Tag Archives: Great Fire of London

A Productive Day and A #ThursdayDoor

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I had a very productive writing day today. The kidlet went back to school and (even though I missed her) I managed to clear a bit of clutter out of my office, plus take a walk in the freezing cold sunshine. And it seemed to pay off. A nagging structural issue in Under Stone (Ambeth book four) that had been plaguing me for the past two months was finally resolved. Plus I managed to catch up on a few other bits and pieces, which was nice.

I wanted to write a blog post as well and, as it’s Thursday, thought I might post a Thursday Door. It’s been a little while since I’ve done so, though I did have a few door photos hanging around – I think the blogging challenge I did last month threw me a little bit off course.

Anyway, I digress. Here is my door:

img_2509It’s a rather nice church door, isn’t it? And here is the church:

img_2527As you can see, it’s missing a few components like a roof, an aisle and any sort of interior. This is St Dunstan of The East, a Norman church in the heart of old London. Built around 1100, the church was damaged in the Great Fire of 1666, after which a tower and steeple designed by Christopher Wren was added. However, when the Church was badly damaged during the WWII Blitz, it was decided not to rebuild and, in 1970, it was opened as a public park.

img_2526It’s a tiny park, as parks go – about the size of the ground floor of an office block. But it is a magical space, twined with ivy, glassless windows looking out onto modern London, an oasis of calm seemingly out of time.

img_2503This was my response to the Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, head over to Norm’s site and click the link.

If you enjoyed this post, you can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, A Thousand Rooms, is now available on Amazon.

Thursday Doors In The Heart Of London

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IMG_2556This week I have some doors located in a winding cobbled alleyway in the heart of London. I love the way the alley twists, each turn revealing new shapes and architecture. It’s that wonderful mix of old and modern that you get in London, with a glimpse of the Walkie-Talkie looking one way, and the Shard the other.

IMG_2562The alley has an interesting mix of architecture ranging across several centuries. However, even though it’s in the oldest part of London, there’s not much remaining of the old city, as this is only a few streets away from where the Great Fire of 1666 started, which rendered most of the city in ruins.

IMG_2563I love the way that these two doors are straight, but the pavement slopes towards the river. I also love that the door on the right, despite appearing more welcoming, is apparently not in use. And the door on the left doesn’t even seem to be a door any more, though the iron grille covering it opens. These are the small mysteries you find on almost any street in a large city, glimpses into other people’s lives and stories. It’s part of what makes London so fascinating to me. I think I could go there every day for the rest of my life and still find something new to discover every time.

IMG_2566As a writer, these glimpses of stories are full of potential. It’s part of our craft, to go out in the world and observe, then come back and write what we see. One of our most famous writers, Samuel Johnson, once observed, ‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.’

IMG_2564I would definitely agree. 🙂

This is my entry to this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm 2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s site and click the link.

Thursday Doors – All-Hallows-By-The-Tower, London

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IMG_2474These two lovely doors are both from the church of All-Hallows-By-The-Tower, in London, England. IMG_2481The church was founded in 675AD, making it one of the oldest Christian churches in London, and parts of the original building are still visible inside. Standing outside, if you look one way you see the Tower of London;

IMG_2479And if you look the other way, you see the ‘Walkie-Talkie-, one of the newest buildings in the city.

IMG_2480If there was ever a building that could be said to encompass the history of a place, then All-Hallows-By-The-Tower is it. Built on the site of an earlier Roman building, you can go down into the original crypt and walk on tiles laid almost 2000 years ago. You can see a Saxon arch made using Roman roof tiles, and interior walls still blackened by a direct hit from the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, which reduced much of the building to a shell. Beheaded victims from the nearby Tower of London were sent to All Hallows for temporary burial, before heading to their final place of rest and the church tower, built in 1658, was the place where Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist, watched London burn during the Great Fire of 1666, the church itself only narrowly escaping destruction in the flames. Truly it is a building that spans millennia – if only the walls could talk.

IMG_2477

This is my entry for Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors challenge – for more doors, or to add one of your own, head over to Norm’s and click the link.