The library contains elegant reading rooms, with floor upon floor of bookshelves, old leather armchairs and oil paintings. Unusually, the books are stored alphabetically by subject matter, which adds to the place’s charm. You could quite easily stumble upon a book on Swaziland sharing bookshelf space with a volume on Taxidermy.
The library has enjoyed a prestigious patronage, including Charles Darwin, George Elliot, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry James, Winston Churchill and Agatha Christie. Today, the library has over 7,000 members and is funded entirely by members’ subscriptions and donations and bequests.
Secret Fact
To reduce the fire risk, the library’s book shelving and stairs were all constructed in metal. This fact coupled with the strange electrical wiring of the building often caused members to get electrical shocks whilst climbing the stairs and holding the metal bannister. Extensive rewiring of the library in the 1990s solved the problem.
Location 3: Freemasons’ Hall
The foundation stone
(First introduced in The Infinite Fire)
Address: 60 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AZ
Underground: Holborn (Central & Piccadilly Lines)
Website: www.ugle.org.uk
Freemasons’ Hall is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and its 300,000 membership. Located in Great Queen Street on the edge of Covent Garden, the present hall is the third Masonic building constructed on the site. Freemasons’ Hall is the principal meeting place for the Masonic lodges in the London area.
The first Freemasons’ Hall, dedicated on 23 May 1776, consisted of two adjoining houses with a central hall built between them. Following the Union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813, Sir John Soane, the famous architect of the Bank of England, was invited to extend the existing buildings. Soane was soon initiated as a Freemason, and in the 1820s he carried out extensive remodelling of the Hall.
The present Hall was built on the same site between 1927 and 1933 and occupies two and a quarter acres. Its striking art deco style was designed by Henry Victor Ashley and F Winton Newman, and the hall was built as a memorial to the Freemasons who died on active service during the First World War.
The Grand Temple dominates the interior of the building. It stands 120 feet long, 90 feet wide and 62 feet high. A pair of extraordinary bronze doors (each weighing one and a quarter tonnes) stand at the entry to the Temple, which itself is adorned with numerous Masonic emblems and symbols.
Secret Fact
During a bizarre ceremony on 14 July 1927, over 6,000 Freemasons gathered at the Royal Albert Hall to watch the Grand Master lay the foundation stone of the New Hall by means of an electrical relay. The laying of a ‘dummy’ stone was enacted at the meeting at precisely the same time that the real foundation stone was set in place at Great Queen Street.
Location 4: Hunterian Museum
The remains of the Irish Giant
(First introduced in The Devil's Architect)
Address: Royal College of Surgeons, 35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PE
Underground: Holborn (Central & Picadilly Lines) and Temple (Circle & District Lines)
Website: www.rcseng.ac.uk
Some exhibits of the Hunterian Museum collection wouldn't look out of place on the set of a Hollywood horror film. The home of an unrivalled collection of human anatomical and pathological specimens, historic surgical and dental instruments, paintings, drawings, and sculpture, the collection was the lifework of surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-1793). Part of the Royal College of Surgeons since 1813, the Hunterian Museum is not for the faint-hearted, as you'll see body parts preserved in jars, but it is also a fascinating place and full of surprises.
At the age of 20 (1748), Hunter started work as an assistant in his elder brother’s anatomy school, where he quickly showed great skill in specimen dissection and preparation. By the 1780s, his reputation had grown to such an extent that he was widely recognised as the leading teacher of surgery in the land. All through his career, Hunter was an avid collector and devoted much of his wealth to building his personal collection of nearly 14,000 preparations from more than 500 different species of plants and animals. Notorious on account of his belligerent temperament, Hunter died in 1793 after suffering a fit during an argument.
Following his death, the collection was bought by the government and became part of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons when it opened in 1813. The collection grew rapidly and by the end of the 19th century contained some 65,000 specimens.
A significant part of the museum's collection was destroyed in the Blitz of 1941. Since then, the museum has gone through several rounds of redevelopment, the latest being completed in 2005.
The bizarre items on display include Winston Churchill’s dentures, the Evelyn tables (a collection of four anatomical preparations dissected from a human body set on wooden boards that are thought to be the oldest anatomical preparations in Europe), the tooth of a megatherium (an extinct giant sloth), a necklace of teeth brought from the Congo by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, and teeth recovered from fallen soldiers on the battlefield of Waterloo.
Secret Fact
One of the centrepieces of Hunter's original collection was the skeleton of Charles O'Brien, known as the ‘Irish Giant’. O'Brien stood 7’7” tall and was a famous attraction at fairs and fetes nationwide. In 1782 O'Brien fell gravely ill. On hearing the news, and driven by the knowledge that the skeleton of a giant would make a prized addition to his collection, Hunter stalked his sickbed. O’Brien, on the other hand, had different ideas. He gave strict instructions that his body should be sealed in a lead coffin and that he should be buried at sea. The obsessed Hunter, however, would not be beaten. After O’Brien’s death, he paid the fishermen instructed to carry out the burial £500 for the corpse. The cadaver was then boiled in a copper vat so that only his bones remained. The skeleton of the 'Irish Giant' is still on display in the museum.
