Is there anywhere in the world, I wondered last week, which like the old Palace of Westminster a) was a palace complex built by a Norman king b) had a royal chapel as glorious as St Stephen’s, with an adjoining cloister c) contained a royal bedroom as stunning as the Painted Chamber d) was turned […]
Old Palace of Westminster
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 […]
Albert and the Armada
At 11pm on 14 December 1861 at Windsor – 150 years ago today – Queen Victoria declared beside the sickbed of the Prince Consort, ‘Oh, yes, this is death!’. Her husband of 21 years, was gone, aged only 42. For many years it was believed that Prince Albert (1819-1861) had died of typhoid, as written on the death certificate […]
Albert and the Armada
At 11pm on 14 December 1861 at Windsor – 150 years ago today – Queen Victoria declared beside the sickbed of the Prince Consort, ‘Oh, yes, this is death!’. Her husband of 21 years, was gone, aged only 42. For many years it was believed that Prince Albert (1819-1861) had died of typhoid, as written […]
Remember, Remember, the Old Palace of Westminster
Because of the 1834 fire which burnt it down, many people don’t realise that there was a Houses of Parliament on site at Westminster – the old Palace – before Barry and Pugin designed the current one. Still fewer know what it looked like. That’s led to some startling anachronisms when illustrating historic Parliamentary events, particularly in relation to the […]
The Man Who Saved Westminster Hall
Today is the 150th anniversary of the death of Superintendant James Braidwood. He was the man who saved Westminster Hall in the great fire of 1834 through the innovative firefighting techniques he had first developed when fire chief in Edinburgh. His death was both tragic and horribly ironic. He died at the enormous Tooley Street […]
