional, I'll be sharing some snaps, random observations and the odd bit of trivia picked up along the routes of my wanders. Starting with this one…
Old Kent Road to Whitechapel
Late last year I set
out on a series of walks around the London Monopoly board.
The things that can be
seen AT the squares on the famous board are, of course, well-documented.
What I was looking for
is what lies BETWEEN the squares. If a trip around the Monopoly board is a trip
around London, then what might one see while travelling from square-to-square?
Walk: Old Kent Road to
Whitechapel
Nearest tube to start:
Elephant & Castle
Nearest tube to end:
Whitechapel/Aldgate East
Once the Roman road
Watling Street, now forming part of the much less romantic-sounding A2, Old Kent Road is famously the first square on the British Monopoly board…
And it looks like
Romans are still here, although they’ve branched out into the legal profession…
Driscoll House, with its endearingly lopsided sign (top right of pic, below) is nearby…
… is a famed south London institution opened in 1913 as a women's hotel and was taken over by Terence Driscoll in 1965. A basic, hostel-like hotel, the interiors remained largely unchanged (i.e. pretty spartan) until Driscoll's death, at the age of 95, in 2007. A colourful-sounding character, one legend has it that he claimed there had been a vision of the Virgin Mary on the premises and used the tale to discourage "immoral" behaviour in the rooms! He gave weekly addresses to the guests on a Sunday and manned the front desk and small gift shop (where one could buy postcards featuring Driscoll himself) right up to the end. The building is now occupied by the Rest Up London hostel.
… is a famed south London institution opened in 1913 as a women's hotel and was taken over by Terence Driscoll in 1965. A basic, hostel-like hotel, the interiors remained largely unchanged (i.e. pretty spartan) until Driscoll's death, at the age of 95, in 2007. A colourful-sounding character, one legend has it that he claimed there had been a vision of the Virgin Mary on the premises and used the tale to discourage "immoral" behaviour in the rooms! He gave weekly addresses to the guests on a Sunday and manned the front desk and small gift shop (where one could buy postcards featuring Driscoll himself) right up to the end. The building is now occupied by the Rest Up London hostel.
Our visitors on London Walks often ask why our
pubs are disappearing. The answer is, like the assassins of the above-mentioned
Julius Caesar, manifold.
We pay astronomical
amounts for our living spaces in London and, as a consequence, we seem keen, or
are compelled, to spend more time in those expensive flats and houses. That we
are living more healthily must be a factor, too. I chatted with a publican on
one of my tours recently and he simply said, "It's all about the food
these days, innit."
The George at 40 Tower
Bridge Road in Bermondsey is a great example of an ever-more-rare traditional
pub – or "Old Man Pub"
as they are sometimes referred (cheek!)…

(The Truman livery above the pub refers to the famous old Brick Lane-based brewer whose premises can be found near the end of this wander. The old brewery building itself hosts events, club nights and all sorts but the beer is back too! After years in mothballs, the famous name has been revived and it's great to see! Find out more here: www.trumansbeer.co.uk)

(The Truman livery above the pub refers to the famous old Brick Lane-based brewer whose premises can be found near the end of this wander. The old brewery building itself hosts events, club nights and all sorts but the beer is back too! After years in mothballs, the famous name has been revived and it's great to see! Find out more here: www.trumansbeer.co.uk)
Along this route
plaques are few and far between – unlike at the other end of the Monopoly board in Mayfair.
But when Mayfair was merely open fields, Bermondsey was already thriving and
home to a monastery…
When we do come across
plaques in this neck of the woods, they are vivid ones indeed…
This Southwark plaque at Druid Street Arch marks the spot where 77 Londoners lost their lives on the night of 20th October 1940 in an air raid.
… local doctor, Labour
M.P and campaigner who improved living conditions for working folk in
Bermondsey.
(Just along the river
you can find a group of statues featuring Salter and his wife Ada commemorating
the work they did in the area, particularly in the field of child care. I'll be returning to the Salters on another post dealing with North Greenwich to Richmond, or The Big One, as I like to call it.)
Bermondsey Square is
often a hub of activity, the very soul of "gentrification", with the
weekly antiques market taking place every Friday from 6:00a.m to 2:00p.m
(website here: bermondseysquare.net)
Given my walking
habits (both amateur and professional) I really am compelled to nod toward the Society of Chiropodists…
Keep up the grand
work, guys. (Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is their patron, dontcha know.)
The River Neckinger
flows through South London from near the site of present day St George's Cathedral, joining the Thames
at St Saviour Dock…
Russ Willey's
indispensible Dictionary of London Phrase & Fable nods to the legend that
the Neckinger's name comes from the practise of hanging pirates from a gibbet
at the dock, the noose being the Devil's Neckercher (neckerchief). Colourful
stuff. He goes on to suggest the slightly less lurid-sounding explanation that
the course of the river resembles the shape of a noose, hence the name.
… and with paraphernalia
from maritime history "gentrifying" the place…
… but was once a
hard-working (if small) part of London's Docklands. It closed in 1968.
Our first plaque north
of the river on this particular amble marks the Battle of Cable Street…
… in 1936 when the march of Oswald Mosley
and his British Union of Fascists in to the largely Jewish East End was met
with the cry of "They Shall Not Pass!"
A little further along
the way we come across a relic of the Jewish East End - the recently closed Fieldgate
Street Synagogue…
A few years ago The
English Defence League were made as welcome as Mosley's black shirts…
Nearby, in Henriques
Street, a spray-painted tribute to one of Jack the Ripper's victims can be
found…
Elizabeth Stride was
murdered on the night of the 30th September 1888.
My ramble ended in
Whitechapel Road…
… the second brown
square on the Monopoly board, where it meets Vallance Road…
… forever associated
with the story of the Kray twins. But that will have
to keep for another post.
London Walkers get in touch! Share your best walks through London – commutes, short cuts, epic rambles, I'm keen to hear about them all! Drop me a line at the usual address.
London Walkers get in touch! Share your best walks through London – commutes, short cuts, epic rambles, I'm keen to hear about them all! Drop me a line at the usual address.
A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.










No comments:
Post a Comment