Notting Hill Gate - Last Village (for a while)

The last London Village for a while (I'm back with Paul Sinclair's More London Villages in a few weeks) and this week it was all about the area of West London that's Notting Hill Gate.

The Iconic roundel 

We met at Pembridge Gardens adjacent to the underground station.

One of the architectural landmarks , David Game House (said to be a fine example of Bauhaus architecture) is completely shrouded in scaffolding and although still visible the nearby Coronet cinema is undergoing refurbishment too.

David Game House 

The Coronet Cinema

In fact a better view of the Coronet was offered by an artist working 'En Plein Air' .

A lovely day to be working outside 

Next on to an other architectural (but smaller) point of note the Green shelters used by Cabbies.
[You can find out more about them here.]

Cabman's Shelters used to be a place to rest and snack

Now a cafe 'The Queen Elizabeth Laundry' seems something of an anachronism - presumably not where our own queen gets her washing done it's a cafe now.

A Cafe now

There are some fine looking houses in the area many are now multiple dwellings and have been turned into flats.


The area had been a racecourse (Kensington Hippodrome), it had been intended to rival Epsom and Ascot  for some time but was not successful  .

Amazing opulence - great for an oligarch!

St Peter's Church Kensington I found to be a bit of an 'eyesore' and rather poorly proportioned.

St Peter's Church- not my cup of tea

Nearby was the location of a 1970's classic album cover - The Portobello Hotel where Carly Simon was photographed for the 'No Secrets' album (that included You're so Vain)

Paul shows the album art work

The Portobello Hotel

A right olkd mixture

We then saw some of the area used by the Portobello Market - which I've visited a few times as a 'volunteer street photographer' .

The sellers offer a mixture of curios, collectables and 'tat' as well as some fruit and veg
.

For the vinyl warrior

Fresh fruit- Fresh Fruit

London's Notting Hill is associated with the 1950's wave of immigration and slum landlords - riots started here in Totobag riots started and nearby the Powis Terrace is a reminder of Peter Rachman (his name  became a shorthand  for poor landlord) but he was also a name in the Profumo Scandal of the 60's.

Was Totobag Club

Powis Terrace

Tabernacle and a hot drink 

 We even stopped on this walk for a hot drink and the chance to fill out the obligatory course paper work at a former church The Tabernacle before making our way to Ladbroke Grove station (where I was on Tuesday - more about that later)

London Villages Hipster Paradise - Shoreditch

An Overground for a change 

Penultimate outing for the 2018 London Villages walk and this time the meetup was an Overground station - Shoreditch most of the usual suspects made it there  and weather was agreeable (you'll find a possible explanation of the naming of the area here).

Disused arches 

Near the station there is a clear reminder of when the station in a number of 'arches' which are apparently to be preserved.

GCHQ graffiti 

The area around Shoreditch and Hoxton  is (perhaps) Hipster central for young Londoners these days  and it's festooned with street art and Pop Up shops - apparently the GCHQ is involved in some of this.



Some of the other street art is 'challenging. too this by Street Artist Sr. X

Okay - it's anti-consumerist in some ways 

A Panorama 

We also visited Hoxton Square and saw the Circus School (where you can graduate in Circus Skills) it's on a site /building  where electricity was once generated from waste  and nearby is a building Now a restaurant (Meat Mission) that was a Christian Mission Lewis and John Burtt are commemorated for their work there.

Trapezes and all 

Christian Mission/Meat Mission

A bit further on and we were in one of London's oldest squares and the area that saw the start of the regeneration by artists. (with the now infamous Blue Note venue).

Hoxton Square 

To counteract the 'right- on' art  of the time, think White Cube again  The Stuckists (remember them) moved in too.


The fantastic Town Hall is now a burgeoning Art's centre with a world famous restaurant - another indication of the importance of the creative industries in London .

Shoreditch Town Hall - now an Arts Centre

We saw example of Philanthropic Housing (Leopold House) and an area that was a market that's now housing and Arnold Circus a development that used the former slums to build a bandstand on! (Arnold Circus - Below Right)

It reminded me of a New York BrownStone

City Lit London Villages - Wapping Walk

This Wednesday we met up at Tower Hill as the most convenient station for our walk around Wapping (in fact the place we had another City Lit course with Armelle - nearly 3 years ago)

Trinity Gardens A  sunny spot for office workers to enjoy their sandwiches

25 years ago mention of Wapping on TV was usually tied together with pictures of busses being driven into 'Fortress Wapping' - well City Lit London Villages walk showed a different side to expose what the area is now.

The tour started near The Tower of London that had once been the home to London's first Zoo - it eventually moved to Regents Park as Safety was an issue.

