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Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey photos
Displaying the first of 1 old photos of Westminster Abbey. View all Westminster Abbey photos
Westminster Abbey maps
Historic maps of Westminster Abbey and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Westminster Abbey maps
Westminster Abbey area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Westminster Abbey and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Westminster Abbey
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Greater London memories
The Bank of England
The "Bank" has occupied this site since the late seventeenth century. Although you cannot see from either this view or indeed from the street, there is an exquisite garden and lawn in the centre! The Bank underwent an extensive building programme between the time of this photograph and the second world war. There are now five floors and also three levels of vaults (I do hope that I am not giving away any secrets here!). I started my career in banking with The Bank of England in 1963. It was quite awe inspiring as a teenager to enter the massive front door being held open by a top hatted "Bank Messenger" dressed smartly in a pink coloured morning coat. He would gently tip the brow of his top hat and say "Good Morning Sir!". He only raised his topper when the Governor entered! Relics of the very early 1900's still remained in the Bank when I began work in 1963. Many of the vaults had telephones installed and unbelievably these... Read more
London,Piccadilly Circus 1951-1955
I was a young Constable in the year 1951, and fresh from Peel House, Westminster was assigned tio the Savile Row station known as CD. I lived at the Section House on Broadwick Street, Soho named after Lord Trenchard. Many times I was assigned to Piccadilly Circus, on the early turn or at 5pm to 1am for a two week period. There was the box attached to and adjacent to the stairs to the Piccadilly Tube Station and at the corner of Swan and Edgar Store. When the blue light flashed I answered the call from the station to go on details in the vicinity. Most times for street photographers. I was stationed there the day Christie was arrested for the murders at 10 Rillington Place, and for sometime during the Coronation festivities, the lines-up were around the corner from my position and on to Regent Street. After serving on the Met., I emigrated to Canada and served for 34 years from 1955-1989. My memories of the 1952 'Killer Fog'... Read more
Early Career Memories at Piccadilly Circus.
I started my career in January 1959 as a young bobby at West End Central Police Station Savile Row. The trestles positioned to the east of 'Eros' which cordon off the road suggest the photograph was taken when the Piccadilly one-way system was being introduced. I remember the elegant stonework of the County Fire Office benefited from the recently enacted 'Clean Air Act'. Much of the grimey architecture in the area was scrubbed by a water process from scaffolding usually by a firm called 'Szezelmy' (or a very similar spelling). Just right of the 'Skol' advert the low hoarding hides a wartime bomb site. Just around that corner was the Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street where many stars of radio and stage began their careers. In the early 60's (before the introduction of police pocket radios) there was a 'police post' near the traffic light bottom left of your picture. A PC was detailed to stand near the post. He usually stood close to the display window of 'Swann... Read more
George Inn
I was general manager of the George Inn from 1984 to 1998. I made many friends in the Borough, it was like a small village.
1960's
The George Inn in Southwark was one of the favourite watering holes and eating houses for the young men of the accounts department of Borax Consolidated Ltd. in Victoria. In those days the serving wenches were all dressed in Dickensian costume and we would order a steak and kidney pudding. I don't mean individual puddings but a large one set in the middle of the table which were of scrubbed pine. It was terrific food and the atmosphere was great. Sadly the atmosphere is no longer the same. Such is life.
A Day Around London
The day rock 'n' roll singer Eddie Cochran was killed, I went around London and had my picture taken on Eros, then in the evening I went with my friend to see Adam Faith on stage. It was a sad day because of the death of Eddie C. but we did enjoy Adam F.
I also took a picture of a young 'bobby' which I still have to this very day.
I was a teenager at the time.
Great memories!
Under The Arches
I remember visiting this spot when I first moved to work in London. It is described in Nairn's London, as follows:-
" A very fine passage called The Arches runs underneath Charing Cross station from Villiers Street to Craven Street. The steps at the western end announce a different world. Hungerford Lane; and this is like meeting a person five hundred years old. It starts by the Wimpy Bar in Villiers Street, and ends opposite the Strand Corner House. In between there are Piranesian brick vaults tunneled into the foundations of the station, and a crevasse running uphill to the Strand, embroidered with wine vaults and tiers of fire escapes. Where it passes under The Arches, there is just one grating - linking the underworld with the overworld which is itself under the bustle of the trains to suburban Kent. Once experienced, this threefold relationship is the kind of thing that nails you to a place. The New Towns will never have it in a thousand years."
I... Read more
