London’s Alleys: Barnard’s Inn, EC1
Through a small gap in the line of shops and offices of Holborn can be found a medieval enclave of learning.
Through a small gap in the line of shops and offices of Holborn can be found a medieval enclave of learning.
The largest green wall in Europe has been approved for the City of London, with a new hotel to go where an old office block currently sits.
The decade old information kiosk outside Holborn tube station could be replaced by a series of digital screens, if plans by the local business group is carried out.
Holborn viaduct is a long corridor of unremitting office blocks being very glass and stone, but one could go up that will be covered in green plants.
This is a modern looking alley that runs off Holborn, but like many of the area can date its origins to medieval London.
This is an alley of mixed appearances, with a claimed link to the madness of King George III.
This is the greater of three turnstile alleys in the Holborn alley, although only greater in name not in stature.
Quality Court off Chancery Lane is most appropriately named, being an upmarket concealed courtyard space.
If you use the area, you might have noticed building works at the road junction outside Holborn tube station.
On a grand side street in Holborn can be found an equally grand looking water pump.
This slightly posh looking alley off Holborn is a recent redevelopment of a series of much older buildings, and the alley itself is ancient.
Ever engage in a bit of quick research thinking this wont be difficult and an hour later am screaming at how little seems to be known about it. That’s this pocket park.
This short alley through a pub gateway is a pale shadow of its much larger past, where old warehouses and shops are now achingly expensive flats.
This is an ancient alley of legendary status and about which many myths have been written.
A hotel in Holborn also contains a most unexpected statue — of John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Not far from Holborn in a part of town known as Little Italy is a plaque in memory of the man credited with the founding of modern Italy.
This century-old church in Holborn is a reminder of anti-catholic protests and a street widening programme to sweep away slumps.
This alley with a mix of modern and old buildings is a legacy of an impressive house and impressive bombing raids during WW2.
A small shop on a small side street now contains a small collection of sea-side style mechanical entertainments.
It’s 8 o’clock in the morning, and workers are hurrying along Holborn to their offices and shops, when a mighty explosion ripped up the road.
On this morning 80 years ago, just after midnight, a tube station closed its doors for the very last time, and a few hours later, two new platforms came into use at another station just a couple of hundred yards away.
A large church stands on the corner opposite the Old Bailey and I have passed its locked gates for rather more years than I care to remember, for church that is open for a few hours each day during the week – has never been open when I am passing.
An abandoned tunnel under Holborn that has been closed for 60 years is to come back to life over the next couple of years as it is to be taken over by Crossrail as a suitable location for some of their hidden enabling works.
At some point in a January 250 years ago, in a rented apartment near Holborn, the ghost of a recently dead wife appeared to warn that she had been murdered by her husband. The Cock Lane ghost was to become…