Articles from Jen Pedler

After terror

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 22:48:48 +0000

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I was chilling out in front of the tv with a glass of wine on Saturday night when the phone rang. I saw it was my daughter, in Preston - or at least, that's where she lives so I assumed that was where she was. But it was late, almost 11. A crisis, I wondered as I answered, trying to prepare myself... "You're ok, Mum?" she said, almost before I could say a word. And then I knew it had happened again. So I heard about the London Bridge terrorist attack via the news she was watching 250 miles away.

Why would I have been in Borough Market? Why was anyone there that night? But as I was in Parliament Square on the day of the Westminster attack in March, I could sense the terror. Police yelling "Run, get out, get away." Hearing gunshots, not knowing what you were running from, wondering where to run to... And for those caught up in the Borough Market attack it was also dark.

I had to recce a walk I have coming up which crosses the north of London Bridge. I might have done it yesterday but it wasn't clear how far the police cordon extended so I decided to postpone until today.

At the north end of London Birdge, the City of London Police were out in force, complete with dogs.

Floral tributes were accumulating at the base of the Monument, guarded by police. Almost as if the Monument itself was under attack.

A car was parked in Monument St, outside the Hydrant pub. A passerby went up to one of the many policemen there and said, "excuse me but that car's been parked there for a long time..." "It's ok, we know, that's the Corporation Traffic over there, " was the reply. So we are all being vigilant...

When I finished my walk recce, I found myself back at London Bridge. I could not resist walking across to see the crime scene for myself. It was a cime scene that the police were still investigating but there was nothing to see.

The journos were lined up opposite the ever increasing pile of flowers.

And people were gathering to try and make sense of it all. I began to wonder whether this is 'terrorism tourism'.

I waked back across the bridge, past two City policemen, complete with dragon, guarding the entrance to the City and wondered at the times we live in.

Not to mention we have a general election coming up in three days time. Let's hope we make the right decision for the future of our country.

More photos from today

Going Underground: the Despard Road Subway

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 17:29:54 +0000

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The pedestrian subway running beneath Archway Road, between Despard Road and Pauntley Street, will be closed when the gyratory is redeveloped this year and replaced with a surface level crossing. Perhaps people feel safer crossing the road above ground but I have never found this subway intimidating and haven't heard of any 'incidents' occurring in it.

There is a certain fascination with London's underground spaces and as this one is shortly to be gone I decided to document it before it closed. Several people walked through while I was there. "We won't be able to walk through here much longer," I commented to one. She looked at me as if she wondered what I was talking about. A man cycled through, despite signs forbidding this.

But there's step-free access at both ends so perhaps cycling is irresistible? A long ramp curves down from Despard Road.

Steps down from Archway Road also provide access at this end, entering the subway slightly along from it's western end.

There's a convex mirror at the bottom of the steps so you can check the way ahead.

On the opposite side the ramp and steps form a 'T'.

There's another convex mirror at this end but it's very little use as it's so scratched up.

Most people seem to walk through with their eyes down, intent on little more than getting to the other side of the road. But looking up is a real treat as the ceiling is a riot of artwork. It starts with psychadelic swirls at the Despard Road end...

... and continues through to childlike drawings as you approach the Pauntley Street exit.

All very 70s. I have no idea who painted this ceiling but I'll miss it when the subway's gone.

I wonder how they will close it. Will they just gate it off or fill it in somehow? Have to wait and see. No idea when it will be closed as beyond a start date of 1st Feb I haven't seen any timetable of what will happen when with the gyratory works. So if you want to see this soon-to-be-gone part of Archway's history my advice is to walk through now before you miss it.

All photos from Despard Road subway

The Streets of N19: Part 11

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 21:05:24 +0000

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I started by walking along St John's Way.

A long street that runs east from the Archway gyratory. Buses taking you to Finsbury Park (210) or Tottenham Hale (41) run along it. It's mosly two-way but at the Archway end it's part of the gyratory and sweeps you around the south of the Methodist Central Hall.

Until 1940 it was called St John's Road, as a sign on the corner of Cressida Road still shows.

The street name signs in both pictures above simply read 'Borough of Islington' meaning that they are pre-1965, in the days of the Metropolitan Borough, before Islington and Finsbury were combined to form todays LBI. Most of the street names along the road are from this era. It's not until the far end that you find a more modern LBI sign.

I'm pleased to note that all are correctly apostrophised. But enough on street names...

I began walking along the right-hand side of the road which saved the complications of crossing via the island. There's a little green space here. Welcome to Archway Corner, says the sign, although it's not particularly welcoming - largely a haunt for street drinkers or pigeons.

Next a row of terraced houses which includes a dentist's surgery - the traffic noise probably drowns the sound of drilling.

Then a block of 1950s social housing - Bowerman Court - named after Alderman S C Bowerman who was a member of the council for 31 years and Mayor from 1962-3. Again, the Islington Borough coat of arms gives the clue that they are pre 1965. (See discussion of Constable House in Part 9)

Opposite these flats is the side of the Miranda Estate (see Part 10).

After this the road bends to the left with late C19 terraces on the left and the Elthorne Estate on the right. Turnings to the left lead you up into the streets of the Whitehall Park conservation area (which contains probably the most expensive houses around Archway) and turnings to the right into the maze of the estate. In a way, the street could be seen as a north-south divide. But those streets would have to wait for another day. Today I continued along to the end of St John's Way.

The majority of the terraces on the left of the street have been converted into flats. This obviously caused problems with the post for the occupants of No. 97 (on the corner of Prospero Road). A carefully wordprocessed note, complete with informative arrow, read:

Dear Postman

This is 97 St John's Way

If you want 97A St John's Way

It is round the corner

->

that way.

Thanks very much.

Did the note work, I wondered, or did they still find themselves continually running round the corner to repost mis-delivered mail through their neighbour's letterbox?

The terraced houses come to an end shortly after Cressida Road as you reach the Caxton House Community Centre.

I have fond memories of this as the place where we used to produce our housing co-op newsletter in the 1980s - on a banda machine! Does anyone else remember those?

The lovely cut-outs of dancers that adorn the outside of the building were designed by Randy Klein, an American artist , later based in Islington; he taught metal sculpture at City & Islington College from 1991-2000.

Not sure whether he was also responsible for the mural - dated 1952, the year I was born!

Adjacent to that is another small greenspace - Hillside Park. More welcoming than Archway Corner.

Then a two-storey London stock brick building, clearly late C19.

This is the only remainder of the Islington Workhouse. The workhouse was built in 1869-70 and originally occupied the site stretching from here back to Caxton House. It was taken over by the LCC in 1930 and renamed Hillside (hence the name of the park!) Apart from this section - the former board room and office - the building was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by Caxton House (1976) and the park (1978). The Randy Klein murals were commissioned in 1985. None of that explains why the swan mosaic is dated 1952. That was the year our current Queen came to the throne so it could be described as an Elizabethan mosaic!

Set back behind a large swathe of grass, trees and a walkway on the opposite side of the road are the flats of the Elthorne Estate - also, here, part of St John's Way.

All photos from St John's Way

St John's Way ends with a T-junction at Hazelville Road. Slightly right and then left, Sunnyside Road curves round and then continues, parallel with Hazelville, up to Hornsey Lane. I headed this way.

Why Sunnyside, I wondered, although it's a lovely name for a street. Perhaps because it runs up the south facing side of the hill? There are five other Sunnyside Roads in the A-Z. I have an urge to visit them all to see how they compare. Somehow looking at them on Google streetview just wouldn't be the same as actually being there.

But today I'm in Sunnyside Road, N19.

On the corner is Sunnyside Community Gardens.

It's sad that the wooden chalet, built by volunteers, has been set on fire twice (and now at the time of writing has been removed). The charred remains were visible through its surrounding fence.

Past the gardens Sunnyside Road curves round in a long, steep hill running up to Hornsey Lane. In the early 80s I was living in Crouch End and used to cycle to the Oval for work every day. On the way home I used to ride along St John's Way debating whether I would cycle up this hill or get off and walk. Cycling usually won as it was quicker - those were the days, don't think I'd make it these days! A challenge?

The street is dominated by flats. On the left the three blocks of the Hornsey Rise Estate, running through to Hazelville Road, stand on the former site of the Alexandra Orphanage. The orphanage opened in the 1860s. After it moved to Maitland Park in 1905 the building was used as an additional workhouse for Shoreditch until it was demolished. The estate was built in the 1920s by the LCC and all the blocks are named after former LCC dignitaries.

Among other things,Charles Ritchie was an LCC Alderman in 1895 although he seems to have resigned fairly shortly after this. He was a Conservative MP - elected to represent Tower Hamlets in 1874 and sat in the commons until he was made a peer in 1905. During this time he was Home Secretary (1900-1902) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1902-1903). But perhaps the claim to fame that most qualifies him to have an LCC block of flats named after him is that, in his role as President of the Local Government Board, he was responsible for the 1888 Local Government Act which led to the formation of the LCC. So you could almost claim that without him these flats would never have been built in the first place.

George Dashwood Taubman Goldie was also an LCC Alderman (1908-12). He played a major role in the founding of Nigeria as a British State. Hard to find a reason a block of flats in Islington should be named after a colonial adminisrator and empire builder - but people saw things differently back then.

Reginald Welby was an Alderman and also Chairman of the LCC in 1900. He died in 1915, shortly before these flats were built.

Continuing up the hill brought me to Manchester Mansions.

This block was also built in the 1920s but this time by Islington Borough Council and named after Sir W. E. Manchester who was a long-time Islington Alderman and Mayor from 1929-30. His wife was the first woman, in 1925, to win a council by-election. (Willats).

Between them, these blocks provide an interesting illustration as to the way attitudes to social housing have changed over the last hundred years. No doubt at least some of these flats have been sold off under the right to buy by now. It's also interesting to speculate why these particular men were chosen to have their names remembered by having housing named after them. Did they consider it an honour? Did they visit the flats? Maybe cut a tape at their opening or the laying of the foundation stone? It would be interesting if the council erected little information plaques giving the history but, in these times of austerity, they no doubt have better things to spend their (or perhaps I should say 'our') money on. Much of our social housing deserves to be recognised as historic buildings.

On the opposite side of the street is the 1970s New Orleans Estate.

The significance of the name eludes me. The estate is built on probably one of the highest points in Islington yet most of New Orleans is built below sea level.

At the top of the hill, on the corner of Hornsey Lane, there's a former petrol station - I remember buying petrol there in the 70s - now a garage/car wash.

Amid the random jumble of cars, car parts and defunct signage is a lovely, though neglected, old building.

It seems, from the detailed account of the development of this area on the very informative WHPARA history webpage that this is a summerhouse or pavilion that belonged to a larger house that once stood here. The decorative plaque on the wall may be the initials of William Thomas Sargant who bought land here in the 1850s.

(Reminder, need to take a better pic of this...)

All photos from Sunnyside Road

I had now reached Hornsey Lane (N6), the boundary of N19. To get back to the postcode in hand, I turned right and then right again down Hornsey Rise - to be documented on another occasion. Today I turned left into Hornsey Rise Gardens.

I was pleased to note that the council had fixed the new street name sign below the old painted one (even though they hadn't made a very good job of getting it straight). It's nice to allow these old signs to degrade gracefully rather than covering them up (or perhaps I'm just a street name sign nerd?)

The Gardens curve up in a crescent that runs back down to Hornsey Rise. In fact, until the end of the 1880s, the street was named Crouch End Crescent. Perhaps estate agents would rather it still was? The street consists of substantial two/three storey houses with double-height bay windows. In the 1980s our housing co-op had a short-life house here on license from the council - happy memories of parties! I'm not sure whether the council developed it into flats or sold it after we moved out - in either case, I imagine it is privately owned by now.

Many of the houses have been converted into flats although some are still single dwellings. There is a curious logic to the mirror writing in this sign giving directions to 13A - you follow the writing then come to the arrow.

As the road curved round I spotted a rather dilapidated looking house. A valuable asset even in this rather sorry state and currently protected by live-in guardians.

On the opposite side of the road a sign pointed along a path leading to the Crouch Hill Recreation Centre.

Or rather, a path that used to lead to the recreation centre. It closed and the building became derelict several years ago. The new Ashmount school was built on the site in 2011. So presumably this path leads to the school now but I didn't walk up it today. Must see if I can find any photos of the old recreation centre. We often used to attend events there when my daughter was young.

All photos from Hornsey Rise Gardens

Back on Hornsey Rise I decided to cut along Cromartie Road back to Sunnyside Road and then return home the way I had come.

It's a short, straight street, developed in the 1890s. The name sounds Scottish but Willats gives no clue as to its origin. The original three-storey nineteenth century terrace runs along the left-hand side of the street, somewhat isolated between two blocks of modern flats, one at each end. The edge of the New Orleans Estate runs along the right-hand side. I try to avoid taking photos that look as if they could have been taken from Google Streetview so I have nothing to illustrate the feel of the street. In fact, I took very few photos at all - perhaps because I was heading home? But I did feel compelled to document the phone box at the Sunnyside Road end. Not an old red one but one of the more modern glass boxes. It still seemed to be functional. I wonder how many people still use public phones in these days of mobiles?

