LONDON.......
Please leave as much here as you can. The more I see and read, teaches.
The histury of London is not only a hobby, but also, a Love or, maybe a little nearer to Reality would be for me to say, a Passion.......
..........So, post as much as Time allows....The more obscure, the more cherished...............
Onwards and Upwards.......................
The histury of London is not only a hobby, but also, a Love or, maybe a little nearer to Reality would be for me to say, a Passion.......
..........So, post as much as Time allows....The more obscure, the more cherished...............
Onwards and Upwards.......................
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Percy the Dreamweaver and Son. on
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They missed me three times, the buggers...........
First time was the Old Bailey bomb....My pal, Dave Warner was appearing at the Court and I was a witness. His barrister suggested the three if us meet over a cup of tea prior to the case......BANG !!!! We were in a cafe on Ludgate Hill, around the corner. The windows blew in.
Second. I was with my best and oldest girl Friend, Tonki, driving behind the Horse Guards, through Hyde Park. We were in a bit of a hurry. I became a little, how shall I say this ?, frustrated, by not being able to get past the horses. I said for her to turn off at the gate by Knightsbridge corner (Prince's Gate ?). Whilst waiting at the traffic lights to pass through the exit. BANG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....Missed again !
Last time was at Victoria. I was just walking out of the station from the underground (I was working on 'Buddy-The Buddy Holly Story', at the Victoria Palace Theatre), and.BANG-BOOM !!!!..Missed once more, lads !
My pal, Chrissy's a scaffolder and was working on the Banqueting House, Whitehall, when the rocket that managed to miss that Harpie Harriden, Margeret Thatcher, whizzed by his ear !
Shame none of those concerned is Irish, 'cos we have all been blessed with the Luck of 'em ! -
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Permalink Reply by s <3 on
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You must have a very good guardian angel........ have you thanked her lately....... she must have been asleep when you had your fall, but she had done a very good job up until then.
I remember Sefton....... the horse that got badly injured in one of the blasts.
Don't you enjoy being stuck behind the horses...... I would have. I like it when the tractors cause all the cars to have to drive slowly around our lanes........ instead of the crazy speeds that some of the motorists choose to go. I've had some scary moments with drivers whilst being out with horses and ponies, even when Sophie was on her tiny pony some would not even slow down and give a wide berth...... and it was not the young ones, they were always careful and polite, it was the old ones that had no manners!!!! -
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Speaking of the OLD BAILEY.....................................
London's Central Criminal Court, 1673-1913.............................
The Old Bailey, also known as Justice Hall, the Sessions House, and the Central Criminal Court, was named after the street in which it was located, just off Newgate Street and next to Newgate Prison, in the western part of the City of London. Over the centuries the building has been periodically remodelled and rebuilt in ways which both reflected and influenced the changing ways trials were carried out and reported.
The Old Bailey is located about 200 yards northwest of St Paul's Cathedral, just outside the former western wall of the City of London. It is named after the street on which it is located, which itself follows the line of the original fortified wall, or "bailey", of the City. The initial location of the courthouse close to Newgate Prison allowed prisoners to be conveniently brought to the courtroom for their trials. More generally, its position between the City of London and Westminster meant it was a suitable location for trials involving people from all over the metropolis, north of the river Thames.
The Courtroom............................
An Old Bailey trial is in process. There is a man testifying on the right; jurors are seated in tiered boxes in the centre-rear; spectators are behind them; council are seated on the left; and above them the judges are seated on a raised platform, below the windows and the sword of justice on the wall.
Although the Old Bailey courthouse was rebuilt several times between 1674 and 1913, the basic design of the courtrooms remained the same. They were arranged so as to emphasise the contest between the accused and the rest of the court. The accused stood at “the bar” (or in “the dock”), directly facing the witness box (where prosecution and defence witnesses testified) and the judges seated on the other side of the room. Before the introduction of gas lighting in the early nineteenth century a mirrored reflector was placed above the bar, in order to reflect light from the windows onto the faces of the accused. This allowed the court to examine their facial expressions assess the validity of their testimony. In addition, a sounding board was placed over their heads in order to amplify their voices.
