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1Michael StrachanA Pimlico Walk

2Copyright © heritagewalks.london 2014 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@walkingthepast.co.uk First published in the UK in 2016 Updated and republished in the UK in 2018 Text and images copyright © Michael Strachan Michael Strachan has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. (The cover illustration shows the main entrance to the Tate Britain).

3Michael StrachanA Pimlico Walk

INTRODUCTION By the nineteenth century the West End of London had become fashionable and ripe for development. In 1825, Thomas Cubitt was contracted by Lord Grosvenor to de-velop Pimlico. The marshy land was reclaimed using soil excavated when St Katharine Docks were built. These beautiful houses can still be seen laid out in their grid design. Although the area was dominated by the well-to-do middle and upper-middle classes, parts of Pimlico de-clined significantly by the 1890s, leading to the construc-tion of several Peabody Estates, charitable housing pro-jects designed to provide affordable, quality homes. Being near the Houses of Parliament made Pimlico a centre of political activity. Prior to 1928, the Labour Party and Trades Union Congress shared offices on Eccleston Square, and it was here in 1926 that the general strike was organised. Nearby Dolphin Square, a self-contained "city" of 1250 up-market flats, became popular with MPs and public servants. It was home to thee fascist Oswald Mosley until his arrest in 1940, and the headquarters of the Free French for much of the Second World War. Pimlico was connected to the underground in 1972 via the Victoria Line and has been extensive regenerated over the years. Successive waves of development have given 4Westminster CathedralS.I.S BuildingDolphin Square apartments

Pimlico an interesting social mix, combining exclusive restaurants and residences (especially around Eaton Square and Grosvenor Square), with Westminster City Council-run facilities and inexpensive hotels. Tate Britain, with its fabulous collections of British art, is just a short walk from Pimlico underground station and the Chelsea College of Art and Design is situated on the former Royal Army Medical College site next to the Tate. This walk takes in Westminster Cathedral, the largest Ro-man Catholic church in England and Wales and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The building was made almost entirely of brick, without steel reinforcement. This walk ends at the new Victoria Station entrance on Victoria Street. To hear this Introduction please click this icon To find out more about ‘What3Words’ please click this information icon 5If you would like to donate an amount which will help us cover our costs and continue to work on new publications please scan or tap the QR link below:

Planning Your Walk 1. If possible, walk with a friend. 2. Tell someone where you are going. 3. Take care w he n wa lk in g at n ig ht . 4. Wear sensible clothes and footwear. 5. Always take a bottle of water to avoid de-hydration. 6. Don't try to do too much in one visit. 7. Check the opening times of all Museums and Galleries online. 8. Take your camera or camera phone with batteries fully charged. 9. If you are printing out this do staple these!pages!together!. 10. Don’t forget to download your free Quiz and Plaque scoresheets by using the URL links on the next page… Start at Pimlico Underground station. (Victoria line) and… …end it at Victoria station (Victoria line…) Use the Transport for London (TFL) planner to plan your journey. 64.3 km 1-2 hrs

To make your walk more interesting… …we have created an on-line, interactive map which you can find by clicking the link below, or by scanning the green QR code opposite. This will only work if you are reading this guide on a smart device like an iPad: Plot-a-Route map We have also added some fun challenges - the first is a picture quiz. So you need to look out for interesting ob-jects such as ‘street furniture’, statues and architectural features shown in the I-Spy Challenge scoresheet. Click the link below, or scan the pink QR code opposite, to access a download for this scoresheet. It can then be printed or saved: I-Spy Challenge The second challenge is to ‘bag’ all the plaques along this walk. These are listed on a ‘Pastwalkers’ scoresheet along with their ‘what3words’ loca-tions. (Click the information icon op-posite for more about how ‘What3Words’ works). The plaque scores are based on age and quality rather than the importance of the person or event commemorated. Download by clicking on the link below, or by scanning the blue QR code opposite: Plaque Challenge 7Tick them off when you find them

