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Published: September 24th 2010
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Dr Johnson's House
One of the London's walking tours which I joined a few years ago included the Gough Square off Fleet Street. The tour guide imitated Dr Johnson's talk and manner and explained that he produced the first comprehensive English dictionary and he lived at 17 Gough Square.
Having heard about the heritage weekend between 18/19 September 2010, we decided to visit Dr Johnson's House on Saturday, 18 September. Having got off from Chancery Lane on the Central Line, we walked past the districtive Elizabethan half-timbered building and Gothic building on Holborn Viaduct. Then, we walked down Fetter Lane and turned left after seeing the signpost to Dr Johnson's House.
As anticipated, there was a long queue around Dr Johnson's House, which offered free admission on 18/19 September. We waited for 30 minutes.
The four-storey house was initially built by a city father in 1700. Dr Samuel Johnson lived between 1748 and 1759 and produced the famous English dictionary. After he had left, 17 Gough Square was occupied with declining status till 1911. The garret suffered severe damage in the air raids during the World War II. Nevertheless, thanks to the extensive restoration work and generous
support by the Pilgrim Trust, the early 18th century property was retained with its original condition whilst essential modern additions have been made.
We were invited to several rooms, all of which were sparsely furnished with 18th century pieces and a small collection of exhibits relating to Dr Johnson and his contemporaries and the times in which he lived. The collections included Mrs Thrale's tea services, e.g. teapot, cup and saucer, and Dr Johnson's memorabilia, e.g. inkstand, door knocker, portrait flask, 18th century cabinet with the portrait sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and portraits of Dr Johnson, his family, friends, and servants and members of his literary group. The highlight was the garret where he compiled the first difinitive English dictionary with six amanuenses. There were exhibits of notes with his pencils and quatations and replica of his work. The collection of memorabilia included inkstand and his walking stick, which helped him walk and control his balance while standing. In addition to the English dictionary, he produced a number of important literary works, e.g. The life of Richard Savage, The Vanity of Human Wishes, and arranged a number of essays of William Shakespeare. His best colleague was arguably James
Boswell, and he produced the biography of Dr Samuel Johnson.
Mark bought a guidebook and postcards at Dr Johnson's house. There was an even longer queue even after 4pm.
We walked around the Gough Square and found the statue of Dr Johnson's cat and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Restaurant. The restaurant possessed a very authentic atmosphere, and we could imagine Dr Johnson's club members and well-known authors such as Charles Dickens having discussions and playing games in the restaurant.
The historic lane led us to Fleet Street.
We walked to St Bride's Church. The wedding ceremonry was carried out in the afternoon on 18 September. We had a cup of tea at the Punch, one of the authentic pubs on Fleet Street.
St Bride Church
At 4:30, we returned to St Bride Church. There were lots of people who had attended the wedding ceremony, but we were able to stroll through the church in the late afternoon. As there were still quite a few people in the congregation room, we went to the Crypt in the basement. The exhibition and museum taught us that the history of St Bride's dates back from the 7th
century, and the name of the church derives from Saint Bridget of Ireland. There were a number of monuments and Roman pavements with Celtic letters displayed in the museum. The history was developed between 7th and 15th century. However, the church was burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and it was replaced by Christopher Wren. The distinctive octagonal layered spire, which was designed on the basis of tiered wedding cakes, was added in 1703.
Due to its location on Fleet Street, it has been associated with journalists and newspapers. The church was once again gutted by fire bombs during the World War II. The church was re-built at the expense of newspaper companies and journalists. There were loads of wall plaques and monuments commemorating journalists and printers in the basement floor and congregation room. One of the monuments in the congregation room commemorates the newspaper correspondents who have recently lost their lives while working in the war zone countries. The congregation room looked airly, and was furnished and decorated with modern pieces of furniture and artworks.
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