Tag Archives: Monument

Art, Churches, Food and Drink, Free, Museums, Paganism, Public Toilets, Viewpoints

Venues to Visit (City)

When you’ve finished one of my tours there are several places to visit within which I am not normally able to guide. These are listed geographically from west to east. Entry is free unless a price is stated.

Although I try to keep things up to date, prices and opening times may vary from those shown here. Please leave a comment if anything is no longer accurate.

DOCTOR JOHNSON’S HOUSE
17 Gough Square, EC4A 3DE
Home of the compiler of the Great Dictionary Of The English Language
£4-£9. 11am-4pm Tuesday-Saturday. Booking not needed
www.drjohnsonshouse.org/visit.html
Chancery Lane underground

ST BRIDE’S
South side of Fleet Street at the eastern end behind the Old Bell pub, EC4Y 8AU
The Journalists’ Church with a museum in the crypt.
10am to 5pm daily (3.30pm on Saturday)
Blackfriars and St Paul’s underground. Blackfriars and City Thameslink national Rail

ST MARY ALDERMARY
Junction of Bow Lane and Cannon Street or Watling Street and Queen Victoria Street, EC4M 9BW
Best coffee venue in the City. A blitz survivor – check out the Wren ceiling.
7:30am to 4pm weekdays
Bank, Cannon Street, Mansion House underground. Cannon Street national rail.

GUILDHALL ART GALLERY
Basinghall St/Guildhall Yard EC2V 5AE
As well as the paintings you may visit the Roman Amphitheatre and also see the charter granted to the City by William the First.
10:30am to 4pm every day.
Bank underground

MITHRAEUM
12 Walbrook, London EC4N 8AA
The City’s only pagan temple.
10am-6pm Tuesday-Saturday; 12noon-5pm Sunday. Booking may be necessary but often not.
Bank, Cannon Street, Mansion House underground. Cannon Street national rail.

ST STEPHEN WALBROOK
39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN
A Wren masterpiece enhanced by Henry Moore.
10:30am to 3:30pm Monday-Friday
Bank, Cannon Street or Mansion House underground. Cannon Street national rail

ROYAL EXCHANGE
Cornhill/Threadneedle Street, EC3V 3LL
Sip a surprisingly reasonably priced coffee at Fortnum and Mason, enjoy the architecture, window shop for fabulous watches and jewellery at fabulous prices.
7:30am-10pm Monday-Friday
Bank or Cannon Street underground. Cannon Street national rail.

BANK OF ENGLAND MUSEUM
Bartholomew Lane, EC2R 8AH
10am-5pm Monday-Friday
Bank or Cannon Street underground. Cannon Street national rail

HORIZON 22
22 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AJ
Viewing platform atop the tallest building in the City.
Free but booking essential: horizon22.co.uk
10am-6pm daily (5pm Saturday, 4pm Sunday)
Bank or Monument Underground; Cannon Street, Fenchurch Street or Liverpool Street national rail

LEADENHALL MARKET
Gracechurch St, EC3V 1LT
Horace Jones’ wonderful 1880s building.
Open 24 hours.
Bank or Monument Underground; Fenchurch or Liverpool Street national rail

MONUMENT
Fish St Hill, EC3R 8AH
Climb to the top of Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke’s memorial to the Great Fire
£6.  9:30am-6pm daily; closed 1pm-2pm.
There may a bit of a wait as only a few people are allowed up at once. Access to the top is via a narrow spiral staircase which may not suit everybody.

themonument.org.uk/plan/buy-tickets

Monument Underground; Cannon Street or Fenchurch Street national rail

THE GARDEN AT 120
120 Fenchurch Street, EC3M 5BA
Good view of the City from the roof terrace and usually no need to queue.
Monday-Friday 10am-6:30pm; Saturday-Sunday 10am-5pm.
Tower Hill or Bank underground; Fenchurch Street national rail

ALL HALLOWS BY THE TOWER
Byward St, EC3R 5BJ
Filled with history including a Grinling Gibbons carving and a Saxon stone arch. There’s also a museum in the crypt.
10am-5pm every day
Tower Hill underground; Fenchurch Street national rail

 Free PUBLIC TOILETS may be found at All Hallows, the Art Gallery (though you need to go through Security), Mithraeum, Royal Exchange and St Mary Aldermary. For the church facilities it would be a courtesy to make a purchase from the café or leave something in the collection box.

