Clerkenwall Walk

Sunday in Clerkenwell – pronounced Clarkenwell. This part of the borough of Islington gets its name from a well in Farringdon Lane where clerks from the city performed plays. A few years ago I had done a walking tour with the SJWWC Neighborhood in a Nutshell group through Clerkenwell and had finally returned to show Jeff a part of London he had not visited before. We took the tube to Blackfriars and stopped in at the Blackfriars Pub to have a drink and admire the art deco décor (he had a pint, I didn’t!)! In addition to the Nutshell Guide, we were using the book American Walks in London by Richard Tames. Chapter 4 is called The Shadow of St. Paul’s: Blackfriars to Monument. We began by finding the Apothecarie’s Hall on Blackfriar’s Lane but also found down a small lane off the square a barbershop with a great sense of humour! We then walked the short distance to Ludgate Hill. Ye Olde London was once the London Coffee House, a gathering place for Americans since Ben Franklin’s time. No, we didn’t stop in for a drink! Instead we turned in Old Bailey and had a look at the Central Criminal Court (yes – the Old Bailey!). The Newgate prison use to stand on this site. William Penn was tried here in 1670 for preaching to an unlicensed assembly (he got off eventually!). Across the street from the old Bailey is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre without Newgate. To me, the interesting thing about this church is that it was the traditional starting off point for knights setting out on a crusade. The ending point of the crusade would be the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Also, in the church graveyard is the resting place of Captain John Smith. Our next plan was to head to the Ye Old Mitre on 1 Ely Court, founded in 1546 to serve the needs of the servants of the Bishop of Ely. To Jeff’s great disappointment it is closed on the weekends! We headed to Farringdon Station to meet up with our daughter Carrie and waited in a pub called the Castle across the road. Here Jeff switched to wine, I had a winter Pimm’s and when Carrie arrived we had a pub lunch (a cottage pie and some lovely sausage and mash!) Carrie should have had better walking shoes on as we went up to the Clerk’s Well on Farringdon Lane, Exmouth Market and then found our way back down St. John’s St to St. John’s Lane. Here we found St. John’s Gate (built in 1504) the home of the Priory of the Knights of St. John - the Knights Hospitallers and of the ambulance corp of the same name. We went down Britton St. looking for the Jerusalem Pub. The Jerusalem is named after the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem and the current building dates from around 1720. It is supposedly one of the finest pubs in London and also closed on Sunday! We stopped a Starbucks by the Smithfield Market for coffee and a break and then pushed onto Charterhouse Square. To my amazement a building on this site was Hercule Poirot’s Whitehaven Mansions. No one else really cared! But I was excited! In the home stretch of our walk we headed through Cloth Fair to St. Bartholomew the Great Church (used in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral) to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and a plaque commerating William Wallace. We had quite a discussion on the subject of hanged, drawn and quartered. As the sunlight was fading we entered Postman’s Park and had a look at the tiles with inscriptions of heroics deeds and escaped before we were almost locked in for the night. On Little Britain St. we had a look at the statue of Sir Rowland Hill, inventor of the pre-paid, adhesive postage stamp (why not?) and made our last stop near St. Paul’s at the Paternoster (more wine!) to catch the dying minutes of the Ireland vs. France rugby game (too bad for Ireland!). It was 5pm and there is more to the walking tour in the American Walks book but I went home to take a nap! Today was another reminder of how much there is discover in London.