Nine Historical Things In Surprising Places

London is full of surprises; around every corner is an intriguing street name, historical remnant or unusual architectural detail.

Occasionally you will come across something you really don’t expect. Either that thing has not moved for centuries and now looks totally out of place in its surroundings, or it has possibly been transplanted from its original location. It is one of the reasons why, I think, walking around London and learning about its history, is an endlessly enriching experience.

In this blog post I have compiled a list of nine historical objects in unexpected places, let me know in the comments if there are any others you can think of. 

1. A 17th century church spire in a housing estate

In the middle of a 1960s housing estate in Forest Hill, South London, is the very top of a 17th century City of London church.

Dating from 1682, it is the spire of St Antholin’s, a post Great Fire of London church, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. 

In 1829 the tower of the church was damaged and the heavy portland stone spire was removed to be destroyed but then sold to one of the churchwardens for £5. His name was Robert Harrild. A pioneer of the print business, Harrild made a fortune and purchased a large manor house in Forest Hill/Sydenham called Round Hill House and placed the spire in the gardens as an ornament.

The house was eventually demolished in the 1960s and the current housing estate built on the site. The spire however remains, stubbornly standing amongst its new surroundings. 

I have written a full blog post on it here. 

2. A Queen’s bath in a public park

Tucked into the corner of Greenwich Park you will find something quite odd: a Queen’s sunken bath. 

The Queen in question is Queen Caroline of Brunswick, wife of King George IV. They had an explosive and extremely unhappy marriage. George wrote her out of his will and she was barred by him from their coronation in 1821. They refused to live together and instead she went to live in Montagu House in Greenwich. She had a glasshouse added, including a sunken bath, with bathhouses and plunge pools being all the rage of the day amongst the well-to-do. 

She lived there until around the year 1814 when she moved to France. In 1815, out of spite, George ordered the destruction of Montagu House. The filled-in sunken bath was rediscovered in 1909, covered over again in the 1980s and then re-excavated again in 2001. You can read more on my blog post here. 

3. A City of London church in Twickenham

In Twickenham you will find the church of All Hallows Twickenham. The tower and the nave of the church, as you can see below, do not seem to really fit with each other.

The tower was originally part of the All Hallows Lombard Street in the City of London, designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the late 17th century.

In the 19th century, as the population of the City of London was falling in favour of the suburbs, many parishes were combined under the Union of Benefices Acts and many churches scheduled to be demolished, including All Hallows. Its demolition was delayed until the 1930s, but thankfully the tower was saved and moved to Twickenham to be part of an enlarged St Martin’s church. The bells and many furnishings were also saved and moved. 

4. A 20 million year old object in Regent’s Park

There are many beautiful flowers, plants, trees and other features to admire in Regent’s Park, but not many know there are also a couple of pre-historic tree trunks, hiding in plain sight. 

Regent’s Park was laid out in the early 19th century. In 1839 the Royal Botanic Society leased the land in the Inner Circle of the park to grow special plants and display curiosities, opening to the public in 1846. 

They left the site in 1932 and it is now occupied by what are known as Queen Mary’s Gardens. The society left one little remnant however, a small group of fossilised tree trunks. Dating back to between 20-100 million years, they are likely from coniferous trees laid down in Lower Purbeck, Dorset. They can be found at the intersection of two paths, by the waterfall. Find out more here. 

5. A Georgian Orangery in a post-war housing estate

Now let’s head to another housing estate: the Notre Dame council estate in Clapham. In the centre you will find a Georgian Orangery.

Dating from 1793, it was constructed in what was then the grounds of Thornton House. Thornton House was the home of Robert Thornton, merchant and, for a period, the Director of the Bank of England. The orangery was used to grow plants, but also as an entertainment space. 

The house was demolished in the 1940s and the council estate built on the site. The orangery however was kept and today looks slightly forlorn and forgotten. I have written a full blog post on it here. 

6. A remnant of old London Bridge inside a hospital

Inside the precinct of Guy’s Hospital in Southwark you will find a remnant of the old London Bridge.

The Romans most likely built the first bridge across the River Thames and there have been multiple versions since. The medieval London Bridge, there from 1209-1831, is the most famous, with its nineteen arches and roadway lined with the shops, houses and even a chapel. There is a fantastic model of it in St Magnus the Martyr.

In the mid 18th century, all the buildings on the bridge were cleared to ease congestion. A balustrade was added as well as fourteen alcoves were added for pedestrians to shelter in. The bridge was finally demolished and replaced slightly further upstream in 1831.

A few of the alcoves survive. There is one inside Guy’s Hospital, with a sculpture of poet John Keats inside, a former student at the hospital. There are two in Victoria Park and there is one inside a housing estate in East Sheen, near Richmond. Find out more here.

7. A ‘lost river’ in an antique’s shop

This one is perhaps a bit tenuous, but if the Gray’s Antiques shop, just behind Bond Street Station, is to be believed, they have one of London’s lost rivers running through the shop. 

There is a channel of water, with some fish swimming in it, running through the centre of the basement of the mews building. They claim this is the River Tyburn, once a tributary of the Thames, built over from the 18th century onwards. In 1977 the stream was uncovered in renovation works.

The Tyburn today runs through the sewage and storm drain system beneath the city streets so it is very unlikely to be the main course of the Tyburn, but could possibly be a spring or small stream that once fed into the Tyburn. 

8. A chunk of Roman wall in an underground carpark

I am sure many readers will actually not be surprised by this one: a section of Roman wall in the London Wall underground carpark. However, it is just so incongruous to its surroundings, I had to include it.

The original city wall of London was built by the Romans in around 200AD. As the ground level has risen and been levelled out over the centuries, this has led to many chunks of Roman London ending up below the modern street level. 

This section in bay 53 of the London Wall underground car park is all that remains of a long section uncovered in the 1950s during clearance works for the new road above and the carpark. This section was retained as a particularly impressive survivor. Read my Roman wall walk here.

9. A Bedouin tent inside a churchyard

Finally, the Bedouin tent in the old churchyard of St Ethelburga’s Bishopsgate. It can be hired for events or booked to be seen by appointment.

St Ethelburga’s, built in the 15th century, but first recorded in the 13th century, was London’s smallest church.

I say ‘was’, because despite remarkably surviving both the Great Fire and the Blitz, on the 24th April 1993, an IRA bomb almost totally destroyed this little church. It was rebuilt, but instead of returning to being a normal church, it is today home to a charity called St Ethelburga’s Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. 

In the churchyard at the back is a Bedouin tent, erected in 2006 in response to 9/11. The idea is that the combination of Eastern and Western styles shows the importance of building community across cultural and religious divides. 

Find out more here in the full blog post. 

So there you have it, nine historical things in unexpected places, let me know if you can think of any others in the comments.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s incredible hidden history below.