Great Fire, Viewpoints

City Heights

Where can one go to look down at the City? Here are some possibilities in literally ascending order.

MONUMENT TO THE GREAT FIRE

Fish St Hill, EC3R 8AH

202′ high, 360 degreee view.

Tickets are £6, can be had on the day or in advance.

themonument.org.uk/plan/buy-tickets

There may a bit of a wait as only so many people are allowed up at once. Access to the top is via a narrow spiral staircase which may not suit everybody.

Cannon Street and London Bridge BR stations are 10 minutes walk away. Monument Underground (Circle, District and Northern lines) is right by the Monument.

GARDEN AT 120

120 Fenchurch Street, EC3M 5BA

226′ high. Has a 360 degree view. Not as high as Sky Garden (see below) but this can mean things are clearer as they are easier to see. Great view of Docklands as well as the City.

Entry is free and there is rarely a queue.

www.thegardenat120.com

Fenchurch Street BR stations is 5 minutes walk away. Monument Underground (Circle, District and Northern lines), 10 minutes. Bank Underground (Central, DLR, Waterloo and City), 15 minutes.

SKY GARDEN

20 Fenchurch Street/Philpot Lane, EC3M 8AF

Atop the 525′ high ‘Walkie-Talkie’, the City’s most popular viewpoint.

Tickets are free but one often needs to book to avoid long queues

skygarden.london

Cannon Street and London Bridge BR stations are 10 minutes walk away. Monument Underground (Circle, District and Northern lines) , 5 minutes.

22 BISHOPSGATE (HORIZON 22)

22 Bishopsgate, EC3V 4QT

912′ high, the City’s tallest building. Great views East, South and West. Also look down on Tower 42, previously the NatWest tower, to see the Natwest logo on the top.

Tickets are free but must be booked. There is a limit on the size of bags that may be taken so check the website.

horizon22.co.uk

Cannon Street, Liverpool Street and London Bridge BR stations are 10-15 minutes walk away. Monument Underground (Circle, District and Northern lines), 10 minutes. Bank Underground (Central, DLR, Waterloo and City), 10 minutes.

1600s, Astronomy, DRAFTS, Scientists

Robert Hooke

1635-1703.

Hooke was a scientist engaged in a number of disciplines. He formulated Hooke’s Law relating to elastic properties of materials.

Hooke became curator of experiments for the Royal Society in 1662.

Three years later, in 1665, he was appointed Professor of Geometry at Gresham College.

Hooke was a pioneer in the development of the microscope and also wrote papers on gravity which are respected to this day.

As an architect he was chief assistant to Christopher Wren when rebuilding the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666.

Like Wren, Hooke was an astronomer and determined to prove that the earth rotated around the sun. This led to a failed experiment involving the star Gamma Draconis.

1600s, Astronomy, Tangential Topics

Gamma Draconis

Many of you will know the tower called The Monument. You may not know that its design was inspired by an object 150 light years away.

The Monument commemorated the Great Fire of 1666 and was built by Christopher Wren. The architect, however, was not Wren but his assistant Robert Hooke who had a particular plan for the building.

Like Wren he was also an astronomer. At this time some scientists still believed that the sun rotated around the earth. Hooke was determined to prove that the opposite was true.

A star called Gamma Draconis passes over the City every night and Hooke reasoned that by taking observations of the star at different times of the year he could prove that the earth went around the sun.

To do this he needed a telescope around 200’ long and, obviously somewhere to put it. The tower, therefore, was also an observatory.

Hooke’s astronomy was perfect, his calculations were flawless, the telescope was built with absolute precision and positioned perfectly within the building.

He had, however, failed to take two factors into consideration. His observations could involve fractions of a millimetre but every time a vehicle rolled down nearby Fish Street Hill, the tower vibrated slightly and upset his readings. Also, surprisingly for an architect, he’d failed to consider that a 200’ tall building would sway in the wind!

PARALLAX

How would Hooke’s experiment have worked? He was using something called parallax.

Here’s an example. Stand at the end of a room and choose something, say a picture, on the opposite wall. Take 3 paces left and you’ll be looking at the picture from a certain angle. Take 6 paces right and the angle changes. This is parallex.

He theorised that if the earth went around the sun then in, say, June it would be one side of the sun and in December on the other. and there would be quite a long way between the two.

If he took observations of Gamma Draconis in June and then again in December and the star was shown to be at a different angle (albeit a tiny one) then this would prove that the earth was indeed circling the sun.