The use of the Portcullis as a specifically Parliamentary symbol is not a particularly ancient one. In fact it dates from the building of the new Palace of Westminster the 19th century. The genius of Charles Barry’s design for the west front of the Palace (below right) was – among other things – to match it to […]
Historic Westminster
A Visit to the Tower of London Zoo in 1827
By the early 1830s, many people thought that Parliament should move away from Westminster to the West End. Part of the reason was that John Nash’s development of Regent’s Street had shifted the fashionable focus of the City north-west. One of the trendy delights in the former Marylebone Fields was the new Zoological Gardens at […]
North, South, East or Westminster?
You may have seen a story in the news that there is an early day motion being set down in the House of Commons for the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster (officially ‘St Stephen’s Tower’ but better known as “Big Ben”, which is in fact the name of the Hour Bell) to be renamed the Elizabeth […]
A Regency Stroll Around Westminster,1817
Walks through London including Westminster and the Borough of Southwark was written by David Hughson in 1817 and published in two pocket-sized volumes, with handy maps for the curious. It indicates that just as the Houses of Parliament is a tourist attraction today, so it was in the Regency. I love these nostalgic descriptions. They seem like the musings […]
Westminster’s Body Double
Those of you who’ve recently seen The Iron Lady will also have seen a very experienced body double in action. No, not a stand-in for Meryl Streep (congrats on the BAFTA, by the way, Meryl!), but a regular stand-in for the Palace of Westminster: Manchester Town Hall. Alfred Waterhouse’s design at Manchester was, like Barry and Pugin’s in […]
The Work-Write Balance
The last ten days have been further practice for me in how to squeeze research and writing time around work and home life; something which people often me ask about. I’m getting quite used to it now. The main thing is to get straight down to writing whenever you have a slot available, and to identify and schedule those slots in advance. […]
