Churches, Music, Architecture, Presentations: London Has It All

Our morning yesterday started with a lie-in and then an Ocean Cruising Club get-together on Lema, a beautiful sailing ship from Barnstable, Massachusetts, docked nearby. My shopping expedition yesterday was a failure. Unfortunately, the shops are no longer offering clothing for cold weather; everywhere there were summer dresses and other clothing. I purchased a black cashmere sweater, but it turned out to be too big, so I wore my flowered black summer dress with a cream-colored sweater in the evening. 

My afternoon out was not a total waste, however. I stopped in two churches nearby. The first was All Hallows Church By-the-Tower, a Medieval Anglican structure which is the oldest church in the City of London, founded in 675 AD. (Some research questions this claim.) The church owes its survival of the Great Fire of 1666 to Admiral William Penn (father of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania) who had his men from a nearby naval yard blow up the surrounding buildings to create firebreaks. During the Great Fire, Samuel Pepys climbed the church's tower to watch the progress of the blaze and what he described as "the saddest sight of desolation." Pepys, along with Penn, was a member of the Navy Board and was instrumental in advising King Charles II to pull down buildings to create firebreaks during the Great Fire. The Church was severely damaged during the Blitz but was reconstructed and rededicated in 1957.

Windows of All Hallows By-the-Tower Church

Interior, All Hallows By-the-Tower Church

The other church I stopped in was the Guild Church of St. Margaret Pattens. This church is first recorded as a congregation in 1067. The current building was designed by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire destroyed the 1538 structure and was completed in 1687. It became a guild church rather than a parish church in 1954. The deep pink ceiling contrasting with the white walls and dark wood is stunning. There is also a display of pattens in the narthex of the church. The church's name is traditionally said to derive from wooden-soled overshoes, later soled with raised iron rings, that, as elsewhere, parishioners would be asked to remove on entering the church. These raised shoes enabled people to walk about the streets of London without muddying their feet. Items shown included iron ring pattens, a pair of inlaid ivory pattens as well as a beautiful pair of brocade shoes with matching pattens. 

The Guild Church of St. Margaret Pattens

Pattens on display at the Guild Church of St. Margaret Pattens

I returned to the boat, Peter and I had a quick early dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and dressed to go to the Royal Academy of Science for our friend Roger Highfield's presentation entitled "Battle for Reality: Why Science Matters in an Age of Misinformation." He recently received the The Royal Society David Attenborough Award and Lecture for outstanding public engagement with science. We met Liz there and joined her in the "invited guests" section (which we were not expecting) of the hall. Roger's speech was both informative and thought-provoking. After the speech and the presentation of the award, invited guests joined together for a lovely reception in another room, enjoying wine, canapés and interesting conversation. 

Liz, Roger, Rich and Peter at the reception after Roger's speech (They were all housemates in Oxford.)

Today (Thursday, April 23) has mostly been spent on the boat. Peter is laboriously sourcing materials for the bimini cover, experiencing a lot of frustration. I went out for a couple hours this afternoon to return the cashmere sweater and do some sight-seeing. Liz has very thoughtfully lent me a London City Walks guidebook and I used it to learn more about the City of London. The Monument to the Great Fire was the first stop. Along Lower Thames Street, I admired architect Horace Jones's Billingsgate Fish Market (no longer operating as such) then passed by the hall of the Guild of Waterman and Lightermen. Built in 1780, it is the only remaining original Georgian Hall in the City. Next on the walk was the ruined nave of St. Dunstan. The church was destroyed on May 10, 1941, by the Germans and, since it did not have a parish, was never rebuilt.

The Monument

Guild of Waterman and Lightermen

St. Dunstan's nave ruins

I attended a one-hour lunchtime concert at St. Olave Hart Street Church. The concert, featuring a soprano and a pianist, included works by Schuman, Chopin, Ravel and Weil. 

Pianist and soprano at St. Olave Hart Street Church

This church is where Samuel Pepys and his wife Elizabeth worshipped and are buried. He is most well-known for the secret diary he kept in the 1660s. It was discovered and decoded in the early 19th century. It is one of the most important primary sources of the Stuart Restoration. Pepys's diary provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Anglo-Dutch War and the Great Fire of London. 

A gateway, with its tympanum carved with skulls and crossbones, leads into the small churchyard which is planted with medicinal herbs. (The gateway prompted Charles Dickens to call the church St. Ghastly Grim.) Pepys had an entrance to his pew built into the wall (now bricked over) so that he could go directly from his office to church without getting wet. His nearby home burned during the 1666 Fire.

Tympanum over the gateway to St. Olave Hart Street Church

Now it's time to make a late dinner. More of London adventures tomorrow!