City walk

I enjoyed my walk around the City in the Spring sunshine this morning.

The first things I found were several huge blocks of granite outside Barts Hospital.  Apparently they were quarried for Bazalgette's grand sewage scheme in Victorian times and are now surplus to requirements.  They are on display in various locations around the City (a bit like yesterday's Easter Eggs) before being repurposed in public spaces.

I then walked past the Guildhall and found that the Guildhall church, St Lawrence Jewry, was open.  Despite walking past it for well nigh 50 years I've never been in there before.  It was badly damaged by bombing in WW2 but is beautifully restored and cared for with pews for the Lord Mayor and Alderman and memorial windows.

I got as far as the Royal Exchange and found that Threadneedle Street is no longer open to traffic with obviously anti-terrorist bollards all around.  The memorial in front of the Royal Exchange is the London Troops War Memorial commemorating Londoners who fought in World Wars 1 and 2.

I walked back along Cheapside.  The fourth picture is "No.1 Poultry" designed by James Stirling in the 1980s.  It was controversial at the time, being postmodernist, and also because it replaced a well-loved Venetian Gothic building called Mansion House Buildings or The Mappin & Webb Building.

I love the layers of history in London.