Bridget's London Tours

For those of you with limited time.

A comprehensive drive around tour of all the major sites in London with a brief historical overview and photo stops.

More Information:

St Paul’s Cathedral:

The area immediately surrounding the Cathedral to include a walk across the Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern. (the views of London are fantastic)

The current Cathedral – the fourth to occupy this site – was designed by the court architect Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1675 and 1710 after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.

Its architectural and artistic importance reflect the determination of the five monarchs who oversaw its building that London’s leading church should be as beautiful and imposing as their private palaces.

Since the first service was held here in 1697, Wren’s masterpiece has been where people and events of overwhelming importance to the country have been celebrated, mourned and commemorated. Important services have included the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill; Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the launch of the Festival of Britain; the Service of Remembrance and Commemoration for the 11th September 2001: the 80th and 100th birthdays of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Lady Diana Spencer and, most recently, the thanksgiving services for both the Golden Jubilee and 80th Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen.

St James:

Royalty, past fashion with 18th century squares and green parks.

With its royal, political and literary associations, St James’s Park is at the very heart of London and covers 23 hectares (58 acres). With a lake harbouring ducks, geese and pelicans. St James’s is also home to the Mall, the setting for many ceremonial parades and events of national celebration.

The Inns of Court:

The Royal Courts of Justice, the birthplace of the the dictionary, Samuel Johnson and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The ICSL was founded by the Council of Legal Education in 1852. Before that time the Inns of Court were responsible for the education of young barristers. There was call during the nineteenth century for the education of barristers to be unified and thus the Council of Legal Education was formed and ICSL founded. Since 2001 the ICSL has been affiliated with and administered by City University.

When the ICSL was first created, each of the four Inns of Court were required to each provide two rooms for the school. Until just after the second world war the ICSL was located in Lincoln’s Inn. In the 1950s a purpose built building was built at 4 Gray’s Inn Place within Gray’s Inn and the school relocated there. Shortly after that Atkin Building in Gray’s Inn was secured and then in the 1980s a further building was acquired for the ICSL in Princeton street.

Westminster:

Houses of Parliament, The origins of Parliament go back to the 12th century, when King’s councils were held involving barons and archbishops. They discussed politics and were involved in taxation and judgments. Over time, these councils took a more formal role and saw knights representing each county. This was the beginning of a Commons element in Parliament. The word ‘Parliament’ was used to describe these meetings by the early 13th century.

Big Ben,The name Big Ben is often used to describe the tower, the clock and the bell but the name was first given to the Great Bell. 1859 was the beginning for all three elements when the Clock Tower was completed, the Great Clock started on 31 May and the Great Bell’s chimes were heard for the first time on 11 July.

Westminster Abbey, Westminster Abbey is steeped in more than a thousand years of history. Benedictine monks first came to this site in the middle of the tenth century, establishing a tradition of daily worship which continues to this day. The Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066 and is the final resting place of seventeen monarchs. The present church, begun by Henry III in 1245, is one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country, with the medieval shrine of an Anglo-Saxon saint still at its heart.

The Thames, There is evidence of human habitation living off the river along its length dating back to Neolithic times. The British Museum has a decorated bowl (3300-2700 BC), found in the River at Hedsor, Buckinghamshire and a considerable amount of material was discovered during the excavations of Dorney Lake. A number of Bronze Age sites and artifacts have been discovered along the banks of the River including settlements at Lechlade, Cookham and Sunbury-on-Thames. Some of the earliest written accounts of the Thames occur in Julius Caesar’s account of his second expedition to Britain in 54BC when the Thames presented a major obstacle and he encountered the Iron Age Belgic tribes the Catuvellauni and the Atrebates along the river.

The Museum of Garden History, The Garden Museum (formerly the Museum of Garden History) aims to become the leading national venue for exhibitions and debate on gardens and garden design. We opened our doors on Tuesday 18 November 2008 having undergone a dramatic transformation. While the historic structure remains untouched, we welcome visitors to a newly designed interior with a sequence of individual spaces for exhibitions, the permanent collection, education, café and shop. For the first time a selection from our collection of work on paper is on display; and we begin a series of temporary exhibitions with “Beth Chatto: a Retrospective”. In the words of our Director, Christopher Woodward, our aim is to capture ‘the garden zeitgeist.’

