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Battlefield
History Tours |
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From London, where our group have gathered for tomorrow we start on our Cathedrals and Abbeys of England Tour.
London has much to offer when one visits and has prepared and decided where to go and what to see. One could spend many days looking at the history of this great old city or with only limited time aim for selected areas that one has researched. As our group gathered some headed of with their pre-planned programme. Frank headed to Cambridge where he visited quite a number of the Colleges and Andrew and I headed into London.
Alighting from the Tube at Temple Station we made our way up to the Strand where we saw Australia House and then across the road we visited St Clements Danes Church. St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current building was completed in 1682 by Sir Christopher Wren.
On 10 May 1941 during the last, and perhaps one of the heaviest, air raids of the Blitz St. Clement Danes was badly damaged. Only the outer walls, tower and steeple survived the bombing.
Following an appeal for money by the Royal Air Force the church was completely rebuilt and re-consecrated on 19 October 1958. It became the spiritual heart of the Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force.
After visiting the St Clements Danes Church we head up to Trafalgar square with its great Memorial to Nelson following his victory at Trafalgar. On the way we visited Somerset House which has been recently refurbished and is now London's Working Arts Centre. Some of the pubs in London are festooned with flowers outside their premises, one such pub is the Wellington. Near the Wellington we saw the Lyceum theatre which is playing The Lion King. The Lyceum Theatre is one of many in the area that has plays and musical shows playing at the present.
From there we made our way out onto Waterloo Bridge and as we crossed we were able to view the river, view Parliament House and St Paul's Cathedral. While on the bridge we saw approaching us up the river some very troublesome weather so we hurried on and retraced our steps back over the bridge.
We were heading to see Convent Garden and passed by St Martins in the Field before reaching Convent Gardens. The markets there were humming along. Marble Arch, Lunch at the Victory Services Club and then heading across Hyde Park followed.
Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace.
We continued our trek across the park towards Knightsbridge from where we intend to catch a tube back to Terminal 2. On the way across the Park we passed around the Serpentine which is a small lake within the Park. Finally we entered the Tube Station for our journey to commence our return to our hotel. A big day, but more tomorrow as we start our plan and visit Winchester Cathedral.
Graham Fleeton
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