Sights in London
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Trinity Square Gardens
Trinity Square Gardens, just to the west of Tower Hill tube station, was once the site of the Tower Hill scaffold where many met their fate, the last in 1747. Now it’s a much more peaceful little place and home to Edwin Lutyens’ memorial to the marines and merchant sailors who lost their lives during WWI. Just outside Tower Hill tube station, a giant bronze sundial depicts the history of London from AD 43 to 1982, and on a grassy area next to the tube’s main exit there’s a stretch of the medieval wall built on Roman foundations, with a modern statue of Emperor Trajan (r AD 98–117) standing in front of it. At the other end of the tunnel, to the right, is a postern…
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The Oval
Home to the Surrey County Cricket Club, the Brit Oval is London’s second cricketing venue after Lord’s. As well as Surrey matches, it also regularly hosts international test matches. The season runs from April to September.
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Temple of Mithras
A short way along Queen Victoria St, on the left, you’ll find the remains of the 3rd-century AD Temple of Mithras. This potentially fascinating site was uncovered in the 1950s during the construction of Bucklersbury House, an office block on Walbrook St. The entire site was moved to its current location shortly afterwards for display. There’s not a lot to see but if you’re interested in this Persian god, artefacts found in the temple are on display at the Museum of London. At the time of writing, the creation of Walbrook Square, an office and retail development, was underway, within which the remains are set to be displayed on their original site.
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Surrey Docks Farm
Working city farm on a 1 hectare site.
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Summer Exhibition
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Strand
From the time it was built, at the end of the 12th century, The Strand (from the Old English and German word for beach) ran by the Thames. Its grandiose stone houses, built by the nobility, counted as some of the most prestigious places to live, sitting as they did on a street that connected the City and Westminster, the two centres of power; indeed, its appeal lasted for seven centuries, with the 19th-century prime minister Benjamin Disraeli pronouncing it ‘the finest street in Europe’. Buildings included the Cecil Hotel (now no more), the Savoy Hotel, Simpson’s, King’s College and Somerset House.
But modern times haven’t treated The Strand with the same sort of…
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St Olave
Tucked at the end of quiet Seething Lane, St Olave’s was built in the mid-15th century, and restored in the 1950s. Most famous of those who worshipped at the church is Samuel Pepys, who is buried here with his wife Elizabeth. Dickens called the place ‘St Ghastly Grim’ because of the skulls above its entrance, but today it’s a lovely little spot.
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St Giles Church
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Squares of Bloomsbury
At the very heart of Bloomsbury is Russell Square. Originally laid out in 1800 by Humphrey Repton, it was dark and bushy until the striking facelift that pruned the trees, tidied up the plants and gave it a 10m-high fountain.
The centre of literary Bloomsbury was Gordon Square where, at various times, Bertrand Russell lived at No 57, Lytton Strachey at No 51 and Vanessa and Clive Bell, Maynard Keynes and the Woolf family at No 46. Strachey, Dora Carrington and Lydia Lopokova (the future wife of Maynard Keynes) all took turns living at No 41. Not all the buildings, many of which now belong to the university, are marked with blue plaques.
Lovely Bedford Square is the only…
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Sensational Butterflies
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Sea Life London Aquarium
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Royal Opera House
On the northeastern flank of Covent Garden piazza is the gleaming, redeveloped – and practically new – Royal Opera House. You can take a tour of the opera: the pompously named ‘Velvet, Gilt & Glamour Tour’ is a general 45-minute tour of the auditorium; more distinctive are the 1½-hr backstage tours that take you through the venue (although not always the auditorium), and let you experience the planning, excitement and hissy fits happening before a performance at one of the world’s busiest opera houses. As it’s a working theatre, backstage tours vary greatly from one day to the next.
Of course, the best way to enjoy the ROH is by seeing a performance.
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Royal Observatory
Rising south of Queen's House, idyllic Greenwich Park climbs up the hill, affording stunning views of London from the Royal Observatory, which Charles II had built in 1675 to help solve the riddle of longitude.
Success was confirmed in 1884 when Greenwich was designated as the prime meridian of the world, and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) became the universal measurement of standard time.
In the north of the observatory is lovely Flamsteed House and the Meridian Courtyard (where you can stand with your feet straddling the western and eastern hemispheres); admission is by ticket. The southern half contains the highly informative and free Astronomy Centre and the Peter Harrison…
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Royal Exchange
Founded by Thomas Gresham, this is the imposing, colonnaded building at the juncture of Threadneedle St and Cornhill to the east. It’s the third building on a site originally chosen in 1564 by Gresham. It has not had a role as a financial institution since the 1980s and now houses a posh shopping centre and a cafe (Royal Exchange Grand Café & Bar) and restaurant (Sauterelle).