Pimlico to Victoria Passing through the electronic gates in the station there are two exits. Take the one signposted for Ram-payne Street. Turn left briefly at street level to see the ventilation shaft cover by Eduardo Paolozzi, of 1982 - Grade II listed by English Heritage... Return to the station and continue walking up Lupus Street towards St George’s Square… Number 33 was the home of Major Walter Wingfield - a Victorian army officer who was inducted into the Interna-tional Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997, as the founder of modern lawn tennis. An example of the ori-ginal equipment for the sport and a bust of Wingfield himself can be seen at the Wimble-don Lawn Tennis Museum. Cross over Belgrave Road to the small triangular green where you will find one of London’s iconic Taxi Cab Shelters, currently a small cafe and sandwich bar. The Cabmen's Shelter Fund was established in London in 1875 to run shelters for the drivers of hansom cabs and later hackney carriages (taxicabs).They were designed as a shelter from bad weather where a cabman could get a decent meal away from the pubs and bars. If you glance across the road you’ll see St Saviour’s church. It was built in the 1860s as part of builder 8Major Walter Wingfield

Thomas Cubitt's development of the area and was de-signed by Thomas Cundy, who had previously built St Gabriel's Pimlico a short distance away. As with St Gabriel’s, St Saviour's was designed in the Gothic style in contrast with the classical stucco of its secular neigh-bours. The church is Grade II listed. If you go inside do look up for the beautiful painted ceiling. Walk back towards Pimlico Station… Continue along Bessborough Road to the Vauxhall Bridge Road. You’ll see the White Swan pub facing you across the road… Turn right and then cross into John Islip Street… John Islip was Abbot of Westminster from 1500 until his death in 1532. He raised the western tower of the Abbey as far as the level of the roof and repaired much of the church, especially the buttresses. He built many apart-ments in the abbot's house, and a gallery overlooking the nave on the south side. Continue walking along John Islip Street and you’ll see the entrance to the Chelsea College of Art and Design piazza… This college is part of the University of the Arts London, and is a leader in British art and design with an interna-tional reputation. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, spatial design and textile design up to PhD level. It was origin-ally part of the South-Western Polytechnic, which opened 9Thomas Cubitt

at Manresa Road, Chelsea, in 1895 to provide scientific and technical education to Londoners. You can cross the piazza here or take the next right turn... The Tate Britain building is unmissable. Known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery after its founder Sir Henry Tate. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in England, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. In par-ticular, it has large holdings of the works of J. M. W. Turner, who bequeathed all his own collec-tion to the nation. It is one of the largest mu-seums in the country. The cafe, restaurant and shop are excellent; entrance is free and the toi-lets are useful! Cross the main road - Millbank - and look back to view the main portico and entrance shown above… Continue along Millbank towards the bridge and, as you enter a small garden area you will see the plaque, situated on a low round pillar commemorating the infamous Millbank Prison… Prisoners were kept here under harsh conditions includ-ing the ‘silent’ and ‘separate’ systems. In a separate sys-tem, prisoners were kept alone in cells for weeks and worked on machines such as the crank, (shown below), a piece of machinery solely designed for punishment. It was the job of the warders to set the crank, to be turned perhaps 15,000 times a day. 10Sir Henry Tate

Making the work easier or harder was done through screws on the crank itself; this was how the British slang term for prison warders came about. In silent system prisons, inmates were forced to do boring, repetitive tasks such as passing a heavy cannonball, in complete silence. They slept on hard beds and ate basic food like bread and drank water. The design of Millbank also turned out to be un-satisfactory. The network of corridors was so labyrinthine that even the warders got lost; and the ventilation system allowed sound to carry, so that prisoners could communicate between cells. In view of these problems, the decision was eventually taken to build a new "model prison" at Pentonville, which opened in 1842 and took over Millbank's role as the Na-tional Penitentiary. 11The crankMillbank Prison

