The start of my London Routemistress adventure

Monday 15^th November 2021   

Being the first day in this new venture, I decided to take the tube to Elephant & Castle station and pick up the bus from there, rather than starting the journey at the beginning of the route at New Oxford Street. Before getting on the bus, I first walked round the corner to see the Michael Faraday memorial. Who was he?

Faraday was a British chemist and physicist who contributed significantly to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. He was born around the area of Elephant & Castle which is why there is a memorial for him here.

The memorial is a stainless steel box-shaped structure on the centre of what was the northern roundabout of the Elephant and Castle gyratory system. There is an inscription in the concrete paving nearby explaining that it is the Faraday Memorial.

Hopped on the number 1 bus en route to Canada Water. We passed a few places that looked interesting, most notably the Spa Gardens in Bermondsey and Southwark Park galleries which houses contemporary art in a derelict 20^th century church.

Alighted at Canada Water, where there was a blue plaque about the Surrey Docks Fire that happened on September 7^th 1940, being the first raid of the Blitz. This plaque was on the wall of the Dockmanager’s Office which had originally been built in 1887.

Popped into Decathlon before heading home.

Thoughts about the day: this was the first bus route and I didn’t know what to expect from the day. In the event, I was disappointed (with myself) because I didn’t take advantage of the various places of interest along the route and didn’t really hop on and hop off the bus. But I’ve decided not to be too hard on myself since this is the first of what will surely be many bus journeys.

UPDATE – FIRST HALF OF THE ROUTE

There being no number 48 bus any more, I decided to revisit number 1 since I hardly did it justice first time around. Sadly, the weather was totally inclement so again I was restricted in what I could achieve and in fact, will possibly return another day.

1.New Oxford Street

Before getting on the start of the bus, walk to St Giles Circus and its surroundings. There is a new theatre @sohoplace, that wasn’t there on the first time of being on bus 1, so there was some advantage in leaving it till 2023. The theatre opened in October 2022 and puts on some very interesting plays. Currently As You Like It next up is Medea.

Walk round the corner to Denmark Street where there’s a blue plaque for Tin Pan Alley – home for British publishers and songwriters.

Walking on, you come across Outernet, a new immersive entertainment district. There are some amazing moving landscapes to discover as you wander through towards St Giles Church. The church wasn’t open and it would certainly be somewhere to revisit, as there is so much inside worth looking at. Outside is the Resurrection Gate, a grand lychgate in the Doric style. It used to stand on the north side of the churchyard, to be gazed upon by the condemned prisoner on his way to execution at Tyburn.

Very near is CentrePoint and an amazing tunnel made from steel tubes – this has yet to be identified as there is no information to explain what it is.

2. Kingsway/Holborn

So on to the number 1 and get out at this stop and make your way to Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The first thing you see is a stone gabled drinking fountain which was erected in 1861 at the time when the St Giles’s parish wells were polluted, thus providing much-needed drinking water. Within the fields is a memorial seat for Margaret MacDonald, wife of Ramsay, former PM of Great Britain. She was a British feminist and social reformer and lived in number 3.

Further into the fields is a bandstand that looks as if it’s had better days. It was the scene for several public executions, including that of Anthony Babington (1586) who plotted to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, and Lord Russell for his involvement in the Rye House Plot to assassinate King Charles II. May be better to avoid the bandstand …

And so to the Sir John Soane’s Museum at 12,13, and 14 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Soane was the celebrated architect of the Bank of England and took over three adjacent buildings in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. He and his wife lived here and over the years, his passion for ancient artefacts were displayed here, making it into a museum which he endowed to the public on his death.

There is so much to see in the museum and it’s free entry, so it’s a definite place to visit and spend a pleasant afternoon.

A few minutes’ walk away from here is Freemasons’ Hall in Great Queen Street. It’s the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and was built in the Art Deco style. This current building was erected between 1927 and 1933 as a memorial to the 3,225 Freemasons who died on active service in World War I. There are very many areas of the building to explore – in particular the shrine dedicated to those who had died in the war, the Grand Temple and even the beautiful Art Deco café. And again, it’s free entry and it’s possible to have a cup of coffee and admire the surroundings.

4. The Old Vic

After being seeped in culture with the Museum and the Freemasons’ Hall, back on the number 1 to The Old Vic. The theatre was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, after Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg who became a patron, along with his wife Princess Charlotte. It was renamed in 1833 as the Royal Victoria Theatre, not after the future Queen but after her mother, Victoria, Duchess of Kent.

In 1963, the new National Theatre Co was based at here until its own building was opened on the South Bank in 1976. The Old Vic then became the home of Prospect Theatre Co, a successful touring company. However, funding was withdrawn in 1980 for breaching its touring obligations, leading to it being disbanded. It was eventually bought by the Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000.

These days, the Old Vic is an independent not-for-profit theatre, considered a world leader in creativity and entertainment.

Very near the theatre is the Waterloo Millennium Green, with its nature trail and sustainable rain garden. At one time a car park, local residents wanted an outdoor space to enjoy nature and this green is the result.

There is a lot more to see on bus route 1 between Elephant and Castle and the end of the line at Canada Water and this will be explored at a later date.