Monopoly - Vine St

Monopoly orange square. £200.

The Jewish quarter of the East end. My secret find here was a section of the original London wall closed in the basement of the Metropolitan University on the corner of Vine and Jury Streets. I'll bring you more after further research of this quarter for you. One of my treasures on this trail.

Monopoly - Marlborough St

Monopoly orange square. £180.

This square differs depending on which monopoly board you are following. We are following the Ordnance Survey map see GO. This takes us over to SW3. An area of public housing since the beginning of the 20th century.
This apartment covered in hand prints caught my eye. The woman who lives here has fostered children most of her adult life. Currently fostering her 20th child, in 19 years. These prints are those of all those children. The star of our tour don't you think?

Monopoly - Bow Street

Monopoly Board orange square. £180.

Bow st runs along side the Royal opera House in Covent garden. An area steeped in history.
The first professional police forces originated here. In 1749 a group of just eight men known as the Bow St runners, a nickname they didn't like. They felt it a derogatory term. Working alongside the Bow St magistrates court they represented the first formalised and regulated policing. Finally disbanded in 1839.

Monopoly - Liverpool St Station

Monopoly Board £200.

One of London's busiest stations seeing 123 million people a year pass through.

This entrance to the station has a sculpture as a memorial to the 10,000 Jewish children who were brought to the UK a few months prior to the second World War from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Danzig. They were placed in foster homes, hostels and farms.

Monopoly - Northumberland Avenue

Monopoly pink square. £160.

A short street that runs between Trafalgar Square and Embankment.
The Earl of Northumberland built Northumberland house here in 1608. A grand place with gardens running down to the river.
The title for Duke of Northumberland was initially created in 1551. The title changed families three times, finally being awarded to the Percy family in 1766 where it currently remains.
The property on Northumberland Avenue was sold by the Percy family to the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1874 for the creation of the Northumberland Avenue.

Monopoly - White-Hall

Monopoly pink square. £140.

Whitehall is the road that runs from Westminster (houses of Parliament) to Trafalgar Square. Lined with government departments and ministries.

The horse guards about half way along Whitehall. Headquarters to the British Army's general staff since 1751, built on the site of the old Whitehall Palace that was destroyed by fire in 1698.

Thousands of tourists come to see the daily ceremony of changing horse guards, but not so many know about the museum here. Worth a visit, next time you are in town.

Monopoly - Electric Company

Monopoly Board £150.

What picture to give you for the electric company? Well I've posted Battersea power station a couple of times on this blog so I went searching for something different. I found Lots Road power station. Originally coal fired then later oil-fired. This station suits our monopoly tour as it was commissioned in 1905 to supply power to the trains as they changed from steam to electricity. At the time it was the largest power station ever built and powered most of the underground and continued until 2002. Now all the power comes from the national grid.

Monopoly - Pall Mall

Monopoly pink square. £140.

Paille Maille a game played in the 16th and 17th centuries, a little like croquet, was played here and hence the name Pall Mall.
These days home to several exclusive gentlemen's clubs.

Monopoly - Jail

Monopoly - Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect salary.
Throw a double to get out or have a get out of jail free card.

Pentonville prison was completed in 1842 and was a model for a further54 prisons built over the next 6 years.
Conditions vastly better and healthier than at Newgate, that is was designed to replace, although Newgate only closed in 1902. Condemned prisoners were now housed in a new wing at Pentonville. The last execution took place 6 July 1961.

Monopoly - Angel Islington

Monopoly blue Square. £100

The area commonly known as "The Angel" was named after an inn near a toll gate to the city on the corner of Islington High St and Pentonville Road in the Parish of Clerkenwell dating back to 1603.
Now the angel has wings.
The giant sculpture that stands in the shopping complex shown in the photo above is by Wolfgang Buttress. The winning entry in the National Architect Foundation competition in 2003.

Monopoly - Pentonville Road

Monopoly blue Square. £120.

Pentonville Road forms part of the inner ring road of London, running /east from Kings Cross to Angel Islington. One of the busiest roads in the city. This stretch is looking down to Kings Cross station.
If you've just popped in to this blog, we are currently on a tour of the monopoly board starting from GO and taking in each square.

Monopoly - Chance

Monopoly Board - Pick up a chance card. Try your hand at lotto, horses, football whatever you fancy taking a chance at.

Monopoly - Euston Road

Monopoly blue square. £100.

This was the new road in 1756 to provide a route for sheep and cattle to be driven to Smithfield Market. However it upset the Duke of Bedford as it cut off a bit of his estate. An act of Parliament was required to get it through.
Nowadays it is a main route (A501) and is the edge of the congestion zone (the part of the inner city that you have to pay to enter) as a result it one of the busiest inner city routes.

Monopoly - Marylebone Station

First of the stations. Landing here will cost £200.