By an Act of Parliament of 1843, Millbank became a hold-ing depot for convicts prior to transportation. Every per-son sentenced to transportation was sent to Millbank first, where they were held for three months before their final destination was decided. By 1850, around 4,000 people were condemned annually to transportation from the UK. Millbank Prison closed in 1890. On arrival in Australia these prisoners were recorded as ‘Prisoners Of Millbank’ – from which the Aussies derived the rather scornful epithet of Poms for any English visitors (especially Test cricketers). The SIS Building or MI6 Building at Vauxhall Cross across the river houses the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, MI6), the United Kingdom's for-eign intelligence agency since 1994. Often used as a location in James `bond films, the site on which the SIS building stands was the location of the 12

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in the 19th century. After the pleasure gardens were demolished in the 1850s several industrial buildings were built here, including a glass factory, a vinegar works and a gin distillery. Archeological excavation of the site during building found the remains of 17th-century glass kilns, as well as barge houses and an inn called The Vine. Continue through the gardens and take the stairs up to the Vauxhall Bridge Road. Cross over and contin-ue along the Grosvenor Road... Continue walking and you will come to Rio Cottage and an entrance to part of the Thames Walk... Below the cottage (but only to be viewed from the river) is the exit of the Tyburn stream into the Thames. It flows d o w n f r o m S o u t h Hampstead through a series of drainage cul-verts. Look for a special River Tyburn plaque here. The Photograph opposite was taken, with some difficulty, from across the river, to show the Tyburn outfall tunnel exit just below Rio Cottage. Continue along Grosvenor Road… 13

Across the road you see the other end of the very long gardens of St George’s Square which retains the overall shape and many of the buildings put up by Thomas Cu-bitt. As you continue along Grosvenor Road … …you will pass the Southern end of the Dolphin Square estate, a block of private flats with some ground floor business built between 1935 and 1937. (See illustration above…) Many distinguished politi-cians and dubious characters have lived here over the years. Look out for Claverton Street on your right. Walk up this street and turn into Johnson’s Place on your left. There is a small road al-most immediately on your right – Ranelagh Road… 15 Ranelagh Road SW1 was the home of Douglas MacMillan who founded the forerunner of MacMillan Cancer Relief, the Society for the Pre-vention and Relief of Cancer, determined to improve the experience of cancer after watching his father die in 1912. He was also a strong supporter of vegetarianism. Continue along Ranelagh Street to Lupus Street. Almost directly across this road walk into Cambridge Street… …turn right into Gloucester Street to the junction with St George’s Drive… 14Douglas MacMillan

At  63  St  George’s  Drive, there  is  a  blue  plaque  to  the memory of Swami Vivekananda, a leading spokesman formodern  Hinduism  who  stayed  here  in  1896.  He  rentedthis house and used the first-floor drawing roomfor his classes. Return to Cambridge Street and turn right,to reach St Gabriel’s, Warwick Square… This  beautiful  church  was  designed  by  Thomas Cundy (junior) and constructed between 1851–3 as  part  of  Thomas  Cubitt's  development  of  thethe area on behalf of the Marquess of Westminster. It is a Grade II* Listed Building.Now look for Number 114 on the oppositeside of the road…This is the house where Aubrey Beardsley lived.An English illustrator and author, his drawings inblack  ink,  influenced  by  the  style  of  Japanese woodcuts,  emphasised  the  grotesque,  the  dec-adent,  the  erotic.  Hewas a leading figure inthe  aesthetic  move-ment  which  also  in-included  Oscar  Wildeand  James  McNeill Whistler.  Beardsley's contribution to the de-velopment  of  the  Art Nouveau and poster styles  were significant  despite  his  earlydeath from tuberculosis. 15Swami VivekanandaAubrey BeardsleyThe Peacock Skirt

Continue along Cambridge Street over Warwick Square until you reach number 95 where you will see the plaque commemorating… …Jomo Kenyatta – first President of the Republic of Kenya who lived here between 1933 – 1937 whilst studying at the London School of Economics. He was the country's first Kikuyu head of government and played a significant role in transforming Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an inde-pendent republic. Continue along Cambridge Street to number 83 on the corner of Clarendon Street… There is a Westminster plaque here commemor-ating Laura Ashley who was a fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnish-ing materials in the 1950s, expanding the into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s. As you can see from the example below, the Laura Ashley style is charac-t e r i s e d b y Romantic Eng-lish designs — often with a 19th-century rural feel — and the use of natural fabrics. Walk on to the junction with Warwick Way before turning right to reach number 88… 16Jomo KenyattaLaura Ashley

