'Two Become One'

Day 78

 

Seven Sisters - Shadwell - Shepherd's Bush - Shepherd's Bush Market - Shoreditch High Street - Sloane Square

 

Today we start with a place that was a minor internet sensation only a few weeks ago, thanks to the happy conjunction of a station sign, some members of a religious order, and a photographer blessed with serendipity.

 

The photographer (Ben Patey) who managed to snap the picture of seven nuns waiting on the platform at Seven Sisters station must have imagined some sort of Divine Intervention was at work placing such a gift of juxtaposition in his viewfinder. And those who snidely pointed out that there's actually an eighth nun sitting in the photo - obscured by one of her companions - were missing the point, and clearly just felt the need to leech any joy out of life.

 

The photo was taken on the Overground platform, whereas I arrive on the Underground, and if you look at a map of the area you might be forgiven for thinking the two are in completely different stations, since they appear to be separated by at least two roads of houses and several shops.

 

Seven Sisters

 

However, while it's true that the Underground station (built in 1968) was a later addition to the Overground station (opened in 1872), the two are considered a single entity - being linked by subways and sharing a common entrance hall - and are officially listed as such on the tube map.

 

And this is only the first of several locations on my itinerary today where this is the case, as we shall see.

 

Sadly, the photography gods are obviously not smiling so benignly down on me today as they did for Ben Patey, and there's nothing much more exciting than the station entrance to photograph when I arrive.

 

Or indeed, for the whole time I'm in the area.

 

The original 'Seven Sisters' from which the place gets its name were a ring of seven elm trees, which once stood at what is now the junction of the High Road and Broad Lane (though they were replaced and relocated several times over the following centuries).

 

At the time, this formed the edge of a place called 'Page Green' and this was for many years the area's official name, though the nickname 'Seven Sisters' soon took over.

 

The High Road is pleasant enough by the looks of it, and there are a few obviously young trees lining the broad pedestrian walkways lined with shops and cafés.

 

High Road

 

But it's around the corner to a small patch of common on Broad Lane that I'm headed this morning - to see the modern day 'Seven Sisters'.

 

The ring of hornbeam trees (Dutch Elm Disease having ruled out the possibility of replacing the original elms) was planted in 1997, at a ceremony in which five sets of seven real-life sisters each took turns in digging the earth.

 

The 'new' Seven Sisters

 

There's nothing else of note to see here as far as I can tell, so I'm soon on my way again to my next destination.

 

***

And here again we have two stations which - on the tube map - are listed as only one by TFL.

 

Shadwell Overground Station and Shadwell DLR station do appear to be separate stations - they certainly have separate ticket halls - but they're only a matter of yards from one another.

 

Confusingly, the Overground line actually runs underground in this part of town - though this is explained by the fact that it was once part of the Underground network.

 

Shadwell - Overground

It was known as the 'East London Branch' of the Metropolitan Line, and was the only line not to go through Zone 1 at any point. The current Overground line runs north to south between Highbury & Islington and the various branches south of the river.

 

Around the corner is the DLR station, and the platforms here are not only above ground, but even higher - on top of a viaduct.

 

Shadwell - DLR

 

The area immediately outside the two stations isn't particularly inspiring - just a few down at heel shops - but I've spotted a couple of places on the map that might be worth investigating.

 

The first is to the south east of the station and is called Shadwell Basin - part of the original London Docks and thus linked to the Thames.

 

Marathon preparations
underway

 

 

On my way there I spy various notices warning that several of the roads through the area will be closed off at  the weekend, as they form part of London Marathon route. I'd forgotten the marathon takes place at this time of year, and am grateful that I'm not traveling at the weekend. Thankfully my trips tend to take place during the relatively quieter hours of the week - after the morning rush hour finishes and before the evening one starts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Basin has been redeveloped from its origins as a working dock, and is now the location of the Shadwell Basin Outdoor Activity Centre, which runs courses in canoeing and sailing for both children and adults.

 

Shadwell Basin

 

There are modern apartments surrounding the water, and - at the end nearest the river - a rolling-type  'Bascule' bridge.

