Day 24
Colliers Wood - Covent Garden
Ok, so the title of today's post is ever so slightly misleading. Last week, if you recall, I did see a reasonably large collection of planes, and at the second of today's stations there's a museum dedicated to all things London Transport, which satisfies the 'trains' requirement (as well as a few buses and cabs).
Boats, though, have yet to make an appearance. Still, we're only on the letter 'C', so plenty of time yet!
On the other hand, today is another two-station day, which isn't going to get me through the alphabet very quickly. The reason for the limited number is not, for once, because they're inconveniently far apart, but simply the fact that the second of the two, Covent Garden, has such a lot to see that I have a feeling I'll be spending a fair old time there.
***
First up today though, almost at the bottom of the Northern Line, is Colliers Wood - and a style of architecture that's become very familiar by now...
Charles Holden (for 'twas he) has for once been given some recognition for his designs (other than me banging on about him ad nauseam in this blog...). Across the road from the station is a pub which bears his name. I don't go into 'The Charles Holden', since it's a tad early for a snifter, but from the outside it looks a reasonable place.
Boats, though, have yet to make an appearance. Still, we're only on the letter 'C', so plenty of time yet!
On the other hand, today is another two-station day, which isn't going to get me through the alphabet very quickly. The reason for the limited number is not, for once, because they're inconveniently far apart, but simply the fact that the second of the two, Covent Garden, has such a lot to see that I have a feeling I'll be spending a fair old time there.
***
First up today though, almost at the bottom of the Northern Line, is Colliers Wood - and a style of architecture that's become very familiar by now...
 |
| Colliers Wood |
Charles Holden (for 'twas he) has for once been given some recognition for his designs (other than me banging on about him ad nauseam in this blog...). Across the road from the station is a pub which bears his name. I don't go into 'The Charles Holden', since it's a tad early for a snifter, but from the outside it looks a reasonable place.
I can't find anything to tell me why Colliers Wood in particular should choose to celebrate the Tube Station maestro, but I'm glad all the same to discover I'm not the only person in London to have heard of him...
Alongside the pub is a short street leading to a park called Wandle Park.
I say 'park', although the bits I see of it seem to have been left to grow so out of control that there's very little open space to enjoy. There's a children's playground in one corner, and according to Google Maps there's a pond in the middle but even though I do cross a couple of bridges, any water that might flow beneath them is obscured by waist-high shrubs and bushes.
The park is also bisected by electricity cables running from pylon to pylon, and indeed, one of these pylons stands like an industrial Eiffel Tower within the park-grounds, very near the entrance. Barbed wire a short way up will, hopefully, deter the majority of people from climbing it, but for the more reckless locals the temptation must be hard to resist.
I leave the park across another bridge, and this time I can actually see some water beneath it, as this is the River Wandle.
It runs along the western side of the park and I notice that it actually flows underneath what looks like a residential building. I find a plaque on the side of the building informing me that it used to be a mill, which explains the need for running water, though I don't know if I'd want to live in the property myself, given the recent flooding the country's suffered.
I walk back to the main road, but a fairly standard looking retail park is the only other 'attraction' I can see here, so I think it's time to move on to Covent Garden - where I hope there'll be a little more to see and do...
***
The area covered by the name Covent Garden, like many of London's famous locales, is actually a much wider one than many people think. In Covent Garden's case, most people assume that it simply refers to the main square (what is now known as the Piazza) which was the site of the old Fruit and Veg market. In fact Covent Garden's boundaries stretch west to east from St Martin's Lane to Drury Lane, and both north and south of the road called Long Acre.
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| The Charles Holden - recognition at last! |
Alongside the pub is a short street leading to a park called Wandle Park.
I say 'park', although the bits I see of it seem to have been left to grow so out of control that there's very little open space to enjoy. There's a children's playground in one corner, and according to Google Maps there's a pond in the middle but even though I do cross a couple of bridges, any water that might flow beneath them is obscured by waist-high shrubs and bushes.
 |
| Not the Eiffel Tower |
I leave the park across another bridge, and this time I can actually see some water beneath it, as this is the River Wandle.
It runs along the western side of the park and I notice that it actually flows underneath what looks like a residential building. I find a plaque on the side of the building informing me that it used to be a mill, which explains the need for running water, though I don't know if I'd want to live in the property myself, given the recent flooding the country's suffered.
 |
| The old mill |
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| Trouble at t'mill? |
***
The area covered by the name Covent Garden, like many of London's famous locales, is actually a much wider one than many people think. In Covent Garden's case, most people assume that it simply refers to the main square (what is now known as the Piazza) which was the site of the old Fruit and Veg market. In fact Covent Garden's boundaries stretch west to east from St Martin's Lane to Drury Lane, and both north and south of the road called Long Acre.