Location 5: St Clement Danes
The spiritual home of the RAF
(First introduced in The Infinite Fire)
Address: Strand, London, WC2R 1DH
Transport: Chancery Lane (Central Line), Holborn (Central & Piccadilly Lines), Temple (Circle & District Lines)
Website: www.raf.mod.uk
Today, the church of St Clement Danes sits by itself outside the Royal Courts of Justice on a traffic island in the middle of the Strand. However, a church has stood on this site for more than a thousand years.
The church here was first established in the 9th century. There are several possible theories as to the source of the ancient Danish connection with the church. Some believe that the half-Danish Harold I (‘Harefoot’) who ruled England from 1035 to 1040 was buried here. Others propose that the church was founded by descendants of Danish invaders who converted to Christianity in the 9th century. Being skilled sailors, the Danes named the church after St Clement, the patron saint of mariners. The church was rebuilt by William the Conqueror and then again in the Middle Ages.
Even though the church escaped the Great Fire of London, the body was further rebuilt by Christopher Wren between 1680 and 1682. The west tower was added in 1699, and a spire was added to the tower in 1719 by James Gibbs.
On 10 May 1941 during one of the last bombing raids of the Blitz, St Clement Danes was set on fire and gutted. The church was re-consecrated in 1958 as a shrine of remembrance to the Allied Air Force crews who lost their lives during the Second World War. St Clement Danes holds Books of Remembrance listing over 150,000 casualties.
A Royal coat of arms in the church has the following Latin inscription:
AEDIFICAVIT CHR WREN
AD MDCLXXII
DIRUERUNT AERII BELLI
FULMINA AD MCMXLI
RESTITUIT REGINAE CLASSIS
AERONAUTICA AD MCMLVIII
Translated, the inscription reads: ‘Built by Christopher Wren 1682. Destroyed by the thunderbolts of air warfare
1941. Restored by the Royal Air Force 1958’.
Secret Fact
The St Clement Danes Masonic Lodge was consecrated in 1871. Registered Lodge No. 1351 on the register of the United Grand Lodge of England, the first meeting took place on 4 May 1871 at the King’s Head public house at 265 Strand. The Rector of the St Clement Danes, Reverend R J Simpson, was the first Chaplain of the Lodge.
Location 6: Fountain Court
War of the Roses
(First introduced in The Devil's Architect)
Address: Fountain Court, Middle Temple Lane, London, EC4Y 9DH
Underground: Chancery Lane (Central Line) or Temple (Circle & District Lines)
Fountain Court is a peaceful courtyard oasis hidden way from the hustle and bustle of the city. It provides a great spot to rest weary bones after a long day exploring the city.
A small fountain has been here for around three hundred years, but the surrounding gardens have a much older history, possibly dating back to the late 12th century, when the Knights Templar established themselves in the area. Renowned for the quality of their roses, the gardens provided Shakespeare with the setting for the dispute scene in Henry VI, Part 1, Act 2, which heralded the War of the Roses. Middle Temple Hall stands at the edge of the court, where Shakespeare along with his Chamberlain’s Men gave the first recorded performance of Twelfth Night in 1602.
Secret Fact
Fountain Court is located within the Middle Temple, one of the four so-called Inns of Court (the others being the Inner Temple, Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s Inn.) The Inns of Court first originated as a network of hostels and schools for student lawyers during the 13th century. Today, the Inns are occupied by barristers’ offices, known as chambers, and are exclusively entitled to call members to the English Bar to qualify as barristers. The student hostels are long gone, and law students are no longer required to live and sleep here. However, in recognition of the area's long history of providing board and lodgings to the legal profession, would-be barristers are still formally required to dine in Hall three times each term before being called to the bar.
Location 7: Gresham College
Precursor of the Royal Society
(First introduced in The Infinite Fire)
Address: Barnard's Inn Hall, Holborn, City of London, EC1N 2HH
Underground: Chancery Lane (Central Line)
Website: www.gresham.ac.uk
Gresham College is a public foundation that provides free public lectures on eight subjects: Commerce, Astronomy, Divinity, Geometry, Law, Music, Physics and Rhetoric. This public-spirited tradition was established by city merchant Sir Thomas Gresham in 1597 with the aim of bringing the new learning of the Renaissance to the generally illiterate population of London. For over four hundred years, the lectures have been paid for by the Gresham estate and have been delivered by its own distinguished panel of professors.
Today, lectures are delivered at Barnard’s Inn Hall along with a variety of other locations around the city. The hall is the oldest secular building in the city and dates from the 14th century, although one portion of the southern wall is much older and dates back to Roman times.
