• Home
  • Weekend Walks
  • Private Tours
  • Corporate Walks
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Writing
  • Things Are Afoot
Bowl Of Chalk - London Walking Tours

Things Are Afoot

The Ragged School Museum

7/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Set inside the original canal side warehouses that housed it, The Ragged School Museum in East London is a tranche of Victorian life, offering an insight in to what the school day offered for the poor children of the east end.

The Ragged school, and others like it were the work of a man whose name will be familiar to most of us; Thomas Barnardo. 

Barnardo arrived in London from his native Dublin in 1866 to train as a doctor, with the aim of travelling to China as a missionary. Rather like Thomas Coram and his Foundling Hospital just over a hundred years earlier, Barnardo was appalled with the poverty, disease and overcrowding endured by many in east end slums, not to mention the non existent educational opportunities for children. 

Before he’d finished his training, Barnardo realised that instead of travelling overseas, the plight of those much closer to home deserved his attention and set about setting up his first ‘Ragged School’ in 1867. The term ‘ragged’ referred to the appearance of the children that attended. 

In 1877, Barnardo opened the Copperfield Road Free School (where the museum resides today), providing just under 400 children a day with free schooling and food, and 2,500 children for Sunday school each week.

The building was saved from demolition in the 1980s and turned in to a museum complete with Victorian classroom, a domestic kitchen and exhibition space giving a wider context to east London life throughout the ages. 

Some 16,000 school children still pass through the Ragged School’s doors each year to learn what life was like for their Victorian counterparts 140 years ago. 

The Ragged School Museum is open every Wednesday and Thursday between 10am - 5pm and between 2pm – 5pm on the first Sunday of each month. It is free to visit, but donations are obviously welcome. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Handel & Hendrix in London

1/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
German born composer, George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) and American guitarist and all round rock legend, Jimi Hendrix (1942 – 1970) were next door neighbours in London …albeit 200 years apart.

The two musical greats lived at 23 and 25 Brook Street respectively; two Georgian Mayfair houses, which when Handel moved in to No. 25 in 1723 at the age of 38, was brand spanking new. Hendrix and girlfriend Kathy Etchingham occupied a bedroom and had the use of a kitchen at No. 23 Brook Street, between July 1968 and March 1969. 

Hendrix’s bedroom has recently been restored from photo shoots that took place in the room and input from Etchingham herself. It can now be visited as a companion piece to Handel’s house next door, where the composer lived and worked. 

Handel House

I decided to visit Handel’s house first, a typical 5 floor Georgian town house. There weren’t many visitors so was able to bend the ear of the incredibly helpful attendant who enthusiastically showed me how Handel’s staircase was widened to allow for his harpsichord to be carried up and down. Hendrix’s staircase however remained unaltered. 

I began in Handel’s composition room. He was a pretty speedy composer, and could knock off an entire opera in 40 days, then start another straight afterwards, His Oratorio, ‘Messiah’ was written in just 24 days.

I then headed to the exhibition space (next door) which puts Handel’s life in to a bit of context and explains a bit about the London that Handel would have known and the places he regularly visited. Incidentally, he was very much involved with Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital, another small London museum, well worth a visit. The house on Brook Street was of course close to the theatres around Covent Garden, the developing area of Soho and the Royal family at St James’s Palace. Just like today, Handel had a plethora of coffee houses on his doorstep …and gin palaces. 

Handel basically turned his dining room in to a music room and rehearsal space, which the museum use for the same purpose today giving recitals, open rehearsals and even have a current composer in residence.

It is thought that Handel died in his bedroom. The attendant there explained that the bed was short, not because Handel was particularly diminutive, but because people apparently slept sitting up, as it was believed to aid digestion.  

Hendrix Flat

I was a massive Hendrix fan when I was a kid and it was obvious from visiting the museum that there are far more fervent Hendrix fans than myself. 

