Sir William Wallace Memorial

Sir William Wallace Memorial.

The memorial, above, was installed in 1956, and adorns the wall of St Bartholomew's Hospital, close to where the execution took place.

Below the English text follows an inscription in Latin and Gaelic that translates as:

"I tell you the truth, son, freedom is the best condition, never live like a slave."

"Victory or Death."

The Smithfield area, originally known as Smoothfield, of London was once used by the Romans as a place to muster troops and to bury the dead, and was a large area of open ground outside of the Roman walls. 

Once the Romans had left Londinium the land was used for many different uses throughout the centuries, that included the grazing of livestock, summer fairs, jousting and executions.

Executions took on varying forms that included burning at the stake, for heretics, hanging, and the most vicious execution of all... hanged-drawn-and-quartered, usually reserved for treason. Executions would carry on at this spot until some time in the 1400s, when the gallows were moved to Tyburn. 

The execution area was known as the Elms, which was a medieval word for scaffold.

It is impossible to quantify the amount of people who were put to death here, throughout the centuries, but the most notable for me would be the execution of Sir William Wallace.

Walking with Keilyn: Olympic Park to the Mithraeum... and beyond

Aquatics Centre.

 Tuesday April 4, 2023.

With the first week of the Easter holidays begun and with the weather on our side Keilyn, my 9 year old daughter, and I decided to take a trip to London. On Keilyn's insistence we headed to Stratford, via the Jubilee line, as she wanted to explore the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Our journey was uneventful and after grabbing a hot drink and some food, at Stratford station, we made our way to the park. 

West Ham FC Stadium.

Crossing WaterWorks River, via Stratford Walk, we were immediately in front of what is now West Ham FC Stadium, while below us, on the river, the Water Chariots and swan pedalos were moored up.

Water Chariots and Swan pedalos.

Turning right we headed towards the Pleasure Gardens Play Area, which Keilyn thought was 'Okay'. We continued by following the course of the River Lea via Middlesex Way, which brought us to Eastcross Bridge, next to which the 'Agitos' stood tall and proud against the blue sky. 

Agitos.

Following the path around brought us to the London Blossom Garden and the Tumbling Bay Playground. Keilyn was suitably impressed with this little park.

Keilyn just swinging around.

From here we clambered up and down hills to see the Olympic Rings, set among a small copse of trees. 

Keilyn, an Olympian in the making?

Then it was back down the hill to Gaskell's Fort play area, which Keilyn loved.

Gaskell's Fort Play area.

Then we crossed Knights Bridge and turned left and ourselves back on Middlesex Way, which we followed until we reached Marshgate Lane. We followed this until we turned onto Bassett Lane, which took us across the River Lea Navigation. 

Oldest House in the City of London

41-42 Cloth Fair

Wandering, as I do, along the labyrinthine streets of London I always discover something to which I was unaware. This is exactly what happened whilst I walked from Farringdon towards Barbican.

Having headed south from Farringdon station and along the Grand Avenue, that divides Smithfield Market, I headed onto West Smithfield and turned onto a narrow road named Cloth Fair. 

As I approached the courtyard of the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great I noticed a timber framed building to my left. It was unlike any other building on the street, so I took some photos.

London's Lost Churches

Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden.

On my many wanders around and through the City of London, I have always been struck by the amount of churches dotted throughout. Occasionally, I have stumbled across the ruins of churches either destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 or bombed via Zeppelin raids of World War I, or the Blitz of World War II.

Some of these ruins have been turned into pocket parks or gardens of remembrance, while others have been lost forever, with, very little to show that they were ever there.

St Mary Aldermanbury Garden.

I soon became intrigued to see if there was a complete list of churches within the City of London that were either still standing, ruined or lost to the ravages of time. 

Post Building Roof Garden

Looking down on the British Museum.

One of the newer and free rooftop gardens to open to the public is the one atop the Post building, on Museum Street. Having recently visited Lift 109 at Battersea Power Station and having previously admired the views from the Garden at 120 Fenchurch Street, climbed the 311 steps of the Monument to the Great Fire of London, seen the view from The Shard, peered at St Paul's Cathedral from One New Change and the Switch Room at Tate Modern, among many other places, this rooftop garden was the next logical step.

Looking east.

Although the Post Building is situated on Museum Street the entrance is around the corner on New Oxford Street. It isn't particularly well advertised but I soon found it.

After being allowed entry to the building I was met by an amiable security guard that told me that access to the rooftop garden required some form of identification. For example a driver's licence (I don't drive) or a passport (I only carry that when I am going abroad). The only identification that I had on me was my bank card and a few other items that had my name on them, which he accepted. 

With the visitors book signed I passed through the now standard metal detector, while my coat was scanned in an X-Ray machine. 

He then ushered me to the lift and told me to press '9'. On entering the lift I realised that the only other button to press, besides nine, was the alarm. I thought about pressing the alarm for 0.68 seconds, before I hit the '9' and travelled smoothly up the building.