Other pictures from Cromartie Road

So I found myself back in Sunnyside Road and walked back along St John's Way to the Archway gyratory.

The sign could do with a clean but it will soon be gone!

I walked down Holloway Road to take in my final street for the day - Windermere Road.

Above the street sign is one of my favourite, tantilisingly only partially revealed ghost signs. It must have once read 'Gold... Diamonds'. I wish more of the plaster would flake off. The shop beneath, now a computer sales/repair shop, must once have been a jewellers (or possibly pawnbrokers).

Windermere, Willats informs me, "is in the Lake District, Westmoreland and Lancs." But I knew that already; I've been there several times. No clue as to why a street in Archway should be named after a north of England lake though. It is opposite a Swiss waterfall (Giesbach) so there is a watery connection...

The street is a cul-de-sac; a mix of residential and commercial, culminating with a joinery.

(Woodstock is a place in Oxfordshire, nowhere near Windermere. It is also a place in the USA, site of a famous festival in 1969...)

All pictures from Windermere Road

From there, I headed back home along Junction Road (which has to have an entry all to itself in a future installment).

< Part 10

To be continued...

The Streets of N19: Part 10

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 21:07:26 +0000

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The first street on my agenda was Magdala Avenue, one of the two N19 streets that gets a specific mention in Bleeding London. (The other is Station Road, down by Tufnell Park, See Part 6.)

Here Stuart encountered two “dowdy, overweight” women waiting at a bus stop.

“They were deep in conversation, but as I got level with them one looked up and turned to me as though she wanted me to settle a difference of opinion they’d been having.

‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘You’ve heard that expression “the seven-year itch”? Well, what does it mean exactly?’” (Bleeding London, p.192)

They sought Stuart’s reassurance that when “a man goes off on a seven year itch he always comes back, doesn’t he?” His reply, “sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t” left them “gloomy and disappointed.”

Magdala Avenue runs between Dartmouth Park Hill and Highgate Hill. I turned into it from the DPH end. There are four bus stops; a pair approximately at each end of the street. In fact, it seems that the sole purpose of this road is to provide a bus route. It has no entry in the Willats book. There is a Magdala Road (c.1882) listed followed by a brief note: "Until 1971." No mention of the origin of the name. Magdala, probable birthplace of Mary Magdalene, the name of the Hampstead pub where Ruth Ellis shot her lover in 1955. This disappeared Magdala Road gave its name to today's Magdala Avenue. It ran parallel to Anatola Road and was subsumed by the Girdlestone Estate (See Part 2). This all becomes clear when you look at the 1938 A-Z.

Magdala Avenue seems to be slightly to the north of the previous Road and provides a cut through between DPH and Highgate Hill conveniently accommodating bus stops outside the hospital and beside the estate. I found myself wondering what route the buses took before it was built but that was a distraction too far!

So back to the bus stops. I can't imagine that anyone would ever get on a bus at either of the stops on the left. It would be quicker just to walk to Archway than sit on a bus winding its way round the (soon to be abolished) gyratory to Macdonald Road - perhaps why the penultimate stop on the route doesn't warrant a shelter.

There were people waiting at the stops on the other side.

The C11 will take you to Brent Cross. Perhaps that's where the women Stuart encountered were headed. Off to buy sexy lingerie to tempt the man back from his seven year itch? But as it hove into view the woman with the stick made no move so perhaps she was waiting for the 4.

The 4 will take you to Waterloo although if that is where you want to get to you'd be better off taking the tube. It takes a meandering route. Highbury Corner via Finsbury Park and Blackstock Road (almost quicker to walk to Highbury Corner). Then along Upper Street to the Angel and down past the Barbican to St Paul's before winding its way through the City to Waterloo. I sometimes catch it if I fancy a scenic tour.

Magdala Avenue has no houses of its own. The Whittington Hospital runs along the complete lefthand side of the street and the back of the estate along the right.

My favourite features of the hospital are the Victorian balconies where tuberculosis patients would have taken the air

and the black Whittington cat over the new entrance.

In the courtyard of the new entrance I was intrigued by the solar powered bank of bike hire lockers.

This was the first Brompton-NHS folding bicycle hire scheme. I wonder how well-used it is. It's always seemed to me that if you ride a bike regularly it's cheaper to buy one. (Must get back on mine - seem to have become so lazy since getting my freedom pass!)

All photos from Magdala Avenue

Across and left up Highgate Hill; another long road that I seem to be documenting piecemeal. Past the back of the closed hospital buildings with 24/7 live-in guardians to keep out squatters.

Originally opened as the Highgate Union Infirmary in 1879, part of the Whittington until the 1990s then the Archway Campus of the Middlesex University - a research facility for healthcare professionals. It stood empty after they moved out in 2013 but has now been bought by Peabody and is awaiting redevelopment as housing. The main parts of the original hospital building are to be retained as part of this development. The history of the hospital warrants a blog post of its own and the building is better viewed from Archway Road. One thing at a time...

Next door to this building is The Academy, a Victorian school building now flats - although those who live there probably call them apartments.

On the opposite side of the road the Whittington & Cat pub, dating from the 1880s, was still open but is closed at the time of writing. It's future still seems to be uncertain but hopefully at least the facade will be saved.

I by-passed Despard Road, with the aim of coming back to it later, and continued up the hill. Past a bench that looked as if it was made for giants

and a microwave on top of a rubbish bin. I debated whether that constituted dumping and the risk of a £50,000 fine.

All photos from Highgate Hill

I turned into Waterlow Road.

I'd always assumed this was named after Sir Sydney, the donor of the Park, but Willats informs me that it's named after his fourth son, David Sydney Waterlow (1857-1924). He was Liberal MP for North Islington 1906-10 and LCC member for North St Pancras 1898-1910. (So has closer connections with Islington than his father as Waterlow Park is in Camden!)

The street was developed in the 1880s and originally called Bismarck Road. It was re-named in 1919; presumably as part of a post-war purge of all things Germanic. But the renaming also meant that an address with a grisly past was effectively obliterated from the map. 14 Bismarck Road was where George Joseph Smith, the notorious Brides in the Bath murderer drowned his third and final victim, Margaret Elizabeth Lofty, in December 1914. Initially her death was assumed to be an accident and it was not until the similarity with a death in Blackpool a year earlier was noticed that the net began to close around Smith (who had been operating under several aliases). He was convicted of three murders and hanged in August 1915. The undertaker for Margaret Lofty's funeral (before foul play was suspected) was Herbert Francis Beckett. There's still a Beckett's funeral directors on Junction Road today so perhaps he was the grandfather of the current proprietor.

It seems a reasonable assumption that the street wasn't renumbered when it was renamed so today's 14 Waterlow Road (left of picture) is probably where this murder took place a hundred years ago.

At the end of the street I reached Archway Road but before crossing I doubled back to take in the other two streets between it and Highgate Hill. First down the hill to Lidyard Road.

The entrance to Whitehall Mansions is on the left as you turn into the street.

A large, impressive block running along Archway Road between the hospital building and Lidyard Road. Built in 1891 as the date on the Archway Road frontage informed me.

Beyond the date it was built I have been able to find out very little about this building. The block currently belongs to the Council but can't have been built by them in the first place as the MB Islington only came into existence in 1900.

On the corner, another 'No Dumping' sign seemed to be having little effect.

Almost as if people know that if they leave stuff here it will be cleared away...

The houses attractively follow the curve of the street.

All photos from Lidyard Road

I came out part way along Despard Road which, like Waterlow Road, runs between Highgate Hill and Archway Road.

At the Highgate Hill end a woman was busily sweeping the street.

On the corner with Archway Road is the Charlotte Despard pub.

Charlotte Despard was a Suffragette, Sin Fein activist, novelist, vegetarian and anti-vivisectionist. She remained politically active into her 90s and died in 1939, aged 95. She devoted much time to helping the poor in Battersea (where there is a Charlotte Despard Avenue). I'd always assumed that Despard Road was also named after her although, beyond the fact she was twice imprisoned in Holloway (as were many of the Suffragettes), I had never been able to find any connection with this area. In fact, the street is not named after her at all but after a military commander, General John Despard (175-1849) who fought in the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence. Not surprising really as Despard Road dates from 1887, before Charlotte Despard became politically active. The next question, to which I have no answer, is what connection did John Despard have with Archway?

Now again I found myself on Archway Road.

Although this is a long road, running from Archway up to beyond Highgate (where it becomes the Great North Road), only a small section of it - between Archway roundabout and the bridge, is in N19. After the bridge it becomes N6 and also changes borough from Islington to Haringey. The road is best known for the bridge which gave Archway its name - this grey, overcast day was not the best weather for photographing it.

The current bridge is dated 1887, Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, although it wasn't officially opened until 1900. Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise, performed the opening ceremony and then continued on across the bridge to unveil the statue of Sir Sydney Waterlow in the park. It replaces the earlier stone bridge, designed by John Nash which was much more arch-like.

The Highgate Archway Company, set up in 1810, had originally planned to tunnel a road under Hornsey Lane to by-pass the steep Highgate Hill but the tunnel collapsed during construction, hence the need for a bridge at all.

The last vestige of subterranian Archway is the subway that runs under Archway Road from the end of Despard Road. It will be closed when the gyratory is abolished so not much time left to sample it's pleasures! The painted ceiling is rather splendid.

There used to be an fairly extensive network of subways under the gyratory but they were closed sometime in the 80s. I wonder what has become of these. Have they been blocked up or just closed off? If they're still there it would be great to have a tour! The only real reminder of them is the old subway sign above the closed off entrance by the library.

Coming out on the other side of Archway Road, I paused to take a photo of the road sign showing the gyratory. Not much longer before they'll have to change that as well.

All photos from Archway Road

The subway brings you out into Pauntley Street.

Another of Archway's Dick Whittington connections as it gets its name from his birthplace - Pauntley in Gloucestershire.

But there used to be much more than just the street name to remind us of him here. Dick Whittington made his fortune as a merchant and in addition to being four times Mayor of London he was three times the Master of the Mercers' Company, the premier City of London Livery Company. In accordance with the terms of his will, the Sir Richard Whittington Charity, still in existence today, was set up in 1424 and managed by the Mercers' Company. In 1822 they built a row of gothic alms houses, The Whittington College, here. These were demolished in 1966 when Archway Road was widened and the alms houses moved to East Grinstead.

But there's still a reminder of the Mercers here in the form of the Mercers' Maiden, the heraldic emblem of the Company, over the entrance to the 1930s Pauntley House.

As the maiden did not formally become the coat of arms of the Company until 1911, the symbols are of varying design, often depicted wearing the fashions of the time. They mark buildings belonging to the Company and can be found in many places in London; unsurprisingly there are a large number in Mercer Street, Covent Garden. The Mercers must have owned land here as they built the alms houses. Did they also build these flats? Do they still own them, or at least the land they are built on, or is the maiden just a reminder of by-gone times?

A green Islington Borough plaque on the wall of the flats informs us that Archway toll gate stood 'near here' from 1813 (when the road was built) and 1864. The road and bridge were built by the Highgate Archway Company and tolls were charged, as they were for most major roads and bridges at that time, to enable shareholders to make a profit on their investment. It cost 6d for a horse and cart and 1d for pedestrians. Tolls weren't abolished until 1871 but this sign suggests that the gate was removed before that. The toll house itself seems to have been somwhere nearer to Lidyard Road. It's difficult to envisage exactly where everything was under the current road layout!

There are no actual houses in Pauntley Street. Most of it is taken up by the blocks of the 1970s Miranda Estate - so named as it backs on to Miranda Road - one of the 'Shakespeare' streets of Whitehall Park (coming in a future instalment).

I lived in a Pauntley Street flat briefly in the mid 80s -- a spacious maisonnette flat with great views out across London. Like the Girdlestone Estate (see Part 2), the flats are named after the streets they replaced.

The grey sky was now threatening rain but I decided to try to cover a couple more streets before heading home. I walked up Pauntley Street, parallel to Archway Road, past the Islington Gardeners Forgotten Corner which was providing a lovely spring display.

All photos from Pauntley St

At the end I turned into Gladsmuir Road (which I decided to leave for another day) and then into Whitehall Park.

This, along with the surrounding streets, is part of Islington's Whitehall Park Conservation area CA07. The area was developed in the mid-late C19. The Whitehall Park Area Residents' Association (WHPARA) website has an excellent history documenting the history and development of each street. (The other streets in this area will be covered in a later episode.)

On the corner as you turn into the street is the impressive red brick St Andrew's Church. The foundation stone was laid in 1894 and the church opened the following year.