This house has a Westminster plaque commemorating Arthur Haygarth. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as numerous other invitational and repres-entative teams including an England XI and a pre-county Middlesex. A right-handed batsman, Haygarth played 136 games now regarded as first-class, scoring 3,042 runs and taking 19 wickets with his part-time bowling. He was educated at Harrow, a public school that had produced many fine cricketers. Outside his play-ing career, Haygarth was a noted cricket writer and historian, and spent over sixty years compil-ing information and statistics on the game. Return to St George’s Drive and turn right before… …turning first right into Ecclestone Square… Number 59 Ecclestone Square was the home for many years of Sir Michael Costa, the orchestral conductor and reformer (see illustration opposite). Born in Italy, he settled in London in 1830, working at His Majesty's Theatre where he instituted real change as a conductor. After disagreements with the management he moved to Covent Garden theatre in 1847. He insisted on discipline and accuracy, earning him the admiration both of Meyerbeer and Verdi. He became a naturalized Englishman and received a knighthood in 1869. Continue along Ecclestone Square to the junction with Belgrave Road and turn left… 17Arthur Haygarth

On your right you will see Gillingham Street… This street of modest 1820’s terraced houses contains a blue plaque at number 17 dedicated to Joseph Conrad. Conrad wrote stories and novels, many with a nautical setting, depicting the trials of the human spirit in the midst of what he saw as an impassive, inscrutable uni-verse. His narrative style, humanity and anti-heroic characters influenced many authors, and several films have been inspired by, or adapted from his works. Carry on to the end of Gillingham Street which will take you to Vauxhall Bridge Road… Turn right here and cross over the road to enter Francis Street… As you walk up this street notice a plaque on a building to your left commemorating Cardinal Manning who lived here. He became Archbishop of Westminster and played a crucial role in solving the London dockers’ strike. Manning, a former Anglican priest who was received into the Catholic Church, lobbied for those striking to be given a pay rise while denouncing employers for refusing to negotiate with workers.! Continue along Francis Street and turn at the next junction into Morpeth Terrace… Here at 1 - 12 Morpeth Mansions there is a private plaque stating that Winston and Clem-entine Churchill lived here just before the 18Joseph ConradCardinal Manning

second World War. This is just one of several homes that Churchill bought and used that were near his beloved House of Commons. ‘As the Wehrmacht drove through Poland on the night of 2 September 1939, a mutinous group of Conservative MPs gathered beneath the rain-lashed mansard roof of this house to discuss Britain’s failure to issue an ultimatum to Hitler. At a desk, writing to Prime Minister Chamber-lain, was Winston Churchill; around him were Anthony Eden, Bob Boothby, Brendan Bracken and Alfred Duff Cooper. Within a day of delivery of WSC’s letter, Britain was at war with Germany. 19

Churchill’s London base from 1930 or 1932 (accounts vary) through 1939 was the top two floors of this red brick 1880s apartment block half a mile from Parliament. The Churchills enlarged the two-storey flat, but the kitchen and study were tiny, and the access to the upper floor was a narrow spiral staircase.’ Follow Morpeth Terrace around and into the West-minster Cathedral Piazza… 20

Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Ro-man Catholic Church in England and Wales. The site on which the cathedral stands in was purchased by the Diocese of Westminster in 1885, and construction completed in 1903. It is the largest Roman Catholic church in England and Wales and the seat of the Arch-bishop of Westminster. Designed by John Francis Bentley in neo-Byz-antine style, it was made almost entirely of brick, without steel reinforcements. John Betjeman called it "a masterpiece in striped brick and stone" and said that it shows that "the good craftsman has no need of steel or concrete”. Click here for details of viewing from the top of the Cathedral Tower… Cross over Victoria Street and turn left to enter the splendid new underground station entrance where this walk through Pimlico and Westminster ends. 21John Bentley

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