The station is on the Piccadilly Line, (although I don't arrive by tube on this occasion, having stopped off briefly for lunch with Mrs Nowhere Man, and caught the bus from there) and is only 0.16 miles from the next station along - Leicester Square - which I'm reliably informed is the shortest distance between two stations on the whole Underground.
As I approach it, it gives me another little tingle of recognition as I notice (for what seems like the first time although I must have seen them hundreds of times before) the red tiles beloved of the other architect I've come to know over the course of this journey - Leslie Green.
If nothing else, this journey has meant that I'll never look at the outside of a tube station again, without checking for glazed red tiles or glass-windowed drum-shaped entrances.
The name Covent Garden, not altogether surprisingly, is actually a corruption of 'Convent' Garden, and the area originally belonged to the monks of Westminster Abbey, until the Dissolution. Later, the famous fruit and veg market was established in 1661, and this, together with a thriving Red-Light district, secured the area's popularity for the next three-hundred years.
Though the market and (at least as far as one can tell) the persons of ill-repute have now moved elsewhere, the Piazza that remains is hugely popular with tourists - rightly so, since it's a pleasant, lively, buzzing place to wander round or take a breather in one of the various eateries (assuming you're willing to take out a second mortgage to pay for your meal.)
I do a quick circular tour, beginning at the station on Long Acre (named after a long plot of land that stood outside the convent walls) and heading east to Bow Street.
Walking down Bow Street I pass the Bow Street Magistrate's Court on my left. Once a police station, it housed (among others) Oscar Wilde for a brief spell before his trial at the Old Bailey. Bow Street is, of course, the home of the 'Bow Street Runners' - the fore-runners (if you'll forgive the pun) of the police force.
They were established by the novelist Henry Fielding who, when he wasn't busy writing Tom Jones, was also a magistrate, and who lived on this street at number 4.
I continue down Bow Street. past the Royal Opera House (or its latest incarnation - having twice been burnt down) on my right, and London's oldest theatre, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, on my left. The theatre too has been rebuilt a number of times following various fires and the current building is the fourth to stand here.
Then I turn right onto Russell Street - where, in the days of Coffee Houses (as opposed to Starbucks) the literati of the day, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, David Garrick, William Congreve, John Dryden, Samuel Pepys and many others, would gather and enjoy (as Pepys would have it) 'very witty and pleasant discourse'.
Russell Street opens directly into the Piazza, which as always is full of tourists. I've decided that I really can't visit Covent Garden on a journey like this, without having a look at the London Transport Museum - somewhere I've not been before.
It sits in the south-east corner of the Piazza in what used to be a flower market, and charts the history of London's transport (not just tube trains, but buses, cabs and trams) from the year 1800 onwards. I know it starts in 1800 because rather charmingly, the lift that takes me to the top floor (where the exhibition starts) has a 'time-machine' style backwards-counting display that whizzes back from 2014 to 1800 in the few seconds it takes to reach level 2.
There are steam-train carriages and omnibuses from the 19th Century and shiny red Routemaster buses from the present day. It's a great place to bring the kids as many of the exhibits are 'climb-on-able' and for me, it's nice to have some of the things I've already learnt about the tube network brought to life, so to speak.
As I did with the RAF museum last week, I think I should just let the photos I took do the talking for me. So - have fun, and see you on the other side...
***
Oh, hello again! Good to see you!
Sorry - be with you in a moment, I'm just finishing my packed lunch...
***
I head out of the museum, back into the Piazza and hear the familiar sounds of a street performer trying to enthuse a crowd of bemused Italian and French tourists. I stop and watch for a few moments, but it's a kids' show, so I'm afraid I soon lose interest.
Still, I've enjoyed coming back here - despite its familiarity. I know there's much more to the area than I've seen today, and indeed, than I've seen on all my previous visits, but it's the sort of place you can keep re-discovering - as long as you don't fall into the trap of just doing the same bits of it over and over again.
And every so often, it's nice to forget you live in London, and pretend to be a 'tourist' for a few hours - and what better place to do that than here...
As I approach it, it gives me another little tingle of recognition as I notice (for what seems like the first time although I must have seen them hundreds of times before) the red tiles beloved of the other architect I've come to know over the course of this journey - Leslie Green.
 |
| Covent Garden Station |
If nothing else, this journey has meant that I'll never look at the outside of a tube station again, without checking for glazed red tiles or glass-windowed drum-shaped entrances.
