London: History & Mystery - Knockings of Belgravia 2nd September 2021

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On Thursday the 2nd of September 2021 I got the train/underground to Victoria Station. I left the station and walked into The Shakespeare pub outside. Not a great range of drinks, but I choose one beer, sorry it's out. Okay I'll have this cider, Sorry that's off too! Okay I won't bother than and left.

I am following a route from the AA London History and Mystery book. Published 2009 so hoping it was still accurate. 

From the Shakespeare Pub I crossed over Buckingham Palace Road and head over to Grosvenor Gardens.

Here on the other side of the road is a statute dedicated to Foch.

The Equestrian statue of Ferdinand Foch stands in Lower Grosvenor Gardens, London. The sculptor was Georges Malissard and the statue is a replica of another raised in Cassel, France. Foch, appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces on the Western Front in the Spring of 1918, was widely seen as the architect of Germany's ultimate defeat and surrender in November 1918. Among many other honours, he was made an honorary Field marshal in the British Army, the only French military commander to receive such a distinction. Following Foch's death in March 1929, a campaign was launched to erect a statue in London in his memory. The Foch Memorial Committee chose Malissard as the sculptor, who produced a replica of his 1928 statue of Foch at Cassel. The statue was unveiled by the Prince of Wales on 5 June 1930. Designated a Grade II listed structure in 1958, the statue's status was raised to Grade II* in 2016.

In the green garden behind the statue are two shell covered huts.

The shell huts were built in 1952 as part of a re-landscaping of the Lower Grosvenor Gardens in a French style to commemorate Marshal Foch and Anglo-French understanding. The gardens already had a statue (by Georges Malissard) of Foch – the French hero of the First World War – which was erected in 1930. During the Second World War, Grosvenor Gardens was covered with air raid shelters and littered with dust and debris, so a clean-up was in order.

The two shell huts – and indeed the rest of the park – were designed by the then architect-in-chief of the National Monuments and Palaces of France, Jean Moreux, who also designed the Institut Francais library in South Kensington. Some of the shells adorning the huts were brought over from France, while it was thought that others would also be sourced from English beaches – making for a very cross-cultural construction indeed. The huts were said to be ‘in the style of those small pavilions that were known as fabriques in eighteenth-century France’ – the old French term for what is known as a folly in the U.K.

I walked up Grosvenor gardens before turning left into Ebury Street where up at no 22B Ebury is street is where Ian Fleming lived from 1936 to 1939.

Ian Fleming the creator of James Bond lived in the building that was once a 19th century chapel, this appealed to Fleming and the fact it is reputed to be haunted. He turned it into a avant-garde bachelor pad in which he pursued his hobbies of collecting first editions and surrealist art, seducing women, gambling and gourmandizing.

I walk back down onto Lower Belgrave Street and over into The Plumbers Arms.

I order a Beavertown Neck Oil beer and sit down. 

At 9.45pm on the night of 7th November 1974, a distressed and bloodstained woman burst into the bar of The Plumber’s Arms, Lower Belgrave Street, crying out "Help me, help me, help me. I’ve just escaped from being murdered. He’s in the house. He’s murdered the Nanny!" She was the Countess of Lucan, who had fled from her home at number 46, leaving behind her three children. She was obviously the victim of a serious assault, and the police and an ambulance were called to the scene. The police officers who arrived to investigate found a substantial house with a ground floor, a basement and four upper floors. Forcing open the front door, they searched the premises, and found the children in their bedrooms, unharmed. The door to the basement was open. There was no light in the hall, so they fetched a flashlight. They descended the stairs to the breakfast room, and found the walls splashed with blood, a pool of blood on the floor, with some male footprints in it, and, near the door connecting the breakfast room to the kitchen, a bloodstained sack. The top of the sack was folded over but not fastened. Inside was the corpse of Sandra Rivett, the children’s' nanny. She had been battered to death with a blunt instrument. In the hallway was a length of lead piping, covered in surgical tape, very bent out of shape and heavily bloodstained. The back door was unlocked.

When Lady Lucan was able to make a statement to the police she named her husband as her attacker and the murderer of Sandra Rivett. Of Lord Lucan, there was no sign.

Shortly after 10pm, Mrs. Madeleine Floorman, a friend of the Lucans, who lived a short distance away, was dozing in front of the TV after a tiring day when she was awoken by someone pressing the doorbell insistently. Assuming it was a local youth, who had done this kind of thing before, she ignored it and went back to sleep. Some time later, the phone rang. She was sure that the caller was Lord Lucan, but he sounded distressed and became incoherent. She put the phone down and went back to sleep. (Later, some spots of what appeared to be blood were found on her doorstep).