 

Bascule Bridge

 

'Bascule' is the French word for see-saw, and a Bascule bridge is any of the various types of 'draw-bridge' that can be raised out of the way of passing ships (Tower Bridge is of course the most famous of these in London).

 

While some draw-bridges are move around a hinge or axle (as Tower Bridge does), the bridge here is of the 'rolling-type'  The whole bridge rolls back onto the curved end (shown above) as if on the tracks of a rocking-chair.

 

As always when I'm this close to the river I can't resist getting as close as possible to the water and enjoying the view as the mighty river flows past.

 

The Thames, looking as majestic as ever

 

The next local 'sight' I've decided to have a look at lies at the other end of a long road running east to west from Limehouse, past the stations at Shadwell, almost as far as Tower Hill.

 

This road is called Cable Street, and has its own place in the history of the area. It was the site of the 'Battle Of Cable Street' in 1936, in which anti-fascist groups prevented the Blackshirts led by Oswald Mosley from marching from Tower Hill, through the predominantly Jewish area of Shadwell, towards Aldgate. Barricades were set up about halfway along the street, and protesters clashed with both the police and the fascists, who were eventually forced to abandon the march.



Jack The Ripper Museum
Cable Street

'Long Liz' Plaque

The place I'm looking for played no part in the 'Battle', being tucked away down a side street to the south of Cable Street, but before I reach it I spot a small, but distinctive, building on the main road - styling itself the 'Jack The Ripper Museum'.

This museum opened in 2015 and was the cause of some controversy at the time, the founder having initially completed a planning application for a museum that would 'recognise and celebrate the women of the East End who have shaped history'.



This museum, while certainly recognising and celebrating certain women in history, has been seen as exploiting their unfortunate fate for salacious reasons.

There's a plaque above the entrance which mentions Elizabeth Stride (aka 'Long Liz') - one of the Ripper's victims - being taken to a nearby mortuary, which is a connection of sorts, though rather a tenuous one.

The thing that catches my attention, however, is the sign for the shop next door, advertising it as a 'Local Shop'.

Now, anyone who has seen and loved the TV programme 'The League Of Gentlemen', will surely raise a smile at these ominous words. And it also seems eminently appropriate that (in my imagination at least) the erstwhile proprietors of the Royston Vasey 'Local Shop' - Tubbs and Edward Tattsyrup - should set up a new establishment next door to a museum dedicated to a serial killer...

However, all this is diverting me from my main goal, which is to head down the tiny little back street called Graces Alley, to one of the last Music Halls still surviving in London.

Wilton's Music Hall

Wilton's Music Hall was built in the mid 19th Century and - following a few uncertain years and a recent campaign to save it from collapse, it now lives on as "the most important surviving early music hall to be seen anywhere... It is of outstanding architectural and archaeological significance" (The Theatres Trust).

Graces Alley, with the Music Hall on the right

These days it runs as an arts venue producing theatre, cabaret, opera, classical music and dance shows, as well as offering workshops for schools and other groups.

Having walked this far along Cable Street, I don't think it's worth retracing my steps back to Shadwell, so I head north instead, to Aldgate East and from there head westwards to my next stop - Shepherd's Bush.

***

Or, should I say, my next stops.

Shepherd's Bush - Underground

Yes - once again, the single listing 'Shepherd's Bush' on the tube map, actually refers to two stations next door to one another - an Underground and an Overground. (There's also a third station I'll be visiting here, but I'll come to that in a little while).

Shepherd's Bush - Overground

The original Underground station was - when it was opened in 1900 - the western terminus of the Central London Railway (later to become the Central Line), before this was extended to Ealing in 1920, while the Overground station used to be called Uxbridge Road station.

Both were completely refurbished in 2008 as part of the development which also gave this part of town the enormous (and about to get enormous-er) Westfield Shopping Centre. And like the shopping centre, both stations are now very modern in design - all gleaming glass and metal.

Westfield Shopping Centre

Both Westfield and the two stations are at the eastern end of the Uxbridge Road, which runs along the top edge of Shepherd's Bush Green.

