Tigger went to work bright and early this morning and later sent me this photo of the sun rising over Pentonville Road.

Sun rising over Pentonville Road
Photo by Tigger

Later – much later! – I too went out though only as far as Amwell Street. Today was the day when the laundry was ready for collection and collecting it was my job.

Morning sunshine in Amwell Street

The laundry was ready and waiting and had been packed into the shopping trolley. I now proceeded to haul this uphill to home.

I was too busy with the loaded trolley to take any more photos but it is a fine day and I may well venture out again later.

I had for a while been meaning to revisit some of the squares with gardens that we visit less often and today was the day when I decided to do so.

Cafe tables in Chapel Market

I crossed through Chapel Market, noting that it was again closed to traffic so that the pub and the cafes could out out their tables. This arrangement will no doubt remain in force as long as the current rules do.

Cloudesley Road

Passing through Sainsbury’s car park, I entered Cloudesley Road (Culpeper Park is on the left, just visible in the photo) and thence to Batchelor Street.

Batchelor Street

This is the street, you may recall, along which you can see one if the towers of the old Royal Agricultural Hall. That building is in Liverpool Road and that is where I was heading.

(The origin of this street’s name is obscure. Up to 1815, it was known as Chapman Street and by 1845 had become Trinity Street. Around 1938, it finally became Batchelor Street, in memory of “a well-known businessman”.)

Pavement above street level

This end of Liverpool Road has the peculiarity that the pavement on one side is several feet above the level of the road surface. It has railings to stop you walking off the edge by accident.

Steps to the road

In case you want to cross the road or access a parked car. There are steps at intervals.

The cars that you see in the photo are parked in the designated parking lane. The lane nearest the pavement is reserved for cyclists. That seems to me a very clumsy arrangement but, then, I’m not an urban planner.

Old Royal Free Hospital

Opposite is the site of the old Royal Free Hospital, some of whose buildings still survive, albeit internally modified to turn them into residential blocks.

The Pig and Butcher
previously the White Horse

This pub served as a landmark to my destination. It stands on the corner of Theberton Street which leads to the first of today’s squares. (Theberton Street takes its name from Theberton Hall, Suffolk, the seat of Thomas Milner Gibson MP, 1806-84, whose name reappears below.)

Gibson Square

Branching off Theberton Street is the large and elegant Gibson Square with its central garden.

Gibson Square Gardens

Though not huge, the central gardens are well tended and provide a pleasant location in which to sit or stroll on a fine day. They also contain what might be described as a curiosity or a talking point. This is a building of rather fanciful design but of no obvious purpose.

What is it?

A strong clue to that purpose is provided by the “roof” which is not solid but made of wire mesh, obviously designed to allow something to pass in or out. This building is in fact a ventilation shaft for the Victoria Line, part of London Underground. This line was built in the 1960s and 1970s and needed ventilation. This curious design was arrived at as a way of pacifying local objections to the intrusion of the shaft into the gardens.

Milner Square

Walking along Milner Place from Gibson Square brought me to the second of today’s destinations, Milner Square. From the approach road, the gardens looked promising.

Milner Square Gardens

In the event, the gardens were somewhat disappointing, being taken up mainly with swings and other accoutrements of a children’s playground. I probably ought not to be disappointed as children need somewhere to play and it’s good to have an enclosed off-street area when they can play in safety.

Lonsdale Square

Following a couple of streets brought me to the third and final square, Lonsdale Square.

Lonsdale Square Gardens

Probably about the same size as Milner Square Gardens, though square rather than elongated, Lonsdale Square Gardens are “proper” gardens and well kept.

Houses in Lonsdale Square

Lonsdale Square is arguably the “poshest” of the three squares. The houses are larger and have more elaborate façades, as well as doors shaped in a rather “ecclesiastical” style.

Lonsdale Place and Square were possibly named after the Earl of Lonsdale.

Holy Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square

Looking at the map on my phone, I found a different way to return home. This took me first to Cloudesly Square, where Holy Trinity Church is still undergoing refurbishment.

Cloudesley Street

From the square, I entered Cloudesley Street, a long, straight road that brought me close to home.

Despite being a quiet backstreet and, moreover, closed to traffic at one end, this street is quite broad. I doubt whether this is because it was ever a busy thoroughfare and think that its width has more to do with the visual appeal of the street’s layout in what must have been an expensive, genteel neighbourhood.

