Fitzrovia To Farringdon Via Holborn

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. REPEAT IF REQUIRED. THE PAIRS ACCESS GALLERIES THAT CAN BE VIEWED FULL SIZE.

Although I am almost recovered from our family illness, and Becky is still unscathed, Jackie and Ian remain under par. I therefore took another virtual reality trip to London through the medium of scanning another dozen colour slides from the Streets of London series made during July 2004.

I forget which of these two shots featuring Welbeck Way W1 depicts buildings in the Wimpole Street. This area of Fitzrovia is rather grand. The cordoned off pavement is, as has been demonstrated before, a common sight in central London. If the young man has just left his bike against the railings, he will be lucky if it is still there when he returns. I also wonder how much longer our streets will be graced with Royal Mail delivery vans. Wikipedia tells that: “The notorious 18th-century highwayman James MacLaine was once a grocer on Welbeck Street.”

Harley Street W1 7.04

Like the above-mentioned Wimpole Street, Harley Street is noted for the large number of expensive private medical specialists who practice there. This photograph was taken from the junction with Wigmore Street.

Dean's Mews W1

https://wcclibraries.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/a-controversial-sculptor-jacob-epstein-in-westminster/ gives the story of this rather wonderful Jacob Epstein sculpture in Dean’s Mews W1. The slight straightening required by this image meant that the street name has been lost. It is fascinating to me that the photograph contained in the wcclibraries post was clearly taken at a different time of day to mine.

Newman Street W1 7.04

This post box in Newman Street W1 is clearly no stranger to advertising material.

Bury Place WC1 7.04

Bury Place WC1 is around the corner from the British Museum; and is consequently a suitable street in which to find a dealer in antiquities.

I wonder who became the new occupiers of 166 Clerkenwell Road, and therefore next door neighbours of the New Seoul Korean restaurant.

content

The Duke of York in Vine Hill, EC1 was a favourite haunt of “Mad” Frankie Fraser (13.12.23 – 26.11.14) He was a S. London gangster and criminal who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences.

His story is told in  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Fraser, and, more colourfully in the autobiography written with James Morton, available from Amazon.

Vine Hill EC1 7.04

The Duke of York is mentioned on page 147,

Back Hill EC1 7.04

while the Coach and Horses in Back Hill features on the next page.

White Bear Yard EC1 7.04

The Potemkin Russian restaurant on the bendy corner of Back Hill and White Bear Yard could be named after either Catherine the Great’s favourite or the battleship immortalised by Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent film. Given that the ship must have been named after the statesman the exact answer is probably academic.

Saffron Hill EC1 7.04

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle features Saffron Hill EC1 in his Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Adventure of The Six Napoleons’, being the Italian Quarter where can be found the Venucci family. Repairs to gas mains are not particularly unusual.

Becky and Ian returned home to Emsworth later this afternoon. Jackie and I dined on the final helpings of her lovely sausage casserole, both mashed and boiled potatoes, and Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Neither of us imbibed.

55 comments

  1. I went to see a specialist in Harley St once. He advised me to drink a glass of sloe gin every morning and a bottle of stout every day. Had I followed his advice I might now well be remembered as the tipsiest, and happiest, teacher in Kent! I can’t remember his fee, just that it was rather exorbitant!

    1. My specialist, who works a few thousand kilometres away from Harley Street, has advised me to drink 2 large stouts (2x440ml cans) every day, he’d removed my stomach in 2015 and the trouble is my replacement doesn’t have the capacity to hold that much

      1. 164 and 166 Clerkenwell Road are reasonably far apart, the former being on the corner of Laystall Street, the latter on the corner of Rosebery Avenue, with the space in-between occupied by the imposing Cavendish Mansions.

        I’m only here because in 1905 166 Clerkenwell Road was the abode and business premises of my great-grandfather, a hairdresser. I guess I’ll have to drop by for a Thai take-away next time I’m out in London for the evening!

  2. I’m sorry to hear Jackie and Ian are still under the weather. I’m sure you’re a wonderful nurse to them. Thanks for a great day out on the streets, Derrick. The weather looked perfect. I loved the flower baskets hanging around the Duke of York.

  3. What a wonderful jaunt in London. And I learnt a lot of new information from the links. Loved the dissolute highwayman. A levitating Madonna? What were they thinking? Very interesting how the shadows are cast exactly opposite on the statue. I wonder if there is a precise moment in each day when she is in full sun. I think painting the stone facade on the Duke of York does brighten the street.

  4. More broadcasting coincidence: in the latest series of Sherlock (which I don’t watch: info from Radio Times) is an episode called “The Six Thatchers” [nothing to do with rural labourers who re-roof houses with reeds], an update of The Six Napoleons story of Saffron Hill connection [Thatcher being the late Margaret, whose posters, in the story, are being mysteriously* defaced]

    * given the antipathy she generated, perhaps not SO mysterious…

  5. My favourite shot above is Harley St. It’s a beautiful building but also a great composition. Love those wrought iron fences too. I clicked the link and found it very interesting about the scandalous sculpture. People get all bent out of shape about the dumbest stuff.

    The Cough Heard ‘Round The World!! Your comment on my site about how far it traveled was too funny, and now I see it’s true. How kind of us humans to share our germs so freely with each other. Here’s a bunch of empathy! And let’s see all of us getting well as soon as possible.

  6. I hope everyone is feeling better.
    I love the brick work on many of the buildings in your tour.
    The levitating madonna is so interesting. Isn’t weird what people get upset about? I like the shadows of their hands and arms in both of the photos. I like, too, that material from the bombed building was used for the sculpture.

  7. I liked the Sherlock Holmes reference! Thanks for sharing this about Saffron Hill.
    I liked the elegance and the red and cream patterns side by side, one on the building and other in the barricade pattern. Bicycles are taken off racks by unscrewing the tire that is wrapped with a lock cord. People will take the “remains” and but new tire to attach, at least in US cities. Hope everyone will be healthy soon! Hugs to you and Jackie. xo

  8. Makes one realize what a big the city London is when I see all these places.
    When I grew up it was a war torn place, and I never went very far.
    And when I left it was still pretty well war torn.
    Sad really 🙁

      1. Then you must have been like the boys, and girls , in the movie Hue & Cry, came out in 1947, and had children running all over bomb sites.

        I recall seeing this at the Picture Palace at Heathway, opposite the railway station, in Dagenham, and was it exciting for a teenager. Now the teenagers would laugh and scoff at such a film, if you could drag them along to see it.

        Just been to Google Earth to see if it’s still there, but no, it’s gone; however there was a 175 bus at the station; would you believe that there was a 175 bus service back then. 70 years ago?

        Although I took a 145 from Becontree to Heathway, wonder if that service still operates.

        You certainly produce posts that gets my old memory working full tilt Derrick; for which I thank you; which accounts for my rambling on your posts for which I apologize.

Leave a Reply