Two friends, architectural historians (one a qualified architect), came to dinner last night. I gave them mini goat’s cheese omelettes, pheasant casserole and rhubarb compote with sorbet. They gave me comments on the ground plan showing the likely location of the furnaces under the House of Lords. A fair exchange, I thought.
Old Palace of Westminster
Firemen to the Rescue
Yesterday (Friday) I had a quick chat with some of the fire safety guys at the Houses of Parliament. They are all ex-firemen so they really know their stuff. I wanted to make sure I understood the technical details of the descriptions of the fire from contemporary newspapers and other sources I have been working […]
Hidden Treasure
Popped into the St Stephen’s cloisters by Westminster Hall today, which were half destroyed by the fire in 1834 (then again by the Blitz) but half survive. They were built just over a decade before the dissolution of the monasteries, so weren’t used as intended for very long. They are marvellous, and an incredible survival right in the middle […]
