Nothing like the old victorian bits that time to time we are able to see lost between the centuries!!!

The Gates were erected in 1872.  The side gates have the letters ICRV, which stand for the Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers.  The Inns originally raised a body of troops in 1584 to defend the country against a threatened invasion from Spain. They had various names and in 1859, shortly after the Crimean War, they became the 23rd Middlesex (Inns of Court) Rifle Volunteer Corps.  Lt Col Brewster was the first commandant of the ICRV and his name is on the central panel.  In their current form, their headquarters is to the northeast of the Lincoln's Inn site at 10 Stone Buildings.

 

I have walked pass this gate so so so many times that I shouldn't say this: I NEVER NOTICE IT before! What worries me even more is the fact that I looked everywhere and couldn't find nothing about it.

All I have is that the Gate is located at Lincolns Inn, bears the letters I.C.R.V, the word Brewster and the date 1863 and off course, as you can see, the Gate also have two amazing Water pumps now transformed into lovely flower beds.

Do you know anything about this Gate?? Please, feel free to send me an email and tell me all!!!!

I simply love old signs, at the back of the Welsh Congregational Chapel at Great Guildford Street you will find this one. For some weird reason it brings me a smile and really makes me think:

- Why would anyone use a sign like this? The answer is: BECAUSE IS GREAT!!!! I honestly think we should have it all over London and I would love a badge to use at work everyday. Maybe with some luck it could help me with the people that definately doesn't know inconvinient they are!

It was a real shock to see it's disappeared. I pass by Little Ben everyday and one morning I had a bit of a shock when I noticed it was gone. 

Little Ben was manufactured, according to Pevsner, by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon, and was erected in 1892; removed from the site in 1964, and restored and re-erected in 1981 by Westminster City Council with sponsorship from Elf Aquitaine Ltd "offered as a gesture of Franco-British friendship".

There is a rhyming couplet Apology for Summer Time signed J.W.R. affixed to the body of the clock:

My hands you may retard or may advance

my heart beats true for England as for France.

Little Ben is on holiday and I hope he cames back soon!

:: WESSEX ARCHAEOLOGY ::

:: SEE THE VIDEO OF LITTLE BEN's REMOVAL ::

 

Around London you can find remains of an old City lost in alleys, mews, streets and pubs, a City that never stops bringing you surprises.

Another great find are the few signs which read: 'Ancient Lights'. What does this means???? "Ancient lights" is a colloquialism for the "right to light". 

The law of Ancient Lights means that any building in England which has been in place for 20 years can put up a notice which reads 'ancient lights' to ensure that the light coming into the building isn't affected by a new building being built too close. It dates from the 13th century, but was updated by the 1832 Prescription Act, and can apply to trees as well as walls, although it doesn't apply to the loss of a view. It works: court cases have been won against those who have blocked out the light to a neighbouring house.

On last 29 of February the Queen and the Duke of Endiburgh unveiled The Jubilee Greenway Walk marks Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This 37 mile walking and cycling route is exactly 60 kilometres long - one kilometre for each year of Her Majesty's reign. It will link many of London’s impressive Olympic Games venues.

You’ll pass by the O2 Arena, which will host the gymnastics, trampoline, basketball and wheelchair basketball events or make a short detour to Greenwich Park where the equestrian and modern pentathlon events will take place. Stroll or pedal your way alongside the river to Whitehall to see Horse Guards Parade being transformed into courts for beach handball. Dip your toe – or more if it’s warm enough – into the Serpentine at Hyde Park where the 10km open water swim will take place and imagine the speed and excitement of the road cycling which reaches its conclusion in Regent’s Park.

If you want to know more about the Jubilee commemorations please got to the web site: Diamond Jubilee

The Museum of the Order of St John tells a unique and fascinating story — the story of the Order of St John. The Order was founded after the first Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099.
The Order consisted of a group of Knights, men from noble European families who took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and care of the sick.

In the 1140s the Priory in Clerkenwell was set up as the English headquarters of the Order. When King Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church and established a new Anglican Church, the Order in England was dissolved and all its lands and wealth were seized by the Crown. The Order was briefly restored by Henry’s Catholic daughter, Queen Mary, who granted it a Royal Charter. However, on the accession of her Protestant sister, Queen Elizabeth I, the Order in England was dissolved for good.

In the eighteenth century the Gate was briefly used as a coffee house, run by Richard Hogarth, father of the artist William Hogarth. Dr. Samuel Johnson was given his first job in London at St John’s Gate, writing reports for The Gentlemen’s Magazine. At the end of the eighteenth century the Gate was used as a pub, The Old Jerusalem Tavern, where artists and writers, including Charles Dickens, used to meet.

The modern Order of St John in England was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1888.

The Museum has just been restored and has a fabulous, well organised display but the highlight of the church is the old crypt which has a rather macabre monument of  William Weston, who was the last Prior before Henry VIII dissolved the Order in England. Apparently he died of a broken heart!!!

You can have all this for completely FREE!! Please enjoy!

Cross Bones is a very unusual post-medieval disused burial ground. It is believed to have been established originally as an unconsecrated graveyard for "single women," a euphemism for prostitutes, known locally as "Winchester Geese," because they were licensed by the Bishop of Winchester to work within the Liberty of the Clink.

The age of the graveyard is unknown. John Stow (1525–1605) wrote of it in A Survey of London in 1598 calling it the "Single Woman's churchyard. " By 1769, it had become a pauper's cemetery servicing the poor of St. Saviour's parish. Up to 15,000 people are believed to have been buried there.

In 1990's the Museum of London did some excavation on the site in connection with the London Underground and they found a highly overcrowded graveyard with bodies piled on top pf one another. They uncovered 148 graves dating between 1800s and it was said that 11% were under one year old and 1/3 of the bodies were peinatal (between 22 weeks gestation and 7 days birth).

The people of London wants to transform the Red Gates into a memorial and to create a Garden of Remembrance on the site. If you want to be part of the petition, sign here!

 

 

 

Marylebone Lane is nowadays a side street which leads from Oxford Street to Marylebone High Street, and a popular short cut for traffic wishing to filter through to Wigmore Street, which in turn runs parallel with Oxford Street.

Inset in this modern piece of wall at the corner of Wigmore Street and Marylebone Lane, is this ancient plaque that goes unnoticed by the vast majority of passers by. This very spot was once the main source of the water supply to the City of London. The River Tyburn, with conduit head chiefly alongside of present day Oxford Street, where it would then flow down beneath Brooke Street. This plaque reminds us where the water was once piped to the City of London, close by the Lord Mayor's old Banqueting House, which once stood in fields now occupied by nearby Stratford Place. Alongside this field was a small lane leading to Marylebone - the present day 'Marylebone Lane' - where on this corner stood the chief conduit, now marked by this commemorative stone inlaid into the wall and dated 1776 with its City of London claim.