Early in the period the jurors sat on the sides of the courtroom to both the left and the right of the accused, but from 1737 they were brought together in stalls on the defendant's right, sufficiently close together to be able to consult each other and arrive at verdicts without leaving the room. Seated at a table below where the judges sat were clerks, lawyers, and the writers who took the shorthand notes which formed the basis of the Proceedings.
1673 Open Air Building........................
The medieval courthouse was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. In 1673 the Old Bailey was rebuilt as a three storey Italianate brick building, described by John Strype in 1720 as "a fair and stately building". In front of the courthouse was the Sessions House Yard, a place where litigants, witnesses, and court personnel could gather. The area inside the wall, where prisoners awaited trial, was called the bail dock. They were separated from the street by a brick wall with spikes on top to keep them from escaping.
A view of the sessions house from around 1675, showing the open courtroom. In the front is the bail dock, enclosed by walls topped with spikes.
A surprising feature was that the ground floor of the building, where the courtroom was located, was open on one side to the weather; the upper stories were held up by doric columns. A wall had been left out in order to increase the supply of fresh air to reduce the risk that prisoners suffering from gaol fever (typhus) would infect others in court. On the first floor there was a "stately dining room" for the justices. Inside the courtroom there was a bench for judges at the far end, and, on both sides, partitioned spaces for jurors and balconies for court officers and privileged observers. Other spectators crowded into the yard. The trials attracted a mixed audience of London's more and less respectable inhabitants, and it was alleged that criminals attended in order to devise strategies for defending themselves should they find themselves on trial. The crowd's presence could influence or intimidate the jurors sitting inside.
In 1737 the building was remodelled, and enclosed. Although this was purportedly in order to keep out the weather, the City authorities may also have wanted to limit the influence of spectators. The ground floor of the exterior was refaced with large masonry blocks, and the windows and roofline altered to reflect prevailing architectural styles. A passageway was constructed linking the courthouse with Newgate Prison, to facilitate the transport of prisoners between the two. The interior was rearranged so that the trial jury could sit together, since they were now expected to give their verdicts after each trial, without leaving the courtroom.
With the courtroom now enclosed, the danger of infection increased, and at one sessions in 1750 an outbreak of gaol fever (typhus) led to the deaths of sixty people, including the Lord Mayor and two judges. Subsequently, the judges spread nosegays and aromatic herbs to keep down the stench and prevent infection, a practice commemorated in a ceremony which continues to this day.
Spectators frequently came to see the trials, and courthouse officials had the right to charge fees for entry to the galleries. The radical John Wilkes, when Sheriff of London in 1771, thought this practice undemocratic and prohibited it. Consequently at the October sessions of that year there was almost a riot due to the pressure of the crowds trying to get in, and those inside the galleries were accused of being "turbulent and unruly". Wilkes's order was rescinded, and spectators continued to pay to see trials until 1860.
In order to accommodate the growing number of trials, a second courtroom was added in 1824 by converting a neighbouring building. Reflecting the still increasing role of lawyers, the new courtroom had seating for attorneys, counsel, and law students. There were also seats for spectators, jurors in waiting, prosecutors and witnesses, and officers of the court.
In subsequent decades two additional courtrooms were added, but conditions, as can be seen in this depiction, were cramped: the fourth courtroom contained little more room than was necessary for the judge, jury, and prisoner’s dock, with counsel and the clerk forced to sit in a narrow row of seats. There was no seating for the public, which had to stand in the gangway.
1907 Current Building
As trials lengthened and the number of those seeking to watch increased in the late nineteenth century the courthouse building became increasingly inadequate. In 1877 a fire forced the City of London to act and proposals were drawn up for a new building. Owing to the dilapidation of Newgate Prison next door, which by the 1860s no longer held long-term prisoners, it was decided to pull down both buildings to make room for a larger building.
After many delays, the new building, designed in the neo-Baroque style by E. W. Mountford and built at a cost of £392,277, was finally opened by King Edward VII in 1907. It was lavishly fitted out and adorned with symbolic reminders to the public of its virtuous purpose. On top of the 67 foot high dome a 12 foot gold leaf statue was placed of a “lady of justice” holding a sword in one hand and the scales of justice in the other; she is not, as is conventional with such figures, blindfolded. Over the main entrance to the building figures were placed representing fortitude, the recording angel, and truth, along with the carved inscription, “defend the children of the poor and punish the wrongdoer”.