The bedroom itself is just that, a room. It is festooned with paraphernalia from the swinging sixties, and the only original item from when Hendrix and Etchingham lived there, is an oval mirror. Still, it’s a faithful recreation and really captures the feel of how it would have been, even if not …the smell. 

The room next door is a small museum which as you’d expect charts Hendrix’s journey from a U.S Army paratrooper to session musician for Little Richard (amongst others), a move to London, the formation of the Jimi Hendrix Experience to become what the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame describe as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music” …all within a decade. 

Hendrix died in September 1970 (not at this flat) at the age of 27. 

Handel and Hendrix in London is a must for music lovers and especially for Jimi Hendrix aficionados visiting London. I couldn’t help but wonder what Jimi would have thought about a flat he rented for a short period in London becoming a shrine to himself, but I think it’s great that both these two very different musicians have not only been able to bridge the gap between their two very different genres, but also the centuries. London, for me, is a city where 2000 years of history constantly rub shoulders, which Handel &  Hendrix in London opitimises. 

It is fitting also that upon learning that Handel had lived next door, Hendrix went with Kathy Etchingham to the One Stop Record Shop on South Moulton Street and bought Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and ‘Water Music’ on vinyl.  

You can find Handel & Hendrix in London at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, W1K 4HB. It is open Monday to Saturday (11am – 6pm). Last admission 5pm. 
Picture
Handel's composition room.
Picture
Handel's music room.
Picture
Handel's bedroom.
Picture
Hendrix's bedroom.
Picture
Hendrix's bedroom.
Picture
Handel & Hendrix in London.
0 Comments

    Bowl Of Chalk

    Bowl Of Chalk based shenanigans. 

    Archives

    January 2023
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    May 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    Categories

    All
    1666
    18th Century London
    Actor's Church
    Adelaide House
    Admiral Arthur Phillip
    A Friend In Rome
    Air Pollution
    Air Raid Precautions
    Air Raids
    Alfred Hitchcock
    All Hallows By The Tower
    All Hallows-by-the-Tower
    Anne Boleyn
    Anne Of Cleves
    Apothecaries' Hall
    Architecture
    Arnold Circus
    Bankside
    Banqueting House
    Barbican
    Battle Of Trafalgar
    Benjamin Franklin House
    Ben Jonson
    Ben Wilson
    Bermondsey
    Berry Bros & Rudd
    Best London Walking Tours
    Big Ben
    Blackout
    Blitz
    Blue Plaques
    Books On London History
    Borough Market
    Boulevard Theatre
    Bow Street
    Brick Lane
    Brick Lane Mosque
    Bridewell Theatre
    Britain's Smallest Police Station
    British Museum
    Brockley
    Bruce Castle Museum
    Brunel Museum
    Buckingham Palace
    Buenos Aires
    Bunhill Fields Cemetery
    Burlington Arcade
    C215 - Christian Guemy
    Cabmen's Shelters
    Camouflaged Buildings
    Canary Wharf
    Cardinal Wolsey
    Carnaby Street
    Chad Varah
    Chancery Lane
    Charles Barry
    Charles Dickens
    Charles Dickens Museum
    Charles Ii
    Charlie Chaplin
    Charterhouse
    Cheapside
    Chewing Gum Art
    Chinatown
    Christchurch Spitalfields
    Christchurch - Spitalfields
    Christiaan Nagel
    Christopher Wren
    Churchill War Rooms
    City Of London
    City Road
    Clarence House
    Clerkenwell
    Clet Abraham
    Clockmakers' Museum
    Columbia Road
    Coronavirus
    Courtauld Gallery
    Courtaulds
    Covent Garden
    Covid-19
    Cripplegate
    Criterion Restaurant
    Curiosities
    Curtain Road
    Cutty Sark
    Dan Cruickshank
    Daniel Defoe
    Day Trips
    Dead Man's Hole
    Dennis Sever's House
    Downing Street
    Dr Johnson's House
    Duke Of Buckingham
    Duke Of Wellington
    East London
    Edwin Landseer
    Eine
    Elizabethan London
    English Heritage
    Eros
    Euston Road
    Executions
    First World War
    Fleet Street
    Florence Nightingale
    Floris Perfumers
    Floris - Perfumers
    Fortnum And Mason
    Fossils
    Fournier Street
    Fourth Plinth
    Foyles
    Freemason's Hall
    Fun London Facts
    Gainsborough Studios
    Geffrye Museum
    Geoffrey Chaucer
    George Dance The Younger
    George Frederic Watts
    George Frideric Handel
    George Inn
    George Washington
    Gillian Wearing
    Golden Hinde
    Grant Museum Of Zoology
    GreatFire350
    Great Fire Of London
    Great Marlborough Street
    Greenpeace
    Greenwich
    Greenwich Foot Tunnel
    Grinling Gibbons
    Guide To London
    Guy's Hospital
    Ham House
    Hamleys Toy Shop
    Hampstead
    Hampton Court Palace
    Hand Drawn Map
    Handel & Hendrix In London
    Harry Potter
    Hatchards
    Henry Croft
    Heron Tower
    Hever Castle
    Hidden London
    Historical Fiction
    Historic House
    History Podcast
    HMS Belfast
    Hodge
    Horace Jones
    Horatio Nelson
    Horniman Museum
    Horse Guards
    Houndsditch
    Household Cavalry Museum
    Houses Of Parliament
    Hoxton
    Hoxton Hall
    Hoxton Square
    Hoxton Street Monster Supplies
    H.R Higgins - Coffee Man
    Huguenots
    ICA
    I Love London Town
    Inigo Jones
    Invader
    Italian Gardens
    Jack The Ripper
    James Bond
    James Parkinson
    James Thornhill
    Jewel Tower
    Jimi Hendrix
    Jimmy C
    John Lobb
    John Milton
    John Wesley
    Kaspar The Savoy Hotel Cat
    Kaspar - The Savoy Hotel Cat
    Kensington Palace
    King Charles I
    King Edward Ii
    King Edward Iii
    King George I
    King George Iii
    King George Iv
    King Henry Viii
    King James I
    King's Cross
    King's Head Theatre
    Knights Templar
    Leadenhall Market
    Leicester Square
    Lewisham
    Liberty London
    Lions
    Lloyds Of London
    Lock & Co Hatters
    Lock & Co - Hatters
    London Airports
    London Books
    London Bridge
    London Bridges
    London Cabs
    London Churches
    London Eye
    London For Visitors
    London Galleries
    London Guide
    London History
    London Map
    London Museums
    London Parks
    London Sculptures
    London's Dead
    London Shops
    London Skyscrapers
    London Statues
    London Street Names
    London Transport Museum
    London Trivia
    London Underground
    Lying-in-State
    Margaret Thatcher
    Marie Lloyd
    Mayfair
    Metropolitan Police
    Mews
    Middle Temple Hall
    Millennium Bridge
    Millicent Fawcett
    Monopoly
    Monopoly Guide To London
    More London
    Mudlarks
    Museum Of The Order Of St John
    Naomi Clifford
    National Gallery
    National Portrait Gallery
    National Theatre
    National Trust
    Nelson's Column
    New Bond Street
    New Zealand House
    Nicholas Hawksmoor
    No2 Willow Road
    Norton Folgate
    Old Bond Street
    Old Kent Road
    Old London Bridge
    Old Royal Naval College
    Old Street
    Old Truman Brewery
    Oliver Cromwell
    Oxford Street
    Pablo Delgado
    Painted Hall
    Pall Mall
    Parks
    Parliament Square
    Paternoster Square
    Paul Don Smith
    Paxton & Whitfield
    Pay What You Want Tours
    Pearly Kings & Queens
    Pentonville Road
    Piccadilly
    Piccadilly Circus
    Pitfield Street
    Places To Visit
    Platform 9 3/4
    Portland Stone
    Postal Museum
    Postman's Park
    Prince Albert
    Private Tours
    Private Tours In Rome
    Private Walks
    Pudding Lane
    Punch & Judy
    Queen Anne
    Queen Elizabeth I
    Queen's Funeral
    Queen Victoria
    Questions From London Tourists
    Quirky London
    Regent Street
    River Thames
    Roa
    Robert Peel
    Roman London
    Ronnie Scott's
    Ronzo
    Rose Theatre Bankside
    Rotherhithe
    Royal Academy Of Arts
    Royal Albert Hall
    Royal Courts Of Justice
    Royal Opera House
    Royal Warrants
    Rugby
    Rugby Union
    Rugby World Cup
    Rules Restaurant
    Russel Hoban
    Samuel Johnson
    Samuel Pepys
    Saxon London
    Sculptures
    Shad Thames
    Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
    Shops
    Shoreditch
    Shoreditch Park
    Silicon Roundabout
    Smithfield
    Soho
    Soho Square
    Soho Theatre
    Somerset House
    Sotherbys
    South East London
    Southwark Cathedral
    Spitalfields
    Spitalfields Life
    Stafford Hotel
    Statues
    St Bartholomew-the-Great
    St Bride's Church
    St Clement Danes
    St Dunstanintheeastca4d4776b9
    St Dunstan In The West
    St Etheldreda
    St Giles Cripplegate
    Stik
    St James's Palace
    St James's Park
    St Johns Gate57173442d0
    St John's - Smith Square
    St Katharine Docks
    St Katherine Docks
    St Martin-in-the-Fields
    St Mary Aldermanbury
    St Pancras Old Church
    St Paul's Cathedral
    St Pauls Cathedral
    St Peter Cheap
    Strand
    Street Art
    Stretcher Railings
    St Stephen Walbrook
    Suffrage Movement
    Sweet Toof
    Sydenham
    Tate Modern
    Telephone Box
    Temple Bar
    Temple Church
    Thames Barrier
    That Dam Guide
    The Actor's Church
    The Angel
    Theatre Royal Drury Lane
    The Birdcage
    The British Library
    The Cenotaph
    The Dickens Inn
    The Eagle
    The Foundling Museum
    The Hardy Tree
    The King's Wardrobe
    The Mall
    The Mayflower
    The Monument
    The Old Curiosity Shop
    The Old Operating Theatre
    The Photographer's Gallery
    The Ragged School Museum
    The Royal Institution
    The Shard
    The Spitalfields Trust
    The Ten Bells
    The Theatre
    The Tipperary
    The Wallace Collection
    Thomas Archer
    Thomas Barnardo
    Thomas Coram
    Thomas Crapper
    Thomas Farriner
    Thomas Sutton
    Time Out London
    Tour Guides
    Tours In Amsterdam
    Tower Bridge
    Tower Of London
    Trafalgar Square
    Tudors
    Twickenham
    Twinings
    Urban Geology
    Va27d30ae324
    V & A Museum
    Vhils
    Victorian London
    Victorian Music Hall
    Victoria Park
    Vine Street
    Visiting Rome
    Weekend Walks
    Wesley's Chapel
    Westland London
    Westminster
    Westminster Abbey
    Westminster Bridge
    When Cities Are Empty
    Whitechapel Bell Foundry
    Whitechapel Road
    Whitehall
    William Hogarth
    William & Mary
    William Shakespeare
    William The Conqueror
    William Waldorf Astor
    William Webb Ellis
    William Wordsworth
    Winchester Palace
    Windsor Castle
    Winston Churchill
    Women In History
    Women's Rights
    WWII
    Xylo
    Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
    Yeoman Warders
    York Watergate

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Weekend Walks
  • Private Tours
  • Corporate Walks
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Writing
  • Things Are Afoot