Although the air was cool (around 13°C) the sun was shining which made it feel warmer and more cheerful. (The sun is still our friend though I fear that, as climate change proceeds, it is destined to become our enemy.)

Sunshine in Amwell Street

As we set off down Amwell Street the low sun was dazzling but pleasant.

Outside the deli

We sat outside the deli with our coffee, enjoying the sunlit scene. (You may notice that Lloyd’s l,on the opposite corner, has been painted a new colour. The hairdresser’s that occupied it has moved out and new tenants are arriving.

Old Finsbury Town Hall

After coffee, we started walking, passing behind the handsome old Finsbury Town Hall.

Old school, 1892

We passed this fine school building, dated 1892. No longer used as a school, it has become a residential block. We noticed that the school bell is still in place (top centre, below the chimneys) and wondered whether it ever rings.

St James Clerkenwell

We went along St James’s Walk which, as the name suggests, passes the Church of St James, increasingly visible through its screen of trees as the leaves fall away.

Jerusalem Passage

We walked down Jerusalem Passage. The reason for the apparently exotic name appears when we reach the end.

Priory Church of St John

It leads to St John’s Square and the priory church of the Knights of St John. The Knights Hospitaller, as they are also known, were established in the short-lived Kingdom Jerusalem. The monastery was closed in Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries but has left many traces behind it such as these buildings.

Albemarle Way

Passing along Albemarle Way, we emerged at…

St John’s Gate

…the striking St John’s Gate built in 1504 as the entrance to Clerkenwell Priory. Today it houses the museum of the order of St John. There is also an office of the St John Ambulance which derives from the order.

Passing Alley

We next entered the narrow passage today known by the polite, if transparent, name of Passing Alley. You can imagine how the name arose in times when public toilets were unknown.

Bull weather vane

Though not exactly claustrophobic, I do feel uncomfortable in confined spaces and was therefore glad to come out of the alley into wider streets. Here, we came upon this building with its unusual cattle-themed decoration. Its proximity to Smithfield Market perhaps explains its choice of theme.

Cow’s heads
Photo by Tigger

Cow’s head

On each façade is a vertical row of cows’ heads, all staring dolefully downwards. Why they have been chosen to decorate the building, I do not know but they are a reminder of horrors of Smithfield Market where untold numbers of animals came to be slaughtered.

Cowcross Street

Another reminder is the name of this road, Cowcross Street. No doubt hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of cows did really cross this street on the way to the bloodbath of Smithfield.

Farringdon Station

It brought us to Farringdon Station, built in 1863 as the then terminus of the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground. Today it is both a tube station and a mainline railway station.

Christmas tree

Nearby we came upon the first public Christmas tree that we have seen so far this year. There are also Christmas lights installed along the streets and today they were illuminated though the sunshine rendered them barely noticeable.

Great Delicatessen

For lunch, we visited a place where we had been once before. It is a Greek cafe and delicatessen called, without false modesty, Great Delicatessen.

Chocolate and strawberry heart

For my dessert, Tigger gave me her heart or, at least, a simulacrum thereof in chocolate and strawberry!

Spa Fields Park

Turning now for home, we passed through Spa Fields Park. Once much larger (part of it having disappeared under buildings), Spa Fields was an open area used for many purposes, including archery practice, and was the setting for the Spa Fields Riots of 1816. There was also a notorious burial ground here of which, thankfully, no trace remains.

Northampton Row

We walked through another narrow passage, this one called Row.

The pub vine

Nearing our own neighbourhood once more, we paid a visit the the famous (well, famous to us, at least) vine at the Shakespeare’s Head pub. It is beginning to look rather thin and sparse as the season edges towards winter. I am looking forward to the spring and seeing it once more full of leaves and clusters of tiny grapes.

Myddelton Square Garden

We passed through Myddelton Square whose garden was resplendent in the sunshine though its luscious green foliage, sadly, has turned to autumnal brown.

Flame-coloured tree, Claremont Square

There is still beauty to be found, though, like this young tree whose leaves have turned flame-coloured in its response to autumn.