I met Harry at the Monument where we had a coffee and a chat. One of our main topics of conversation related to a picture of our old 6th form and the people we could recognise from the photo.
Harry could remember far more people than me. The guy sitting next to me is Rob Webb. I was his best man at his wedding. I don’y think I ever saw him after the wedding day and have no idea what he is doing now. Mr Hogan who sat in the middle had a false leg. He apparently lost the original as a glider pilot while flying over Arnheim during the war. Now that we have all reached a mature age I wonder if I sat down in a room with any of them whether I would recognise anyone at all.
After we had finished our usual chat to catch up with the latest gossip in our lives we started on our walk which began at The Monument. The tower which is some 600 ft high has over 320 steps to the top. We didn’t try and reach the summit, we stayed at the bottom and read the text on the side of the monument underneath the relief showing King Charles II arriving to save the day and put out the fire.
The tip of the monument if it was to be shifted to the east would lie on the spot of the origin of the fire at a bakers shop in Pudding Lane, which no longer exists.
One poor frenchman was hung for supposedly being responsible for the fire, even though it latter turned out he wasn’t even in London at the time.
The picture shows the contrast of the old and the modern that is a reflection of the city of London. So many of the street names reflect the work that was carried out in the alleyways of the capital over centuries and which are now only a memory.
From The Monument we headed south towards the Thames, St Magnus The Martyr which was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.
We crossed London Bridge, and as we did so we moved into the shadow of The Shard which stands as a monument to mammon. Rising high above the surrounding buildings its 3 projecting peaks pointing to the heavens trying to reach up ever higher.
Once over the bridge we descended the stairs and found ourselves in Borough Market. Our aim, to find the entrance to Southwark Cathedral. The entrance which had changed from when I visited it a couple of weeks ago with Garry.
One of the friendly guides reported that they had closed that entrance because people left their rubbish in the garden next to the entrance after having bought food at Borough Market.
The cathedral guide came over to us almost as we arrived in the church and started offering advice about what we should see. She chatted freely and introduced us to the tomb of the poet John Gower who died inn 1408 and was a contemporary of Geoffrey of Chaucer.
Gower wrote in Latin, French and in English after the success of Chaucer.
Our guide also pointed out the stained glass window dedicated to the characters in Shakespeare’s plays.
After leaving the cathedral we walked further south along London Bridge Road and into the courtyard of the George Inn, the only remaining galleried pub left in London. Here coaches would have arrived and departed to Dover, Canterbury and other destination in southern England. The place looked very quiet so we didn’t stop for a drink. As we proceeded along the main road we passed a number of other courtyards that used to hold stagecoach inns now long gone.
Eventually we turned a corner into Angel Place alongside this alley stands the old wall of Marshalsea Prison where Dickens’ father was imprisoned in 1824. He also set the novel Little Dorrit in the prison.
Dickens used this location inn the novel for Doris’s marriage.
We turned off the main road and walked passed Trinity Church Square. Suddenly the noise and tussle of London disappears and all is quiet. The square, built in 1824 has the church at its heart and is surrounded by beautiful terraced homes of the period.
We walked on and soon came across Newington Gardens previously the site of Horsemonger Lane Gaol. The victorians obviously had a great need to house prisoners as you could be locked away for so many small crimes.
Here our Dickensian all finished and we strolled back along London Bridge Road and found Tas Restaurant Borough Here ate a very reasonable Turkish Meal and then walked back to London Bridge Station where we parted. A very enjoyable day out in London.