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Excerpts from 1,900 word article LONDON'S SECRET: IT'S A CITY OF VILLAGES
This is a city shaped by history from times when a small river settlement became England's walled capital. As the wall fell into ineffectual ruin, a series of villages attached themselves to the original community. Like squares on a vast patchwork quilt each is different from the rest. Some you will visit without recognizing them as villages. The City for example and Pimlico with Westminster Abbey and the Tate Gallery inside its boundaries. Others are remarkably countryfied, yet less than five miles from Marble Arch or Piccadilly. The following will give you a glimpse of the Londoner's London, the villages they would rather like to keep to themselves. All can be reached by tube or bus from central London. GREENWICH In case you know the name but not the face, I should tell you that Greenwich covers six square miles bordering the Thames, four miles east of St Paul's. The Docklands Light Railway will get you there in no time at all; a river boat is a pleasurable alternative. And I suggest you come early so you can spend the day, exploring this seafaring nation's rich maritime heritage safely stored here ... Some pretty important people have been associated with Greenwich over the years. Edward 1 was the first of many monarchs to live here. Henry V111 was born here, as were his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. James 1, in 1616, commissioned a new Greenwich residence which remains one of England's grandest architectural gems. Elizabeth 1 knighted Sir Frances Drake aboard the Golden Hind in neighbouring Deptford. Almost 400 years later Elizabeth used the same sword when knighting Sir Francis Chichester at Greenwich....
HAMPSTEAD
HIGHGATE Close to Hampstead but on even higher ground, Highgate has its own warren of alleys lined with tiny speciality shops. Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital while living in Highgate. A huge monolithic block with Marx's head upon it marks the spot where he is buried in the hilltop cemetery overlooking the city. Open daily and carefully tended by volunteers, the cemetery has pleasantly shaded paths among the plots.....
CHELSEA
The community's main thoroughfare is King's Road, built by Charles 11 to carry him from Whitehall to Hampton Court... RICHMOND Upriver from central London, Richmond has six square miles of park first enclosed by Charles 1 as a hunting ground. With red deer wandering in the park, and ducks waddling about the river, it is hard to believe this is only 30 minutes by tube from Westminster.... |
The American was plainly relieved to hear us
speaking English, here on King's Road where
two others before us hadn't understood his
question. We understood the question right
enough, and his confusion, but couldn't give
the requested directions to "downtown
London," because
there is no such
place. London has
its commercial
sector, West End
theatres and shops,
and landmarks around
which tourists
assemble in flocks.
But there is no real
core. Instead it is
made up of 20 or
more villages, and
Chelsea, in which we stood discussing this
phenomenon with the Albertan, is one of them.
Hampstead is a gentrified hideaway with the
800-acre Hampstead
Heath, in whose woods
badgers and foxes and
countless bird species
reside, just four miles
northwest of Marble
Arch ...
About halfway down
the Highgate Hill, the
Whittington Stone topped
by a bronze cat is
protected by an iron
cage. In the children's
tale Dick Whittington was
an ill-treated lad who
ran away from his harsh employer, but turned
back at the bidding of Bow Bells which
forecast his future as Lord Mayor of London.
In reality Richard Whittington was born to
wealth, and elected Lord Mayor of London
three times. His fortune was so great he made
substantial loans to Henrys 1V and V, and
died leaving it to charities or for public
use.
Chelsea's houseboats brighten that bland
stretch of the Thames by the celebrated
Cheyne Walk. An area still attractive to
artists and writers, it
has had George Elliot,
A.A. Milne, Henry James,
Dylan Thomas and Thomas
Carlisle as residents.