 

Shepherd's Bush Green

 

The Green forms the focal point of Shepherd's Bush, and - historically - was the piece of common pasture which gave the area its name. This was where, in more rural times, shepherds taking their sheep to Smithfield Market would allow their flock to graze.

 

Roll up, roll up...

 

Currently it's being prepared to play host to the Moscow State Circus, though there are still enough patches of green to provide sunbathing spots for the locals in their lunch hour.

 

A pleasant spot for lunch...

 

At the western end of the Green is the third station in the area - Shepherd's Bush Market.

 

Shepherd's Bush Market

 

 

The Market

 

 

This Hammersmith & City Line station is, of course, named after the street-market located across the road from it (and which has been in permanent residence here since 1914), though prior to the 2008 redevelopment of the other two stations, it too was simply called 'Shepherd's Bush'.

 

 

 

The market has the usual collection of stalls, selling clothes, CDs, Groceries and so on, and seems to be doing a roaring trade.

 

 

 

For me, however, the most interesting thing at this end of the Green is to be found next door to the market, in what used to be the Shepherd's Bush Library.

 

Bush Theatre

 

The Bush Theatre opened in 1972, and was originally located in an upstairs room of The Bush pub, just around the corner at the junction of Goldhawk Road. It has always been a theatre that championed new writing, (actively welcoming unsolicited scripts) and receives nearly 2000 new play-scripts a year.

Next door to the theatre's previous home above the pub is another arts venue - the Shepherd's Bush Empire.

Shepherd's Bush Empire

Best known these days as a pop concert venue, it started life as a Music Hall (Charlie Chaplin appeared here in his early days), and was later turned into the BBC Television Theatre, where shows featuring live audiences (such as Crackerjack, The Generation Game, This Is Your Life and The Old Grey Whistle Test ) were recorded.

I complete a circuit of the Green by heading back to the Central Line station. From here it's now time to head on to my next destination - back over to the east of town, and Shoreditch.

***

Well, not quite...

Shoreditch High Street

The station itself, despite being named after Shoreditch High Street, is actually to the east of that street, and in Bethnal Green not Shoreditch. The two areas are side by side, though in different boroughs.

But what care I for arbitrary boundaries? I'm here to explore the area around the station in all its glory - and if I call it Shoreditch when I mean Bethnal Green, or Hackney when I mean Tower Hamlets, well, does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?

Let's find out...

The station - as I have pointed out - is to the east of Shoreditch High Street, which runs north to south through the area. Beginning my wanderings by heading even further east might seem odd, but there's a street I want to see, as it's become famous for its cosmopolitan buzz.

Brick Lane

'Brick Lane' -
in English, Bengali,
and (presumably)
Small Child-ese

Brick Lane has been predominantly a Bangladeshi since the middle of the 20th Century, and the various restaurants and food stalls at the market reflect this in the cuisine they offer, as do the street signs, which all feature a Bengali translation.

Both the East End in general and Shoreditch in particular have been enjoying something of a renaissance in recent years, with the 'hip and trendy' crowd (who would no doubt be horrified at the use of such out-dated words) moving in and setting up  'retro' shops, 'Speakeasy' style cocktail bars, and even (I kid you not) a Breakfast Cereal themed café. (This latter was the unfortunate victim of an 'anti-gentrification' attack in 2015, with paint being thrown at the windows.)

But then, this part of town has always had a touch of the avant-garde about it. It was just to the west of Shoreditch High Street, on Curtain Road, that the first (permanent) playhouse in England (called, imaginatively, 'The Theatre') was opened by James Burbage in 1576.

This was the theatre that - following a later dispute with their landlords - was dismantled by the actors and taken across the river to be rebuilt as 'The Globe'.

Shakespeare - a member of the company as well as a playwright - performed here, and it was the original 'Wooden O' mentioned in the opening speech of Henry V.

And that's it for Shoreditch I think. An odd mixture of crumbling and decrepit buildings, peeling paintwork and dingy back-streets - all housing ultra-trendy bars and restaurants, fashion outlets and art galleries.

Hey ho...

