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Published: November 11th 2012
Westminster
Monument to the women of world war II London – the swinging 60;s, the song London swings like a pendulum do, bobbies on bicycles two by two, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of Big Ben and the rosy red cheeks of the little children. Very 1960’s but it is hard to not sing it when you arrive in London and are of a certain age.
After Hampton Court we travelled back to London to start our City sightseeing. The trains full of city slickers in black wool trench coats, mobiles clinging to their ears and fingers tapping out messages of great importance. What did we do before the days of mobile phones? There seems a definate north south divide, London does seem drowning in both money and developments.
After disembarking we walked to Trafalgar Square the home of some impressive buildings and the Statue commemorating Lord Nelson. At the centre is Nelson's Column which is guarded by four stone lions. One plinth in the square displays changing pieces of art and we saw a golden rocking horse displayed. The square commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar fought in 1805 and was a British navel battle during the Napoleonic Wars against France. In the 1820's Nash developed the area and
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Downing Street cleared the square and it was completed by Charles Barry by 1845. and is used for community gatherings, such as the celebration of New Year's Eve. The square unsurprisingly is owned by the Queen. It is a pleasant place and comes to life on New Years Eve when London brings in the New Year.
From Trafalgar Square we walked down Whitehall which is the main thoroughfare to Chelsea and runs towards Parliament Square with many government departments and the home of Downing Street along its way. It seems that the areas name is taken from the Palace of Westminster which originally stood on the site but was destroyed by fire around 1698. Whitehall is also known for the numerous statues and monuments which line the route culminating at the Cenotaph the nations pincipal war memorial. The statues along the way commemorated Winston Churchill in a great coat hunched over a stick and a surprising monument to the little known General Slim. General Slim was born in 1891 and fought in both the First and the Second World Wars but it was for his leading of the forgotten army in the Burma campaign that he is is most remembered. My
dad fought in Burma and suffered badly from malaria and from fighting in monsoon conditions. He always said that Slim and the army in Burma were forgotten so it was gratifying to see a statue to the great man along Whitehall.
As the late afternoon light faded we walked past the simple memorial to the women who served during the second world war. The memorial was sculpted by John W Mills and was unveiled by the Queen and dedicated by Baroness Boothroyd in 2005. The bronze monument stands 22 feet (6.7 m) high, 16 feet (4.9 m) long and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide. The lettering on the sides replicates the typeface used on war time ration books and there are 17 individual sets of clothing and uniforms around the sides, symbolising the hundreds of different jobs women undertook in World War II. These outfits include uniforms as worn by the Womens Land Army, the Womens Royal Naval Service, a nursing cape, a police overall and a welding mask. Women like my mum were largely ignored for their war work. Many like mum worked in munition factories some far from home living in lodging houses and produced the ammunition
Westminster
Westminster Abbey needed for the war effort. They wore felt slippers to prevent sparks which would have detonated the cordite they were filling the ammunition with. A dangerous job not often recognised.
We saw the London Eye lit up in blue like a Christmas tree and the Thames flowing downstream. The home of our parliament and Big Ben. I read last week that if the the Houses of parliament were not so iconic they would be pulled down as the building is so full of asbestos. It is a beautiful building designed by Charles Barry in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The building contains over 1,100 rooms and covers 8 acres. The well known Gothic authority on architecture Augustus Pugin helped work the interior designs and furnishings. Construction started in 1840 and it took over 30 years to complete the work. We would have liked to have visited the interior but it seems you need a local MP to take you in and as we personally dont know one there was little chance of a visit. Downing Street is also passed along the way. High black railings prevent access to the street so there was little chance on calling in on my
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Houses of Parliament employer Dave to say hello.
Our second visit of the day was to Westminster Abbey. The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster is more popularly known as Westminster Abbey. It is a large and mainly Gothic church and is the traditional site of burials for English and British Kings and Queens It also serves as a the coronation chapel of our kings and queens. Of course we had to queue to get into the abbey and Sods Law we picked the slowest moving queue. Why does this always happen? You join a queue and the next one moves quicker, you move over and the one you left now runs more smoothly!! We used our London Pass which gave us free entry to the church. Outside were an army of workers placing small wooden crosses into designated areas in readiness for the Rememberance service coming up this weekend. A poignant reminder of the loss of life through war. No photographs allowed again. What a disappointment so much to see and much to remember and not a photograph to remind us of our visit.
We had mixed feelings about Westminster Abbey, we wanted to see the
Coronation Chair but again Sods Law the day we visited it was moved for conservation work. The interior was beautiful and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier was very moving. The idea grew after the First World War that a tomb should be built to house the body of an unknown soldier known only to God. The simple tomb with its simple inscription is quite chilling and moving.
The church was begun between 1042 and 1052 by King Edward the Confessor . He wanted somewhere that he could be buried and his shrine remains in the building. His successor Harold II was crowned in the abbey as was William the Conqueror. Construction of the present church begun in 1245 by King Henry III. Henry III was the first British monarch to be buried in the Abbey as he was devoted to the cult of Edward the Confessor. Henry III rebuilt the Abbey in honour of the Royal Saint Edward the Confessor whose remains were placed in a shrine in the sanctuary. Henry III himself was interred nearby, as were many of the Plantagenet kings of England, their wives and other relatives. Until the death of George II in 1760
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Nocturne in gold and black most Kings and Queens were buried in the Abbey with the exception of Edward IV, Henry VIII and Charles I. We would visit their graves when we visited Windsor Castle later in the week. ARistocrats were buried in the side chapels and in the cloisters. Poets Corner was built. We felt a little that the Reformation had swept away many of the reliqueries and statues to the Virgin Mary but these had been replaced by statues to the great and good which could now be venerated instead of God . Man and his achievements rather than God felt worshipped in some parts of the Chapel. We saw the graves of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin , William Wilberforce and the monuments to politicians. Too crammed for our liking.
The prettiest part of the abbey was the chapel with the grave of Elizabeth I and Mary I. Half sisters - so different in life, same father, different mothers, one catholic and the other protestant they lived separate lives. Both bastardised by their father, both imprisoned but in death they are buried cheek by jowl. The ceilings are beautiful creamy white finely cut stone reminiscent of fine Nottingham lace.
Our last visit of the day was to the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at Tate Britain. The paintings had been brought together from museums around the world and from private collections. A wonderful collection of the work of Ford Madox Brown, Dante Rosetti, Millais and Holman Hunt. My favourite paintings were there - Orphelia lay languidly in the icy cold water her dress exquisitely painted, the flowers at her side as if photographed - the Scapegoat from the Lady Lever – it never fails to chill me, Work from Manchester Art Gallery and The Childrens Holiday more affectionately thought of as an Edwina Curry lookalike. We even managed some time to look around the main collections, Whistlers Nocturne in Silver and Blue - a precursor to Impressionist paintings.
After visiting the exhibition we headed home. We had intended to go to the fireworks but the night was cold and we were still sniffling our colds still as bad as ever so gave it a miss.
Perhaps next time if there is a next time. Tomorrow the Tower of London and St Pauls. By the end of the day a new song came to mind "These shoes are made for walking". and boy did my feet ache.
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