At the time of writing, the titles of the coming month's lectures are:
Medieval Music
A Very Brief History of Computing, 1948–2015
The Creeping Paralysis of Drought
Cyberspace: Security and Democracy
The Ethics of a Physician — Assisted Suicide
The IMF Crisis, 1976
Germs, Genes and Genesis: The History of Infectious Diseases
Secret Fact
Gresham College and the Royal Society (or more precisely the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge) share a long and intimately connected history. In fact, it was partly out of discussions between members of Gresham College that the Royal Society was born and subsequently given its royal charter in 1662. It was at Gresham College’s earlier Bishopsgate home that the first members of the Royal Society met.
In many ways Gresham College can be viewed as a precursor to the Royal Society, with every founder Fellow of the Royal Society being a member of the Gresham College Group of 1660.
Fellows elected in 1660:
William Ball (1627–1690)
William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker (1620–1684)
Jonathan Goddard (1617–1675)
Abraham Hill (1633–1721)
Sir Robert Moray (1608–1673)
Sir Paul Neile (1613–1686)
Sir William Petty (1623–1687)
Lawrence Rooke (1622–1662)
Fellows elected in 1663:
Robert Boyle (1627–1691)
Alexander Bruce, 2nd Earl of Kincardine (1629–1681)
John Wilkins (1614–1672)
Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723)
Location 8: Temple Church, London
The headquarters of the Knights Templar in England
(First introduced in The History of Things to Come)
Address: Temple, London, EC4Y 7BB
Underground: Temple (Circle & District Lines) and Blackfriars (Circle & District Lines)
Website: www.templechurch.com
Lost amid the labyrinth of alleyways and courtyards of the Inns of Court is Temple Church, one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in London. It is one of just four round churches left in England (the other three being in Cambridge, Northampton and Little Maplestead in Essex). Built by the mysterious Knights Templar as their headquarters in England, Temple Church was sanctified in the presence of Henry II by Heraclius, the Crusader Patriarch of Jerusalem, on 10 February 1185.
The church has a very distinctive two-part design: the original Round (modelled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the most sacred place of the Holy Land) and the Chancel (added in the 13th century).
Temple Church is the only Early Gothic church in the city, having survived the Great Fire of London. London’s master architect, Christopher Wren, carried out major restorations of the church in 1682. It was severely damaged in the Blitz and has since undergone numerous reconstructions. Today, it is an important place of worship for those in the legal profession.
On the floor of the Round is a splendid collection of full-size 13th-century medieval knight effigies. Central is the figure of William Marshall (1146-1219), the Earl of Pembroke, the most famous knight of his era and advisor to King John and Henry III. The effigies of his seven sons surround him. The other marked effigies include Brother Aymeric, Master of the Order of Knights Templar in England.
Opposite the entrance to the church is the penitential cell. Measuring only five feet by three feet, the cell was used to punish disobedient members of the order. Known as Little Ease, the cell was fiendishly designed so that detained prisoners could neither stand nor lie down. In 1301, after disobeying the orders of the Master of the Temple, the unfortunate Walter le Bachelor, the Grand Preceptor of Ireland, was imprisoned here and starved to death in the cell.
Secret Fact
The original entrance door to the church survives today in wonderful condition. The so-called ‘west door’ is one of the finest pieces of Norman work in London. Babies were regularly abandoned outside the door in the hope that the Knights Templar would take pity and look after them. This they did, conferring the surname ‘Templar’ to the rescued child.
Location 9: Ye Olde Mitre Tavern
The queen and the cherry tree
(First introduced in The Devil's Architect)
Address: 1 Ely Place, London, EC1N 6SJ
Underground: Chancery Lane (Central Line), Farringdon (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines)
Website: www.yeoldemitreholborn.co.uk
Ye Olde Mitre (a mitre is a bishop’s hat) is one of London's most out-of-the-way pubs. It is located near Hatton Garden (the centre of the capital's gemstone industry) and is hidden off a back alley to Ely Court. This area was once the London residence to the Ely Bishops (Ely being a part of Cambridgesh
ire) from 1290 to 1772. The Ely Bishops were very influential and often seen as a seat of great power. A grand palace was built here, set in 58 acres of orchards, vineyards, strawberry fields and terraced lawns that stretched down to the Thames. The Bishop of Ely and his strawberries are mentioned in Shakespeare’s Richard III. The only part of the palace that remains today is St Etheldreda’s Church, which is the oldest Catholic church in England as it was built in 1291.
In 1546, Bishop Goodrich had the tavern built for his London servants, and it has been there ever since. The pub is tiny and has a wood-panelled frontage, opaque leaded windows, small dark rooms, and old wooden furniture. As it is technically still part of Cambridgeshire (like a mini Vatican state within the city of Rome), it has to apply to Ely for its pub licence. There is also a legend that London's police can only officially enter the premises if invited by the commissionaire.
Secrets from the Dark Horizon: A Reader's Companion Guide (The Dark Horizon Trilogy Book 0) Page 3