I regularly have an hour or 2 to kill in London while waiting for my wife who has a regular health appointment in town. I try and fill the time with finding somewhere new to pop into... prefereably somewhere with a decent cafe!
The other week I had the chance to pop into the excellent Richard Dadd exhibition at the Royal Academy, somewhere I'd never been to before. Dadd is an excellent Victorian artist, probably best known for "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", an incredibly detailed (and surprisingly small) painiting depicting Oberon and Titania watching among a host of mythical creatures, while the Fairy Feller prepared to cut a nut in two. It's one of those paintings that reveals something new every time you look at it. Dadd had, it's fair to say, a 'troubled' life... ending up in Bethlem Hospital and then the newly opened Broadmoor after killing his father,which was where he painted this picture. His paintings in the exhibition were mainly his 'fairy' themed paintings (often inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream) or landscapes and portraits from a tour of Egypt and the Middle East. Like many people I'd come across his work mainly thanks to the song "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke" by Queen!
This week I followed up on a recommendation from my son and visited All Hallows by the Tower church.
This is the oldest church in the City,founded in 675CE by Erkenwald, Bishop of London. It has been through various rebuilding phases, notably one in 1650 when gunpowder stored in a nearby warehouse destroyed 50 houses and badly damaged the church. It was rebuilt in time for the Great Fire but was saved when Admiral William Penn blew up a line of houses to create a firebreak. Pepys watched the fire from the church tower. The church is, as the name suggests, close by the Tower of London and provided a temporary burial ground for some of the victims of executions including Thomas More, Archbishop Laud, and Bishop John Fisher
The church was again badly damaged during WW2 revealing Roman and Saxon remains including a stretch of Roman pavement. The Crypt under the church has been turned into a small, but really interesting museum with lots of Roman and Anglo-Saxon items as well as remains form the 17th century. Oddly the church also houses the Crow's nest from Shackleton's last ship 'Quest' which had been fittedout in nearby St Katherine's Dock in 1921. Despite looking pretty primitive it was kitted out with electric heating and a radio. The altar in the Crypt is made from stone from Atlit, one of Richar I's castles in the Middle East. The vicar in 1922 was 'Tubby' Clayton who founded Toc H. Originally the name given to Talbot House, a rest home for soldiers he founded in Belgium in 1915, this continues as a commnity charity today. Here are a selection of photos from the museum.
Saxon 'wheel head' cross dating from 900CE
Roman tombstone
Model of Roman London... now where are my 2mm armies?
Some of the Roman exhibits
...and a few more
Saxon carvings
Interesting art exhibition themed around bowls
Shackleton's Crow's nest
It's definitely worth popping in if myou are in the City and as an added bonus has a very nice cafe and bar