The new church replaced an earlier temporary church which had been opened as a mission room in 1886. The Guardian from London, 8 July, 1894 includes a description of the laying of the foundation stone. The Islington North MP, George Trout Bartley (Conservative) "delivered an introductory address, remarking on the. wonderful growth of the district during the past seven years. Where once there had been seventy cottages there were now 700 houses and a population of about 5,000 souls." Once the church was consecrated the district would become a new Parish. It had been the unanimous wish of the Building Committee that Lord Kinnaird lay the foundation stone and they wished "to thank his lordship for attending, and to express their regret that ill-health prevented Lady Kinnaird from being present." In reply, Lord Kinnaird "said he believed that there was a great future before them as a Church." And indeed there has been as the church has continued in its original function to this day whereas many others built in that era have now, if they remain at all, been converted into flats. But who was Lord Kinnaird? I can only assume that he was the 11th Lord, Arthur Kinnaird, famous footballer. What a lot of history from one foundation stone!

And so on along Whitehall Park. The council conservation area leaflet says that it "contains the grandest houses, with fine views. They are mainly large three storey red brick properties with Westmoreland slate mansard roofs, cast iron decorative railings and gabled dormer windows."

And some fine porches.

The road then turns to the left and runs up to Hornsey Lane. There's an odd sort of cross road at this point. What would seem to be the natural continuation of Whitehall Park becomes Gresley Road and a right turn takes you down Cressida Road which actually seems more logically to be part of the top of Whitehall Park. Presumably this somewhat confusing arrangement came about due to the different times that the roads were developed and is also why the street sign has to note that it leads to Cressida Road.

Whitehall Park, or at least the majority of it, seems to be one of the last parts of this estate to be developed. Some of the houses post-date the church.

There's what looks like an old street lamp-post outside no. 86.

I'm always fascinated when I come across artifacts such as this - no longer serving any useful purpose and not, usually, maintained in any way. I'm glad it's been left there but find myself wondering why - and do many people even notice it? It does get a mention in the WHPARA history: "In June 1883 the Lighting Committee reported to the Vestry that a new lamp should be placed in Gresley Road. That might be the one outside number 86 Whitehall Park." Suggesting that this might have once been part of Gresley Road?

I was amused by the juxtaposition of the 'No Parking' sign with the garages to let sign.

How long will it be before someone tries to redevelop the garages as housing - but perhaps the conservation area status precludes this?

I followed a man with a guitar up to Hornsey Lane.

All photos from Whitehall Park

Hornsey Lane, fascinating though it is, is N6 so I turned left and then left again down Fitzwarren Gardens.

My last street of the day and another Dick Whittington connection; Alice Fitzwarren was the master's daughter who Dick Whittington married. Another oddly orientated street as it curves round in a crescent to rejoin Hornsey Lane but also has a spur leading back down to Whitehall Park. Houses date from the early C20. Builders were at work on one.

By now it was drizzling and a wind was starting to get up.

I returned to Whitehall Park and back home the way I had come.

< Part 9

> Part 11

The Streets of N19: Part 9

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 14:42:59 +0000

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From Archway I crossed Holloway Road and turned into Giesbach Road.

It appears to be named after the Giesebach Falls in Switzerland but it's difficult to come up with a reason why a street in Archway should be named after a Swiss waterfall. All I can find out (from the excellent Streets with a Story, Eric A. Willats - unfortunately out of print, relying on a library copy) is that the name first appeared in an Islington directory in 1878 and that permission to name it such had been applied for to the Metropolitan Board of Works (forerunner to LCC) in 1873. At least that dates the street if not much else.

On the corner Thomas Brothers, the hardware shop that has been a feature of this community for almost a century was in the final phases of its closing down sale. I really hope the Archway regeneration won't drive out too many more local businesses.

(Now, at the time of writing, it's closed and may be demolished to be rebuilt as flats - another thing to keep an eye on.)

As you enter the street you are greeted by a repurposed phone box. "Say it with flowers," I found myself thinking.

Now that public telephones have largely become redundant, its good that these icons are being preserved. For the nerds among you, this is a K6 designed by Giles Gilbert Scott of Battersea Power Station fame - another icon that's currently being repurposed.

The building opposite used to be the parcels office. If it still was, today's journey would have been at an end...

Set into the pavement is a plaque commemorating 'street renewal' in 2007. The significance of this eludes me. How is a street renewed? What made it so special as to warrant a plaque? Why is this the only such plaque I've noticed around the Borough?

I walked along the street, past the tidy rows of two-storey Victorian terraces on each side. On the left, at the end of the street is a St John Ambulance Training Centre that I'd never noticed before.

And opposite that a little park - Giesbach Road Open Space - with flowerbeds and benches.

Islington has the lowest ratio of open space to built-up areas of any London borough; in the nineteenth century rush to develop housing no-one thought about preserving it until the only open space of any significance left was Highbury Fields. So, small as they are, little oases such as this are a valuable commodity.

All photos from Giesbach Road

After the park the road bends round to become Boothby Road.

And having discovered the wonderful Willats book, I now can't resist checking the origins of every street name! This street was, until 1907, formerly known as Summerfield Road and Summerfield Villas. Why its name was changed is not clear but it's named after Sir Brook Boothby who was a "Baronet and poet, classical scholar and translator of Sappho". Apparently he was a sometime resident Islington although I can't find any reference to this. Willats cites pp.33-34 of William Fox Jr, La Bagatella, 1801. All seems a bit obscure to me!

It's a short street with modern three-storey flats on the left and older three-storey terraces on the right.Toward the end of the street the houses give way to the sides of a former bomb factory, now a drama school, on the left

and a school building on the right.

All photos from Boothby Road

By the school, at the junction with Elthorne Road, I turned left as this was the direction I needed to go in to get to the sorting office. I couldn't afford to get too sidetracked or it would close before I got there! But as a result I've only photographed half of Elthorne Road and haven't really done it justice. I made a mental note to go back and photograph the other half, leading up to Holloway Road, another time.

Opposite me was the private, gated development, Old Forge Road which runs round as a crescent and comes out further along. It can't have an entry of its own as I could only photograph the gates! I did find myself wondering about the forge though. Another thing to find out...

Beyond Old Forge Road (on the right hand side of Elthorne Rd) are mainly two-storey Victorian Terraced houses. The opposite side is dominated by the former bomb factory, some of which is to let as studios.

Graffiti on the end of the building looked like flames leaping from the post.

There were cricket stumps painted on the wall bounding the Elthorne Estate. To score a run you'd need to cross the road; perhaps a game played here should be called 'Chicken Cricket'?

All pictures from Elthorne Road

At the end of Elthorne Road I turned right into Ashbrook Road.

The majority of the street was demolished when the estate was built in the 1970s but there are a few terraced houses remaining along this end. A lost cat poster was tacked to a telegraph pole. I wonder whether they ever found Pursie. It's heartbreaking to lose a cat and even worse when you don't know what became of them.

A glass-topped wall warned of the danger of attempting to climb over.

All photos from Ashbrook Road

I turned left into Zoffany Street; the A to Z of N19 in a single step!

A short street. One the left, modern flats built by Islington and Shoreditch Hosuing Association; a mix of social housing and shared ownership.

and the original terraced houses on the right.

It's named after the eighteenth century painter Johann Zoffany but his connection with Islington is not clear to me.

All photos of Zoffany St

Scholefield Road runs across the other end of Zofanny Street.

Like Ashbrook Street, it's been truncated by the estate but a few of the original terraced houses still remain - being refurbished, so much builing work going on in London...

All pictures from Scholefield Rd

I came out about half way along Fairbridge Road - a long, straight street with three-storey C19 terraces along each side connecting Holloway Road to Hornsey Road. I have to confess, if I'm walking between the two, I always try to avoid walking its complete length as it's a bit monotonous. It is a tempting cut-through in the car but not particularly enjoyable to drive along either what with the speed humps, the parked cars along each side making it a tight squeeze when there's oncoming traffic and the chicane by Sussex Way. I turned left toward Hornsey Road which brought me to Nicholay Road on the left.

Another street truncated by the estate with no houses of its own. But it does have a rather lovely Hovis ghost sign, irritatingly obscured by the lampost when you want to take a photo of it.

For such an insignifcant seeming street it has a substantial entry in the Willats book. It's named after John Augustus Nicholay who was furrier to Queen Victoria until he died in 1873. He's buried in St Mary Magdalene Church on Holloway Road. Clearly it's a shadow of its former self as in the 1884 Directory it included Sambrook Cottages, Nicholay Terrace, Grove Place, Myrtle Cottages, St Stephen's Terrace and Marion Villas! In contrast, Willats finds very little to say about Fairbridge Road beyond that it was built up by 1882.

All photos of Nicholay Rd

Now to continue along Fairbridge Road.

Past the terraces.

Around the chicane.

Beyond Sussex Way the street has an industrial edge. A council yard and garage on the right.

Flats on the left where there used to be a builder's yard and then a discount carpet shop with a pirate looking down from above. Reminded me of watching Pugwash on tv as a child.

All photos from Fairbridge Road

When I reached Hornsey Road I was presented with the long road dilemma again. These long streets deserve to be documented as a whole but it's irresistable to take photos as you dip in and out of them. Again I decided to document the part that I walked.

The street is a curious mixture of residential and commercial. A bicycle factory.

Terraces soot-blackened by heavy traffic.

A dilapidated house, seemingly lived in as there was a car parked outside - or maybe it just provided convenient parking for a neighbour.

An engraved 'Tamworth Terrace' sign reminding me that once this street was made up of a succession of individualy named terraces.

The sorting office in a yard where there is also a gym.

As I set off back along Hornsey Road I spotted a couple carrying a matress. I found myself wondering whether they were just moving in together.

All photos from Hornsey Rd

I turned left into Marlborough Road.

Another long road running between Hornsey and Holloway Roads, roughly parallel to Fairbridge Road but somehow less monotonous.

First a commercial fringe. The Belgravia Workshops on the left - a former industrial building now converted to offices, studios and workshops.

Opposite a garage repairing taxis, among other things.

A little further along was a driveway with a car parked in front of gates. I was amused by the scawled 'No Parks'. If whoever wrote it had tried a bit harder they could surely have managed to squeeze an 'ing' on instead of the 's'. As it was it sounded more like a rant against green space than an exhortation not to leave your car there.

Squeezed in between the terraces, just before the junction with Sussex Way, is a curious yellow-brick building with a pointed eave. I was so absorbed with trying to read the inscription stone that I omitted to cross the road and take a photo of the building itself! It looked as if it might once have been a church or perhaps a school. I haven't yet been able to find any reference to its former use.

The plaque informed me that it was erected in 1878 (so around the same time that the street itself began to be developed) in memory of a William Robert Perry who died two years earlier. Beneath this are two New Testament quotations:

"Whose faith follow" Heb.XIII.7

"Looking unto Jesus" Heb. XII.2

I wonder who he was? My initial research has not yielded anything about him.

The Prince Alfred pub stands on the corner of Sussex Way. Presumably named after Queen Victoria's second son but another possibility would be George III's ninth son (and 14th child) who died just before he was two after being innoculated against smallpox.

Next door to the pub are 1970s flats. Appropriately in a street named after the Duke of Marlborough, they are named after one of his famous victories - Blenheim Court. The opposite block, Constable House, is, according to Willets, named after the painter who, to my knowledge has no connection either with the Duke of Marlborough or Islington. The coat of arms above the entrance is that of the former Metropolitan Borough of Islington.

The motto 'Deus per Omnia' means 'God pervades all things'. The four quarters of the shield are almost a potted history of Islington: (top left) the cross of the order St John of Jerusalem - if you want to know more about them visit St John's Gate in Clerkenwell; (top right) from the crest of Sir George Colebrooke, whose family owned the Manor of Highbury; (bottom left); from the arms of Sir John Spencer, who owned the Manor of Canonbury in the 16th century - his descendant, the Marquess of Northampton still owns Canonbury Tower, the oldest building in Islington; (bottom right) from the arms of the Berners family who owned large areas of Islington after the Norman conquest and gave thier name to Barnsbury. The coat of arms was changed when the two metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury were merged to form today's LBI in 1965. Interestingly, Willets dates these flats 1965 so possibly they are the last to have borne this insignia.

After the flats the street continues as three-storey terraces. Just before it bends round for its final approach to Holloway Road there's a former parade of shops in the ground floors of the houses. This includes number 61 where Marie Stopes founded the first birth control clinic in Britain in 1921. It later moved to Whitfield Street in Fitzrovia and the Birth Control and Advisory Bureau took over these premises. The plaque commemorating Marie Stopes was unveiled here in 1985.

All the shops have been converted to residential use now but it's nice to see that one of them still has the old tea signs. Long may they remain!

From there it was a short walk to Holloway Road which I didn't photograph on this occasion. Eleven streets taken and my parcel picked up as well!

< Part 8

> Part 10

Churchill 50 Years On

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 22:59:42 +0000

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I was 12, coming up 13 when Churchill died. We lived in Maidenhead, about 40 miles west of London. My friend’s Dad brought her up to see his lying in state. I was invited to go along with them but Mum (who was a teacher, and later a headmistress for many years) was very strict about such things and wouldn’t let me have the day off school. I thought at the time, and still think now, that you probably learn more about history by being part of it than you do by reading books and I wonder what I actually did learn at school that day. Probably not a lot as I imagine that I sulked and refused to pay attention!