Once the location of a Zoo with Polar Bears

The area around Wapping was the centre of London's Docks - since containerisation this is has fundamentally changed the nature of the area - gentrification means that posh boats use the old docks as a Marina with expensive flats overlooking them.


Dickens Inn is a feature (it's not connected with Charles Dickens though being built far later). 

Dickens Inn backgrounds the Marina

Talking of the Times it's disputed Printing presses are  now long departed  and a Waitrose Supermarket is one of the new buildings there.

Now Waitrose

Old Dock buildings are now reused.

Old buildings have been preserved and new additions often seem to work well.

Some lovely buildings

Much of the community around the docks was tied up with Pubs and there's even one called The Town of Ramsgate, here fishermen sold their catches at lower cost to them than in the markets.

Nearby The Captain Kidd too

Town of Ramsgate 

Captain Kidd Pub 

A Rope reminds 

There was an area called Execution dock.

The Dockers had a hard life manhandling goods up steps - there was much 'shrinkage' which led to the first police force - and a museum reminds people of their purpose.

Down to the river

A Police station in the dock area

St Georges' Church Mortuary 

Again we saw an example of how efforts were made to educate the working classes - here St John of Wapping 

School remains

We also saw a fine Nicholas Hawksmoor Church (st Georges) that had a (now unused) Mortuary - we were told that this was necessary as some burials had been of live people!

We also learnt about early shopping arcade at the entrance to tunnel under the Thames at Wapping (Overground station)

And saw the famous Cable Street Mural where Oswald Mosely's Blackhirts were fought by Irish and Jewish communities - it's said that the two communities created the English dish Fish  and Chips -Fried Fish from the Jewish cuisine and Chips from the Irish

The most Village-ish so far

Yesterday another Citylit  London Villages outing and  we hit luck again with the weather.

So far the most like a village Harrow on the Hill is almost preserved in Aspic largely as a result of the domination of the school (annual fees we were told about £34,000 per year).

A view from the Hill 

The first point of interest was the station - it's actually more Harrow (away from the hill) - although something of the classic Art Deco design (albeit a basic one)   is at a different location from the original making the nearby Station approach road something of a misnomer.

A somewhat generic station building

Harrow station was as part of the Metropolitan line a journey from Marylebone (when it was known as Great Central Main Line).

One of the things I'm finding around looking at 'History' (whether it's Art or Social) is how often there are perspectives revealed and here the intriguing area of interest was the 1882 act to stop Edward Watkin MP building a Channel Tunnel because of the risk of the French.

Some lovely houses

Walking up the Hill to the area of the school we saw many buildings were the 'boys' have stayed for many years and I got to talking to another member of the group about how uncertainty about the UK's relationship with Europe was affecting his nephew who works in International education in Virginia Waters.

The continuity in the School Uniform

Harrow is well served by War Memorials - a disproportionate number   of the Boys were lost in the Boer and World wars  as they served often as officers.

And the inscription

The First war Memorial we saw

The War though was not the only risk - a plaque to an early car accident was seen too.

As with many Schools (past and present)  there was some controversy regarding pupils and teachers -The Reverend Charles John Vaughan left the school as Headmaster to avoid a potential scandal regarding allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a pupil - but it seems on reflection the 'powers that be' decided a library should be named after him.

Harrow School was founded by Sir John Lyon in 1572 and there's another school - which was originally for poorer folk in Harrow which is now fee paying (but cheaper and less prestigious).

The Vaughn Library

A few years back we used to visit Harrow for a pub (King's Head Hotel - no longer operating as such) and an Indian restaurant that did a fair buffet.

Thanks to the Trust

King's Head - lively in the past

Nearby there's a recreation of where convicted criminal would be hanged.

Hanging offences

 

AStained Glass Window

Much of harrow on the Hill remains un-spoilt and John (course leader)  told us about how the Church support for the poor was replaced by the 'workhouse' - and Harrow had one near the site below

Nearby 'work  house' 

Harrow Old Boys

As we can imagine and expect the pupils of Harrow have been a mixture of good and bad characters - from the 'Dangerous to Know' Lord Byron -

A stone commemorating the nearby burial of his illegitimate daughter Allegra by Claire Clairmont   is at the entrance to St Mary's Church - tragically Allegra died at the age of 5. 

A sad story

Another Byron Memorial 

St Mary's Church - having some work done.

On a more positive note there's a commemoration to an exemplar of 'Noblesse Oblige'  - Anthony Ashley Cooper (Lord Shaftesbury)  -Many of his descendants also helped the poor.

Lord Shaftesbury - a great Man