Absolutely no more information is known yet, so don’t bombard the LT Museum for details. As soon as the details are finalised, they will put it on their website, and my auto-tracking systems will alert me to update this blog post.

Nonetheless, the chance to get down into the bowels of this iconic station is one not to be missed – even though I have actually been down there once before.

More photos to wet your appetite.

I wonder if they read my previous blog post about tours of the disused station and will include the tunnels as well *grins*.

The ticket office floor of the station was opened to the public recently, for the Transforming the Tube exhibition.

Applications to be sent to bt-tower@open-city.org.uk.

Ballot closes Mon 13th Sept 5pm. Max 2 tickets per booking. Give full names, addresses, email, telephone of all attendees in application.

However…

There is another way to get into that desirable tower.

You could win a place on an Open House architectural tour in a vintage Routemaster bus, kicking off with a tour of BT Tower, and taking in other Open House buildings, with commentary by Royal College of Art tutor and bus driver Joe Kerr.

Places are limited so to be in with a chance to win a place on this half day tour on the Sunday afternoon, answer this: In what year was the Routemaster launched?

Answers to bustour@open-city.org.uk by Fri 4 Sept 6pm.

Frustratingly, there seems to be two dates that might qualify as the answer, depending on how specific you are being – erk!

Although there were routemasters taking people from central London to the area, I decided to take a ride from Edgware to the RAF museum in a single-decker bus.

Once at Edgware, there was a little difficulty in finding a local bus stop map to locate “Stop A” where the bus would pick us up from though – and I could see quite a few other people wandering round with event guides and looking a bit lost.

Incidentally, another reason not to trust the bus maps is that someone decided to put up a map of local shops selling bus tickets – but evidently didn’t understand that Edgware Station in Edgware is not at all close to Edgware Road Station in central London.

Anyhow, two vintage buses arrived one after the other, and after one person tried to get on thinking it was a normal bus, the rest of us were able to embark for a more interesting trip to the museum.

Like all bad school kids, I chose to sit at the back of the bus.

Fortunately, this was a swift route without the tedious stopping every few minutes at bus stops and we made our way over to the RAF Museum which was acting as the hub for most of the bus routes.

Another nice change was the lack of smell of McDonalds or the sound of mobile phones being used as portable jukeboxes by idiots who think everyone shares their taste in music. The seats were also spotlessly clean.

However, as with many vintage events, the greatest pleasure comes from sitting on the bus (or train etc) and seeing the looks of surprise in the bystanders. This time it seemed that the children delivered the greatest smiles along the route, although the occasional adult seemed to realise bus was a bit different and looked up in surprise.

I really should try saving the pennies for a trip on one of the steam trains that travel around London and see if that has the same “bystander effect”.

At the RAF Museum, the buses were turning around their routes and some were stopping for a while as the drivers nipped off to use the loo and drink coffee.

The day was organised by Red-RF, who seem to do these events every few years.

A few more photos over at my usual Flickr account

However, on almost every visit I keep meaning to stick my nose in the museum the hospital is reputed to have, but being distracted by medical matters I keep forgetting. It was therefore slightly bizarre to make a specific trip to the hospital yesterday, not to see a doctor, but to see this fabled museum.

Going in through the main entrance, there is a big directions sign pointing out where everything is – but no sign of a museum. Fortunately, the reception could guide me down the corridor, over the courtyard, across the road and it is in the church outside. The church that incidentally I had walked past on my way to the hospital.

In the courtyard, there is a statue of Queen Alexandra and thinking it looked rather impressive I decided to take a photo of it in the empty courtyard. Opps! Out darted a matronly looking nurse berating me for taking a photo without a permit from the press office.

I might take photos of patients she explained, as I looked around the empty courtyard for the patients of whom the privacy I was so wantonly invading.

Now, I perfectly understand a restriction on deliberately taking photos of patients, but in a hospital where I can guarantee that hundreds of camera phone photos are taken every single day by doting relatives visiting patients, to huff and puff about someone taking a photo of an empty courtyard is rather irritating.

As instructed, an email has been sent to the press office for permission to take a photo.

In the meantime, have a look at some photos of the statue that other people took.

Pettifogging over – I continued to the museum, which is round the back of the church and not at all accessed through the large doorway indicating the library and archives. Nope, its the next smaller doorway along.

Down the slope and opening the solid looking wooden door and an electric bing-bong heralds the arrival of another visitor into the museum.

