London by Pinhole Photography
St Paul’s Cathedral The present church dating from the late 17th century was built to the design of Sir Christopher Wren, as part of a major rebuilding program which took place in the city after the Great Fire of London.
Westminster Abbey Parts of the Abbey date back to 1245 when it began onstruction by Henry III who had selected the site for his burial. An interesting story surrounding Westminster Abbey is the story of Ben Jonson (1572-1637). Ben Jonson was a playwrite who is buried in the abbey in an unusual way. Jonson, although a successful playwright, was not a good business man and therefore spent much of his life in poverty. Towards the end, he had discussed funeral plans with the dean of Westminster who had agreed Jonson a small two feet by two feet area in the abbey where he presumed a small memorial would be placed, as Jonson could not afford to be buried in the usual 6 feet by two feet manner. In fact when the time came, Jonson was buried in the abbey, he achieved this by arranging for himself to be bured upright. It was considered to be his final joke.
Trafalgar Square At the centre of Trafalgar Square is Nelson’s Column, which can be seen in two of the pinhole images. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square including the four lion statues at the base of Nelson’s Cloumn. The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars over France. In the photo pictured below of Trafalgar Square taken from a different angle shows the National Gallery. The National Gallery is an art museum founded in 1824 which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. On the right hand side of the image directly below, a faint image of St Brides Church can also be seen. The building’s most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 on Fleet Street. The tiered spire is said to have been the inspiration for the design of modern tiered wedding cakes.
Hyde Park Corner The first image shows a combination of two interesting structures. The first is Constitution Arch (or Wellington Arch), designed by Decimus Burton as a memorial to the Duke of Wellington and originally providing a grand entrance to London. Originally the arch was topped with an equestrian statue of the Duke by Matthew Cotes Wyatt, but it was replaced with the current work, The Angel of Peace descending on the Quadriga of Victory (1912) by Adrian Jones. The second is Apsely House, also known as Number One, London, because it was the first house encountered from the countryside after passing the tollgates at the top of Knightsbridge. It is the former London townhouse of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner and is a grade I listed building.
Hardy’s Tree Before turning to writting full time Thomas Hardy studied srchitecture in London. During the 1860’s the Midland Railway line was being built over part of the St Pancras Churchyard and Hardy was asked to supervise the proper exhumation of human remains and dismantling of tombs from the land. It was decided that the headstones from the graves were to be placed around this Ashtree which has continued to grow, intertwining with the stones.
Cardinals Wharf Between the Globe Theatre and the bridge there are a few houses that most people don’t notice. These are known as Cardinals Wharf and the house pictured with the red door to the right, is where Sir Christopher Wren stayed to watch his masterpiece take shape directly across the river. It is thought that it was this house specfically that he chose, because he felt it had the best view of the cathedral.
Vauxhall Bridge Completed in 1906, Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II listed steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London. The designers of the bridge included a series of sculptures along each side of the bridge which can only be seen from a side on view. Each sculpture represents a different theme including science, education, fine arts, agriculture, pottery & engineering, sculpture and local government. Among them can be seen a mini St. Paul’s. This particular pinhole photo has merged itself with an image of Apsley House.
The Necropolis Railway The London Necropolis Railway was a trainline devoted to the dead. It was opened in 1854 as a reaction to severe overcrowding in London’s existing graveyards and cemeteries. It aimed to use the recently-developed technology of the railway to move as many burials as possible to the newlybuilt Brookwood Cemetery in Brookwood, Surrey by transporting bodies, coffins and mourners. This location was within easy travelling distance of London, but distant enough that the dead could not pose any risk to public hygiene. The original site was at Waterloo Bridge Station, however, in 1899 the location of the terminus was blocking the expansion of Waterloo station and so was relocated to Waterloo Bridge Road in 1902. This is the site that the image opposite has been taken of.