Walking with family: Embankment to Gabriel's Wharf... and beyond

Saturday June 13, 2026.

Partly cloudy with a high of 22°C (71.6°F).

Today marks the official birthday of His Majesty King Charles III, which involves the Trooping of the Colour parade, a 41-gun salute, and a flypast by the Royal Air Force. It was the latter that my uncle Martin and I headed off to London to see.

Martin picked me up and we made the short drive to Croxley station, where we boarded a Metropolitan line train that would only take us to Harrow-on-the-Hill station, as engineering works had overrun.

Arriving at Harrow-on-the-Hill station, at 09;40, we made our way down the stairs from the platform and used the subway to reach Platform 2, where we would catch a National Rail Chiltern Flyer to Marylebone station. There was a wait of about 30 minutes, but at least we pretty much guaranteed a space on the train, unlike those waiting for the Metropolitan trains to start running again at around 10:30.

Sure enough we were soon aboard our train, speeding towards Marylebone station, where we disembarked and headed down to the Bakerloo line trains, which we took to Embankment station.

Leaving Embankment station we crossed Victoria Embankment and headed east, following the River Thames, until we reached Bazalgette Embankment. Here we explored one of London's newest public realms, which is built above one of the bore holes of the Tideway Tunnel. It was fairly empty with a few people sitting in some of the various seating areas, enjoying the morning sun, while a few skateboarders were practising their tricks a little further on. But it is always nice to get up close to the Lion heads that have always been out of reach.

'Crutched Friars' by Michael Black

The Crutched Friars.

On the corner of Crutched Friars and Rangoon Street, built into the corner of a building, you will find this statue of two friars. But, what is their story?

The Statue.

Erected in 1985, the statue is made of red granite, marble and bronze and was created by the sculptor Michael Black.

The Crutched Friars: A brief history.

The Crutched Friars were a Roman Catholic religious order, who first came to England in 1244. They asked the Diocese of Rochester if they could settle in the country and, on being granted approval, founded their first house in either Colchester or Reigate, on which books you read, in 1245. They were a branch of the Belgian Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross.

They also settled in Barham, Brackley, Great Welnetham, Kildale,Oxford, Wotton-under-Edge and York, among other places.

Tower Hill Scaffold Site

On the western edge of Trinity Square Gardens, you will find a small square with a horrific history. This was almost the exact site of the Tower Hill Scaffold, where more than 125 people were put to death.

Executions took place at this site from around the 1380s through to 1780, when executions were moved to Tyburn.

Although Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury and Sir Robert Hales are listed as having been executed here, in 1381, the official records state that Sir Simon de Burley, K.G., was the first person executed here, in 1388.

The executions were highly ceremonial, with the ceremony often beginning the night before. Often prisoners would be taken by horse and cart, through the streets, being fed ale or mead, on their way to the scaffold. People would line the streets, often hurling vegetables, sometimes stones, at the poor wretch who was about to die.

Once at the scaffold site, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people would gather with their families, to witness the execution.

All of these were public executions, with various methods being employed to dispatch the condemned.

'Liberties of the Tower' and Tower Liberties Boundary Markers

Liberties of the Tower plaque.

At various distances from the walls of the Tower of London, there were thirty-one Liberty Markers, of which twenty-two can still be found (I believe). These markers denoted the outer limits of the 'Liberties of the Tower'.

The Tower Liberties area was an administrative and defensive zone set up around the Tower of London, separating it from the City of London.

This 'Liberties of the Tower' area was to be kept free of buildings, so that those in the Tower of London could see any approaching forces, and was set up after 1200.

Marker Number 23, Tower Hill Garden.

The boundary points were placed in an arc around the Tower of London, at a distance of an arrow's flight from its walls.

The Tower of London ran its own courthouse and police force and, in 1687, the people, living within the Liberties, were granted certain special privileges. These included being able to claim any beast that fell from London Bridge and freedom from the jurisdiction of the City of London.