Considering the lack of signage in the hospital about the museum I wasn’t expecting that much to be honest, but was pleasantly surprised at the size of the place. Roughly horseshoe shaped, the museum is lined with large glass cases packed full of mementos from the hospital’s long history, which can be dated back as far as 1740.

Past the original royal charter and the small group watching the now ubiquitous video screen explaining the history of the museum for those less inclined to read the display boards and I was into the museum proper.

Here is the sort of museum I love, lots of glass cases full of things to look at, each with a letter code and a key explaining what they are. Some of the cases are generic medical history and a few are devoted to specific people who are famously linked to the hospital.

Whether you are interested in the story of the nurse, Edith Cavell, the Elephant Man or Jack the Ripper, there is ample here to sate your curiosity.

Of considerable interest to me are the three representations of the Whitchapel Mount, which was a huge mound of earth that can possibly be linked to Saxon times, and was almost certainly part of the English Civil War defences of the city. I had see one of the drawings before, but the other two were new to me.

The museum is free to enter apart from the donations tin by the door. I was probably in there for about half an hour, although the more diligent visitor can easily spend an hour or more if they want. I will probably dip in every few months on my regular visits to the hospital to look at things in more detail.

The Museum is sadly not open at weekends though – being just Tuesday to Friday, 10am-4.30pm, but is certainly worth a visit if you have a day off work.

Unsurprisingly, the Diamond Geezer has been there already.

Then you are in luck as this coming Sunday(29th August), a collection of vintage buses, all at least 45 years old will be plying the very same routes that they would have travelled along in the 1960s and collecting passengers as usual. However, unlike those days of old, there will be no need to hunt out old shillings and pennies as the whole event is free of charge.

Most of the buses line up before a previous run-out

In addition to local services running around North London, some long journeys will operate on routes from central London in the morning. These will generally be Routemaster-operated. Details here

In total, nine routes are being recreated based on the layout of the bus routes in the 1960s – taking passengers to the RAF Museum in Collindale – which is also free to enter and can easily suck away hours of time if you haven’t been before.

There will be a commemorative guide to the event which will be on sale in the RAF Museum. In addition, there will be a limited static display of buses on the forecourt of the RAF Museum, including buses laying over between services.

The following services are planned for operation, generally between about 10.30 am and 5 pm.

Most buses will start and finish their duties at the RAF Museum.  For the other main boarding points on each route, see the route details and the programme.

The most frequently served places will be the following:

All vehicles are over 45 years old, some over 60. They are privately owned and cared for so there is an understandable ban on food/drink when on the buses.

I’ve been on it quite a few times in the past – and it is a lovely trip to take, not just for the train itself with its art-deco interior and 1980s adverts still in place, but also the joy of watching stunned passengers on the platforms as you pass various stations in the old train.

There are five trips on Sunday 12th September.

£25 – 8:50 Ealing Broadway to Harrow on the Hill

£25 – 10:26 Harrow on the Hill to Amersham (via the North Curve!)

£15 – 11:30 Amersham to Watford and back again

£20 – 12:57 Amersham to Harrow of the Hill and back again

£20 – 14:30 Amersham to Harrow on the Hill

You also get free trips on the lovely Sarah Siddons, subject to spare seats being available (normally costs £5).

All tickets should be purchased in advance through the Online Ticket Office online (warning - based on previous experience, use Microsoft Internet Explorer to book tickets) or over the phone on 020 7565 7298.

In addition, free heritage bus service will run every 15 minutes between Amersham Old Town and Amersham station.  This service will link you to the variety of activities taking place as part of their Heritage Day, between 11am and 5pm.

When the Romans first started to settle in London (Londinium), a garrison fort was built to the North West of the town. Built with stone walls, it is thought to have had four gates and a barracks for around 1,000 soldiers.

When the London Wall was built around 80 years later, two sides of the fort were incorporated into the Wall and strengthened. Eventually, the two inner walls of the fort were lost, leaving just the London Wall with its famous gates. The northern gate into the former fort became known as Cripplegate.

However, the western gate was lost to history for some reason, and wasn’t rediscovered until the 1950s.

It was to see the remains of this gate that had me wandering over the Museum of London for one of their occasional tours of the site.

Next to the museum – as I am sure you know – are some remains of the London Wall, although most of what you see is actually medieval and Victorian repairs to the wall. King Henry II add the towers and the Victorians used the wall as a “free” fourth wall for warehouses to cut down on building costs.

