King Edward III's Moated Manor House

King Edward IIIs Moated Manor house.

Saturday March 30, 2019.

Partial as I am to wandering and going off on a tangent, rather than sticking to a prescribed route, when visiting The Unfinished City, it is no wonder that I stumble across some interesting things and places.

Take, for instance, this Royal Residence. Had I not taken a detour then I would never have known that this piece of history existed. Obviously, there is not much left to see, and this photo does not do the place justice, but the moat and foundations are all still there.

120 Fenchurch Street Roof Garden

The view looking south.

Friday March 22, 2019.

Back in February, 2019, a new roof garden opened, in the City of London. Situated on the fifteenth floor of a newly designed building, it offers 360 degree views of the city and its environs.

Being only fifteen storeys tall, it is dwarfed by buildings like the Gherkin, Walkie-talkie and Scalpel, but it does offer unique views of these buildings. Even on the overcast morning that I visited, I could still see the Crystal Palace Transmitter, to the south, Canary Wharf, to the east and the BT Tower to the west. Obviously, much of the view to the north is obscured by the aforementioned skyscrapers.

The planted flower beds were still to fully bloom and the creeping vines have yet to fully take hold of the upright roof supports, while the water feature, which has small fountains in a raised channel, wasn't functioning. When all of these things come together, over the next few weeks, this will be one of the most pleasant public roof gardens in the City of London.

Access to the Roof Garden is via a lift in a spacious lobby, which has an art installation in the ceiling, which shows various garden scenes and sometimes links up to a camera, situated in the roof garden, that shows Tower Bridge.

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St Dunstan-in-the-East Church & Garden

A panoramic of the Nave.

Friday March 22, 2019.

It was a cool spring Friday morning, as I took to the streets of the Unfinished City, in search of new areas to discover. Pretty soon I found myself on Lower Thames Street, heading eastward.

Since it had been pouring with rain on my last visit to St Dunstan-in-the-East Church Garden, I decided to pop in for a look around. It was perfect timing, because as I arrived a tour guide and his Spanish entourage were leaving, heading off in the direction of the Tower of London, leaving me alone among the ruins.

Obviously, as it was still early spring, many of the flowers had yet to bloom, which gave the ruined church an even more sombre mood, especially with the overcast skies.

Considering where the ruins are located it was remarkably peaceful, even with the traffic zooming past.

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A Blast from the Past

 A 1938 art-deco Bakerloo line train.

Sunday February 24, 2019.

A rare sight on the Metropolitan Line, this afternoon, a beautifully restored 1938 art-deco train, that was used on the Bakerloo, Northern and Piccadilly lines.

It had begun its journey from Ealing Broadway and headed to Hammersmith, High Street Kensington and then a full circuit of the Circle Line before arriving at Moorgate.

It then ran from Moorgate, along the Metropolitan Line, to Amersham, before returning to Ealing Broadway, via Rayners Lane.

We waited for it at Rickmansworth where we were in the perfect place to see it.

Kensington Gardens

Kensington Palace and Queen Victoria's statue.

After our initial stop at the Diana Memorial Playground, we made our way south towards Kensington Palace, with the shade from the trees protecting us from the warm summer sun. A few photographs were taken before we headed towards the Round Pond.

From here we continued eastward towards the Long Water, passing the Physical Energy statue, designed by George Frederic Watts and erected in 1907. 

As we approached the Long Water a gust of wind blew Erin's baseball cap, from her head, far out into the water. To say that she was distraught was an understatement! I have never seen such an upset 6 year old. 

After eventually calming her down we continued our walk, this time heading north, passing the Peter Pan statue and continuing on to the Italian Gardens.

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