<![CDATA[Bowl Of Chalk - London Walking Tours

London's landmarks often feel permanent. Churches, bridges, gates and monuments seem as though they've occupied the same spot for centuries. Yet some of the capital's most famous structures have led surprisingly nomadic lives.

From a bridge that crossed the Atlantic to a church rebuilt in Missouri and a city gate that spent decades masquerading as the gateway to a country house in Hertfordshire, here are five pieces of London history that packed their bags and moved.

London Bridge is falling down – no more
Originally built by the Romans, London Bridge has had more reincarnations than Doctor Who. After centuries of fires, traffic jams, crumbling stonework and the occasional collapsing arch, the 19th-century version of the bridge was finally retired in the 1960s. Rather than knocking it down, the City of London sold it to an American businessman, who dismantled it stone by stone and shipped it to Arizona where it was rebuilt in Lake Havasu City.

The bridge that stands today opened in 1973 and is undeniably more practical than its predecessors, carrying thousands of vehicles and pedestrians across the Thames every day. Quick fun London fact - Did you know that London Bridge is the reason us Brits drive on the left? The Old London Bridge was such a traffic nightmare that in the 18th century carts and carriages were ordered to keep left to avoid congestion. The rule was later adopted more widely and written into the Highway Act of 1835.

A church that crossed the Atlantic
Another piece of London history that now sits Stateside is a church that once stood in St Mary Aldermanbury Garden in the heart of the City. The original medieval church endured more than its fair share of misfortune. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren (who must have been wondering if he'd ever get a quiet week), and then battered again during the Blitz in 1940. Only the outer walls survived and the ruined church stood abandoned for more than two decades.

By the mid-20th century, London seemed to have developed a habit of exporting its landmarks to America. In 1966, St Mary Aldermanbury was dismantled brick by brick and shipped to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where it was painstakingly rebuilt. Today it stands as a memorial to Sir Winston Churchill's famous "Iron Curtain" speech, delivered there in 1946.

The adventures of Temple Bar
If you've ever wandered into Paternoster Square and admired the rather grand stone arch standing between St Paul's Cathedral and the square, you've already met Temple Bar.

Its story stretches back to the 13th century, when a gateway marking the boundary of the City of London first stood on the site. Remarkably, it survived the Great Fire of London, but King Charles II evidently felt London didn't have enough rebuilding projects on its hands and commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to design a new and suitably impressive replacement. The resulting arch stood proudly on Fleet Street for almost 200 years, welcoming visitors to the City and occasionally displaying the heads of executed traitors on spikes. As you do.

Eventually it was gifted to Sir Henry Meux, who rebuilt it as the entrance to his Hertfordshire estate, Theobalds Park. Many Londoners hoped Temple Bar would one day return home and, in the late 1970s, the Temple Bar Trust was formed with that sole objective.
Twenty-five years later they got their wish. After a £2.9 million restoration and a painstaking 16-month reconstruction, Temple Bar was reassembled beside St Paul's in 2004. Not bad going for a gate that spent part of its life in storage and another part pretending to be a country house driveway.

Seven Dials lands in Surrey
It's not just churches and bridges that have gone walkabout. Even monuments haven't always stayed put. One of the most famous landmarks in Covent Garden is the column at Seven Dials, where seven streets converge in a wonderfully confusing piece of 17th-century urban planning. What many visitors don't realise is that the monument standing there today isn't the original.

The first sundial pillar was erected when Seven Dials was laid out in the 1690s, but by 1773 it had acquired a reputation as a gathering place for the area's less savoury characters and was removed. After spending time in a Surrey garden, it reappeared in 1822 as a memorial to Frederica, Duchess of York, on Monument Green in Weybridge. The original dial stone was even repurposed as a mounting block for horse riders, and can still be seen near Weybridge Library today. Meanwhile, Seven Dials had to make do without its centrepiece until 1989, when a faithful replica of the original was installed using historic designs held by the British Museum. So if you want to see the original Seven Dials monument, you'll need to swap Covent Garden for Surrey.

Marble Arch on the move
Not every wandering London landmark ended up on another continent or county. Marble Arch barely made it out of central London. The imposing white marble gateway was originally built in 1827 as the ceremonial entrance to Buckingham Palace. Today, however, you'll find it standing at the north-east corner of Hyde Park, where Oxford Street meets Park Lane.

The arch was dismantled and moved in 1851. Quite why remains a matter of debate. One popular story claims the central arch was too narrow for royal coaches to pass through comfortably, while another suggests Queen Victoria wanted to create more space for her growing family and so it was removed to make way for the new East Wing.

Whatever the reason, the arch was carefully taken apart and rebuilt in its current location.

It turns out London has a habit of misplacing things. Bridges end up in Arizona, churches appear in Missouri and monuments pop up in Surrey. Which leaves just one question: what else has wandered off while nobody was looking?

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