What we were to see though is totally Roman.

Going down the ramp that runs next to the wall – and avoiding the taxi driving the wrong way down a one-way street, there is a rather nondescript alley under the road leading to the car park, where you might notice a locked door marked private.

In here lies the remains of the Western gatehouse.

A rather musty smell inside adds to the atmosphere, but is due to the rainwater drains in the road above leaking into the room, and is nothing to do with the ruins themselves.

What has been excavated is part of the wall, the gatehouse and the remains of part of the arches that marked the entrance to the fort itself.

The gatehouse had two arches – presumably one side for inbound traffic and the other for outbound – but for some reason, one of the arches was blocked off at some point very early in its history. It is possible that the blocking of the gate is part of the reason why it never became one of the city’s major gates – Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Moorgate, Bishopsgate, and Aldgate, although no one is really sure about this.

We were also shown the post hole which would have held the upright pole that hinged the main gates as well as the flat runner for the portcullis.

Also noticeable is the entry stone for the gatehouse, which has been worn down by people walking over it. The two groves are probably from two bolts that went down into a hole in the stone to lock the doors. Over time, the bolts carved out a groove in the stone.

Although the fort was made of stone walls, it was not a castle-grade fortification as the walls were quite thin. Romans preferred to fight in the fields rather than engage in sieges. However, when the London Wall was later built, it was much thicker, and you can see the gap between the fort wall (left) and the substantial works added to strengthen the wall (right).

Apart from this small room with old stones, there isn’t a lot to see, but it is still one of the more important Roman remains in situ within the City and worth spending half an hour visiting.

The visit also means I can tick off one more item from my list of Subterranean London places I want to visit.

The next tours are Sept 15th; Oct 19th; Nov 18th and Dec 15th. Tours are free and limited to 20 people. Collect a ticket from the main desk inside the museum about 10 minutes before the tour starts. Tours are at 2:30pm and 3:30pm.

I’ve also rather cheekily scanned in a sheet they handed out as I think it is rather good:

The part of the fort we went to see is the dark red line that runs right under the modern London Wall road.

Spitfire P7350 (Mk IIa)

There will be a reciting of Winston Churchill’s famous speech, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”, at precisely 3:52pm, marking the 70th anniversary of the day – and time -  the speech was originally delivered by Churchill.

The recital will take place outside the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall – and will be followed by a flypast over Whitehall by a Spitfire and a Hurricane at 4pm.

The Spitfire is P7350, the oldest airworthy Spitfire and the only Spitfire still flying to have actually fought in the Battle of Britain, while the Hurricane is LF363, the last Hurricane to enter service with the RAF.

Veteran Battle of Britain pilots will also be at the Cabinet War Rooms, although I am not sure if they are doing anything public or are just there for the benefit of the media.

In addition though – the flypast will be part of an all-day event where two Spitfires and the Hurricane will fly over all the key Battle of Britain fighter bases.

Click for a zoomable Google map of the route over London

The map presumes they are flying point to point and not diverting anywhere

The key times and venues for us in London (and South East) are:

…coming in from oop Norf

13:08 – Rochester

13:13 – Gravesend

13:18 – West Malling

13:29 – Redhill

13:30 – Kenley

13:37 – Croydon

13:40 – Biggin Hill – Land

15:40 – Biggin Hill – Take-off

16:00 – Cabinet War Offices

16:03 – Hendon (RAF Museum)

16:06 – Bentley Priory

16:16 – High Wycombe

…down to Southampton and Portsmouth then back up again

17:15 – Uxbridge

17:20 – Northolt – Landing

The full map for the whole UK route is available via this PDF file.

Other blog posts you might like:

List of military fly pasts over London (and surrounds)

Visiting the “Battle of Britain” Underground Bunker

When the Central Line was used as a fighter plane factory

Not to mention the sign saying “Freeemason’s Hall” on the door.

Rather than furtive figures secretly slipping into the building through tight security, anyone is free to go in and visit the place – and they even offer guided tours of the place.

And people call this a secret society?

As it happens I went in to see a new exhibition that opened a couple of weeks ago, grandly titled The Masonic Emporium.

A tiny bit of history.

As England’s population boomed during the early industrial revolution and people moved from villages to cities, there was a surge in interest in joining Freemasonry and lots of Lodges were created in the new towns and growing cities.

Naturally, if you have a new Lodge, you want to decorate it, and while in the early days, you might visit a local decorator and order your goodies, it wasn’t long before businesses realised there was a market for dedicated sales catalogues.

