Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
The Jewel Tower is easy to miss, nestled as it is between the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Built in 1365 it is one of the only surviving sections of the medieval Palace of Westminster which was used to house the royal household’s valuables and later the records of the House of Lords and the testing facility to determine the value of weights and measures.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
Banqueting House is part of the Historic Royal Palaces Group and the sole survivor of the Palace of Whitehall which burnt down in 1698. Architect Inigo Jones created the building for James I in 1622 and it played host to sensational masques and balls under the roof of the amazing ceiling painted by Rubens.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On my last trip to London I decided to head out to Marble Arch and take a photograph of the Tyburn Tree plaque which marks the site where the famous gallows were located. It was while researching its exact location that I discovered the existence of Tyburn Convent which houses a crypt with relics of the martyrs who died at Tyburn.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On the same day I visited the Monument to the Great Fire of London I walked a little further down the road until I came to St Dunstan in the East, a Church of England church built around 1100 that was badly damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
The Imperial War Museum is one of those major London museums that I’d never managed to find time for until a recent trip to the Old Vic found me a quick 10 minutes walk away. Founded during the First World War in 1917 I was impressed by the range and detail of items on display both from the site of war and at the home front and the interactive nature of many of the displays.
Please note some photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
The Monument was designed by Christopher Wren to commemorate the Great Fire of London which started in nearby Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666. The Monument is 202 feet high, the exact distance between it and where the fire began.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On a rare sunny day in April, while I was in London, I decided to take advantage of the weather and head over to see the dinosaurs at Crystal Palace Park, which I’d been meaning to do for some time. After the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park closed the large glass and iron structure of Crystal Palace moved to the park. A series of over 30 sculptures were commissioned in 1852 and placed in the grounds of the Park, including dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
On a trip to the theatre in London I found myself with a few hours to spare and decided to head to the London Canal Museum which is only a short walk from King’s Cross Station. As to be expected for such a niche museum it is quite small, consisting of just two floors, but at just £4 it was a reasonably priced way to spend an hour.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
I think I must have read about Strawberry Hill House on one of those lists of unusual things to do in London which I often reference. It was the home of Horace Walpole, son of England’s first Prime Minister and the author of The Castle of Otranto, the Gothic novel which was inspired by his home.
Please note photos have been removed due to lack of hosting space.
Although I’ve been to St Paul’s Cathedral and taken photographs of the exterior before, I’d never actually been inside. Thankfully the weather had improved tremendously and my recent trip seemed as good a time as any to see the interior for myself.
Louise Jayne's Blog 