Tower of London
My walk began at Tower Hill tube station, and I was following the route from the AA book of London walks which I used for my walk in Barnes. The instructions this time were easier (because it’s hard to get lost in London anyway….mostly!), though I did find some of the alleyways tricky to find. However, that might just be me!
The view from outside Tower Hill tube station towards the Tower of London is pretty awesome. Of course I have been here before. Part of this walk incorporates a few places I’d seen when taking part in ‘Pocket Park’ walks with Walk London With Us a before Covid. However, Tower Hill Memorial was new to me.
The memorial covers quite a large area with gardens and plaques. From here I went to see where executions used to take place. Most prisoners were brought from the Tower of London to this spot.
More than 125 people were put to death here. Some of the names are listed around the square.
A view of All Hallows by the Tower through the Tower Hill Memorial
All Hallows by the Tower. This was my second visit here and is one of my favourite London churches, and it has a crypt. What’s not to like! It is the oldest church in the City of London, founded in AD675 and 300 years before The Tower of London!
The Nave
Altar
Organ Loft. There was a party of school children in that day, hence the jackets slung over the pews to the right. One of things they were learning about was Saxon times.
Saxon Gate
Roman pavement (in the crypt)
Roman London
Bomb damaged doors
Chapel in the crypt
Ceiling roundel in one of the crypt chapels
Another chapel, once used for tombs
There was so much of interest in this church. Please do look at the website for more information. I took lots of photos, but I have more to show you on this walk.
Close to All Hallows by the Tower is this pub which stands on the site of yet more execitions….the grisly kind. When I was school, all I remember learning in history about was the Tudors and their thirst for bloody excutions. I could never remember the dates of battles. Numbers have always been a problem for me. I don’t even know my mobile number!
Samuel Pepys ‘pocket garden’ on the site of one of his offices. In the path are some nice reliefs. A great place to sit on a summers day, perhaps reading his diary entries!
A view across the park back to All Hallows
St Olave’s is a splendid church. I loved it. Even the heating was on, so it was nice a cozy. It is one of only few churches to survive the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Back on the street there was a notice on a pub which explains where it got its name.
The next part of the walk was down rather a dark alleyway. I have to say I stopped to think about this one as it looked like it was going into some sort of underground car park, and indeed there were cars parked there. It was eerie, but I strode on and in a short while I was out on the other side.
There are lot of ‘lost churches’ in London. Churches no longer standing. Either demolished (like the one above) or badly damaged in the war and never repaired. Often the graveyards are still there and have had make-overs in to what we call ‘pocket parks’. They make nice places to sit away from the hustle and bustle of London. They are regularly used by office workers, construction workers and tourists.
This is what has become of St Katherine Colman.
Another pocket park is found here in Fen Court, close to Fenchurch Street
Fen Court
Fen Court
Lloyds of London building. I cannot believe that in all the trips to London over the years, this was the first time I’d seen this building. Isn’t it brilliant?
Which brings me on to Leadenhall Market, another place I’ve never walked through. What a beautiful place. Some of the architecture dates back to the 14th century.
I don’t know what this building was (not mentioned in the book), but I just loved it. It was just around the corner from the market.
Plaques everywhere in London tell of what was there once.
Another alleyway with closed premises, but I believe this one has been saved from demolishion. You can find this in Ball Court. Read this excellent article about it here.
St Michael’s Church, Cornhill
Now, if I hadn’t wanted the loo so badly I would have stayed and enjoyed an organ recital here. But having found the toilet in Pret (where I’d stopped for a hot chocolate) out of order, my only course of action was to go into a pub (but I’d just had a drink and didn’t want to use the loos without purchasing something) or finish the walk quickly and catch the Waterloo & City tube back to Waterloo where I could use the station loos. I chose the second option.
The inside of St Michael’s, Cornhill
A list of the alleys engraved into the pavement
The journey back to Waterloo was quick (it’s straight through, no stops). I thought I was then going mad because I couldn’t see the toilets at the station. They were being renovated and I had go outside to use the portaloos by the bike park. By this time I really didn’t care as long as I could use one!
This walk was really interesting and all the places can be found in a short radius of each other. It always amazes me how much history is packed so close together in London. Look at this map to see how close things are.
My London+ 