Martyrs and Museums

Another beautiful day in olde England. Our presence seems to have brought Spring out of hiding over the past week. Today is crisp and the sky is quite blue. And London is buzzing. It always seems to be busy and full of people but we have seen nothing but polite, friendly people. Another interesting aspect is the amount of infrastructure improvements and building going on despitenthe huge national deficit. The transport system is just amazing and puts Australia's system to shame. A train comes along on most tube lines every 4 min and if it is late coming or going there are immediate explanations and apologies. The Oyster card system makes travel so easy. You put money on the card and you swipe on and off every time you travel and it tells you how much the journey is and how much you have in credit. You can use it on trains, buses and ferries

Today we started off looking for Smithfield where so many people were martyred. It was rather hard to find but eventually we found it. There is a memorial to those who died on the side of St Bartholomew's Hospital which is the oldest hospital in London (founded 1123)

Across the road there was a park. In the Middle Ages Smithfield Rotunda – or Smooth Field as it was known – was a grim place of public execution. Heretics, rebels and criminals were burnt, beheaded or boiled and in 1305 Scottish hero William Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered here after being dragged to the site by a horse. In 1381 Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants’ revolt, gathered his army in Smithfield and was stabbed by the Lord Mayor of London. The injured Tyler was taken to hospital at St. Bartholomew’s Church, but dragged out again and beheaded. Many religious martyrs were also executed at West Smithfield, including more than 200 Protestants who were burnt at the stake during Queen Mary's reign in the 1550s. Apparently seven more were saved from death just as the fire was being lit by news that the Queen had died.

It seemed a lot more peaceful there today!

Large Victorian meat markets now dominate the area across the road.

Couldn't help but take a picture of this bride. She must have been freezing. The picture is taken outside the Tudor Gatehouse leading to St Bartholomew's the Great. This was founded as an Augustine Priory in 1123 and the hospital was part of this. After the dissolution it became an Anglican Church.

The impressive front to St Barts Hospital below was built by Henry VIII. And I used to get excited by the fact Prince Alfred Hospital where I trained was one of the oldest in Australia, built in 1882!

We then walked down to Oxford street, just doodling along and enjoying the lovely streetscapes along the way.

Another vista of an old favourite.

Oxford Circus

Soho park with a strange little Tudor looking rotunda

We took this for Jenny. We thought she might like to give up her high tech aeroplanes for a more down to earth paramedic vehicle.

We weaved our way around until we found the British Museum. We spent the rest of the day there but didn't get very far. You could spend a lifetime in there and still have more to learn I think. Highlights of what we did see were as follows....

Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon artefacts from the seventh century.

Unfortunately I was so engrossed in looking at the displays I tripped over an elderly woman and only just managed to catch her before she fell. As luck would have it she was an expert on the topic and told me lots of interesting information about the artefacts and the actual Sutton Hoo site.

We heard a guide explaining about the Rosetta Stone which finally allowed scholars to decode hieroglyphs.

Then we bought a book on the British museum and the Bible and took ourselves on a tour. We only got as far as Egypt but it was fascinating to see the inclusion of so many artefacts which support Biblical accounts of historical events

Then it was a quick look at the mummies and that's all we had time for. We will have to make a list for the next visit!

 

Back on deck

After taking a day off yesterday to get over our colds it was back on deck today. We started off early with a big list of things to see and do. We got off the tube at Temple. The Temple was originally the precinct of the Knights Templar whose Temple Church was named in honour of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The Templars' existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. It then became one of the main legal areas in London which it still is today.

First stop was Cleopatra's Needle on the Embankment. I gave Geoff a hard time about the British stealing this obelisk from Egypt but it seems they gave it to Britain as a gift.

There were a lot of holes in the bases of these monuments -apparently from a bomb dropped in the road in WWII.

Whitehall Gardens

Whitehall Place
Then we wandered up the street until we came to Trafalger Square. This is the mall running up to Buckingham Palace.

Nelson on top of his column

There was a falconer with his falcon who is employed to keep the pigeons away from Trafalgar Square. Geoff had a long chat with him.

On our way to Westminster we stumbled across the Horse Guards Headquarters. Very impressive!

And then on to see the man himself at Downing Street. But for some reason they wouldn't let us in!

The police guard didn't seem very tough. And they let in a truck without even looking in it!

Next it was time for our Westminster Abbey tour. I had forgotten the sheer scale of the inside and its magnificence. We weren't allowed to take photos inside but these give an idea of what it is like.






The carving in stone on the ceilings in particular are amazing. It was really interesting hearing about the kings and queens buried there plus lots of other interesting figures of history.
Last stop of the day was the Cabinet War Rooms.

From 1939 to 1945, a group of basement offices in Whitehall served as the nerve centre of Britain’s war effort. Known as the Cabinet War Rooms, the complex was occupied by leading government ministers, military strategists and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It was only really down in the basement of a building. Hardly a deep bunker.

This is the cabinet room. Many of the rooms were left exactly as they were on VE Day. They just packed up their belongings and turned out the lights and left

This was Churchill's private dining room

This was the kitchen where all food was prepared

This is the concrete reinforcement that was put in to provide better protection for the underground rooms. Apparently it would probably not have helped had there been a direct hit.

One of the maps with lots of holes where pins had represented troops

The map room where commanders from each service ran the war

Churchill's bedroom

Back into St James Park before leaving for the tube.