So today’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s state funeral was an opportunity to revisit a historical event that I have always felt I somehow ‘missed’ as a child. Havengore, the boat that carried Churchill’s coffin from St Paul’s to Festival Pier on the day of the funeral, was due to cast off from HMS President at 12:40, Tower Bridge was to open at 12:45 and she would pass HMS Belfast at 12:50 where there would be a four gun salute. She would then continue to reach the Houses of Parliament for a service with a wreath being cast onto the Thames at 13:30. Where to watch? London Bridge seemed to be a good location photographically; I’d get a good view of Tower Bridge opening and also of the flotilla passing HMS Belfast.

I arrived at the bridge around twenty past 12 to find I was not the only one with this idea; quite a few others were already lining the balustrade, cameras at the ready, but luckily I wasn’t too late to find a place for myself. Next to me were a couple of City lads, probably in their 30s. “Do you know what time it’s happening?” they asked. I showed them the timetable of events on my phone. “I’ve got to be back at work at 1,” said one. “Blame it on Churchill if you’re late,” I replied and added “but you hadn’t been born when he died!” It’s interesting the way, when a crowd starts to gather, passers-by want to know what’s happening, feel that perhaps they should be joining in, want to make sure they’re not missing anything. So the people who watched the flotilla from London Bridge today were a mixture of those who had gone there with that intention and those who simply arrived there by chance and stayed to watch – although some, once they had satisfied their curiosity as to what was going on, simply continued on their way. “It was a great year, 1965,” said one of the accidental arrivals. It turned out that he had been a few days old when Churchill died and had recently celebrated his 50th.

So the time passed and there we all were; some who were old enough to remember the war, some – like me – born after the war but old enough to remember Churchill (who was prime minister when I was born), some for whom this was a purely historical event, some who were tourists and just vaguely sensed they were participating in something important. We watched the boats passing up and down the river, the traffic moving backwards and forwards across Tower Bridge. Then the traffic stopped, we could see boats manoeuvring into position on the other side of the bridge and the bridge gradually began to be raised.

The flotilla made its way through and reached HMS Belfast. The four gun salute was just audible above the sound of helicopters overhead (tv, security?) and the boats passed under the bridge to the faint sound of the on-board bagpipers.

We all rushed across to the other side, between fortuitous breaks in the traffic, to watch as the flotilla made its way under the Canon Street bridge.

In the 1960s London was still a working port and much has been made of the cranes being lowered as a mark of respect as the coffin passed. Today London is still full of cranes but they’re associated with construction rather than commerce and don’t line the Thames in the way they used to. I looked around to see if I could see any today. There were two orange ones standing high in front of the Shard and another two over toward City Hall; one was already down but the other was standing proud. Would any be lowered as the flotilla passed, I wondered. Satisfyingly, the one by City Hall was lowered as the boats passed and then raised again once they had gone. I hope the crane operator realises that someone noticed.

And that was it. With frozen fingers I caught the bus back home but I was glad I went and as I’ve now retired I didn’t even need to skive off work to do so!

More pictures

The Streets of N19: Part 8

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 23:39:55 +0000

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Ward Road, a left turn off Junction Road, just before you reach Tufnell Park Station, is a quiet little enclave of 1970s flats. It's a convenient cut-through to Tufnell Park Road and is gated at the Junction Road end to prevent cars using it as a rat-run.

But I was on foot so I turrned in and walked down the curve between the flats.

I didn't meet any people although I did encounter a couple of cats strolling up the driveway from the garages.

Ward Road itself is a cul-de-sac, terminating in a row of gates leading into the back gardens of Huddleston Rd (N7).

See all photos from Ward Road

To reach Tufnell Park Road, I turned right into Warrender Road.

Initially it's a continuation of the modern flats.

But as it approaches Tufnell Park Road, these give way to older terraced houses.

On the corner the former Georgiou's Delicatessen was shrouded in scaffolding.

This used to be a lovely old green-tiled corner shop and I have on the odd occasion in the past shopped in there. I was sad to see it closed in 2012 when I took this picture but I hoped the green tiling would survive. Peering through the scaffolding I could see that was not the case.

I'm not sure when the shop closed but this Google street view shot, taken in 2009, shows it was still open then.

See all photos from Warrender Road

As I crossed Tufnell Park Rd I noticed a row of little dancing figures painted on a wall.

I find these odd little pieces of street art fascinating and always wonder who? Why?

I decided not to take in Tufnell Park Road itself on this walk and so turned in to Lady Margaret Road.

Three/four storey terraced houses run up to Brecknock Rd. The road then continues on the other side to Leighton Rd in Kentish Town but that part is NW5. There was a fading 'Save the Whittington' poster in a front window. The hospital, just round the corner from me, often seems to be under some threat or other.

This street is named after is Lady Margaret Beaufort who founded St John's College in Cambridge in the C16. The houses of course are much newer than this but the land used to belong to the college, hence the name.

I walked to the end of the street and then turned left into Celia Road.

Who was Celia? I found myself wondering. The website of Camden Estate agents, Camden Bus, informed me that the street name is possibly derived from the wife or daughter of the developers. Although that does provied an answer it left me wanting to know more about her. Yet another bit of research for the list! The first thing to find out is the surname of the builder concerned. I wonder if any of his descendants still live in the area?

The Camden Bus website also includes brief descriptions of each street with the aim of encapsulating their character to guide potential house-buyers. It describes Celia Road as a quiet and short "pretty residential street ....full of elegant Victorian architecture..." which seems to me to be a fair summary.

Tidy porches...

Many of the houses are three-storey with semi-basements and steps leading up to the front doors. Melted tarmac ran down the front steps of one making it look slightly risky to walk up.

Although I met no people, I did encounter two more cats; a fluffy one jealously guarding her perch amid a hedge...

... eyeing up a tabby who would probably have liked to be up there too.

See all pictures from Celia Road

Celia Road led me to Corinne Road, an L-shaped street running between Lady Margaret Road and Brecknock Road.

I might have been tempted to imagine that Corinne was another of the builder's daughters had the Camden Bus website (proving to be a mine of information about the origin of local street names) not informed me that it "had been suggested" (guide-speak for 'no-one really knows but it's an interesting speculation') that the name was derived from a novel of that name written by Madame de Staël in 1806. As I knew nothing about her I turned to Wikipedia (a good source for quick and dirty information that can be verified by further research at a later date!). That informed me that she was a celebrated European Romantic who had been born in Paris in 1776 and was one of Napoleon's principal opponents. Yes, she did write a novel Corinne ou l'Italie, (1807 according to Wikipedia) but has no apparent connection whatsoever with Tufnell Park. Perhaps she was the favourite bedtime reading for the builder and his wife?

The majority of the street comprises Victorian terraced houses, four-storey running down the hill from Brecknock Road turning to three-storey as the road bends left at the bottom but there's a small development of modern (80s?) flats at the Brecknock Road end. The letterboxes suggested that these were local authority-built but possibly some may have been sold by now.

A blue door proclaimed that the property was 'Protected by Canine Security Services', but this was clearly not enough to deter leaflet deliverers as the hand-written sign below exhorted 'No junk mail or take-away leaflets.' Perhaps the deliverers could be trained to put their leaflets directly into the recycling box as I'm sure that's where most of them end up.

There was a bit more life in this street; people coming home or going out and children playing. Two were scooting up the hill to Brecknock Road with their mother.

At the corner there was a house which should never have need to buy a Christmas tree. I wonder if they do adorn it with lights come the festive season. Must try to remember to go and take a look.

On the opposite side of the road was a little enclave of slightly dilapidated garages.

Getting in and out with a vehicle looked as if it would be tricky and I wondered if anyone actually now uses them to store their car. Probably not unless it's an off-road restoration job. Street parking now seems to be the norm and is more convenient despite the expense of resident parking permits. There could even be enough room to squeeze a house in here which would be a nice little earner if this recent sale in Stoke Newington is anything to go by.

See all pictures from Corinne Road

I turned back after walking a short way along the bottom 'L' of the street and turned into Hugo Road.

Named, apparently, after Hugo the builder who sat by the fire reading French Romantic novels with his wife... (or possibly daughter...). A short, well-kept street with much the same feel as Celia Road to which it runs parallel.

Wisteria clad houses...

... trainers left outside...

Mr Spock guarding someone's front door.

Toward the end of the street a notice tacked to a tree requested that people would desist from feeding a cat that had to be fed a special diet. It looked vaguely like one of the cats I had seen in Celia Road. A bit impossible really, unless you keep it in all the time, to prevent a cat from finding things to eat even if other people are not deliberately feeding it.

See all pictures from Hugo Road

I was now back in Lady Margaret Road. I turned right down to Tufnell Park Road then left and left again into Southcote Road which makes a triangle along the back of the station to Brecknock Road.

This faded old street sign, showing the postcode simply as 'N' was high up on a house wall although there were more modern signs lower down.

Relating to an area where racing pigeons used to be housed is as good a guess as any about the origin of this street name and I can't find anything more definitive. It's another street of Victorian terraced houses, three storey with semi-basements and steps leading up to the front doors. As most other streets in this area, it's tree-lined and this Audi owner was certainly going to regret parking under one - he'd have been better off in one of those Corinne Road garages!

As I turned in, a father and son were heading out along Tufnell Park Road for a Sunday bike ride with their dog.

See all pictures from Southcote Road

I continued up the road and came out at Brecknock Road.

The road stretches for over half a mile between Tufnell Park and Camden Road. It forms the boundary of two boroughs; Camden to the west and Islington to the east. It also runs the gauntlet of two postcodes; the Camden streets, such as the continuation of Lady Margaret Road, are NW5...

... and the Islington streets, after Corinne Road, become N7.

Brecknock Road itself remains N19 until just after Leighton Grove when it too becomes N7.

Continuing north from Tufnell Park, Brecknock Road merges into Dartmouth Park Hill and south of Camden Road it becomes York Way. These three streets together were once known as Maiden Lane, an ancient route north from London - the covered reservoir in Dartmouth Park Hill is called the Maiden Lane Reservoir although there's no sign indicating this. The name Brecknock Road dates from 1869 and is named after the Marquis of Camden who also had the title Earl of Brecknock. The majority of the Victorian terraces at the Tufnell Park end of the street probably date from around this time. On the west, Camden, side they are tall and imposing built up atop tall steps at the front to accommodate the slope of the ground behind.

Nestling amid the wisteria outside number 185 is a hand-made blue plaque. "Charles Pooter, diarist and nobody, 1848-1913, lived here." Charles Pooter is the London clerk whose diary is the subject of George and Weedon Grossmith's Diary of a Noboby. The diary starts when he and his wife have just moved to a new home at "The Laurels", Brickfield Terrace, Holloway. There is no real Brickfield Terrace and I've read claims that the model for the house in the book is one in Pemberton Gardens but someone, at some time, obviously thought it should be located here. I'll have to re-read the book and come to my own considered opinion.

Further down on the Camden side there's a tall, narrow house, set back from the street, that's usually covered in ivy. From time to time it's removed but it always grows back and gives the house a slightly spooky feel. I'd love to know who lives there - or even be invited in. I'm always fascintated by it when I pass on the bus.

Just past that house there's a street within a street, Carleton Gardens.

But to avoid any confusion, another street sign on the wall below, informs you that this is 'part of Brecknock Road'.

It's a striking terrace of painted houses with an almost oriental feel; round windows in the top of the pointed gables with a little domed triangular window below.

Both this terrace and Carleton Road (N7) opposite are named after Mary Carleton, the rich wife of William Tufnell who inherited the Tufnell Park Estate in the early C19. I imagine the houses pre-date the other houses in the road but as yet have not managed to find out much about them.

On the opposite side of Brecknock Road is the red-brick Brecknock Road Estate built by the LCC in the 1950s. But, like Anson and Carleton Roads that bound it, it's also N7.

Having reached the south-west limits of N19 I turned and headed back along Brecknock Road and up Dartmouth Park Hill to home. Grey clouds were starting to loom and I wanted to avoid the possibly imminent rain.

See all photos from Brecknock Road

< Part 7

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The Streets of N19: Part 7

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 23:07:53 +0000

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This plan shows the streets that make up Highgate New Town. I live more or less opposite the red 'you are here' pointer and decided not to include Dartmouth Park Hill in this part as I'm intending to give it an episode of its own later.

I started with Chester Road; Victorian terraced houses along each side. What amazes me is that it's quite a narrow road but parking is allowed on each side even though it's a bus route. Makes a tight squeeze for the bus in places.

This street is firmly in N19 according to the A-Z but it seemed to have a crisis of confidence at one point as there's an old blue enamel sign showing the postcode as NW.

