When we went out this morning, the sun was shining, despite the weather forecast telling us that the sky were covered in clouds.

Sunshine and clouds in Claremont Square-

Despite the sunshine, however, the sky held the threat of rain and we made sure we had umbrellas with us, just in case.

Coffee at the deli

We started by going to the deli in Amwell Street for coffee. It was warm enough for us to sit outside to drink it.

Spa Fields Park

We passed by Spa Fields Park though we did not go in today. To look at the park today, you would not guess its sinister past. It was once the site of a bone house and graveyard but that, in itself, is not the worst part.

Bone House & Graveyard

Its lugubrious history is outlined by a sign board. Happily, no obvious vestiges of this past can be noticed today.

A glimpse of St James’s Clerkenwell

Along a narrow side street we had a glimpse of the Church of St James Clerkenwell with its tall steeple. Built in 1792, though with later additions, it replaced an earlier church.

Farringdon Station

We passed un front of the Victorian Farringdon Station. Originally, it marked the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway, London’s and the world’s first underground railway. Today it is served by trains of the Metropolitan Line and also of the Circle Line and the Hammersmith & City Line.

The old Parcels Office

At one end we can still see an inscription indicating the “Parcels Office” though there is no longer a parcels service nor has there been for many decades.

Another period piece

At the other end of the station we can see small building, independent of it but dating from about the same period. It now looks painfully truncated, cut off from its erstwhile neighbours by the ugly modern excrescence that has replaced them.

Costa Coffee
Photo by Tigger

We felt it was time for a rest and refreshments and for this we entered a nearby branch of Costa Coffee.

Turreted building

I admired this handsome building that possesses a turret. Turrets fascinate me and I have a long-term ambition to live – or at least, stay for a while – in a house with a turret room.

The Bleeding Heart Tavern

Continuing on, we reached a pub, the Bleeding Heart Tavern. The present pub was established in the late 18th century but the name originally belonged to an ancient inn that no longer exists. Its sign showed the heart of the Virgin, pierced by seven daggers.

Bleeding Heart Yard

Behind the pub is a well-known cobbled courtyard called Bleeding Heart Yard. Its name probably derives from nothing more dramatic than its proximity to the aforementioned tavern but that name has inevitably given rise to other more dramatic, if apocryphal, etymologies. For example, see Wikipedia’s Bleeding Heart Yard.

Hatton Garden

We came into Hatton Garden, a street famous for being the centre of London’s jewellery trade. There are many jewellers’ and watch shops here and jewellery workshops on upper floors. The name derives from Elizabethan courtier Sir Christopher Hatton (1540-91) who had a mansion and a garden near here. See these links for more information on Sir Christopher and Hatton Garden.

The Prudential Assurance Building

We arrived in Holbourn, one of whose more remarkable inhabitants is the Grade II* listed Prudential Assurance Building, designed by Alfred Waterhouse and erected 1885-1901.

Aboard the 46

We were beginning to feel that it was lunchtime. Seeing nothing interesting nearby, we caught a number 46 bus.

King’s Cross Station

The bus brought us to King’s Cross where we looked at eateries but without finding anything that appealed.

Pizza Union

In the end, we plumped for the local branch of Pizza Union. You place your order at the counter. Having paid, you receive a pager which you take with you as you choose a table.

When the pager flashes…

When the pager flashes, you take it to the collecting point where you pick up your pizzas.

A Fiorentina each

We had a Fiorentina each with tea to drink. The pizzas are crispy, tasty and, of course, freshly baked to order. We would eat here from time to time even without the extra fun of the flashing pager!