In essence, you would open a new Lodge and then order a “Freemasony in a box” package from the equivalent of the Argos catalogue.

It is this transition from locally produced wares to the more industrial production that the exhibition covers.

Going into the hall, you are asked to put on the sort of visitor badge you get if visiting an office, then are directed down the corridor to the exhibition – just past the shop (do pop in to buy something please).

The exhibition is basically a room full of glass cases and displays in the style that I personally prefer – namely things to look at and signs to explain. No flashy sillyness.

Sadly, photography was forbidden – even though I was the only person in the room at the time and did ask nicely.

Much of the exhibition is dedicated to the history of a George Kenning (1836-1901) who was probably the most influential Freemason of the time and largely responsible for the standardisation of Freemasonry regalia while also making quite a fortune selling the same to new Lodges.

In essence, this is a display of china, fabrics, glass work, jewellery, furniture, etc – that just happens to have a Freemasonry theme. Imagine a special edition of Antiques Roadshow and that is what we have here, just without the valuations and gasps of shock/disappointment from owners.

It’s quite a nice exhibition and I spent about half an hour in the place – then wandered upstairs to the permenant museum which is huge and could easily keep a person busy for a couple of hours. I’ve been to the museum before though so didn’t linger this time.

The exhibition is open Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm until Christmas.

There are also free tours of the building at 11am, noon, 2pm,3pm and 4pm – and if you have never been inside the building the tours are really worth going on as some of the rooms you see are quite stunning.

“End of the road for cowboy car clampers” screamed the headline.

Sounds good – clamping down (hur!) on the cowboys who do much to ruin the industry and let formally licensed companies carry on subject to sensible regulations. A win-win, as the motorist gets sensible regulations, while private land owners retain some protection from trespassers.

Oh, hang on – that isn’t what is planned.

The government plans to make it totally illegal to clamp cars on private land (public land will still use clamping) and also make it illegal to remove a car seemingly dumped on private land.

Now, if motorists were being unfairly clamped on property that is advertised as a car park for all to use, then yes, I would agree that there is a dire problem that needs urgent action.

But that isn’t what happens.

What actually happens is that motorists are trying to avoid paying parking fees by dumping their cars on other people’s private property without even bothering to ask permission.

That is a totally different situation – and I am slightly at a loss to understand why the person who owns the land should be banned from removing “rubbish” that is dumped on it.

Two stories:

I used to work in a retail store in Slough that happened to have a private car park at the back, onto which we had a back door. We had a Gentleman’s Agreement that customers could use the back door to collect heavy items they had purchased.

However, people would treat the space as a free car park, leave their cars there, go shopping then pop into our shop to buy something much later. This meant the legitimate users of the car park were either unable to use the spaces they had rented, or in too many cases, were blocked in by someone else dumping their car in the way.

As you can imagine, after a while the tenants got annoyed and the landlord brought in clampers who clamped every single car without a permit, even if only there for a few minutes. We scrapped the back-door collection and put up HUGE warning signs.

Still the motorists would presume that they could use the private property as a free car park – simply because they didn’t want to pay to use the official car parks that the council had built in the town centre.

The clampers were a huge pain in the neck as they were so aggressive – but there was a serious problem with illegal parking that needed fixing. A licensed clamper with a sensible attitude would have been better.

In another example, I used to live near a football stadium on a semi-private estate. When football matches were being played, the residents used to set up a rosta to guard the main road entering the estate and block anyone entering who wasn’t visiting residents. Why?

Because motorists saw empty private car parking spaces by the blocks of flats and would dump their cars in them. Obviously that then meant the person off out shopping in the morning could drive home and find their own personal car parking space was now occupied by persons unknown.

–

With the new proposals, we will have a situation where private property owners are having their land trespassed on – but will be unable to evict the miscreant.

If you throw rubbish onto someone’s drive, then they are allowed to pick it up and dispose of it. But if that piece of rubbish happens to be in the shape of a car – suddenly that right is removed from you.

Yes, the clampers had got out of control – but the solution is not to ban them, but to regulate them and set sensible limits on the fines and conditions they impose. Otherwise, we end up with a carte blanche for motorists to trespass on private property with impunity.

In conclusion – if you are a motorist, use an official car park – don’t presume that the car sized plot of empty land is de-facto a car park for your use. It could be and indeed, almost certainly is, someone’s private property.

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