I'd intended to restart the old Saturday Statuary and Stained Glass Sunday photo-posts but couldn't really be arsed to venture out into the Choking Death Plague Lands with a camera, preferring instead to settle my fat arse into my gaming chair and play Fallout 4. That way, when I die I get to start again, unlike the post-apocalyptic world outside my front door.
Anyhoo, I had a rummage in my hard drive and discovered I've taken a ridiculous number of pictures of old staircases. What's more, stairs starts with an 'S' so I'm going to do a weekend stair photo-post instead. Saturday or Sunday; take your pick; I'm happy either way.
There are some very grand staircases to come but I shall start gently with a personal favourite, possibly the simplest attempt at a stair I have come across.
The enigmatic inscription incised into the stone reads "N D / 4 2 / 1829" which is odd because the house it sits in was built in the 1680s.
This stair lives in the basement of a Huguenot silk-weaver's house on Elder Street in Spitalfields, within shouting distance of the Jack the Ripper tours our Colonial friends enjoy so much. Don't step out of this door after dark or you may find yourself in Victorian London being offered laudanum-soused grapes by a dark, cloaked figure …
5 comments:
A later addition, perhaps?
I went on a Jack the Ripper tour years ago and it was a highlight (one of many) of my London visit, but only because the guide was so much fun. There are few traces left to see except the one pub (which I loved).
Here's a book I liked.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5036202-the-worst-street-in-london
Jack tours are fun! Did you read Hallie Rubenhold's The Five?
She brings the five victims to life, making them real women by weaving the lives of their contemporaries around what little is known of them. Giving them voices, if you will. Very affecting.
I haven't read that one. Sounds good.
Well, they do look sturdy.
I've never taken a Ripper tour in London, but then again I'm usually in a pub at night when I'm there. xoxo
It's very good, Petrea. Well worth shopping around for.
Savannah, I think getting ripped to the gills in a London pub is a pretty authentic Ripper experience. xoxo
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