Highlights Cache discoveries, Museum of London and The Book of Mormon.

With a show booking for this evening, John opted to stay at Hammersmith and blob out while I went into the city. I had 2 aims, a cache I had been wanting to find and a visit to the Museum of London. They were not in that order of priority, but in order of doing because of transport and timing.

I took a late rush hour tube to Chancery Lane and for the first time met the instruction that the gates were open and people didn’t need to tag out if their next journey would be a return from the same station. I did because I had different plans.

I stopped here to find a virtual cache that was going to take me to a pub that opened in 1546. The listing, by the person who set the cache, describes it all.

I had no problems finding it because I knew what I was looking for, but it is certainly down a very narrow lane. Of course I was here far too early to see if the bars were as cosy as suggested but it was a real piece of history in the middle of new buildings.

The next stop was an unexpected highlight. The listing had suggested that a church also in the same area was worth a visit.

St Etheldreda's church was built around 1250 as a "double-decker" church ie one chapel on top of the other. It is a very interesting building which has survived the Great fire of London, the Reformation (Henry VIII), a direct hit from a bomb in the Blitz of the Second World War and every other threat to its existence. It is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the country and one of only two surviving buildings from the period of Edward I. The main chapel (upstairs) has the largest stained glass window in London. and downstairs (the crypt) has an interesting model of the original extent of the buildings around the church.

The street it is on is theoretically still part of Cambridgeshire although it was not clear in the listing why. However, there was a sign outside that said it is the Ancient Chapel of the Bishops of Ely, built 1250-1290 and restored to the old faith in 1874.

I had not read the listing in advance so the window was a very pleasant surprise. The church was open with only 2 others inside so it was a peaceful visit. One of the first things I saw was a statue of Mary with a plaque saying it was donated in memory of the Early Canterbury Settlers in New Zealand, so I thought of Pete and Ailsa. There were 2 large stained glass windows, as well as a series on the side walls, so I was delighted to have visited this church. I was even more pleased with my timing as there was a large tour group about to enter as I left.

My walk to the Museum of London then took me through the Smithfield Market area where there were streets like Poultry Lane, until I got to an area where the road was closed, with a number of people with fliers redirecting us all. It only added a minute or two to the trip.

I was keen to go the Museum of London, having good memories of how well it is set out from 20 years ago, visiting with the whole family. I also discovered after I arrived there were 2 caches based on information found here, so that added extra interest to parts.

The Museum is set out as a walk through London over time, starting before there were people here. I noticed older people were more interested in this part and displays of objects uncovered, often from dredging the Thames or in the process of rebuilding in the city. There were a few school groups here and they were more interested in the later galleries with more focus on people.

My highlights by Gallery

London before London: Flints and clubs from 3300 BC or earlier, Shepperton woman from 3600-3100 BC, coins from AD10.

Roman: The first bridge across the Thames at the same site as London Bridge and the reconstruction of the waterfront, various mosaics and seeing the London Wall out the window.

Medieval: A medieval St Paul’s Cathedral model of the building as in the 1320’s.

War, Plague and Fire: The Copper Plate Map, Great fire paintings, Playhouse information (I hadn’t realised that Shakespeare’s death marked the beginning of the end of London’s outdoor theatres).

Expanding City: The ladies fans, wide dresses, and a comparative of the lives of the rich and poor.

Victorian Walk: A series of shops etc with original fronts and fittings from buildings demolished in the 1960s, especially the glass showroom and stationers, which reminded me of Liz and her collections.

People City: An early motorisedTaxi, Charles Booth’s map of poverty ( he researched all areas of the city and colour coded them as semi criminal, very poor, poor, mixed, comfortable, well to do and wealthy).

World City: Seeing history I have lived through such as Mary Quant through to the London Olympics.

The cache based on the museum caused me a few issues at the end. I will just repeat my log. [SoBad is our caching name]

I then headed to find a couple of caches we had run out of time for on a previous trip. One was at Finsbury Circus, an elliptical open space where there were still people having late lunches or just sitting. The other was a few hundred metres away and the end of the cache based on the Kindertransport statue we saw at Liverpool St station when waiting for Katherine to take us up to the ‘Duck and Waffle’.

I tubed back to find John had had the peaceful day he wanted. Then we headed into Piccadilly by bus to go to ‘the Book of Mormon’. We had time before this for a light meal and a look at the souvenir shops (no purchases). Then we joined the long line to have a very token bag check, just in time to take our seats for the show.

I had heard that ‘the Book of Mormon’ was well worth seeing. Katherine said it is her favourite show but was not sure it would be to my taste although she thought John would enjoy it. She probably got it the wrong way around as I found it hilarious and John thought it was a bit odd, but enjoyable. He did find the theatre very hot near the end. It certainly was full.  ‘Les Mis’ is still my favourite show, but this would be up there, although ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ was better for me.

We bussed back to find Katherine waiting for her tea to be delivered. We had a catch-up about our various days (she had her last exam day today, and had after-work drinks) and then we went to bed.