Built in 1839, this street and all the others bearing the name, are named in honour of Richard Cloudesley (d. 1517), a local benefactor under whose will the still extant charity, called simply “Cloudesley“, was founded.

Dove’s Yard

In Cloudesley Place is found Dove’s Yard. The images of birds on the gates might lead you to think that the name is merely fanciful. In fact, it was the name of a firm of builders, called Dove Brothers Ltd, which continued in business from 1781 to 1993 on this site.

A view through the gate

The site seems to have been developed as an exclusive residential property with little remaining of the original builders’ yard but Historic England has a a photo of the premises taken in 1918.

Cloudesley Road

Cloudesley Place leads into Cloudesley Road, bringing me onto virtually home territory and concluding my ramble.

Were you expecting a pigeon photo? Probably not but, just in case you were, here are the Culpeper Park pigeons in all their dusty glory:

Upper Street

We needed to visit a shop in Upper Street, so we did that first. With that task out of the way, we could return to quieter areas.

Parkfield Street

This is Parkfield Street, which was first laid out in 1844. It is one of those quiet streets of Georgian style houses that I have come to appreciate so much, quieter even than most as one end is closed to traffic.

Stairs to the “area”

As is usual with houses of this type, they all have a basement “area”, originally with its own access, which would have allowed tradesmen etc to avoid the front door, reserved, as it was, for callers of standing. In modern times, when householders no longer have servants, the “areas” have suffered various fates. Some have been blocked off or even covered over, while others have found a new role as the entrance to the basement flat.

Window ironwork

The houses in this row are notable for their well preserved ironwork, both railings and decorative iron on the first-floor windows.

During World War 2, much ironwork was removed from houses, supposedly for the making on armaments. Some has been replaced with facsimiles but in some places – as seems to be the case here – the originals have survived.

The pigeon tree

We passed through Culpeper Park where, for some reason, many of the pigeons had congregated in one of the trees.

Cruikshank Street

Cruikshank Street, first called Bond Street after its original founder, is another pleasant and quiet road. Some of the houses were built in the Georgian pattern in the 1840s but others date to the early 20th century and lack the trademark basement of the earlier houses. I hoped I might introduce Tigger to the tortoiseshell cat (see A solo walk), but she was nowhere to be seen.

A different style of living

We passed in front of Bevin Court, which I previously described as “a cliff of apartments“. Built in 1946, it is considered historically important enough to merit a Grade II* listing.

“Private Mews”

Leading off Lloyd Street, is this intriguing lane. A notice describes it as a “private mews”. Originally, a mews was a narrow street running behind a residential street and containing stables for the horses belonging to those houses. Today, the stables have largely been converted into modest houses. Whether this mews ever provided stabling for the horses of the local gentry, I do not know but its cobbled surface suggests a fairly early origin.

Scarlet tulips

These brightly coloured and full-blown tulips in a front garden caught our eye (and cameras!).

Electric fan, anyone?

In a doorway an electric fan seems to be up for grabs. Might come in useful this summer, if last year’s heat is repeated.

Wharton Street and BT Tower

Looking down Wharton Street, we can see, in the distance, the BT Tower, making an interesting contrast with the street lamps.

From here, we were soon at Myddelton’s deli. Tigger found us a table on the pavement while I went inside and ordered coffee. We sat there for quite some time, drinking coffee, observing the scene around us and talking about this and that

Myddelton Square Garden

On the way home we passed Myddelton Square. The garden seemed unusually empty, perhaps partly because of the cloudy weather and partly because it was a weekday.

Flowers
Photo by Tigger

Beside the church was a bush in flower and Tigger took this photo of some of the blooms.

St Mark’s Church

In contrast to the living softness of the flowers is the hard stone of the church. Both possess their individual kind of beauty.

Squirrel in the branches

We spotted a squirrel but two children crashing about in the undergrowth scared him and he ran up the tree to become almost invisible among the branches.

The Curvaceous Tree

My last photo was this one of my favourite, the Curvacious Tree. After this we made for home, content with our walk and looking forward to a pleasant evening of relaxation.

This morning’s outing was for utilitarian purposes and hardly counted as a “walk”, despite our pleasant coffee break at Myddelton’s. After lunch, Tigger proposed a more adventurous excursion, one that would involve a bus ride there and back.