When it reaches the junction with Raydon Street, the road curves left with Highgate Cemetery (East) on the right and continues down to Swain's Lane (N6).

At this point a new development is currently being built - Chester Balmore as it runs between Chester Road and Balmore Street.

What is a 'sustainable' appartment, I wondered.

Wikipedia tells me that: "Sustainable development is an organizing principle for human life on a finite planet. It posits a desirable future state for human societies in which living conditions and resource-use meet human needs without undermining the sustainability of natural systems and the environment, so that future generations may also have their needs met." So I guess that means they're ecologically friendly. And hopefully the running costs will be cheap because the cost of buying one certainly isn't. You would imagine that a studio flat would be the cheapest and as prices start at £300k presumably that's how much one would set you back. Ouch!

The new development replaces a previous block of flats that always looked like a shanty town to me. Here's a pic taken in 2009.

But I was told they were nice inside although I never visited. I should have taken the opportunity as I knew someone who was there as a live-in guardian in the interim period after the previous residents were moved out and before they were demolished. The pic below was taken in October 2011.

On the opposite side of the road is Highgate Branch Library; a rather splendid Edwardian building dating from 1906 as the foundation stone informed me.

It also told me that it was the first public library in St Pancras (one of the metroplitan boroughs that was merged with Hampstead and Holborn when LB Camden was created in 1965). It's constantly under threat of closure but that seems to be in abeyance at the moment and it looked as if it had recently been cleaned so hopefully it will be a while before there's another assault on it.

All photos of Chester Rd

The first of the culdesacs that turn left off Chester Road is Winscombe Street; three-storey Victorian Terraces along each side.

Toward the end of the street is the single-storey People's Gospel Mission Hall.

I don't know anything about the history of this and haven't been able to find anything out by googling either. All I can tell you is that it was built in 1892 and that it still seems to be in use for something or other.

Highgate Library has a good collection of local history stuff so perhaps I could find out more there. Yet another thing for the to do list.

Across the end of the street there is a terrace of 5 town houses, designed by Neave Brown, one of the Camden Architects' Dept. responsible for the design of Highgate New Town. He used to live in one of these houses.

All photos of Winscombe St

The next culdesac is Bertram Street.

A cobbled street with three-storey terraces along each side.

On one corner is The Star. Now a fairly pleasant gastro-pub, previously a rather run down local boozer with a name that eludes me. It has an upstairs function room and I've been to a few parties there over the years.

On the opposite corner is an almost indecipherable ghost sign which, for some reason, I had never noticed before.The consensus of opinion is that it's for 'Lifebuoy Soap'.

The street leads down to Highgate Newtown Community Centre - a hive of local activities. A group of men were busy with a d-i-y project outside the corner house.

I also noticed a rather curious inscription in a paving stone - Chole. I wondered if someone had been trying to write 'Chloe' but misspelled it.

I decided not to continue down Chester Road past the cemetery as I often walk that way to or from the Heath and I'd only have had to walk back up.

All photos of Bertram St

Instead, I turned right into Raydon Street.

The left-hand side of the street is dominated by the long curve of Stoneleigh Terrace. This is part of the Whittington Estate, often considered to be part of Highgate New Town, designed by Peter Tabori, another of Camden's innovative 60s/70s architects. It's similar to the Neave Brown designed Alexandra Road Estate and will be covered in a future installment. Suffice it to say here that Camden built some stunning public sector housing in the 60s/70s and that Thatcher's sell-off of the council housing was a crime and, in my opinion, one of the major factors contributing to the current housing crisis.

On the other side of the street is a yellow-brick Highgate Newtown terrace.

All photos of Raydon St

I Turned off Raydon Street into Balmore Street along a passage between the new flats and the little Three Point Park playground ...

...with its giant snakes.

The street has Victorian terraces along each side; most divided into two or three flats. Many, if not all of them, once belonged to the Council; some are still rented as social housing but a lot have been bought under right to buy.

I was amused by the hand-painted 'Anti Aircraft' slogan between two first-floor bedroom windows. We're not near an airport and not particulary under a flight path. Planes do circulate over here from time to time, presumably in a Heathrow holding pattern, but only occasionally low enough to be disturbing so perhaps this is part of someone's fantasy world?

All photos of Balmore St

At the end of Balmore St an arch leads you out on to Dartmouth Park Hill - the original line of the street before the redevelopment. Just before that there's a little pedestrainised turning off to the right - Colva Walk - that runs through to Chester Rd.

Curiously it has a green street name sign and on the plan at the start of this post it's not named at all - it's the block marked G with the numbers 1-5. Perhaps the name was an after-thought? (Although it is listed in the A-Z). It's a terrace of two-storey yellow-brick houses in the same style as the rest of the new parts of Highgate Newtown

Balmore Street bends round to the left and morphs into Doynton Street. It's not apparent when one street ends and the other begins as the section running round the curve is just the backs of the Dartmouth Park Hill flats with parking and a little community garden (that generally seems to be locked) opposite.

I didn't notice a Balmore Street sign anywhere - perhaps there used to be one at the Raydon St end and it disappeared with the new development - and the only Doynton Street sign was at the Raydon St end.

There's another archway going through to Dartmouth Park Hill; this time marking the earlier line of Doynton Street.

The rest of the street has Victorian terraces along the left and two-storey yellow-brick Highgate New Town houses on the right.

There's another community garden in the centre.

And on the corner as I came back into Raydon Street, an ice-cream seller was taking advantage of a warm spring day.

I resisted the temptation and turned right along Raydon St, past the yellow-brick houses with planters in the front gardens, and on to Dartmouth Park Hill and home.

All photos of Doynton St

< Part 6

Part 8 >

The Streets of N19: Part 6

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Fri, 30 May 2014 20:07:20 +0000

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Coming out of the community centre I turned left into Yerbury Road which, like several streets in this area, is blocked to vehicles part way along to prevent them being used as rat-runs. It runs parallel to Holloway Road and I dipped in and out of it as I covered the streets running off it.

! was amused to see that a cycling enthusiast had taken up residence at a key point in the London Cycle Network.

Across the park I could see the back of the Good Intent pub.

The pub is on the corner of Wedmore Street which I turned into.

I had been meaning to come down this way for a while as I'd read about the Good Intent in the local paper (although I have to confess, I don't read paper versions of local papers any more...). The owners wanted to demolish it to build luxury town houses. Planning permission was refused twice but eventually the objections of local residents, the council and the local MP were overturned on appeal by a planning inspector. The elderly Irish guy smoking a roll-up outside might have read my thoughts when he called out, "Take a photo now before it's gone."

I wandered over to chat to him even though it was difficult to understand what he was saying - a combination of his accent, a wheeze and the fact that he had probably had a fair bit to drink.

I found out from him that it was due to close on 24 May. It would be open all night. He invited me to come for a drink on the closing night. It turned out he had lived in the area all his life; remembered when the house opposite used to be the local shop, rememberd all the industry now converted to flats or offices. I resisted the temptation to pop in for a drink there and then even though it could have been my last chance as I knew I wouldn't make it to the closing day.

Opposite the pub was a house that looked as if it had also once been a shop (although the shop the Irish guy was talking about had been in the white building next door).

From inside came the sound of someone playing the piano and on the window was a David Hockney Ashtray print.

Was the piano player the smoker?

The left-hand side of the street, as you walk to Holloway Road, is dominated by red-brick former LCC dwellings. Probably many sold off under right to buy by now.

On the opposite side, a mish-mash of houses,converted industrial buildings and modern flats.

Just before reaching Holloway Road is Wedmore Mews complete with back street garage.

And on the opposite side a yard with the rather odd juxtapostion of an accountant, a builder and a gym.

The gym had an ad board attached to a bike parked at the end of the street. Keep fit, drive to the gym seemed to be the message.

On the corner of Wedmore Street and Holloway Road is the Nid Ting Thai restaurant which several people have recommended to me. The back of its premises was not a good advert though.

See all pictures from Wedmore Street

From Wedmore Street I turned right into Holloway Road and then right again into Tavistock Terrace.

On the left, just after I turned into the street, was a cobbled mews but, unlike Wedmore Mews, it doesn't appear as a separate street in the A-Z and had no street name sign. What it does have is the wonderfully named Minder Motors.Remember Terry and Arthur? 80s TV nostalgia. Here's the theme tune (ear worm warning!)

I wandered down the mews to see if it went anywhere and as I was walking back up the garage proprietor came out to see what I was doing. I commented on the name of the garage. Yes, the garage had been named after the TV series. "I used to service her car," he said. "The dark-haired one who played Terry's girlfriend." Who happens to be my friend Diana, what a small world! Wonder if I could get them together for a reunion. That would be something.

Opposite the garage was a forecourt with a no parking sign and a car parked in it. Presumably the car belonged to the owner of the sign...

Beyond that it's a street of tidy terraced houses, all with neat white paint and uniform goblin faces over the doors/windows.

As I was photograhing them a woman came up to me. "Do you like our houses then?" she asked suspiciously. I explained that I lived locally and was doing a project taking photos in all the streets of N19. After that we ended up having a long conversation about Bleeding London and my guided walks so I might see her again sometime. She told me her name but I didn't write it down and, of course, have now forgotten it although I think it began with 'H'.

See all photos from Tavistock Terrace

At the end of Tavistock Terrace I found myself back in Yerbury Road. The builders waved and wanted their photo taken.

The parking suspension signs informed me that spaces would be suspended - first for removals and then for filming. I wondered whether they were connected.

See all photos from Yerbury Road

I turned off Yerbury Road and left into Fairmead Road.

Neat and tidy terraces at this end. A ginger tom walked purposefully along the street toward me.

The street became scruffier as it reached Holloway Road. A motely array of bells indicated that this house had been converted into four flats. I wondered if the flats were in a similar state of disrepair to the bells.

See all photos from Fairmead Road

Instead of turning into Holloway Road, I retraced my steps back up Farimead Road to Highwood Road.

A short street running between Fairmead and Mercers Roads; well-maintained terraced houses, wisteria, nothing remarkable.

See all photos from Highwood Road

At the end I emerged into Mercers Road.

Where I was confronted with a motorhome without a motor. The cab had been removed and the front was held up with posts. The seats, stacked neatly in front of it perhaps came out of the missing cab. I wondered what it was used for. Perhaps someone was living in it. With the current level of rents in London it could be a nice little earner!

Mercers Road, as its name suggests, was built on land that belonged to the Mercers' Company. It mostly consists of terraced houses built in the 1860s but there's a commercial fringe at the Holloway Road end with a gym and the side of a rather lovely old office block that faces on to Holloway Road - currently boarded up awaiting redevelopment.

Walking back up from Holloway road I encountered a white cat.

There was a strange wooden building next door to a sub-station.

Then more building work; a house being renovated on the corner of Beversbrook Road.

I could have continued along Mercers Road but I decided to turn off here. The sight of the green dome of Holy Joe's, St Joseph's Catholic Church at the top of Dartmouth Park Hill where I live drew me back toward home.

More terraces, more wisteria, more building work. A builder sitting in his van taking a break asked if I'd got a good photo. Unusually, the house he was working on was a family home unlike most other houses in the street which have been converted into flats.

At the end, low, modernish two storey houses spread their way round the corner into Foxham Road.

To the right, Yerbury School which I didn't photograph on this trip but it hasn't changed since I last photographed it in 2012.

Foxham Gardens is a long strip of green space with a children's playground that stretches along the left hand side of the road. It's always seemed to me a gloomy space, so dominated by trees but no doubt it has its fans.

On the other side of the street the modern houses make way for older terraces until you reach Campdale Road, N7.

Thou shalt not trespass on thy neighbour's postcode, I thought.

I cut through Tufnell Park Playing Fields which lead to Huddleston Road,

also N7 so I scuttled up the steps at the end back to the safety of N19 - Station Road.

The name of the street is the only reminder that there was once a station here. Junction Road station was opened by the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway on 1 January 1872 (toward bottom left corner of map). It largely became redundant when Tufnell Park tube station was opened in 1907. It was closed in 1943 and demolished in the 1950s. There's no trace of the station now although trains on the Gospel Oak to Barking Overground run along the route.

John Betjeman calls it a 'lonely station' in his poem 'Suicide in Junction Road Station after Abstention from Evening Communion in North London'.

One gaslight in the Booking Hall

And a thousand sins on this lonely station -

What shall I do with them all?

Today the street is just a road that runs along the side of the tracks, provides parking and leads to student halls of residence and an industrial estate.

I came out into Junction Road

turned right and up Poynings Road (see Part 1). I was greeted by a black cat.

At the top of the street the terracotta house was built by our housing co-op in the 1980s - the only new build we ever developed.

The path through the reservoir park leads me home. I stopped at the top to admire my favourite panoramic view of London (although I've never managed to take a photo of it that I'm really pleased with).

There used to be an information board but it gradually became defaced with graffiti and cigarette burns so was very difficult to read. The panel has been removed altogether now. In any case, it would have needed updating as so many new buildings have sprung/are springing up in the city lately.