At approximately 10.30 that evening, Lord Lucan telephoned his mother who lived in St John’s Wood, telling her there had been a catastrophe at the house, and he wanted her to collect the children. She went straight there, found the place occupied by police, and informed them that the Lucans were separated, the children were wards of court, and that Lord Lucan currently resided at a nearby flat. She then took the children to her home. The police searched Lord Lucan’s flat. He was not there, but they found his car keys, passport, chequebook, driving licence, wallet and glasses. His blue Mercedes car was parked outside. The battery was flat. (It had been suffering from battery trouble for some time).

Lord Lucan was driving another car that night, a Ford Corsair he had borrowed from a friend some 2-3 weeks previously. (He had, in fact, insisted that he wanted the car for that particular evening.) It was about 11.30pm when he arrived in Uckfield, Sussex, at the home of his friends Ian and Susan Maxwell-Scott. The house was 42 miles from Lower Belgrave Street, a journey of about an hour at average speed, though he was a fast driver and might have taken less time. Ian Maxwell-Scott was away, but his wife admitted Lord Lucan and was surprised to see him in disheveled daytime clothing. His flannels looked as though they had been stained and something sponged off.

This was Lord Lucan’s story, as told to Susan Maxwell-Scott. He had been walking past the Lower Belgrave St house, and had peeped in through the basement window. He had seen someone struggling with his Lady Lucan in the basement kitchen. He let himself in through the front door and ran down the stairs. He slipped and fell in a pool of blood, and the man had run off. He had calmed Lady Lucan down and taken her upstairs to try and clean her up, but while he was in the bathroom she had run out of the house shouting "Murder!". He had panicked, realizing things looked very bad for him, and decided to get out.

Between that time and arriving at the Maxwell-Scotts he said had made three phone calls, one to Mrs. Floorman, one to his mother, and he had also tried to telephone Bill Shand Kydd, who was married to Lady Lucan’s sister but there was no reply. Mrs. Maxell-Scott said that he did not tell her where he made these calls from, but she got the impression they had been made after he left the house. At 12.15 he rang his mother from the Maxwell-Scotts house to check that she had the children, and rang Bill Shand Kydd again, but there was no reply.

Lord Lucan then wrote two letters, both addressed to Bill Shand Kydd at his home in Bayswater. (They were posted the following day. The envelopes were found to have smears of blood on them. ) Mrs. Maxwell-Scott tried to persuade him to remain so they could go to the local police the next morning, but he said he had to "get back". He drove away. There has been no validated sighting of him since.

Three days after the murder, the Ford Corsair was found abandoned at Newhaven. Bloodstains were found inside of both type A and type B, also, a piece of bandaged lead piping, unstained, but very similar to the one found in the murder house.

I leave the pub and continue up Lower Belgrave Street and stop outside no 46, where the gruesome murder took place.

I continue along Lower Belgrave Street cross Hobart Place and over to St Peters Church on the corner of Upper Belgrave Street.

St Peter's was built between 1824 and 1827 during the first development of Eaton Square. The interior was, as was common at the time, a "preaching box", with galleries in three sides and the organ and choir at the west end. James Elmes called the effect "chaste and simple".

Further along Upper Belgrave Street I stop outside 10 where between 1809 and 1881 was the home of the poet Tennyson.

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson FRS was a British poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu".

I continue along and turn right into Chester Street and then left into Groom Place.

Here are very pretty mews type properties once the living quarters for the coachmen who attended the grand houses of Belgravia. The ground level double doors gave access to the stables where the horses and coaches were kept, while the coachmen and families lived in the rooms above.

Here at the Horse and Groom Public House where I order a Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay Blonde Lager and a Shepherd Neame Orchard View Cider.

The walls are covered in pictures of The Beatles and the barman told me they drank regularly in here, as their manager loved nearby.

I leave the pub take the next left and into Chapel Street where I stop outside no.24.  Where The Beatles Manager Brian Epstein lived.

He bought the house in December 1964 and hosted many showbiz parties here, including the 196t7 launch for The Beatles album Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band. The Beatles attended and posed for photographs on the doorstep here.

