Walking with family and friends: Aldgate to Canary Wharf... and beyond

Saturday January 25, 2025.

Another Saturday and another trip to London was in order.

Up. Dressed. Keilyn and I take an Uber to the station. Meet Steve. Underground to Finchley Road. Underground to Aldgate.

Reaching the end of the line, Steve, Keilyn and I left Aldgate station and immediately grabbed a hot drink from the coffee shop outside the station. Then, with drinks in hand, we set off... heading east.

Heading along Aldgate High Street we crossed St Botolph Street and continued along Whitechapel High Street and onto Whitechapel Road, soon coming to Whitechapel Market, with its hustle and bustle and aromatic smells.

We passed the old Whitechapel Dell Foundry, the Royal London Hospital and the Blind Beggar pub, briefly toying with the idea of heading south, through Shadwell to the River Thames, but instead continued east along Mile End Road.

Statues, sculptures and fascinating architecture lined our route with Trinity Green and its Almshouses being a highlight, with stone ships mounted atop the ends of the Almshouses.

We continued our walk, passing Stepney Green station and the huge campus that is Queen Mary University of London, until we reached The Regent's Canal.

Realising that we would soon end up on Stratford or Ilford, if Keilyn had her way, we decided to join the towpath and follow the canal to the River Thames.

Swans, coots, moorhens, ducks and geese were happily gliding along the still water surface, while Herons stood on the bank, or stood motionless in Mile End Park, oblivious to the joggers and families using the space.

We passed the Ragged School Museum, with its cafe full of patrons, and continued alongside the canal until we reached Limehouse Basin, with its myriad barges, boats and yachts.

From here it was a short walk through Ropemakers Fields to Narrow Street, using the bridge to cross Limekiln Dock, to reach Limehouse Hole Stairs. As the tide was out we dropped down onto the small beach and enjoyed the unseasonably warm heat of the sun.

As we climbed back up to street level I could just make out a conversation between a young woman and a much older man, but there was no one around that matched the sounds. Joggers were plugged into their devices, while families were pointing out the sights. As I stood and listened I realised that the voices were coming from a silver bench. Sitting down I realised that it was a recorded interview about life on the docks, being played through speakers at either end of the bench. It is such a clever idea.

We continued along Loverose Way before crossing onto Heron Quays Road, making our way around Middle Dock, heading for the Henry Addington pub, where we would have dinner.

Special Operations Executive Agents Memorial & Violette Szabo

This bronze bust of Violette Szabo, on the Albert Embankment, just yards from the Headquarters of the British Special Intelligence Service (MI6), commemorates the secret agents who led covert operations against the Nazis.

This monument was commissioned by the Public Memorials Appeal.

S. O. E.

The Special Operations Executive was secretly formed for the purpose of recruiting agents, men and women of many nationalities, who would volunteer to continue the fight for freedom, by performing acts of sabotage in countries occupied by the enemy during the Second World War.

This monument is in honour of all the courageous S.O.E. Agents: those who did survive and those who did not survive their perilous missions. Their services were beyond the call of duty. In the pages of history their names are carved with pride.

The Heroes of Telemark.

In 1943 Norwegian resistance commandos sponsored by the S.O.E. raided the enemy occupied Norsk Hydro Plant in the Telemark region of Norway.

This successful raid sabotaged the machinery that was producing heavy water, which is used in the manufacture of the Atomic Bomb.

Thanks to those Norwegian Commandos the enemy's attempt to develop the Atomic Bomb was thwarted.

The Maquis French resistance fighters.

470 S.O.E. agents were sent on sabotage missions to occupied France where they fought with networks of French resistance fighters who played an important part in the liberation of France in 1944.

Violette Szabo.

Violette Bushell was born in Paris, France, in 1921, before her family moved to England. At the outbreak of World War II, she joined the Women's Land Army and the Auxiliary Territorial Service, where she met Étienne Szabo, a Free French corps soldier. They were married and she bore him a daughter, Tanis, in 1942. That same year Étienne was killed in action at the battle of El-Alamein. 

It was this event that led her to join the Special Operations Executive intelligence agency, which, at the time, had its headquarters on Baker Street.

Walking with family and friends: King's Cross to Hampstead Heath... and beyond

Saturday January 18, 2025.

