This post completes my last one, in which I was rained off! Trafalgar Square is today a great open space in the centre of the City of Westminster, a major tourist attraction, known all over the world. These explorations with Mr Bradshaw (no, I don't yet feel able to be more familiar with him in public!)…
Month: May 2013
Bradshaw’s Hand Book, Part III – The West, The Strand, including St Clement Danes (no.14)

East India Docks
East India Docks 1836 '..About the middle of the seventeenth century the [East India] Company constructed a small wet dock at Blackwall for fitting out their vessels after launching from the adjacent shipbuilding yards. This dock was the first on the Thames to be fitted with gates but ... was not…
The Gagliano Ensemble at the National Gallery
The tradition of concerts in the National Gallery dates back to 1922 when students of the Royal College of Music gave the first musical performance in the Gallery. And '..when the National Gallery was founded in 1824, one of its stated aims was to provide a resource for the inspiration of all young artists, not just…
Bradshaw’s Hand Book, PART II, The East: Third Day’s Route continued, District II (no.12)
It was a beautiful day as I set off up Globe Lane. Cherry blossom in Globe Lane But I felt sad to find a graveyard, with no-one to remember Matthew Spooner, dead at eight months in 1822. At least the flowers were there. It is known as Craft School memorial gardens.…

West India Docks
Mr Bradshaw took me to the West India Docks one warm and sunny Friday afternoon, a rare gift of a day in London this year. I loved it. Map and camera in hand, I marched resolutely amongst the remains of the docks and the amazing new buildings, lingering whenever I felt like doing so. I…
Bradshaw’s Hand Book, PART II, Third Day’s Route, District I, Limehouse and the West India Docks (no.10)
The Limehouse Cut, joined the Limehouse Basin, and the Thames, with the River Lea and was the first navigable canal cut in London. The Limehouse Cut The lock at the Limehouse basin Boat leaving the Limehouse Lock, swing bridge opened …