Epstein however was feeling the pressure of managing The Beatles and the stress of coming to terms of his homosexuality unbearable and started a  drink and pills downward spiral. He was found dead in his bedroom here on 22nd August 1967, a victim of a overdose. Accidental death was recorded although some suggested suicide or even murder. 

I walk on into Belgrave Square.

Here is a bronze sculpture depicting Venezuelan military and political leader Simón Bolívar (1783–1830), by Hugo Daini. The statue was unveiled by James Callaghan, then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, later Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in 1974.

On the plinth are the words:

I am convinced that England alone is capable of protecting the world's rights as she is great, glorious and wise

The names of countries liberated by Bolívar are inscribed on the base.

Just around the square at no.33 is the HQ of the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. One of the treasured possession of theirs is the chair in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (A committed Spiritualist) wrote many of his Sherlock Holmes books. Sadly it was behind hoarding and the door closed.

I walk around the square cross over and into Halkin Street by the statue of Sir Robert Grosvenor, the first Marquess of Westminster.

I walk on into Grosvenor Crescent and its amazing buildings.

I walk on and into Wilton Crescent  and first right into Wilton Row.

The Grenadier is patriotically painted Red, White and blue. A red sentry box sits outside. Inside you'll find sword, bayonets and other military memorabilia.

This was once the officers mess for the Duke of Wellingtons regiment.

It is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young subaltern caught cheating at cards, who either killed himself of flogged to death by by his fellow officers.

Here I stop at the Grenadier Pub for a Cedrics Debt Bitter and a Grenadier Pale Ale.

I leave the pub and take the red gate next to it into Old Barracks Yard.

Here is a stone horse mount, said to have been used by the Iron Duke himself!

I walk through the arch at the end, right along Knightsbridge and to the finish at Hyde Park Corner Tube Station. A easy 2 mile walk , full of history, mystery and beer!

Danbury to Papermill Lock walk 26th August 21

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On Thursday the 26th August 2021, myself and staff have a day off from the DofE cadets after 3 days of walking with them. So we decide we'd do some more walking!

So we set off from the Essex Outdoors Centre in Danbury Essex for a walk to Papermill Lock!

We walk out onto Well Lane turn left and then shortly afterwards right onto Bell Hill.

We pass the War Memorial on Bell Hill by Elm Green.

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

One such memorial was raised at Danbury as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 24 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

Danbury War Memorial was unveiled on 31 July 1920 by Field Marshal Sir WR Robertson. It was built to the Cross of Sacrifice design which was devised in 1919 by Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) for war cemeteries abroad, although it was also widely adopted in Britain.

The memorial consists of a c 7.3m high Portland stone Latin cross rising from an octagonal plinth on a four-stepped base. A bronze Sword of Sacrifice is fixed to the south face of the cross.

The south face of the plinth bears the incised inscription IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD/AND IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF DANBURY WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR MDCCCCXIV MDCCCCXVII. The names of the 24 First World War fallen are recorded on the north, east and west faces of the plinth.

A bit further up Bell Hill becomes Main Road and we take the second footpath on the left and head  down the path across a stream and a track before heading uphill, turn right at the path split and out to Te Ridge and head straigh across into Runsell Lane. we walk down the road before turning left onto Litchborough Park and onto a track and through a wood called Poors Piece.

We turn right at the top of the footpath that now runs inline with Fir Tree Lane and down the path. Here there are numerous huge Wood Ant nests!

The southern wood ant, also known as the 'red wood ant' or 'horse Ant', is an aggressive predator, equipped with large, biting jaws and the ability to spray formic acid in defence. It feeds on a wide variety of invertebrates, which the workers collect from the area surrounding their colony. Southern wood ants build large nests out of soil, twigs, leaves and pine needles. They can be found in open, sunny spots in both coniferous and broadleaved woodland, as well as on heathland and moorland. Colonies can sometimes number up to half a million individuals comprising non-reproducing female workers, a queen (or queens) that produces eggs, and males that mate with the queen. In spring, a generation of sexual males and females is raised, which take to the air to mate. Fertilised females then shed their wings and disperse to form new colonies.

We continue along this path through Woodham Walter Common, through Wood Hall and exit out onto a an area called Crossways.

We take a footpath straight ahead and pass an array of aerials, no idea what these are used for! 

We cross over West Bowers Farm and out onto West Bowers Road where we turn right before taking another path a little way up.