< Part 5

Part 7 >

The Streets of N19: Part 5

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Wed, 14 May 2014 22:54:19 +0000

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I started where I finished Part 3 by heading down Hargrave Road...

... an L-shaped street that leads from Junction Road to Holloway Road. Entering from Junction road you go between two coffee shops - corporate (Costa) on the left

and independent - Bread and Bean on the right. What I like about Archway is the number of independent shops and cafes we have so I hope the current phase of regeneration doesn't attract a rash of chains.

The majority of the street is made up of unremarkable 3-storey terraced houses apart from the backs of the Bovingdon Close flats and a redbrick mansion block leading along to Holloway Road.

There was a bit of 60s nostalgia - no doubt someone's pride and joy - a Bedford Dormobile parked on the left.

Then a man sitting on a bollard, immersed in his book, under the archway leading into Bovingdon Close.

Tucked away in the corner as the road turns left is Hargrave Hall.

Dating from the early C20, it was previously known as the Assembly Hall and used by a congregation of Plymouth Brethren up to the 1940s. After they moved out it was renamed Hargrave Hall (the Hargrave family had leased the land for development in the C19). It's been used as a community centre since the late 1970s although it was almost lost when the council proposed to sell it to developers in the '80s. Fortunately a local outcry prevented this and a charity was set up to manage the hall. There are a lot of community activities - including outdoor film screenings last summer - where we all sat round in the garden on plastic chairs and watched a dvd of The Life of Pi on a big screen tv!

Just before Holloway Road, on the right, is the private, gated Gresham Place.

After a commercial fringe - hairdressers, bookmakers - I turned right down Holloway Road.

See all pictures from Hargrave Road

Here I faced a dilemma. Holloway Road is a long road running from Archway down to Highbury Corner; only about the first third of it is N19, the remainder is N7. The postcode changes somewhere around the junction with Tufnell Park Road. I had already decided that I would only document the N19 section in this blog but the question was when? N19 streets go off to both the left and right at this end of the road so I'd be dipping in and out of it quite a lot. Should I do it as I went along or leave it until later and do it all in one go? I decided on the former approach.

Opposite the end of Hargrave Road is the former Business Centre; yet another office block that's being converted into flats. What, I began to wonder, happened to all the businesses who used to be here. Have they moved out of London as the cost of renting office space has become too prohibitive? Or do they simply need less space now that everything's done electronically and there's no need to store piles of documents? Or is everyone now working from home? So offices become homes that become home offices...

I walked past St John's Church.

A Commissioner's Church, built between 1826-28, one of three that Charles Barry (of Houses of Parliament fame) designed in Islington. Apparently he later wanted to disown these churches and tore up the plans! Rightly it belongs in St John's Grove but it didn't get a mention in Part 3.

The end of the terrace overlooking the railway line (Overground Gospel Oak to Barking) is prime advertising space with a modern hoarding covering up the old painted Brymay sign that peers out tantilisingly beneath it.

See all pictures from Holloway Road

The picture framing shop is on the corner of Hampden Road; a street that seems to serve no useful purpose other than for parking cars. The picture below shows the street in its entirity.

It's one of two street stubs each side of the entrance to Whittington Park.

The other is Rupert Road

The side of builder's merchant on the left and the side of a pub on the right and that's it.

The scan below, from my repro 1938 A-Z, shows how these oddities came about; there were formerly streets - with houses, shops, a whole community - in this area. They were demolished in the 1970s to make way for Whittington Park.

Ireton Road, Milton Grove and Eaton Grove have all disappeared completely. Hampden Road just exists as a stub off Holloway Road with the picture framing shop on one corner and the park on the other side. Rupert Road has both the Holloway Road stub and another stub on the other side of the park. The walkway that takes you through to the other side of the park runs approximately along the line of Ireton Road.

I walked through the park, watching out for Ben...

... and came out at the other end of Rupert Road.

One old buiding that has survived at this side of the park is the former church hall of the nearby All Saints' Church (now converted into flats - so many repurposed buildings). It's now the Whittington Community Centre.

Conveniently the cafe was open so I popped in for a cup of tea and a snack. It hosts many community groups including an over 60's lunch club frequented by many former residents of the demolished streets. It would be interesting to hear their stories.

After this refreshment I continued my exploration of this area, to be documented in Part 6.

See all pictures from Hampden Road/Rupert Road and Whittington Park

The Streets of N19: Part 4

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Sun, 04 May 2014 22:35:14 +0000

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The Southeast corner of the Island is dominated by the Methodist Church and Central Hall.

After negotiating Junction Road, Holloway Road and St John's Way, waiting for the green man each time I reached the Island.

I often wonder who comes over here to buy tickets or look for a job at the employment bureau but it's been there a long time so I suppose they do.

Just along from here there's a cafe with a lovely old glass sign fortunately preserved by a succession of owners over the years. Last year it was a rather good Italian but that has closed now and it seems to be in the process of refurbishment again.

The Methodist Central Hall, built in the 1930s, was the last Central Hall to be built in London. Its cinema-like appearance is due to the influence of J Arthur Rank, a Methodist, who donated money toward the cost of the building and the main hall was intended for film shows and concerts as well as worship. It was also the location of the planning enquiries for the Archway Road widening scheme in the '70s and early '80s. Campaigning group STAMP (Stop The Archway Motorway Project) won the day and the scheme, which had been blighting the area for a decade, didn't go ahead.

If it had, the dual carriageway would have been extended from the bridge up to Highgate. In preparation for this, the Department of Transport had bought up all the houses/shops on the west side of the road and was renting them out as short life. We used to run our VW repair business from a shop/workshop opposite the Winchester Tavern and lived above. There was a drain cover in the road outside that was always subsiding and when lorries hit it the whole building would shake!

Rachel Whiteread's Ghost is modelled on a room at 486 Archway Road.

The hall is in a sorry state at the moment and on the market for development.

I am concerned that the estate agent's blurb states:

"Pre-application discussions have taken place with the Local Planning Authority relating to the redevelopment of the site with a new build scheme, and we understand the principle would be supported." This despite it being "locally listed" and in a conservation area. It's a local landmark and I would hate to see it go. It saved Archway Road and now it needs saving itself! Of course, once the gyratory has gone the site will be more attractive. It would be sad if we lost one thing we don't want at the expense of also losing something that seems such an integral part of Archway. I feel a campaign coming on!

The Archway Tavern, the other major building on the island, is also a shadow of its former self.

Gone is the bar that features on the cover of the Kinks Muswell Hillbillies album; replaced with big screen football. A lot of the time it gives the impression that it's closed down altogether but I saw some people unloading music equipment outside the other day so presumably it lives on.

Opposite the pub you turn the corner into Flowers Mews. (Shouldn't that have an apostrophe?)

This consists of a few two storey buildings - offices and possibly flats although I don't envy anyone who lives in the middle of the A1 gyratory!

Neither of these street names appear in my 1938 A-Z so possibly they were named when the island was created. I wish I knew the significance of the name Flowers Mews. It would have been part of the tram terminal so I wonder whether there was a flower seller's here.

The road that was built to create the gyratory is called Tollhouse Way.

I'm not really sure why it needed a name at all as it has no buildings fronting on to it so will not be part of any address. But I suppose all roads in London have to be called something? Presumably it will cease to exist once the gyratory's gone - or perhaps it will become a pedestrian walkway. The name relates to the Archway turnpike which was situated close by in the days of tolls.

As I was taking this photo I heard the sound of horses' hooves as a horse-drawn hearse made its way along the road. The surrounding cars were giving it space so the photo could almost be from a bygone era - except then this road wouldn't have been here!

I'm glad I've documented the island at this point in time as it will be changing significantly over the next few years.

View all pictures of Archway Island

< Part 3

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The Streets of N19: Part 3

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 23:15:28 +0000

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I started with Francis Terrace as it's a cul-de-sac with no choice but to finish back where you started. Stuart had considered such streets when he set out his "rules of engagement" at the start of his walks.

"For one thing there were culs-de-sac and dead ends. In order to walk along them at all he'd obviously have to walk along them in both directions." (p.80) (Curious, I've never really thought about how to form a plural from a hyphenated word. If I'd been writing the sentence above I would have written 'cul-de-sacs'.)

For a little road it is certainly well-endowed with streetname signs; three together at the top on the right - the original old painted sign partially obscured by a newer metal sign and a later sign that must have been put up when Francis Mews was built.

It's a street of four storey Victorian terraced houses, many converted into flats. A two-bedroom maisonette on the left of the street with For Sale board outside is currently on the market for £650,000. So in view of the value of property in this street it was a great surprise to find that the one at the top end of the street on the right was derelict and decaying.

The street was full of bicycles, yellow, blue, green, chained to posts, railings, each other. Some of them looked as if they should be destined for the scrap heap but perhaps someone was keeping them for their antique value?

In fact, it was as if all of the rubbish gradually found its way down to the end of the street from where there was no escape.

And what of Francis Terrace Mews? It's a private gated development and, as Stuart said, "If roads claimed to be private he was quite prepared to accept their privacy." I'm quite happy follow along with this but I couldn't resist taking a photo of the name and entrance!

View all pictures from Francis Terrace

Back at the top I turned right into Junction Road, along and right into Pemberton Gardens and then right again into...

Pemberton Terrace

The street slopes down to the bus garage at the bottom giving a stepped effect to the windows of the houses as you look along.

On a windowsill there was what looked like a dead bird made of some sort of rafia which was much larger than the stone dog who was staring at a diminutive lion who was guarding the front door. Perhaps he'd had a dose of Alice's 'Drink Me' potion?

The bus garage is an old brick-built industrial building that somehow seems out of place in this predominantly residential area. I've never been inside and don't know anything about its history. Perhaps I should go and ask if I can visit. As I stood there a bus headed out. It's a Boris bus so probably it was a 390. Why is it that bus numbers never come out in photos (or at least they never seem to in ones I take)? Maybe something to do with the way pixels work.

View all pictures from Pemberton Terrace

I followed the bus up...

Monnery Road

A street of tidy terraced houses.

With a little mews with a workshop, Monnery Works, at the top.

Opposite that was a gated entrance to what must be one of the flats over the shops on Junction Road.

View all pictures from Monnery Road

At the top of Monnery Road I turned right back into Junction Road, walked back past Francis Terrace and turned into...

Pemberton Gardens

...again. But this time I walked straight down.

On the right, the street is dominated by a long terrace of white-shuttered mansions.

On the left, substantial terraced houses eventually giving way to a playground adjacent to the school which has entrances both on this road and St John's Grove. The playground was closed "due to emergency repairs".

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your Co-operation." Why the capital 'C'? To emphasise how important it was to co-operate?

As it joins St John's Grove, Pemberton Gardens doubles back on itself wehre it terminates with the entrance to the bus garage.

On the corner an Iceland home delivery van pulled up just missing the toes of the two girls who were sitting on the edge of the pavement.

View all pictures from Pemberton Gardens

I turned left up the fork into...

St John's Grove

Which I was pleased to note was correctly apostrophised. It even had a full-stop after the St. although the spacing didn't seem quite right.

I saw that News had been tagging again, defying the danger of death.

And the school was campaigning for clean air.

Research by the Campaign for Clean Air found that 1,148 schools in London are within 150 metres of roads carrying 10,000 or more vehicles per day, and a total of 2,270 schools are within 400 metres of such roads, according to this report by Jenny Jones (Green Party member of London Assembly). The map shows schools within 150 metres and doesn't include St John's but possibly it comes within the 400 metre category as it's not all that far from Holloway Road.

After the school, tall terraced houses on both sides; some well-kept, others untidy with rubbish filling the front gardens.

Finally a block of lock-ups just before the top of the street.

View all pictures from St John's Grove

Back in Junction Road again, I decided I'd mop up another couple of streets before calling it a day so I turned right and then right again into...

Brookside Road leading to Bovingdon Close

There are no houses in Brookside Road. Its sole purpose seems to be to give access to the lock-ups behind the shops...

... and lead to Bovingdon Close.

A street of diminutive, modern two-storey houses with three-storey flats toward the end. After a close encounter with superman...

... I went under the arch through the flats and out into Hargrave Road.

View all pictures from Brookside Road/Bovingdon Close

Hargrave Road is an L-shaped road leading between Junction Road and Holloway Road. As I emerged about half way along and would have had to walk backwards and forwards to cover the whole street I decided to leave it for another day.

< Part 2

Part 4 >

The Streets of N19: Part 2

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 16:26:56 +0000

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In the book, Stuart applies the following rule to council estates. "...a walkway between two tower blocks could remain untrodden, but a genuine road where cars or milkfloats or dustbin lorries could pass would have to be walked down." (p.80). That seems an eminently sensible rule but many estates these days are largely pedestrianised with 'roads' being for emergency access only. And milkfloats are largely a thing of the past now; must have been on their way out even in 1997 when the book was published. So I decided that, for my purpose, roads through estates would only count if they are shown as such in the A-Z. That means I can ignore the Tremlett Grove estate which just appears as dotted about 'Houses' and 'Courts' but not the Girdlestone Estate which appears as an interconnected series of 'streets'.