Covent Garden:

Trafalgar Square with its 19th Century Lions, From the 14th to the late 17th century, much of the area occupied by Trafalgar Square was the courtyard of the Great Mews stabling, which served Whitehall Palace. In the early 18th century, the mews was put out of use by the Royal Household and the area was cleared. In 1812 the architect John Nash set about developing a new concept for the space as part of his improvement plans for London. He wanted to develop ‘a new street from Charing Cross to Portland Place … forming an open square in the Kings Mews opposite Charing Cross’. He wanted the space to be a cultural space, open to the public. In 1830, it was officially named Trafalgar Square.

The Strand, The modern Strand follows the course of Akeman Street, a Roman road running parallel to the river, towards Chiswick from Roman London. Together with Aldwych, it has been a major settlement area since Saxon times outside of the old Roman city walls. In the Middle Ages it became the principal route between the separate settlements of the City of London (the civil and commercial centre) and the Royal Palace of Westminster (the national political centre). In the archaeological record, there is considerable evidence of occupation to the north of Aldwych, but much along the former foreshore has been covered by rubble from the demolition of the Tudor Somerset Place, a former Royal residence, to create a large platform for the building of the first Somerset House, in the 17th century.

The National Gallery, Ever since its conception in 1824, the ‘much loved friend’ in Trafalgar Square has been part of national life to an extent unmatched by any other great museum. Established, housed and maintained directly by their representatives in parliament, the British gallery was always owned by the people. And they exercised their ownership rights in ways that could surprise and confound the Trustees and staff charged with the Gallery’s administration: from Victorian working-class matrons enjoying gin-fuelled picnics to the postwar teenagers who made Trafalgar Square their ‘snogging shop’.

Bloomsbury:

The British Museum,The origins of the British Museum lie in the will of the physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Sloane wanted his collection of more than 71,000 objects, library and herbarium to be preserved intact after his death. He bequeathed it to King George II for the nation in return for payment of £20,000 to his heirs. If refused, the collection was to be offered to centres of learning abroad. A large and influential group of Trustees was charged with overseeing the disposition of his estate.

Dickens House, A history museum is a place where historical artifacts are displayed and exhibited, people will attend a history museum often to learn about a particular historical period for educational purpose or simply because they are interested. History museums are frequently found in towns, cities and other areas that have a significant historical background, an ideal example of location where a history museum is likely to be found would be ancient ruins, or possibly the sight of an archeological dig.

The Bloomsbury Group, The Bloomsbury Group was an English collectivity of friends and relatives who lived in or near London during the first half of the twentieth century. Their work deeply influenced literature, aesthetics, criticism, and economics as well as modern attitudes towards feminism, pacifism, and sexuality. Its best known members were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, and Lytton Strachey.

Greenwich:

Maritime History, Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) is still very much alive in the popular consciousness 400 years after her death. She has been portrayed in numerous films, been the subject of countless books, and in 2002 was voted one of Britain’s top ten ‘Great Britons’ by BBC TV viewers. The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, England, hosted a major international exhibition to commemorate the 400th anniversary of her death and to celebrate her life. In the words of historian Dr David Starkey, guest curator of the Elizabeth exhibition: “Elizabeth is extraordinary. She looks extraordinary. She behaves in an extraordinary way. And, as a woman moving so effortlessly in a man’s world, she is doubly extraordinary.”

Christopher Wren, Wren was born at East Knoyle[1] in Wiltshire, the only surviving son of Christopher Wren DD (1589-1658), at that time the rector of East Knoyle and later Dean of Windsor. A previous child of Dr Wren, also named Christopher, was born on 22 November 1631, and had died the same day. John Aubrey’s confusion of the two persisted occasionally into late twentieth-century literature.

The Meridian Line, The Meridian Line is an imaginary line which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole. By international convention it runs through “the primary transit” instrument (main telescope) at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. It is known at Zero Longitude and it is the line from which all other lines of longitude are measured. This includes the line that runs 180° away from Greenwich also known as the International Date Line. There have been many meridian lines during the course of history including 9 lines at Greenwich!