We exit out onto the road, and here Mike and Denisa who were leading with the map reading were busy talking and took us the wrong way! Myself, Steve, Maxine and Anthony were looking at the road in the other direction knowing the river was that way .But we followed them anyway. Easy done, I've gone wrong many times when not paying full attention. 

We stop by Gun Hill Farm and put our coats on as it had started to rain.

Here we discussed the wrong turn and agree to walk into Woodham Walter and hope to find an open pub.

The village was first recorded as "Wudeham" in c. 875. The name, which means "village in the wood" is derived from the Old English words wudu (wood in modern English) and ham (home, or homestead).The modern name may derive from the Fitzwalter family who owned Woodham Walter Hall, a moated manor house in the village for many generations. The house was demolished in the 17th century by William Fytch.

There is evidence of earlier settlement. A hoard of silver coins was found in the village, dated to c. 700.At Oak Farm in 1991 three gold and bronze torcs were discovered; they have been dated to c. 1000 BC.

The Domesday Book entry for Woodham Walter lists a population of 18.

We walked up Rectory Road and come to The Bell PH, closed till 12pm as I suspected. Its only 11m so we walk on.

The Bell PH is a early 16th Century pub with later 17th century additions. 

Next we passed the Queen Victoria PH also closed! 

We walk onto Hoe Mill Lock Road and up to Hoe Mill Lock itself.

Hoe Mill Lock is lock 9 of 12 on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.

The navigation runs from Springfield Basin in Chelmsford to the sea lock at Heybridge Basin near Maldon. It has six bridges and drops 75 feet (23 m) through 12 locks from the basin to the sea. There is also a set of flood gates at Beeleigh, which prevents water from the River Blackwater flooding the cut to Heybridge Basin. The navigation meanders in a broadly west to east direction between Chelmsford and Maldon, through countryside which is largely arable, and although it passes near to a number of villages, all of them are set back some distance from the waterway.

Hoe Mill Lock has the largest drop on the Navigation, at 8 feet and 3 inches. As a result there is a danger of swamping the boats when filling the lock, and so the lock paddles on the upper gates are located in underground side culverts. The lock is named after a corn mill which had existed near the site from Saxon times to 1914 when it was demolished. In 1795, Hoe Mill was bought by Robert Marriage. His sons, Robert and James, inherited the mill. They were both Quakers and deeply opposed to the slave trade.

They decided to build a sugar beet mill on the banks of the canal, believing that locally produced beet sugar would undermine the importation of cane sugar largely produced in the Caribbean using slave labour. Their aim was "a desire to obtain the best information and to promote the abolition of slavery, by producing an article of free labour." The mill was sited half a mile downstream from Hoe Mill, near where this walk first joins the towpath. The mill employed 30 men, women and children. The process of converting beet into sugar consisted of first rasping the sugar beet roots and then crushing the beet to a pulp which was pressed. The resulting liquor was reduced by boiling and then clarified, then finally any remaining liquid was evaporated off and the residue crystallised. The left-over pulp was used as cattle feed. Sadly the mill failed after just 2 years partly, it is believed, through the resistance of various influential businessmen who wished to continue to import from the West Indies.

We now the pretty Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation path, the river is very popular with canoes, kayaks, paddleboarders and pleasure boats.

Further along the river we pass the Beautiful Ulting Church on the River Bank.

All Saints, the village church, has been standing since 1150, with a major restoration taking place in the 1870s. The church was once a place of pilgrimage ranking with Walsingham and other famous shrines.

Ulting was the location of the first sugar beet factory in England, although its useful life was cut short by cheap imports of cane sugar.

Ernest Doe & Sons produced farm machinery in the 1950s and 1960s, including the odd Doe Triple-D tractor.

The history of milling around Ulting, and its relationship to waterways, goes back to Saxon times, although the first named miller in written records is Richard Ulting in 1496. In fact the village name 'Ult-ing' is derived from the old Anglo-Saxon name for the river, the 'Ult', (probably the River Ter) and the settlers or 'ingas' living there.

We pass Rushes Lock (no.8) where the River Ter joins the navigation.

We now reach Papermill Lock (no.7) with its amazing tearoom that does Cream Teas and the best cake and a welcome stop!

We stop for a break and I have a cream tea whilst fighting off the many wasps!

