The City of London: Wandering and Wondering
At the end of November 2024 - just in time for a Christmas gift! - a new second edition of Jerry Dowlen's book that celebrates his favourite City of London historical, literary and architectural gems.
This new second edition contains updates from the now sold-out original book (2013) and with extra material added too.
We show below a small sample of the many superb colour illustrations that you can find in this attractive and informative book, and the stories that go with them.
Price £4.95 on sale at the Croft Tea Room or available via post from [email protected]
At the end of November 2024 - just in time for a Christmas gift! - a new second edition of Jerry Dowlen's book that celebrates his favourite City of London historical, literary and architectural gems.
This new second edition contains updates from the now sold-out original book (2013) and with extra material added too.
We show below a small sample of the many superb colour illustrations that you can find in this attractive and informative book, and the stories that go with them.
Price £4.95 on sale at the Croft Tea Room or available via post from [email protected]
At Cornhill, London EC3 on left the red-brick exterior of St Peter's Church (Christopher Wren, 1667 / 1687) is overlooked by the work-in-progress building of another of the many new skyscraper giant buildings now cluttering the sky in the City of London financial district.
Alan Franks of the Guardian newspaper wrote in 2016: ‘Conservationists may fear that all is lost, yet to be a pedestrian in this most peculiar corner of the kingdom is to be acutely aware of two completely distinct scales: the little old one of alleys with relentless right angles, coffee shops and gentlemen’s outfitters; and the vast new one sculpting wild shapes in the heavens. They seem to be so far apart that they are not even in competition.’
John Stow the eminent 16th-century London historian was able to testify that before St Peter went up in flames in 1666 a brass tablet recorded its founding by King Lucius in the 2nd century. If so it is certainly one of the oldest London churches.
Alan Franks of the Guardian newspaper wrote in 2016: ‘Conservationists may fear that all is lost, yet to be a pedestrian in this most peculiar corner of the kingdom is to be acutely aware of two completely distinct scales: the little old one of alleys with relentless right angles, coffee shops and gentlemen’s outfitters; and the vast new one sculpting wild shapes in the heavens. They seem to be so far apart that they are not even in competition.’
John Stow the eminent 16th-century London historian was able to testify that before St Peter went up in flames in 1666 a brass tablet recorded its founding by King Lucius in the 2nd century. If so it is certainly one of the oldest London churches.
,How Does Your Garden Grow? We take it for granted, don't we that our public parks and gardens are filled always with neatly-manicured lawns and colourful flowers and shrubs that make our borough look nice? We depend on it that our borough gardeners have applied their expertise to the choosing, planting and maintaining of horticultural treats that span the alphabet from agapanthus to zephyranthus.
But how do they cope in the square mile of the City of London where the density of skyscraper buildings reduces the light while the streets throb with constant traffic on weekdays? One of the biggest demands on them is that in public consultation about gardens and open spaces, experience shows that people always ask for grass because they love to sit on it. That is especially important when lunch hour workers spill out from the office buildings on good weather days.
Amongst the more than one hundred Livery Companies in the City of London the Worshipful Company of Gardeners can certainly take credit for its work that preserves and enhances precious areas of cultivated green space such as Cleary Gardens [Photo] named after the worthy Fred Cleary (1905 - 1984) a tireless campaigner for the City of London to keep and increase open space in the City.
But how do they cope in the square mile of the City of London where the density of skyscraper buildings reduces the light while the streets throb with constant traffic on weekdays? One of the biggest demands on them is that in public consultation about gardens and open spaces, experience shows that people always ask for grass because they love to sit on it. That is especially important when lunch hour workers spill out from the office buildings on good weather days.
Amongst the more than one hundred Livery Companies in the City of London the Worshipful Company of Gardeners can certainly take credit for its work that preserves and enhances precious areas of cultivated green space such as Cleary Gardens [Photo] named after the worthy Fred Cleary (1905 - 1984) a tireless campaigner for the City of London to keep and increase open space in the City.