***

I hadn't originally planned on visiting any more stations after Shoreditch High Street, but it's still early enough in the afternoon to be able to squeeze one more in. And since the next one - Sloane Square - is (roughly) on my way home, it would seem silly not to do so.

Unusually for me, the first photo I take of the station is not of the entrance sign, but of the platforms as soon as I get off the train.

Down by the riverside...

More specifically, I'm taking a photo of the great big iron structure that crosses overhead from one side of the station to the other.

This is actually a large pipe, carrying the old River Westbourne - one of the many minor tributaries of the Thames - which was inconveniently in the way when they decided to build a station here.

Like several of the 'lost' rivers of London, the Westbourne hasn't really been lost at all, but simply built over.

It flows through pipes beneath the streets of West London from Hampstead in the north, via the Serpentine in Hyde Park, down to the Thames at Chelsea - though its route can be traced in names like Bayswater (originally 'Bayards Watering') and Knightsbridge (which originally crossed the Westbourne).

Above ground, (having now dutifully taken my photo of the station entrance) I am of course on the Square from which the station takes its name.

Sloane Square

Sloane Square is named after a certain Sir Hans Sloane - local resident, physician and collector of antiquities who - on his death in 1753 - bequeathed his vast collection 'to the nation', thus providing the initial exhibits of what would become the British Museum.

 

We're in one of the wealthiest areas of London here - on the borders of Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Belgravia. The term 'Sloane Ranger' was, during the eighties, a term of disparagement for the rich, young, upper-class socialites of the day. The buildings surrounding the Square are all very grand, and no doubt contain flats costing millions for a space the size of a small doormat.

 

One building is guaranteed to catch my eye, however - and it's another theatre.

 



The Royal Court



Like the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush (and, if you think about it, 'The Theatre' in Shoreditch) the Royal Court has built its well-deserved reputation on the staging of new writing.

 

 

The theatre was originally opened in 1870, though in a slightly different location. It was rebuilt on its present site in 1888, was used as a cinema for a while between 1935-1940 and eventually became the home of The English Stage Company in 1956.

 

It has seen the premieres of several notable and influential works, including those by John Osbourne, Arnold Wesker, Christopher Hampton, Howard Brenton, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Caryl Churchill, and - in 1973, in the tiny 63-seater upstairs studio - a 'schlock-horror' musical parody of old black and white B-Movies called 'The Rocky Horror Show', written by an out of work actor called Richard O'Brien.

 

The Square

 

At the other end of Sloane Square is the huge department store 'Peter Jones'. Now part of the John Lewis group, it was originally the business of Welsh draper - Peter Rees Jones - who came to London at the age of 24 and successfully expanded his original business from one small shop, to taking over 26 of the neighbouring properties. It is one of very few shops now owned by John Lewis to have been allowed to keep its original name.

 

Peter Jones



 



Sir Hans Sloane



I take a brief wander westwards along the Kings Road - another fashionable shopping area, though not for those whose credit cards are of a sensitive disposition - and turn left into Duke Of York Square. This is predominantly a collection of boutiques and restaurants but it does contain a statue of the man who gave his name to the area.

 



The Saatchi Gallery



Next door to the statue of Sir Hans is the Saatchi Gallery.

 

 

Started by businessman and collector Charles Saatchi in 1985, it has had various locations (in both North London and on the South Bank) before settling here in Chelsea in 2008.

 

 

This is another establishment that has given a name to up-and-coming artists - people like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin have been showcased by the gallery over the years.

 

As such it has seen a fair amount of controversy - works displayed have include a giant portrait of Moors murderess Myra Hindley, made from children's hand-prints, and also a portrait entitled The Holy Virgin Mary, which rested on two mounds of elephant dung. Both works were attacked both verbally and physically, and both were vehemently defended as 'free expressions of art' in campaigns led by other artists, actors, authors and politicians.

 

I don't feel the need to see what's on offer in the gallery today - it is now getting towards the end of the afternoon, and I think I've done enough for one day. A good day's Wombling to be sure, but a tiring one for these old bones of mine...

 

Until next time then - look after yourselves!