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    The Fascination of London: The Strand
    The Fascination of London: The Strand
    The Fascination of London: The Strand
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    The Fascination of London: The Strand

    By Walter Besant

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    The Fascination of London' was a series of guide books written by Sir Walter Besant and G. E. Mitton about various different areas of London. This book is about the Strand District, the historical district that used to surround 'The Strand', the road that now runs from Trafalgar Square to Fleet Street but historically was far longer.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAUK Classics
    Release dateJun 15, 2012
    ISBN9781781664995
    The Fascination of London: The Strand
    Author

    Walter Besant

    Walter Besant (1836–1901) was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire and studied at King's College, London. He would later work in higher education at Royal College, Mauritius, where he taught mathematics. During this time, Besant also began his extensive writing career. In 1868 he published Studies in Early French Poetry followed by a fruitful collaboration with James Rice, which produced Ready-money Mortiboy (1872), and The Golden Butterfly(1876). Besant’s career spanned genres and mediums including fiction, non-fiction, plays and various collections.

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      The Fascination of London - Walter Besant

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      PREFATORY NOTE

      A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the past - this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he died.

      As he himself said of it: This work fascinates me more than anything else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I find something fresh in it every day.

      He had seen one at least of his dreams realized in the People's Palace, but he was not destined to see this mighty work on London take form. He died when it was still incomplete. His scheme included several volumes on the history of London as a whole. These he finished up to the end of the eighteenth century, and they form a record of the great city practically unique, and exceptionally interesting, compiled by one who had the qualities both of novelist and historian, and who knew how to make the dry bones live. The volume on the eighteenth century, which Sir Walter called a very big chapter indeed, and particularly interesting, will shortly be issued by Messrs. A. and C. Black, who had undertaken the publication of the Survey.

      Sir Walter's idea was that the next two volumes should be a regular and systematic perambulation of London by different persons, so that the history of each parish should be complete in itself. This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one in which he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of this section to warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in the meantime it is proposed to select some of the most interesting of the districts and publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to the local inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the interest and the history of London lie in these street associations. For this purpose Chelsea, Westminster, the Strand, and Hampstead have been selected for publication first, and have been revised and brought up to date.

      The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great, for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying charm of London - that is to say, the continuity of her past history with the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain. The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who loved London and planned the great scheme. The work fascinated him, and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links between past and present in themselves largely constitute The Fascination of London.

      G. E. M.

      PART I

      WEST AND NORTH OF CHARING CROSS

      Beginning at the extreme westerly limit of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, on the south side of Hyde Park Corner, we find ourselves in the Green Park. This is a triangular piece of ground, which was formerly called Little or Upper St. James's Park. It has not much history. In 1642 fortifications were erected on Constitution Hill, and at the end of the seventeenth century this same spot was a noted place for duels. Fireworks on a great scale, with public entertainments, took place in the park at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and again in 1814. On Constitution Hill three attempts were made on the life of Queen Victoria. The chief object of interest in the park is Buckingham Palace, which is not altogether in St. Martin's; in fact, the greater part, including most of the grounds, is in the adjacent parish of St. George's, Hanover Square. The palace is a dreary building, without any pretence of architectural merit, but it attracts attention as the London home of the English Sovereign.

      It stands on the site of Arlington House, so called from its connection with Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington (the Earl whose initial supplied one of the a's in the word Cabal). John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, bought the house and rebuilt it in 1703, naming it after himself, and including in the grounds part of the land belonging to Tart Hall, which stood at the head of St. James's Street, and has been mentioned in the account of the adjoining parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster. Buckingham House was bought from Sir Charles Sheffield, son of the above-mentioned Duke, by the Crown in 1762. In 1775 it was granted to Queen Charlotte as a place of residence in lieu of Somerset House, and at this period it was known as Queen's House. George IV. employed Nash to renovate the building, and the restoration was so complete as to amount to an entire rebuilding, in the style considered then fashionable; the result is the present dreary building with stuccoed frontage. The interior is handsome enough, and, like that of many a London house of less importance, is considerably more cheerful than the exterior. The chief staircase is of white marble, and the rooms are richly decorated. The state apartments include drawing-rooms, saloons, and the throne-room, which is sixty-four feet in length. The picture-gallery contains a collection of pictures made by George IV., chiefly of the Dutch school; it includes works of Rembrandt, Rubens, Vandyck, Dürer, Cuyp, Ruysdael, Vandervelde, and others.

      The grounds are about forty acres in extent, and contain a large piece of ornamental water, on the shore of which is a pavilion, or summer-house, with frescoes by Eastlake, Maclise, Landseer, Dyce, and others, illustrating Milton's Comus. The channel of the Tyburn, now a sewer, passes under the palace. The Marble Arch, at the north-east corner of Hyde Park, was first designed to face the palace, where it stood until 1850.

      The palace is partly on the site of the well-known Mulberry Gardens, a place of entertainment in the seventeenth century. These gardens originated in an order of James I., who wished to encourage the rearing of silkworms in England. This project, like many others of the same King, proved a failure, and the gardens were turned into a place of public recreation. The frequenters were of the fashionable classes, and came in the evening to sit in small arbours, and be regaled with cheesecakes, syllabubs, and wine sweetened with sugar. In this form the place was extremely popular, and is often mentioned in contemporary literature. Dryden came there to eat tarts with Mrs. Anne Reeve, and doubtless Evelyn and Pepys often strolled about in the gay crowd, a crowd much gayer than it would now be - in the matter of costume, at all events. The scene of The Mulberry Gardens, a play by Sir Charles Sedley (1668) is laid here.

      Stafford House, not far from St. James's Palace, and overlooking the Green Park, is now tenanted by the Duke of Sutherland. It was originally built for the Duke of York, brother to George IV., but he died before its completion. It stands on the site of an older building, called Godolphin House, and also occupies the site of the Queen's Library formed by Caroline, wife of George IV.

      St. James's Palace is divided into many sets of apartments and suites of rooms, and in this way resembles more the ancient than the modern idea of a palace. On its site once stood a hospital for fourteen leprous women, which was founded, as Stow quaintly says, long before the time of any man's memory. Maitland says

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