Keilyn and I headed off to London, earlier than usual, as we were to meet my friend who was travelling to King's Cross from Peterborough.

As we reached Northwick Park Keilyn took a photo of one of only four remaining K8 telephone boxes left on the London Underground.

Our timing was almost perfect with Keilyn and I exiting onto King's Cross plaza just ten minutes after Gary. After a walk through St Pancras International we began our walk. 

We headed north along Midland Road and onto Pancras Road, where we stopped at St Pancras Old Church to see the remains of the Hardy Tree. The graves that the ash once stood over are now covered in weeds, while the Hardy Tree lies in pieces on the grass. Such a loss.

We left St Pancras Gardens and followed Camley Street which led us to Murray Street, our route taking us ever northward. Camden Square brought us onto Camden Road, where we turned onto Royal College Street. It was here we discovered 'Dots Music'. The steps, to the shop, were painted like piano keys, so Keilyn pretended to play them.

Up Royal College Street we went, before finding ourselves on Kentish Town Road where we stopped to grab a hot drink each, from an independent coffee stall.

After spotting a camel, on Highgate Road, we noticed a LFB Fire Investigation van, with its occupant in a white coverall, which fascinated Keilyn. We passed Parliament Hill School and William Ellis School, before we turned in to Hampstead Heath, where school children of all ages were playing rugby, while their parents watched on. Other people were using the running track as we dodged the joggers and dog walkers.

We left Hampstead Heath, via Savernake Bridge, and headed along Roderick Road, at the end of which, on the other side of Mansfield Road, was the London School of Mosaic, which is situated in 'Waxham House'. It was here that we made the mistake of turning left, following Mansfield Road onto Gordon House Road. Eventually we reached Highgate Road, where we turned left. Keilyn started laughing as we approached a LFB Fire Investigation van, with its occupant in a white coverall, as she had realised, long before us, that we had taken so many left turns that we had completed a circle!

Model Village, Vauxhall Park

It was while on one of my many walks that I discovered Vauxhall Park and, by extension, this model village. 

There are only about six homes and three smaller buildings, but it is quite a nice thing to discover.

With the other work going on in the park I assumed that this was a new installation, as the buildings looked freshly painted and maintained. It wasn't until I did some research, for this blog post, that I discovered their remarkable history. Enjoy.

In the 1950s this model village was moved from its original home, in Brockwell Park, and placed in Vauxhall Park. The buildings are signed and dated, on the inside, by Edgar Wilson, 1943. Edgar Wilson, who lived in West Norwood, was a retired engineer who took up making model villages, among other things, in his later years. He tinted the concrete and etched the brick, timbers and roof tiles by hand and used lead for the windows and doors. Originally this village was created in the Tudor style, with white walls and black timbers. 

In 2018, the houses were given a 'Suffragette' makeover, using a purple, green and white colour scheme. These colours were chosen as the model village now resides on the Fawcett Garden, which is named for Millicent Garrett Fawcett. 

A small heart-shaped plaque states:

Friends of Vauxhall Park

These model houses were made for Vauxhall Park

In 1949 by Edgar Wilson of Norwood.

He made other sets of houses but only these

And a set in Melbourne, Australia, remain.

These houses were restored in 2001

By local resident and friend of Vauxhall Park,

Mr Nobby Clark.

They were unveiled in June 2001

By local MP for Vauxhall Ms Kate Hoey.

Edgar Wilson made three of these villages.

One village, at Finsbury Park, was vandalised and fell into disrepair, with nothing of the village remaining today.

The village at Brockwell Park decayed due to a lack of care and, I believe, just a few shells of the original buildings remain.

Following World War II, Edgar Wilson had been so touched by food parcels, sent from Australia, that he wrote to them and asked if they would like a model Tudor village for their city. They accepted and so the third village was crated and shipped to Melbourne, Australia, where it was installed in Fitzroy Gardens. It is still there to this day.

'Vitreous Enamel' by Dale Devereux Barker RE

Walking along Cloister's Walk, in St Katharine Docks, you will discover a plethora of bright panels fixed into the arches that separate Cloister's Walk from St Katharine's Way.

There are one hundred and thirty five of these panels, with nine panels per arch.

Some of the designs are repeated, but sometimes with a different colour. However, each tells a story.

Dale Devereux Barker RE was commissioned for this project by Taylor Woodrow Properties, back in 1998.