The immediate destination would be Waterloo Station, for the same reason that we had based yesterday’s jaunt on King’s Cross Station: the availability of toilets!

Aboard the 341

In St John Street we boarded a 341 bus, destination Waterloo Station. Why Waterloo? Because, as we shall see, there are some items of interest in that area.

Bus cctv

You may know that London’s buses carry several cctv cameras which record while the bus is in service. A screen shows, in rotation, a still from each camera. We appeared on it, of course.

Can you see us?

The image is slightly distorted by the transparent plastic screen in front of our seat.

Waterloo Station

Waterloo Station is quite familiar to us because so many of our expeditions have involved catching trains here. I was worried that it might be crowded but, though there was plenty of activity, it was easy not over-busy and it was easy to move about. And, yes, the toilets were open.

The London Eye

Near Waterloo Station is a park called Jubilee Gardens. We crossed this and I photographed the London Eye, currently closed and motionless.

The Thames

From there, we arrived at London’s famous river, the Thames, which had been one of our reasons for making this trip because we had not visited it for a long time.

Jubilee Oracle
Alexander, 1980

Here we found this abstract sculpture, Jubilee Oracle, by Alexander. It contains a lengthy comment by the artist. You may be able to read it in the photo but, if not, there is a transcript here.

International Brigades Memorial

We also visited the International Brigades Memorial that stands in the gardens. More information about it can be found here.

Motor Cyclist
Siegfried Charoux

Nearby, we discovered this intriguing sculpture of a motor cyclist by Siegfried Charoux. It looks a little neglected.

The Graffiti Tunnel

We now made our way to the other place we intended to visit, the Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel. Once an ordinary road running under Waterloo Station, Leake Street has been closed to traffic and turned over to use by street artists. We like to visit it from time to time to view the continually changing display of paintings. Here follows a small selection of what we saw today.

We returned to Waterloo Station where we visited the upper level. We often came here “before Covid”, either before departing or after returning from a trip, to visit one of the several restaurants. Today they were all closed but we found an artwork on display.

The Sunbathers
Peter Lazlo Peri, 1951

Making a strange contrast with its surroundings, it is The Sunbathers by Peter Lazlo Peri, originally created for the Festival of Britain, then lost and finally rediscovered (see here).

Down the escalator

We descended by one of the escalators and I paid a visit to “the facilities”.

Waterloo Station Entrance

We left the station by this famous entrance and made for the bus stop. We returned home by a different route which required two buses.

On the number 30 bus

Here we are in the second of those buses, a number 30, currently heading towards King’s Cross Station. A short ride up the hill brought us home safe and sound.

To celebrate, I made tea with Marmite toast!

In British folklore, Monday was always washday, the day of the week when families carried out what was, before the invention of washing machines, a major household task. If you have ever watched one of those re-enactment series on TV where a modern family spends a month or so living in the manner of past ages, you will have some idea of how onerous a duty it was.

Happily, we live in modern times when the average family owns a washing machine or, like us, has recourse to paid-for laundry services.

This morning, then, Tigger listed the items to be washed and packed them into the shopping trolley. Then off we went to Amwell Street to deliver the burden to the dry cleaner’s to invoke their laundry service.

It was a beautiful morning, sunny and warm but for a chilly breeze.

House clearance

On our way through Claremont Square, we came upon this sight. A house – or perhaps one of the flats within it – is being cleared. The occupants have presumably departed, leaving considerable clutter behind them. That is all being bagged and tipped out into the street to be carted away to the tip.

A once loved toy

Perhaps it is sentimental of me to find this object rather sad: a once loved toy, now cast out and forgotten. How fickle we humans can be!

Myddelton Square

We paused to take contre-jour photos of Myddelton Square which was luxuriating in spring sunshine. Not altogether successful as photos go but you get the idea, I’m sure.

We delivered our cargo to the dry cleaner, who uttered the ritual phrase “Thursday morning”, and then we were free to disport ourselves.

You probably guessed where we went next.

Myddelton’s deli

Yes, we went across the road to Myddelton’s deli for coffee. They have tables and chairs outside again and so we chose to drink our coffee sitting outside in the sun.

Amwell Street in spring sunshine

I took this photo of Amwell Street while sitting at a table at Myddelton’s.

Afterwards, we made our way home though we may go out again later. If we do, I will be sure to let you know!