Suddenly the likely reason for this difference struck me and I dug out my repro 1938 A-Z to check. Sure enough, it shows the streets - Anatola Road,Salisbury Road, Annesley Road, Girdlestone Road - that would have been demolished when the estate was built in the late 1960s. These names have been retained, although all apart from Anatola are now 'Walk' instead of 'Road'.

And the Tremlett Grove estate? In the 1938 A-Z there's just open land below the reservoir so when it was built (1970s?) there were no streets to replace.

Like many estates, the Girdlestone looks pretty straightforward when you look at the map but becomes a maze once you walk in to it.

I started by the red arrow on the map above, walking into the estate via...

Anatola Road

From Dartmouth Park Hill, you enter the estate between a single storey, modernish, pub - probably built at the same time as the estate, maybe replacing a pub that was demolished during the redevelopment - and the redbrick St Peter's church, built in the 1870s and now converted into flats ( 2-bedroom penthouse on the market for £970,000, currently under offer). And that's about it for Anatola Road; a street which until fifty or so years ago had houses along each side has been reduced to little more than a walkway down between the flats.

I turned left into...

Salisbury Walk

Where I discovered that no cycling is allowed on the steps.

At the end a row of green rubbish chutes stood like sentries.

I walked down a flight of steps beside the chutes into...

Annesley Walk

Here I found that children are forbidden to play in the playground.

"Apologies for any inconvenience caused while we improve your park," says another notice. People were invited to a consultation. "We also need to know if you think we are getting it right!" But that was last October, six months ago now. I hope the redevelopment hasn't fallen victim to the cuts (as the yoga class in the community centre has).

Emerging from Annesley Walk, by the red arrow in the pic above, I found myself in...

Macdonald Road

With its eponymous (give or take an 'a') burger bar.

The adjacent office block, currently empty, is scheduled to become a Premier Inn soon. Just imagine, tourists in Archway!

Next comes the swimming pool. Opened in the '90s. I remember taking my daughter to the opening day and sliding down the flumes.

See all pictures of Macdonald Road

As it reaches the bus station Macdonald Road morphs into...

Vorley Road

It's more a bus stand than a bus station. You can't get on or off the bus there; it's just a place where they assemble before setting off for their respective stops on Junction Road.

After the bus station are Council offices; used to be the housing benefit office now 'Services For Older People And People With Physical Disabilities'. The opposite side is dominated by the blue facade of a nursery with a non-climbable fence next to it.

The road then continues past the back entrances to shops on Junction Road. I headed back the other way into the estate along...

Girdlestone Walk

Where I saw washing and a play mat drying on the balconies.

There's little to differentiate Girdlestone from the other 'Walks' of the estate; all are brick-built, four-storey blocks of flats and maisonettes. It would be interesting to know what proportion of these have been sold under the right to buy - and are now being re-sold for a healthy profit (average asking price for a 1-bed flat currently around £300,000).

An archway through the flats, toward the end of Girdlestone, took me out into Bredgar Road which will come in a future installment.

< Part 1

Part 3 >

The Streets of N19: Part 1

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 20:21:58 +0000

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Bickerton Road

Starting from DPH and walking down.

The fading Crick's Corner sign on the corner shop has long been a feature on the corner of this road. It's good to see that the developers currently renovating the shop and flats above haven't completely obliterated it.

The left-hand side of the street as you go down consists mainly of 2/3 storey Victorian terraces, many converted into flats, but there are a few odd ones out. My favourite is 'The Red House', dated 1907, number 32 1/2. I was once collecting photos of doors numbered with halves (or even quarters) for a notional project called 'London by halves' but I must have been too half-hearted to finish it...

I think most of this street was built around the 1890s so the Red House was probably an in-fill. The other odd-balls are two detached, white-rendered houses further down on this side. They look older than the rest of the street, possibly Georgian; maybe they were the first houses built here?

On the corner with Junction Road is the recently renovated gastro-pub, the Oak and Pastor; formerly the slightly seedy Drum and Monkey (must have a photo somewhere!) where I remember having a good dance on a friend's birthday a few years ago. The old green tiles were revealed during the renovation and it's nice to see that at least a few of them have been preserved even though most have been painted over.

The right-hand side of the street is less uniform. At the top is Dartmouth Park; only given that name as it's off Dartmouth Park Hill - it's actually the Maiden Lane covered reservoir - which has one of the best panoramic views across London anywhere, beats Parliament Hill! It makes a stunning close to my Archway guided walk (just before we exit through the Gift Shop).

Next comes Bickerton House, a former industrial building now converted into studios and workshops (not sure what it was originally).

Then a run of terraces much like those on the opposite side until you reach the '70s flats, Silver Court, at the bottom. They're currently converting the former car-parking spaces beneath into more flats. The block was built on the site of the short-lived Odeon Highgate; building started 1939, opened in 1955, demolished to make way for the flats 1974.

See all photos from Bickerton Road

Half-way back up on the right you come to...

Tremlett Grove

Starting from junction with Bickerton Road, walking along and down.

Tremlett Grove has several branches. There's a bit straight across at the top which leads into an estate - the complexities of which I have never fully fathomed even though I delivered telephone directories in there once. Then there's the part that turns right and becomes a crescent around the church at the bottom with each end exiting into Junction Road.

The church looms like a giant spaceship that's landed at the bottom of the hill. This was the Junction Road Congregational Church, built in 1866. It became a United Reformed Church after the union of the Congregationalists and Presbyterians in 1972. This church closed in 1978 and the building was then a hindu temple for a while. It was then left semi-derelict before being converted into flats, probably during the 1990s.

Houses in the street are 3/4 storey Victorian terraces. Those along the right have semi-basements with the front doors approached by steep steps. Fabulous views from the top floor.

See all photos from Tremlett Grove

Turn right into Junction Road and then right again into...

Poynings Road

Another street of terraced houses, this time two-storey. It leads up to the other side of the Tremlett Grove Estate and ends at the bottom of the reservoir park. I decided against walking up just to come back down, especially as my favourite feature of the street is right on the bottom corner - the Auction Rooms & Depository ghost sign (which I've taken better photos of in the past...).

The shop attached to it is now a wine and spirit merchant.

That's all I took of Poynings Road but who knows, I might be back there another day.

Continue along Junction Road and turn right into...

Cathcart Hill

Apart from a detached house at the bottom and the flats that are being built on a site formerly occupied by a junk shop on the corner with Junction Road, this street is Peabody, Peabody, Peabody; mainly Victorian mansion blocks although at the bottom it leads into a 1970s (ish) Peabody estate that fronts on to Junction Road.

At the top of Cathcart Hill turn left into Dartmouth Park Hill, down the hill and then left into...

Wyndham Crescent

The first thing I saw when I turned into Wyndham Crescent was an abandonned dolls' house. It must be a cue for a joke about the bedroom tax but I haven't quite worked it out yet.

And a bit further down this rather oddly positioned diversion sign - pointing straight in to someone's front room. Be all right if they bagged a Porsche or two.

Other than that, Peabody all the way again.

And that's the last of today's streets. Yes, of course, in the process I took pics in both Dartmouth Park Hill and Junction Road but these are both long streets and I'm planning to give each of them a blog entry in their own right in due course.

Ended with a pizza and a glass of wine at the Spaghetti House, Tufnell Park, the start of Dartmouth Park Hill. Previously green, recently re-opened with brown decor under new ownership as the previous owner, Dino, is sadly terminally ill and had to retire.

> Part 2

(A note to those who might be thinking she's good at starting series but does she ever finish: I-Spy (1960s) London will be continuing soon. I hope to have a bit more time to spend on it when I'm off work for a few days over Easter.)

I-Spy the Sights of (1960s) London: Part 3

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 01:57:39 +0000

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We continue our exploration of Trafalgar Square.

The main features shown in the sketch can all still be seen today: the fountains, Nelson's Column, the George IV statue, the National Gallery and St Martin-in-the-Fields (which we have to spy) along with some other features not mentioned: the statue of Havelock (an army general who achieved fame during the 1850s Indian Mutiny) just to the east of Nelson's column, the little Police Station in the bottom corner, the Coliseum and the statue of Edith Cavell at the start of St Martin's Lane.

What the sketch doesn't show is the traffic, the tourists or the pigeons and the pigeon-food stall; it did not become illegal to feed pigeons in the square until 2003. And also, of course, no central steps in the north wall leading up to the National Gallery as at that time the square was still basically a roundabout. I remember the time when you could drive round it or catch the night bus from in front of the gallery...

Nelson's Column 3

I-Spy tells us that Nelson is 16 feet high and the column 170 1/2 feet. Pevsner states "Its total height is 170 feet (52 metres), plus the 17-ft (5.2 metre) high statue of Nelson". Philip Ward-Jackson, in his Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster (comprehensive and highly recommended if you're interested in that sort of thing), doesn't bother with feet at all and simply gives the "overall height of the monument" as 51.8 m and the statue as 4.85 m.

So that's all about as accurate as the Imperial Standards (see previous article) on a hot day...

What I can tell you is that it was first proposed that it should be over 200 feet tall but the height was reduced due to concerns about stability. In any case, it was around 30 feet higher than the Duke of York Column that had been erected just up the Mall a few years previously.

The design for the column was agreed in 1839 and the statue was raised (in sections) to the top of the column in 1843. It's sculpted from two blocks of Scottish Craigleith stone (incidentally, the same stone used by Robert Adam for the facade of Chandos House). Embelishments came later; the reliefs round the base in the 1850s and the lions in 1867.

The first two words of the saying are, as you might have guessed, 'England expects (every man will do his duty)'; the famous signal sent by Nelson from HMS Victory as the Battle of Trafalgar was about to commence. Appropriately they are engraved beneath the relief depicting the death of Nelson in this battle.

And what of the crack caused by the Armistice Day fire? Could it be the black line beneath the north-east lion or has it been repaired since the I-Spy book was produced?

George IV's statue 4

This bronze equestrian statue, that I've never been particularly fond of, stands in the north-east corner of the square.

What's missing? Not the horse's balls, that's for sure, and, as usual, he has a seagull perched on his head. But, on closer inspection, you notice that he's riding bare-back so there is no saddle or stirrups.

The statue, commissioned by the King himself, was part of an extravagent vanity project; John Nash's renovation and expansion of Buckingham House, into a palace fit for a king. Marble Arch was installed as the grand ceremonial entrance in 1827 but its decorative detail was incomplete when the King died three years later. Parliament immediately put a stop to the extravagent folly so although the sculptor (Francis Chantrey) was paid to complete his work there was no longer anywhere to site the statue. Chantrey declined the offer of installing it at the end of the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park (replacing the statue of George III) so it languished in his studio until he died in 1843. Fortunately Trafalgar Square had been laid out by this time and there was a convenient empty plinth...

So it's not only the statue but the arch itself that is no longer standing in the place originally intended.

The National Gallery 5

To reach the National Gallery from the square in 1968 we would have had to go up the stairs at one side and cross the road, as this scan from The Country Life Picture Book of London (1959) shows.

Just as it was in 1968, the gallery is free to visit. In fact, it has always been free, unlike many of the other major museums and galleries which introduced charges under Thatcher (scrapped by Labour in 2001).

Before Trafalgar Square was laid-out in the 1830s, the area had been the site of the Royal Mews. The north side, where the National Gallery stands today, was occupied by the Crown Stables, a large block designed by William Kent in the 1730s. The initial plans for the square were drawn up by John Nash as part of his ambitious town planning scheme centred round Regent's Street - the grand ceremonial route from the Prince Regent's residence, Carlton House (soon to be demolished) and his summer palace in Regent's Park (never built). Nash had paved the way for the clearance of the land by building a new Royal Mews in Pimlico in the 1820s. This rendered Kent's building largely redundant and it spent the rest of its life as a menagerie and store for public records until its eventual demolition in 1835.

Nash fell out of favour after George IV died in 1830 and although much of the land had been cleared, the square was still at the planning stage when Nash himself died five years later. So although the National Gallery had featured in Nash's original plan for the square it was ultimately designed by William Wilkins (who also designed UCL, in case you've ever wondered about the similarities). Quite a bit of recycling went into its construction; Wilkins was obliged to use the pillars from the old Carlton House which had been in storage since its demolition and much of the statuary on the facade had originally been intended for the decoration of Marble Arch. So George IV ended up with a backdrop made up from the remnants of his demolished house and fragments of decor that should have adorned the ceremonial entrance to his uncompleted new one...

I'm not sure whether that applies to the sculpture above the entrance, nor am I sure of the significance of the camel.

Wilkins had also produced a design for the square itself but died before it could be completed so that was left to Charles Barry. Interestingly, Wilkins' design had a set of central stairs in the north wall so the square has now reverted to its original design.

St Martin-in-the-Fields 6

Our final Trafalgar Square sight is St Martin-in-the-Fields church, designed by James Gibbs and completed in 1726 - as the date over the portico shows.

