Kensington Gardens – strange chestnuts and up close at the Albert Memorial

Saturday 8th November was a glorious day weather-wise – a perfect day for the Lordy Lady Mayor's Show, but this year I had something else to do – I had an appointment at the Albert Memorial for another up close look at the Parnassus Frieze, this time not just as the final stop at the end of the tours we volunteers lead for The Royal Parks, but a site specific visit to find out more about the details and the people on the monument. 

I approached from Kensington High Street and entered the gardens at this little gate opposite Victoria Road (shown here in 2022):

As I veered to the right, heading towards the South Flower Walk, I happened to notice some strange conker-looking things on the grass at my feet. These were more shrivelled than the horse chestnut's globe-like shiny battle fruits, and the casings around the them were not thick and prickly but thin and almost smooth, segmented into three parts and very easy to remove. They certainly were not sweet chestnuts either as the leaves weren't right. I suspected these trees were likely from Asia.

Just as I was about to walk away, two adults and a child came up to me and asked me if I knew what the tree was and the child asked if she could eat the nuts. Ooh no, I said, best not, don't risk it. I thought about doing a reverse picture search, but the battery on my phone was down to the red section and I was keen to save the tiny bit of juice I had left for the Albert Memorial. I gave them my card and, picking up a half-cased nut to take away as reference, I told them I'd write it up here if I found out any info.

So here we are. I did try doing the reverse image search thing later that day when I was fully-charged. I got nowhere fast. It kept telling me it was a horse chestnut. If I searched using a pic of the leaves I got something else entirely. I gave up and decided to return to the task another day.

Two days later, on Monday evening, I was at a London Historians event. I got chatting to a nice couple and asked if they'd had a good evening seeing at this was the first time they'd attended. Chit chat chitty chat and, blow me down, if I hadn't just introduced myself to Greg Packman, who is the Arboricultural Officer for The Royal Parks! How have I not met this man before?! He's a walking talking tree encyclopaedia! So, of course, I asked him about my nut case and before I could get to the end of my sentence he'd interrupted me with "Indian Chestnut" – it turns out there's an avenue of these Aesculus indica trees along the edge of the road. 

Greg leads tree identification walks, workshops and events in the parks as listed in this Facebook page – I'll definitely be joining in soon. 

Back to Saturday... waving goodbye to the people by the tree, I passed Esme Percy's dog fountain near the closed toilets just beyond the cafe/kiosk and headed down the flower walk towards the Albert Memorial. 

Incidentally, why can't these toilets be reopened, or the ones at Hyde Park Corner for that matter? I have collected a lots of pics of public loos in the past two years – another topic lurking in my To Do folder).

At the memorial Barbara led us around the monument pointing out the many references before we went inside the gates and up the steps to get a good look at the frieze and other details that adorn this OTT monument, a memorial that Albert had said he most definitely didn't want, because all his efforts had never been about himself but for the betterment of the masses. I wonder if the plans for the revamp and additional statuary planned for St James's Park to commemorate our late Queen will also be a bridge too far, as I very much doubt she would have agreed to a blingy wedding tiara replacing the understated Blue Bridge that currently crosses the lake. 

Boob job?

What a lovely few hours. I told everyone on the tour that we lead guided walks every month in Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and St James's Park, yet I've since learned that only the former is available this side of January. Such a shame. However, other events are available on TRP website here, or join me for one of my own tours.

Broken glass and gas lamps on Horse Guards Road

I'm still writing about the zone between Horse Guards Parade*, St James's Park and The Mall, because there's so much to discover ins such a small space. Scroll down to see the previous posts. 

At the junction with The Mall there is a building known as the Admiralty Citadel. It's a bug lump covered in creeper.  At this time of year it's possible to see a panel affixed to its side telling us that it houses a dry riser inlet valve (amongst other things). 

In front of that there is a smaller building also covered in creeper looking like the big building had a baby, or a poo. Next to that, there's a tall skinny glass sculpture. This is the National Police Memorial. The water feature at the base has been removed (as per many other memorials near here) and the lights no longer illuminate it, but I actually now prefer it for its simplicity and the way that daylight seeps through and enhances its damaged and repaired corner sections, where different coloured glass has been inserted, resembling jewel-like slivers.

Nearby, within the pavement, I noticed a circular utility plate, approximately the same size as a coal hole cover plate, but bearing a design I have never seen anywhere else – three concentric rings of Jazz Age era letters that look like E D repeated.

A few metres along the path I found anther one, and then another and another, some of them almost obliterated by the road surface. I wondered what they were used for as they certainly weren't for the delivery of coal. 

I crossed over to the park side of the road and found another one very close to one of the huge gas lamps.