Marylebone station is one of the prettiest stations in London. No underground leaves from here. Opened in 1899, one of the last of the rail lines to be built.

Monopoly - Income Tax

Income Tax Square. Pay £200.

Wouldn't we love it to really be just £200. This tower houses HMRC (Her Majesty's revenue collector). Tax collection has always been and probably always will be the most unpopular thing in our lives.

Monopoly - Old Kent Road

Old Kent Road on the Monopoly Board is Brown. Value £60.

First appearances this is not an exciting area. However a road has existed here since Roman times. Chaucer's pilgrims walked along here on their way to Canterbury.

Monopoly - Whitechapel

Whitechapel on the monopoly board is brown. Value £60.

Whitechapel has so many places of interest it was difficult to decide what to show you. That was until I discovered the bell foundry. What an interesting place. Casting bronze bells since 1570. The bells from this foundry are all over the world. Big Ben in London, Liberty bell in America, New Zealand, and Iceland all have bells from here.
The largest bell weighing three tons is Great Peter at Gloucester. It's not all about large bells. They also make small hand rung bells.
Above is a photo taken in the workshop where the supports for the bells are made. The happiest place to work they told me. Once here we never want to leave.
I'm keen to see the foundry itself, where the bells are cast using the same methods since medieval times. Only a few are permitted each year as it is a fully working foundry, not a museum. My name is down to hopefully be selected next year!

Monopoly - Go

I will be travelling for a couple of weeks, while I'm on my adventure I am going to take you on your very own adventure.
The board game "monopoly" celebrated its 75th anniversary last year. The original design was created by Quaker Elizabeth Magie in 1903. She wanted to demonstrate through play that property enriched landlords and impoverished tenants.
However it was in 1935 that the Parker Brothers took the concepts of this design and created the game we now know as monopoly. As part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of this later game, Ordnance Survey worked with monopoly to produce a bespoke map and discover where GO actually is.

Using this map you are going to travel around the monopoly board over the next few weeks.
We begin today with GO: Lambeth North Tube Station.

“By using Ordnance Survey’s latest digital product, OS VectorMap District, we were able to accurately locate “Go”. We mapped the positions of Mayfair and Old Kent Road, which sit either side of “Go”, and then accurately calculated that Lambeth North tube station was the central point between the two and therefore the location of “Go”
quote from - http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/media/news/2010/aug/monopoly.html

Easter Bunny

Giant bunny has appeared in Covent Garden. Created by the students of the Academy of Flowers using symbols of spring; moss,foliage and flowers.

Crutched Friars

Like most parts of London, if you find a pub or a street with a name like this then there is history associated with the name.
The area near Tower Hill was named after a group of Friars arrived here around 1244. They wore a wooden cross around their neck and had a red fabric cross on their habit. Thus "crutched" an old word for cross.

Remember When

Remember this moment? Recreated by artist Maria von Köhler, causing nearly as much controversy as the original moment.

Museum of Childhood

Not just for children. The museum of childhood shows so much about the lives of those growing up in earlier periods. Grand doll's houses, puppets, games. Do you know what a zoetrope is? Children's clothing and cots. They've certainly changed a lot.
Rocking horses from several centuries, beginning with a wooden horse believed to have belonged to Charles I in 1610.

Skywatch Friday - Bethnal Green

London's parks are looking magnificent at present with all the blossom appearing.

Follow other skies around the world today.

Little Shop of Horrors

A treat for you today. This wee gem in Hackney describes themselves as "a 17th Century wunderkabinet". Don't expect PC here. Taxidermy everything from ravens to dogs with wings. Victorian erotica, medical props, two-headed teddies. Racks of furs and bloodied arms lay side by side. A ceramic doll sits at the table next to a lion while a creepy bug dangles near your face.
The Last Tuesday Society claims they have "everything for all your domestic needs".

Ice-Cream or Beer

Less and less of these iconic cones are seen outside the corner store. Postcards, beer, ice-cream, bread, cleaners and more. All those handy things if you just pop down the street.

Parking

A bike chained to the railings outside the Ethiopian Church.

Peeking around the Tree

Some local street art.

Elevator

An original elevator from the department store Selfridges, now in the Museum of London. Just over a hundred years old Selfridges was the first store to allow customers in to "just browse". In Victorian times one only went into a store to make a purchase. It was unheard of to actually leave without having bought anything.

Nose for You

I've been described as someone with an eye for the beautiful and the bizarre. Today I'm living up to the bizarre.

You wont find this in your tourist books.

The nose on the arch of Trafalgar square is said to be that of the Duke of Wellington. Placed at just the right height for horse riders to touch for good luck as they ride past.

Wait until I find the eye and ear!

April Theme Day - Edges

Walking close to the edge they became shadows of their former being.

To see other CDP theme day entries
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants