please empty your brain below
I believe DC Thompson has the honour of being the last newspaper publisher with an office on Fleet Street.

martin | 27.04.21 - 7:17 a.m. | #

This may be your bingo comment, but was the part inside the city walls really called Farringdon Without and vice versa, as in paragraph two?

dg writes: Clearly not. Fixed, thanks.

Sally | 27.04.21 - 7:20 a.m. | #

My very first job in London was in the “drab-but-officious” building you mention - aka Field House on Bream’s Buildings. This is one of my favourite parts of the City, although these days it’s far less quirky than it was and more of a financial and legal monoculture. For example, there used to be several second-hand bookshops in the area which relied on review copies sold by Fleet Street journalists. Both the journalists and the bookshops are long gone. But thanks for this snapshot, and for the whole series on City wards.

Baldassaro | 27.04.21 - 7:21 a.m. | #

Terrific post, full of interesting links to be explored later. I'm presently distracted however to learn that Farringdon Within somewhat counterintuitively was outside of the city walls.

dg writes: No, you think I'm wrong.
Fixed, thanks.

Frank F | 27.04.21 - 7:21 a.m. | #

If heading north from Fleet Street, Chancery Lane is on the west side and Fetter Lane to the east.

dg writes: Yes, but the 'ward' is to the east or to the west. Let me rephrase that...

Jo W | 27.04.21 - 7:33 a.m. | #

Staple Inn was the lovely old building featured on the lid of Lloyds' Old Holborn baccy tins.
Still probably feature in countless garden sheds and garages for keeping "useful" bits in.

scrumpy | 27.04.21 - 7:55 a.m. | #

Also at Barts is the modern breast screening clinic on the south side of the quadrangle. It’s always busy, friendly & efficient, & follows that perverse waiting room rule of not having any recent magazines.

Thanks, another fab blog & happy trip down memory lane.

Toni | 27.04.21 - 8:43 a.m. | #

For Poirot fans, the beautiful 1930s apartment block in Charterhouse Square was his residence in the TV series, which is worth watching for the sets and the acting (but not for the plots which sadly mangle Christie's originals.)

dg notes: Not in the ward.

Tony Woolf | 27.04.21 - 9:09 a.m. | #

The reference to Smithfield reminded me of the fearsome sight of penny farthing riders racing around the market at a cycling event called The Nocturne.
I just used GoogleMaps to remind myself how steep Smithfield St and West Smithfield actually are, and am now even more intrigued by the derelict triangular building between the two, given that the satellite view suggests that it might (unless it's simply overgrown with wild plants) have a garden on its roof.

RogerW | 27.04.21 - 9:28 a.m. | #

A very satisfying post - thankyou :-)

cau1khead | 27.04.21 - 9:38 a.m. | #

Before 1994, the boundary between Camden and Farringdon Without was extremely complex, and at different times in my career I have worked in buildings which straddled the boundary, although in both cases my own desk was in the Camden half. The boundary changes have put one of those buildings in the City and the other in Camden.

timbo | 27.04.21 - 10:14 a.m. | #

Nice photo of the quadrangle at Barts. I walked through it just yesterday on my way to a regular check up scan. It’s a superb hospital, very friendly and welcoming, with first class staff too. The museum you mentioned is well worth a visit although it may not be open due to Covid restrictions.

Bob S | 27.04.21 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Farringdon is one of my favourite areas to explore when in town.
How nice of the security guard to allow you in to explore the empty Inner & Middle Temple! They could so easily have been a jobsworth!

Cornish Cockney | 27.04.21 - 10:22 a.m. | #

A friend of mine is one of the barristers listed in the Temple picture.

Charles | Homepage | 27.04.21 - 10:44 a.m. | #

Thanks again, these posts about the various Wards of London are just wonderful. They are well beyond what the normal guide book publishes.
I have made many notes on the Wards of London, and will hopefully use them on my next trip to London.

Michael | 27.04.21 - 10:44 a.m. | #

DG, rephrase it? Yes, I wish you would.

dg writes: I already have.

Jo W | 27.04.21 - 2:11 p.m. | #

My favourite item in Bart's Museum is nothing to do with medicine but is the plaque commemorating where Sherlock Holmes first met Dr Watson!

Jeremy Buck | 27.04.21 - 3:34 p.m. | #

RogerW's small triangular building was once the Engine House for the massive Red House cold storage building behind it. Over a century ago it had tall chimneys but it ended up as public loos. Sadly it's been derelict for decades and its 'roof garden' is merely weeds.

Gerry | 27.04.21 - 10:13 p.m. | #

Many thanks for that, Gerry. I'd actually done a bit more looking via StreetView which had revealed a Gentlemen sign above one of the (bricked up) doors, but still wasn't fully convinced that such a building was "only a toilet block." I couldn't have guessed any other prior history but now I know!

RogerW | 28.04.21 - 9:11 a.m. | #











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