And then it hit me – Aha! yes! These plates must be access for either the gas feed or the electricity for the timers that power these impressive lanterns along Horse Guards Road which were installed during the rein of George V** 

The letterform on these plates is very Art Deco, a chunkier version of the 'Broadway' typeface, but what is the relevance of ED? Who was Ed?! It's more likely to signify something like Energy Department.

 

A GRV cipher on one of the lamp posts.

Any further info, please leave a comment or contact me via email: jane@janeslondon.com

*In an earlier post I wrote this as one word, horseguards, and queried whether this should have a possessive. Having just checked the a few maps, I only now discover that it's Horse Guards; two words with no indication of possession. No guards for a horse to wear. Nor does the horse do the guarding. Well, not alone, he has a guard on his back, the guard being a man, a soldier.  I'll stop now as I am confusing myself! 

**These lamps feature on my London by Gaslight guided tours which I will continue to offer into the late spring, starting at 8pm or later – let me know if you are interested.

Dick Whittington's Cat

Turn around turn around Lord Mayor of London.
For almost 700 years people have been relating the story about how young Dick Whittington was leaving London after realising the streets weren't actually paved with gold after all and, when climbing what is now Highgate Hill, he heard the sound of Bow bells calling him, predicting a bright future.
He is often depicted dressed like Errol Flynn in Robin Hood mode, carrying his meagre belongings tied in a handkerchief knotted onto a stick, accompanied by a cat, usually a black.
The Archway area has a few places named after the man which include the hospital and health centre and a park (see my last post). And it was whilst walking through the park last week that I thought to put this cat collection together.

The memorial to the story now sits just up from Magdala Avenue on Highgate Hill but as shown in this c1910 postcard the railed-in cat used to be sited outside the original Whittington and Stone public house on the corner of Macdonald Road. It stayed there well into the 1960s as shown by the third pic.

A fabulous view of Whittington Hospital's metal cat sculpture and beyond can be seen from the outpatients department. The Whittington and Cat public house on Highgate Hill has been converted into flats but branded lettering still hangs on for dear life. The last pic is of a lovely old toffee tin I gave my friend Jen as a present because she lives near here.

Three cats from Whittington Park, all very close to the main Holloway Road entrance; topiary, tiles and wall art.

Read about Dick Whittington here.

Update (Dec6th): My good friend Jen Pedler is now leading a marvellous guided tour all about Mr Whittington – 90-minutes long, starting and ending at Bank tube station. Booking here.

Wonderful Wellington Arch

Whenever I am at Hyde Park Corner I like to take a detour into the centre of the roundabout to see the marvellous memorials  including this magnificent one to The Duke of Wellington.

It was moved to its current position within the middle of  roundabout in the 1880s – wow – that must've been some huge wheelbarrow!
There is a museum within the 5-storey arch that used to be a tiny police station. Next time you are there be sure to pop in and check it out.
More info here.

John Maine's Sea Strata at Green Park Station, Piccadilly – Utter Filth!

In 2011 a marvellous work by John Maine was opened to the public. Wonderful carvings within the rock evoke fossilised rock and the rolling sea. I was really impressed with it. Well, I still am impressed by the artwork.
But six years on it's filthy, and that's far from impressive.

It's been looking icky like this for at least the past year. Hardly a nice welcome for people entering the Royal Park behind. A plate within the pavement shows that this is Transport For London's private property.
Come on  TfL, get your jet washers out please.
John Maine's subtle pieces are inspired by nature. His other London work includes the war memorial within Islington Green.

More filth here.

Bomber Command memorial unveiled today

Over 55,000 bomber pilots died during WWII and finally a fitting memorial has been erected at Hyde Park Corner to remember their loss and achievement, and a service takes place at noon today attended by the Queen.

Up until about a week ago I had no idea about today's events whatsoever until a friend mentioned it in passing, saying he would be attending the ceremony with his father. Luckily he brought it to my attention and has since written about it on his blog.

There must be many others like me, who rarely open a newspaper, and are not related to veterans or people in the services, who were equally in the dark about all this until they saw or heard a news item about it this morning. 

Had I known earlier I think I would have rearranged my diary to be able to witness the event and see these proud survivors in person. After all, these men and women put their lives on the line for us. 

At least I will be able to watch the recorded highlights on BBC TV later today.

The Bomber Command site is packed full of lots more information.

[No picture montage] 

Update: Here's Malcolm's post event post.
During the ceremony a Lancaster bomber flew over Green Park and dropped thousands of red poppies. I noticed that the wind was blowing northwards and so those poppies did not fall over the park and memorial below, but drifted all the way to the streets of East Finchley, N2.