A quarter view looking southward down the Old Bailey, with the heavily built frontage of the Central Criminal Court in the centre of the picture. The dome and statue of 'justice' sits above the main building.
The exterior was faced in Portland stone, while the interior lobbies and a monumental staircase had Sicilian marble floors, allegorical paintings representing Labour, Art, Wisdom, and Truth, and ornate mosaic arches. The four oak-panelled courtrooms contained space for all those who needed to attend modern trials, including solicitors and barristers, court reporters, the press (who by now were the most important conduit to the public for information about trials), and spectators. Each courtroom had a spacious dock, enclosed by low partitions, for the defendants, with a staircase leading directly below to the holding cells. There were now separate rooms for male and female witnesses, and another for witnesses of “the better class”. Lawyers also had their own room, as did barristers’ clerks; the latter included a glass wall to ensure they did not engage in malpractices such as touting for business among prisoners and their associates. As in the previous building, there was an opulently appointed dining room for the judges.
Rumpole's author, John Mortimer, defended the three OZ 'hippies', Richard Neville, Felix Dennis, and Jim Anderson, in the OZ trials mentioned of by Francis Wheen (a wonderful political commentator) in the video clip above.
Be seein' ya, Kiddos.x -
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Wow Percy.... what a wonderful contribution, I forward to going through it and learning plenty...... thank you.
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Busy hands are happy hands, Sue.x
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OLD JEWRY..............This street is a couple of minutes walk from Bevis Marks.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Old Jewry is the name of a street in the City of London, in Coleman Street Ward, linking Gresham Street with The Poultry.
According to Rev. Moses Margoliouth "Old Jewry" was a ghetto. William the Conqueror brought Jews from Rouen to England in 1066. A mikveh (ritual bath) was discovered nearby under the State Bank of India by archaeologists in 2001. It was located on the corner of Gresham Street and Milk Street. It would have fallen into disuse after 1290, when the Jews were expelled from England.
On the west side of Old Jewry is St. Olave Old Jewry. Only the tower of this church survives. When it was destroyed in 1887, a Roman pavement and vases were discovered. Jewen Street, not far away, off Aldersgate, still existed in 1722. According to Chambers' Cyclopaedia, this was the only permitted burial ground for Jews. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that the Jewish quarter in 13th century London extended from Jewen Street in the north, by St Giles-without-Cripplegate, to Poultry in the south.
There was a Dissenting chapel in Old Jewry in 1796. Richard Price, minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church, was also the afternoon preacher here from 1763. [1].
Thomas Rowlandson was born here in 1756. The street now contains mainly financial companies.
Also in the area is this fine church.........
It is said that if you are a 'true Londoner - a cockney' then you were born within the sound of Bow bells. Here is the church of Bow in Cheapside in the City of London.
"Oranges and lemons" say the Bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings" say the Bells of St. Martin's
"When will you pay me?" say the Bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich" say the Bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the Bells of Stepney
"I do not know" say the Great Bells of Bow
"Here comes a Candle to light you to Bed
Here comes a Chopper to Chop off your Head
Chip chop chip chop - the Last Man's Dead."
On the day of the National Twelve Bell Competition at St Pauls in London, there was open ringing at St Mary le Bow for the competitiors and visiting ringers. This is some of their ringing, a touch of Stedman Cinques. There are people in this belfry from all over the country! -
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The sound of the bells is wonderful..... thank you.
And thank you for all the information...... you are educating us well. -
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The London Underground is built on countless gravesites and plague pits, and is the site of many human disasters, could this account for the hundreds of reported ghostly sightings?
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I used to travel every day from Victoria to Oxford Circus...... I never say anything... I have not watched the videos yet, but look forward to watching them.
We have ghosts were we live now and in the house I lived in when my son was young, he used to see Mr Wisdom, that's the name of the ghost, in that house..... spooky!!!!!!!! -
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That was good......... have you ever been to Chislehurst Caves in Kent, I have, they are amazing, worth a visit. I will see if I can find something on them to post.
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Yes, I saw a couple of groups there. Pink Floyd played inside once, I wasn't there though. A few people I knew in the early '70's lived there and surrounding villages/areas. I have a rotten memory of one night. REALLY rotten.
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