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Royal Albert Hall
This huge, domed, red-brick amphitheatre, adorned with a frieze of Minton tiles, is Britain’s most famous concert venue and home to the BBC’s Promenade Concerts (the Proms) every summer. Built in 1871 the hall was never intended as a concert venue but as a ‘Hall of Arts and Sciences’, so it spent the first 133 years of its existence tormenting everyone with shocking acoustics. The huge mushroom-like acoustic reflectors first dangled from the ceiling in 1969 and a further massive refurbishment was completed in 2004. You can take a one-hour front-of-house guided tour of the hall from the box office at door 12. Ninety-minute backstage tours are also available, but…
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Regent Street
Regent St is the border separating the hoi polloi of Soho and the high-society residents of Mayfair. Designed by John Nash as a ceremonial route, it was meant to link the Prince Regent’s long-demolished city dwelling with the ‘wilds’ of Regent’s Park, and was conceived by the architect as a grand thoroughfare that would be the centrepiece of a new grid for this part of town. Alas, it was never to be – too many toes were being stepped on and Nash had to downscale his plan.
There are some elegant shop fronts that look older than their 1920s origins (when the street was remodelled) but, as in the rest of London, the chain stores have almost completely taken over.…
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Queen’s House
The first Palladian building by architect Inigo Jones after he returned from Italy, what was at first called the ‘House of Delight’ is indeed far more enticing than the art collection it contains, even though it includes some Turners, Holbeins, Hogarths and Gainsboroughs. The house was begun in 1616 for Anne of Denmark, wife of James I, but was not completed until 1638, when it became the home of Charles I and his queen, Henrietta Maria. The ceremonial Great Hall is the principal room – a gorgeous cube shape, with an elaborately tiled floor dating to 1637; the ceiling was originally decorated with nine paintings by Orazio Gentileshci. The beautiful helix-shaped …
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Primrose Hill
Wedged between well-heeled Regent’s Park and edgy Camden, the little neighbourhood of Primrose Hill is high on the wish list of most Londoners – but utterly unaffordable. With its independent boutiques (from interior design to bookshops, children’s clothes to pet accessories, not a franchise in sight), lovely restaurants and good pubs, it has a rare village feel.
The proximity of the gorgeous, eponymous park, with fabulous views of London, is another draw. On summer weekends, it is absolutely packed with revellers enjoying a picnic with a view; but on weekdays, there’s mostly dog walkers and nannies and it’s a lovely place to enjoy a quiet stroll or an alfresco…
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Piccadilly Circus
John Nash had originally designed Regent St and Piccadilly to be the two most elegant streets in town but, curbed by city planners, Nash couldn’t realise his dream to the full. He would certainly be disappointed with what Piccadilly Circus has become: swamped with visitors, flanked by flashing advertisement panels and surrounded by shops flogging tourist tat.
But despite the crowds and traffic, Piccadilly Circus has become a postcard for the city, buzzing with the liveliness that makes it exciting to be in London. Designed in the 1820s, the hub was named after the street Piccadilly (going west from the square), which earned its name in the 17th century from the stiff…
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Painted Hall
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Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
From the mills of Cistercian monks in the 1st century, to the railway hub of the 1880s (from which goods from the Thames were transported all over Britain), the tidal Lower Lea Valley had long been the source of what Londoners required to fuel their industries. But until building work on the Olympic Park began in 2008, this vast area of East London had become derelict, polluted and largely ignored. Creating world-class sporting facilities for the 2012 Games was, of course, at the forefront of the development, but this was well balanced with the aim of regenerating this area for generations to come. More than 30 new bridges were built to criss-cross the Lea, its…
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No 10 Downing Street
This has been the official office of British leaders since 1732, when George II presented No 10 to Robert Walpole and, since refurbishment in 1902, it’s also been the Prime Minister’s official London residence. As Margaret Thatcher, a grocer’s daughter, famously put it, the PM ‘lives above the shop’ here.
But, for such a famous address, No 10 is a small-looking building on a plain-looking street, hardly warranting comparison with the White House, for example. The street was cordoned off with a rather large iron gate during Margaret Thatcher’s time so you won’t see much.
Breaking with tradition when he came to power, Tony Blair and his family (he has four…
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Museum of the Order of St John
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