Postman’s Park

On my same visit to London when I saw The Tempest I decided to pay a visit to the Museum of London (post to follow). But whilst researching it and the area I discovered that Postman’s Park was close by and, intrigued, I thought I’d keep an eye out and see if I had time that day to  pay the park a visit as well. As luck would have it though I happened to be walking to the Museum on the right side of the road to pass by the entrance to the Park and not wanting to miss the opportunity to have a look while the weather was behaving itself, I headed in.

It’s a nice, quiet area of greenery which I’m sure is full of office workers eating their lunch during the working week. My interest in it was of course peaked by the memorial wall, dedicated to those who gave their lives in order to save the lives of others.

It was built in 1900 by GF Watts who suggested the creation of the park as a way of commemorating heroic men and women, gathering their names and details of their self-sacrifices from newspaper articles that he’d collected over the years. Along the walls of the memorial are beautifully designed Doulton tiles that explains how they died and who they were saving (or attempting to save).

There is also a memorial tile to Watts himself, explaining the purpose of the memorial wall.

It’s a lovely, quiet area and I really like the idea that there’s a place like this where ordinary people are remembered. It’s well worth a quick visit if you’re in the area.