By the time Gibbs built his church, the area was built up but first reference to a church on the site dates back to Norman times when, of course, it would have been surrounded by fields... The church was rebuilt by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century. It was in this church that Nell Gwynne was buried. There's no sign of her now. If there ever was a memorial it would have been removed when the church was demolished; at that time adverts were placed in newspapers to inform relatives that they could remove bodies or memorials in the church or churchyard for reinterment.

Thomas Chippendale, the furniture maker, whose workshop was in St Martin's Lane, was buried in the new church but I couldn't find any sign of him either. Many old memorial stones form the floor of the cafe in the crypt where their inscriptions are gradually being worn away by visitors.

The whipping post is still there; together with a rather gory account of its usage. the number of lashes was determined by a magistrate and both men and women could be sentenced to be whipped "until the body became bloody by reason of such beating". It was commonly used to punish vagrancy and also for misdemeanours such as immorality, drunkeness, disorder, blasphemy and slander. More serious crimes - such as forgery, bigamy and theft could also be punished by whipping - unless the value of the goods was greater than the equivalent of 5p in today's money, in which case the punishment would be hanging. The punishment was abolished for women in 1791 but not until 1837 for men.

I also discovered this rather interesting plaque recording that the surgeon John Hunter had originally been buried here but "after a long and diligent search...the remains were identified and transferred to Westminster Abbey". Which begs the question as to what methods could be used in the middle of the nineteenth century to identify remains accurately? Is it really John Hunter buried in the Abbey?

The question relating to St Martin's on the following page is:

On the front of the church there's the date when it was built - and the architect's name. What was his surname? (Score: 20). And as we know that's Gibbs we can award ourselves the 20 points.

Points for this article: 85

Total points so far: 125

In the next installment we'll head west to Admiralty Arch.

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I-Spy the Sights of (1960s) London: Part 2

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 01:59:53 +0000

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The I-Spy trail begins in Trafalgar Square - where else would any self-respecting tourist start? And that's the trouble; even when it's not taken over by an event or demonstration, the square is generally packed with people and not the sort of place most of us regular Londoners linger in for long. Which is a shame really as there's a lot to see - most of it overlooked by the tourists who are more intent on having their photo taken to prove they were there than actually looking at anything. In fact, I was distracted from my quest by a Japanese family who thrust an iphone in my hand and asked me to take their picutre in front of one of the fountains, then one with the National Gallery as a backdrop and then another one by the Christmas tree. Fortunately Nelson's column was still surrounded by barriers after the New Year celebrations or they might have also wanted one with the lions...

After this photographic diversion I got back to the task at hand; spying some sights.

Statues 1

The busts of Jellicoe and Beatty can still be found against the north wall of the square although not in the same position as they would have been in 1968. When the square was redeveloped 2003 they were moved to the east side of the new steps. Prior to that they were in the centre of the wall each facing their respective fountain (Jellicoe's on the west and Beatty's on the east). Yes, the answer to the I-Spy question 'What else was erected to their memory?' is 'the fountains' as the plaque tells us.

The plaque also informs us that they were Admirals of the Fleet and they are commended for "their illustrious services to the state". In particular, they were both Commanders of the Fleet during World War 1 which makes this, the centenary year of the outbreak of that war, an appropriate moment to visit them. Jellicoe, who held that position at the start of the war, played a key role in the expansion of the navy in the run-up to the war and Beatty, who succeeded him in 1916, organized the surrender of the German navy at the armistice and the subsequent reduction in the size of the British navy for peacetime.

They died within a year of each other, as can be seen from the dates on the plaques; Jellicoe on 20 November 1935, a couple of weeks before his 76th birthday, and Beatty four months later on 11 March 1936, aged just 65. Although he was suffering from heart failure and ill with flu, he had insisted in leaving his sickbed to act as a pallbearer at Jellicoe's funeral and also on attending George V's funeral the following January, possibly hastening his own death in the process. Both are buried in St Paul's.

But why are they commemorated by fountains?

When the government initially proposed to fund memorials in 1936 it was assumed they would take the form of statues but then the question arose as to where they should be sited. It was suggested that they should replace Napier and Havelock on the plinths flanking Nelson but that idea was abandonned as it would probably have put the army's nose out of joint. Other sites at the back of the Admiralty or on either side of the Mall were then considered but in 1937 the Commissioner of Works announced the decision that the memorials should take the form of fountains due to the " dearth of good sites now remaining in London and...the superfluity of statues in the metropolis."

The quatrefoil granite fountain basins were part of Barry's original design for the square in the 1840s, intended both as ornamentation and as an impediment to large crowds gathering in the square, but the fountains they contained had never been a great success; they had already been replaced once and were to be replaced again by the current portland stone bowls by Lutyens (designer of the Centotaph), installed in 1940.

The mermaid/men groups (Charles Wheeler, Jellicoe; William McMillan, Beatty) had also been cast by this time but were kept in storage in the vaults of the British Museum until the end of WW2.

The memorials were finally unveiled on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1948 with a great deal of pomp and ceremony as can be seen from this British Pathe newsclip. The final arrangement deviated in one respect from Lutyens's original plan - the busts were placed against the wall rather than in the centre of the fountains!

Things were complicated in 1967 by the addition of a third bust, a WW2 Admiral, Sir Andrew Cunningham but there's no fountain to commemorate him and he may not have been unveiled when this I-Spy book was being prepared as it was published the following year.

Imperial Standards of length 2

The boy shown inspecting the imperial units of measurement markers shown in the photo above (still to be found in the north wall of the square but presumably moved from its original position during the redevelopment) would have been quite familiar with yards, feet and inches as that was the way we measured things back then!

The first whiff of metrication came to the UK in 1963 when the Weights and Measures Act redefined the basic measures of the 'yard' and the 'pound' in terms of the 'metre' and the 'kilogram'. The act also abolished many of the old Imperial measurements such as rods, poles, perches, links and chains which, to answer the I-Spy question, are also marked by plates on the north wall.

In case you're wondering about all these arcane measurements, a pole, perch and rod are all identical measurements equal to 5 1/2 yards; 25 links make up a pole, four poles equal a chain and hence a chain is equal to 66 feet...

With all the complication of Imperial measurements, it's a wonder that it took us so long to embrace metric in the UK but despite the 1963 'redefinitions' we all carried on happily using the old units. In 1968, a Metrication Board was established but had little power beyond providing information and was largely ignored. It wasn't until 1974, a year after we entered the EEC that the metric system was required to be taught in schools and there was no compulsion to package goods using metric measurements until 1995!

The length markers were installed in the square by the Standards Department of the Board of Trade in 1876 as the accompanying plaque (above) shows and at the time represented the state of the art in accuracy. Up until 1824, despite efforts at standardisation, weights and measures used in different parts of the country varied widely. An act passed in that year redesignated the standards and placed copies in the custody of the Clerk of the House of Commons. Unfortunately, ten years later, when the Palace of Westminster burned down, they were damaged beyond repair and had to be recreated. The Standards Department of the Board of Trade was created in 1866 to oversee this and copies were also placed in the Guildhall and Greenwich Royal Observatory (something else to put on the list of things to look out for...).

Accurate they may have been but, as they are metal and so expand and contract according to the temperature, only at 62o F. A further plaque helpfully informs you of this but no-one thought to provide a thermometer...

Points for this article: 40

Total points so far: 40

In the next article I'll be continuing my exploration of Trafalgar Square.

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I-Spy the Sights of (1960s) London: Part 1

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 20:43:19 +0000

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Not hard, is it? The cover shows a collection of well-known London landmarks, most of them looking much the same now as they did when this book was published in 1968.

But it was nostalgia rather than a quest for information that led me to buy this on ebay recently. Although I had quite a large collection of I-Spy books as a child, I never had this one - probably because I didn't grow up in London :-( I was curious to find out what 'sights' it covered and whether they could all still be spotted now, almost 50 years later.

As the book says "Each sight is numbered, but take them as you wish - a few at a time or all in one long exciting exploration!" In this series I'm taking the "few at a time" approach so that I can slot them in at convenient moments.

Here's where I'll be going:

Ethnic sculptures from Camgib, Seirf and Ekoc

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 20:56:24 +0000

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Try saying the places names backwards and you'll get what it's all about!

And if that doesn't give it away, this guy will...

Its 'The Chapman Family Collection' at the Tate Britain.

We wandered in to the darkened room and walked among what at first seemed to be a collection of ethnic carvings. Then Jade said, "Isn't that Ronald McDonald?" And the we realised that every one of the 34 sculptures had a McDonald's connection!

Like this one with arms in the shape of the golden arches:

Once we'd got it we found it really clever and amusing but one visitor didn't seem to approve. "It will upset the spirits, " we heard her remark.

You can read about the exhibition in artspeak on the Tate website

Staying in a former C17 Palazzo in Florence

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 23:37:59 +0000

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The Instituto Gould, where we stayed in Florence, is situated in the Oltrano district - in other words, the other side of the Arno. It's a great area to stay; tucked in amid the artisan quarter, away from the tourist bustle but still within convenient walking distance of all the main sights.

The guest house was originally built as a palazzo for a noble Florentine family in the mid 1600s and was acquired by the Gould Institute in the 1920s. The Institute is named after its American founder, Emily Gould, and provides help for troubled youngsters; the profits from the guest house help to support this work.

On arrival, you enter through unprepossessing high wooden doors from the Via dei Serragli (swathed in scaffolding in the Google SV pic taken last year!) into a cool, shady courtyard that seems a million miles away from the street outside. For €60 per night for the two of us we had a spacious, clean, comfortable, ensuite room cooled by a ceiling fan - far preferable to air conditioning - together with a tv, if you want that sort of thing when you're on holiday, and free wi-fi. We were overlooking the garden with views across the rooftops to the hills of the Boboli Gardens. (We had specifically requested a back room after reading reviews mentioning problems with traffic noise in rooms overlooking the street.)

Just opposite the hotel we discovered, courtesy of an American teacher who was also staying at the Gould waiting for the arrival of a group of students the day after we left, a hidden Florentine treat - the I'Raddi restaurant - a trattoria specialising in Tuscan cuisine. Delicious food and beautiful cooking. I ate a sort of pasta pancake with pastry and mushrooms - no idea what it was called in Italian as I'd ordered from the English menu - followed by a banana fritter. To accompany that, we drank vino rosso di casa, decanted from a steel vat in the corner of the room into a blue ceramic jug and rounded things off with an espresso. Yum!

So if you're planning a trip to Florence I'd recommend staying at the Instituto Gould - unless you're the sort of traveller who needs a 24-hour reception and your towels changed every day - and eating in the I'Raddi!

More pictures from the Instituto Gould

The annual Open House scramble

nobody@ipernity.com (Jen Pedler) — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 17:51:03 +0000

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It's that time of year again. The Open House listings are live on the web, the green books are plopping through people's letter boxes. And as usual there's a mad scramble to book tours of the most 'prestigious' venues.

The booking system last year was a fiasco; the servers crashed leading to reams of irate complaints on facebook - some people's entire lives seemed to have been ruined by their inability to get through. While there's an undeniable attraction in the possibility of visiting a high-profile venue that's not generally open to the public and a certain kudos to having it ticked off your list there are always plenty of other places to visit and you might even discover a hidden local gem.

This year there are no bookings operated by Open House as they "go back to the true ethos of the event" in line with their mission " to make architecture accessible to all." It's chicken and egg really; with bookings there are bound to be a lot of disappointed people but some will get in at their appointed time; without bookings there will be huge queues at the most popular venues. One of these is the Gherkin. It's open for 20-minute tours, 30 people at a time on a first come basis from 8am - 4pm on Saturday and 9am - 4pm on Sunday. On previous occasions people have started queueing the night before and by early morining the queue has been closed as no-one not already in it would have any chance of getting in. I will manage to visit one day but I'm certainly not going to queue up all day to do it! Unfortunately it's excluded from the volunteer priority pass...

There are still around 100 of the 830 buildings and events in this year's programme that require booking through the venue itself. The ever-vigilant Ian Visits has compiled a useful list of them although no doubt most of them are fully booked by now. I've just heard that I haven't been lucky with Home House but still waiting to hear about The Oriental Club. But I have managed to book a tour of 55 Broadway on Saturday - perhaps the last chance as it's scheduled to be redeveloped as flats. (I see most tours are now fully booked but there's still space on the 12:30 one if you're quick.) For the rest of the day I'm going to take advantage of my volunteer pass to jump a few queues. (Although I might still be lucky in the ballot for Downing Street or Gray's Inn - still time to enter that if you haven't already, open until 13 September.)

On the Sunday I'll be guiding at Chandos House. Only open on Sunday and you don't need to book so pop in if you're in the area - although I have no idea what the queue might be like.

PS. For anyone who didn't know, Open House weekend is 21-22 September!

Update: Just heard I've been lucky enough to get a booking for a tour of the Oriental Club. Going to be an Adam weekend...