The name Covent Garden, not altogether surprisingly, is actually a corruption of 'Convent' Garden, and the area originally belonged to the monks of Westminster Abbey, until the Dissolution. Later, the famous fruit and veg market was established in 1661, and this, together with a thriving Red-Light district, secured the area's popularity for the next three-hundred years.
Though the market and (at least as far as one can tell) the persons of ill-repute have now moved elsewhere, the Piazza that remains is hugely popular with tourists - rightly so, since it's a pleasant, lively, buzzing place to wander round or take a breather in one of the various eateries (assuming you're willing to take out a second mortgage to pay for your meal.)
I do a quick circular tour, beginning at the station on Long Acre (named after a long plot of land that stood outside the convent walls) and heading east to Bow Street.
Walking down Bow Street I pass the Bow Street Magistrate's Court on my left. Once a police station, it housed (among others) Oscar Wilde for a brief spell before his trial at the Old Bailey. Bow Street is, of course, the home of the 'Bow Street Runners' - the fore-runners (if you'll forgive the pun) of the police force.
 |
| A division of modern day Bow-Street Runners (cunningly disguised as telephone boxes), stealthily approach a suspect... |
They were established by the novelist Henry Fielding who, when he wasn't busy writing Tom Jones, was also a magistrate, and who lived on this street at number 4.
I continue down Bow Street. past the Royal Opera House (or its latest incarnation - having twice been burnt down) on my right, and London's oldest theatre, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, on my left. The theatre too has been rebuilt a number of times following various fires and the current building is the fourth to stand here.
 |
| Royal Opera House |
Then I turn right onto Russell Street - where, in the days of Coffee Houses (as opposed to Starbucks) the literati of the day, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, David Garrick, William Congreve, John Dryden, Samuel Pepys and many others, would gather and enjoy (as Pepys would have it) 'very witty and pleasant discourse'.
Russell Street opens directly into the Piazza, which as always is full of tourists. I've decided that I really can't visit Covent Garden on a journey like this, without having a look at the London Transport Museum - somewhere I've not been before.
It sits in the south-east corner of the Piazza in what used to be a flower market, and charts the history of London's transport (not just tube trains, but buses, cabs and trams) from the year 1800 onwards. I know it starts in 1800 because rather charmingly, the lift that takes me to the top floor (where the exhibition starts) has a 'time-machine' style backwards-counting display that whizzes back from 2014 to 1800 in the few seconds it takes to reach level 2.
 |
| The Time Machine |
There are steam-train carriages and omnibuses from the 19th Century and shiny red Routemaster buses from the present day. It's a great place to bring the kids as many of the exhibits are 'climb-on-able' and for me, it's nice to have some of the things I've already learnt about the tube network brought to life, so to speak.
As I did with the RAF museum last week, I think I should just let the photos I took do the talking for me. So - have fun, and see you on the other side...
 |
| An Omnibus - which in Latin means 'for all' - although by the size of it 'for half a dozen' would be nearer the mark... |
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| Another Omnibus |
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| Rather a different tube map... |
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| Steam on the Underground |
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| The tube described as 'home like'? - where did these people live?!? |
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| Oh how easy this challenge would have been back then... |
***
Oh, hello again! Good to see you!
Sorry - be with you in a moment, I'm just finishing my packed lunch...
***
I head out of the museum, back into the Piazza and hear the familiar sounds of a street performer trying to enthuse a crowd of bemused Italian and French tourists. I stop and watch for a few moments, but it's a kids' show, so I'm afraid I soon lose interest.
 |
| The Light In The Piazza |
And every so often, it's nice to forget you live in London, and pretend to be a 'tourist' for a few hours - and what better place to do that than here...
Well here I am again trying to catch up with you - no excuses - just plain bone-idleness. But for one a tube station we know and it has to be said dislike. And no, its not Colliers Wood but of course Covent Garden.
ReplyDeleteLike you we have visited the Plaza many times but it is we feel a bit 'samey' after you've visited a few times though Mrs Anon does like to visit the 'East' shop opposite the back end of the ROH.
We've never visited the transport museum but have visited the Theatre Museum, I think your choice was the better of the two - you've seen one theatre poster - you've seen em all.
But why do we dislike the tube station - well its the lifts - and the queues, and the sheer mass of humanity. Actually we kinda prefer to walk and only use the tube for long distances / or there is a need for speed. But what we have discovered in the last few weeks is that our bus passes (which we normally use in our local area) are valid on London Omnibuses - and there is so much more to see than from the window of a tube.
Hey ho - now must read the next episode.
Ttfn