By Ben GazurFeatures correspondent
James Talalaly/AlamyFrom digging for fossilised shark teeth to exploring a church built by the Knights Templar, here are five places where London’s past becomes vividly real.
London is built of history just as much as it is brick and mortar. Here, rubble from the Blitz rests on ash from the Great Fire that covers Roman ruins. The city wears its millennia of history lightly, however. You can be looking up at the Tower of London and miss a hidden fragment of Roman wall standing nearby. At the Southwark end of London Bridge, tourists walk under a tall spike made of stone – unaware it commemorates the site where the heads of traitors were displayed for centuries.
London’s museums hold a repository of much of this history, but examining artefacts behind glass makes it hard to get a true sense of the past. Instead, why not visit the places where history actually happened? At Buckingham Palace you can walk the halls used by monarchs and prime ministers and watch the Changing of the Guard, which has taken place since 1660. In many of London’s most famous and historic sites, you can literally run your fingers across the past.
From digging for fossilised shark teeth to exploring a church built by the Knights Templar, here are five unusual historical experiences where London’s history becomes vividly real.
Steve Vidler/Alamy1. Best for lovers of royal intrigue: Tower of London
The fortified heart of London has loomed over the city since the days of William the Conqueror, and walking in the Tower of London puts you in the footsteps of kings, queens and the people who served them.
The SpeciaList
Ben Gazur is a history writer, Londoner and passionate mudlark who is always looking to find the hidden past in the world around him.
While the Crown Jewels are the reason most people visit, these state treasures are guarded by the Yeoman Warders, commonly called Beefeaters, and kept safely behind layers of glass. You cannot touch them unless you happen to be the King – but there are other places you can lay your hands on history here.
The Tower is famous for the notable figures who have been executed for treason against the Crown – several of whom, like Anne Boleyn, are still said to haunt the castle as ghosts. The 13th-Century Beauchamp Tower housed captives in its stone cells for generations, and those imprisoned here left their marks on the stones. With nothing but time on their hands, they carved centuries-old graffiti into the walls of many of the chambers and dungeons, from simple names to cries for freedom to complex images of astrological charts designed to predict a prisoner’s fate.
Lay your hand on the walls and imagine how much effort this art would have taken to create, and the desperation that these prisoners would have felt.
Website: www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/
Address: Tower of London, EC3N 4AB
Phone: +44 (0)33 3320 6000
James Talalaly/Alamy2. Best for touching London’s whole history: Queenhithe River Wall
The River Thames is the lifeblood of London. Each day the tide sweeps in and out, and for millennia this has given traders and locals access to the wider world. While the Thames is still a working river, it is also a chief source of London’s history. When the tide goes out, the foreshore is littered with fragments of the city’s past – and you might even spot some mudlarks who scour the shores for artefacts freed from the river’s mud.
Located to the south of St Paul’s Cathedral, Queenhithe was once one of the city’s major ports and was constructed by Alfred the Great when he reconstructed London in the 9th Century. It was once a bustling dock used by Romans and Saxons, but today Queenhithe looks like an empty stretch of pebbled shore.
However, on a wall protecting the site is the epic Queenhithe Mosaic, an 30m-long artwork that charts the long and storied history of the river, from Caesar’s invasion in 55 BCE to the mosaic’s own installation in 2014. Designed by Tessa Hunkin who has created works for Westminster Cathedral and Southbank Mosaics, the magnificent artwork depicts major events that have defined London, including Boudicca’s attack in 61 CE and Dick Whittington, the 15th-Century Mayor of London, and his famous cat that is said to have made his fortune.
Set into the mosaic are small pottery pieces discovered by mudlarks from the very periods the artwork depicts. See if you can find fragments of pre-historic pottery, gorgeously orange Roman wares and vibrant Tudor green glaze as you trace the path of the Thames through time.
Website: www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=117878
Ben Gazur3. Best for budding palaeontologists: Abbey Wood Fossils
The history of what is now London stretches back millions of years before the founding of the city – and this ancient past can still be glimpsed in certain places. At Lesnes Abbey Wood in south-east London, you can find traces of the sea that covered London and south-east England in the Eocene era around 55 million years ago.
The site at Abbey Wood has been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the quality of fossils found here, and there is one small area where the public is allowed to dig for fossils. In this fenced-off section of ancient sand, visitors are welcome to search for prehistoric shark teeth or pieces of turtle shell – though be careful the shark teeth don’t cut your skin!
When visiting, there are a few rules that must be followed. Fossil hunting is only allowed within the designated area. You are not permitted to dig deeper than 2ft and any holes you create must be filled in when you leave. Any finds that you make are yours to keep (and many shark teeth can be found in just one trip). However, if you discover something that looks more exciting than a small shark tooth (such as the remains of ancient turtles, crocodiles and birds), you must alert the local council to allow them to examine it.
Website: https://www.lesnesabbeywoods.org/
Address: Lesnes Abbey Wood Fossil Park, New Road, London, SE2 0AX
Instagram: @lesnesabbeywoods
Pawel Libera/Getty Images4. Best for lovers of debate: Houses of Parliament
Parliament has met at the Palace of Westminster since the 11th Century; this was where representatives of the nobility, people and church came to vote on laws when the monarch was in London. And while many people will have seen Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament through the thick iron railings that surround it, few know that it is relatively easy to go inside. By simply booking online, you can see into the heart of Britain’s government.
Tours begin in Westminster Hall, the oldest surviving part of the palace, where huge timber beams from 1393 support what was once the largest roof in northern Europe. For centuries, this is where Lords and members of Parliament gathered to discuss the most important matters of state. A fire in 1834 demolished much of the medieval palace, but Westminster Hall was saved. When dignitaries from around the world are invited to address Parliament, this is where they deliver their speeches.
Most of the rest of the palace was rebuilt to the designs of Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin, two of the most famous architects of the day. Visitors can walk through the lavishly decorated halls where titans of Parliament from Disraeli to Churchill have trod. You can stand beside the green leather benches in the House of Commons where prime ministers face the questions from the Opposition. And in the House of Lords, you can see the gilded throne where the monarch sits to call Parliament together each year.
Don’t miss the statue of Churchill that stands outside of the Commons; he has a slightly shiny toe where generations of parliamentarians have stroked it for luck before delivering a big speech.
Tip: Tours must be booked in advance. Photography is not allowed in many locations within Parliament.
Website: https://www.parliament.uk/
Address: Palace of Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA
Naumoid/Getty Images5. Best for Templar history: Temple Church
The Knights Templar were a Christian military order founded in the 12th Century to protect pilgrims who travelled to the Holy Land. Soon they rose to influence across Europe, becoming rich and powerful and – to some people – sinister. Their church in London, called Temple Church, was built in the 1160s and was the first round church in Britain. Modelled after the Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem, it was a symbol of their links to the Holy Land.
Etiquette tip
Temple Church is still a place of worship and visitors may be asked to be quiet when services are taking place.
On 10 May 1941, bombs dropped in the Blitz destroyed much of the church, but it has since been rebuilt in its original form and portions of the original building can still be seen. Located near the Thames, it’s considered one of the most beautiful churches in the city. Visitors can climb the narrow staircase to the upper levels that look down on the effigies of the knights and look for the grotesque faces carved into the church’s walls.
The Temple is still a functioning religious building despite its turbulent history and visitors can witness services every day that link the church to its founding some 860 years ago. It’s particularly haunting to hear the choir’s singing echoing from the vaults of the Gothic roof.
Website: www.templechurch.com/
Address: 1 Inner Temple Lane, Temple, London, EC4Y 1AF
Phone: +44 (0)20 7353 8559
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