The original water mill on the lower island at Little Baddow was built in Saxon times, and by 1573 a second mill, Huskards, had been built on the same island. Both mills were run by one John Hawes, who was fined 2 shillings because:

'by penning of his waters above his mark hath and doth damage to all the Queen's tenants and farmers of the honour of Bewleigh in drowning the meadows and low grounds and for not drawing up his gates upon rage of waters in the hay time and also hath marred a certain highway or lane leading from Baddow bridge unto the mill called Huskardes mill which the said miller is to repair and amend for the avoidance of further inconvenience'.At that time Huskards Mill operated as both a corn mill and as a mill for fulling cloth. In the 1750's it became the first paper mill in Essex, run by Thomas Hodges and employing 3 men with papermaking skills and an apprentice. In around 1800 the mill was taken over by Benjamin Livermore who continued to operate it as a paper mill for almost another twenty years until it was re-converted for grinding flour. Following the creation of the canal in 1797 a wharf was built here, together with an overnight bothy for the bargees, stables for the horses (now the tea house), and paddocks for livestock.

In its heyday in the mid 19th century up to 60,000 tons of freight was carried along the 14 miles of the navigation, rising 77ft via 12 locks between Heybridge Basin, on the Blackwater Estuary, and Springfield Basin, close to the heart of Chelmsford. Much coal, corn and timber was transhipped in Heybridge Basin between seagoing ships and navigation barges, though local freight was carried, too, with every parish having its waterside wharf. Wood and iron was taken to Chelmsford to build the Great Eastern Railway, which, in turn, took freight away from the waterway, heralding its decline. With dwindling traffic, horse-drawn barges survived into the 1950s, and the last diesel lighter loaded timber from a Scandinavian steamer for Browns Wharf in 1972.

Soon after the last barge “Julie” took semi-retirement, the traditional passenger barge “Victoria” opened up the navigation’s tranquil waters to the public, and since the 1970s the Company has looked to leisure for its future, with moorings for private cruisers and narrowboats, canoeing, fishing and walking. The Canal Centre at Paper Mill, with its Old Stables Tea Rooms, river trips and hire boats, opened in 2002.

We set off again and continue along the Navigation's footpath.

After about half a mile we take a footpath on our left and across farm Fields towards the Church of St Mary The Virgin.

The church was built over a period of 400 years between 1100 and 1500, the oldest part being the Norman North wall of the nave. The nave was extended in the fourteenth century to create a chantry chapel for the Filliol family and the present chancel and tower were built at the same time.

The porch was added in about 1400 and the tower was adapted for bells at the same time. The tenor bell, is one of the oldest in the diocese and by 1925 there was a ring of five bells. This number was increased to eight in 1986 and the bells are still rung on Sundays and special occasions.

The rood loft staircase and the priest’s door in the chancel, now plastered up, were built in about 1420.

Little Baddow like many English villages the mainly car owning population has led to a decline in the number of shops in the village. While the community once supported several businesses there are now none left. There are two pubs, The Generals Arms and The Rodney, the Elm Green Preparatory School and a village hall. There are two long established churches, the Anglican St Mary the Virgin and the United Reformed Church. Both churches are architecturally interesting and have long histories. The Church of St Mary the Virgin contains a 14th-century Devil's door, dating to the time when medieval Christians believed the North of side of a church to be the abode of the Devil.

Opposite sits Little Baddow Hall Fruit Farm.

The middle part of the house was built in the 15th century or possibly earlier, and this block was extended towards the N. about the end of the 16th century. This extension has been partly destroyed and the S. cross-wing re-built in modern times; there is also a modern addition on the W. side. On the W. side the upper storey of the original block projects. The late 16th-century chimney-stack at the N. end has grouped diagonal shafts. Inside the building the central block has an original roof of two bays with a king-post truss. There are also king-post trusses of a lighter type in the 16th-century extension and the wall between these two parts is double with a hollow between. The middle room on the ground floor has exposed ceiling-beams, one with mortices for the former braces and straining-beam.

We walk across the Fruit Farm, out onto Hurrells Lane turn left and take a footpath across a field of horses and then cross the stream and down more paths. Past a farm with muntjac deer and Guinea Fowl running wild before exiting out onto Graces Lane.

We turned left on Graces Lane and walked  a short way before taking a path that lead us into Hall Wood.

We climb back up out of Hall Wood into a common with a view back to Riffhams.

An early C19 house surrounded by a park laid out in 1815 following advice from Humphry Repton.

The estate of which Old Riffhams was a capital messuage was owned by the Clerke family up until 1801. In the late C18 Martha, daughter and heiress of Robert Clerke, married Charles Phillips, who in default of heirs, left the estate to his great-nephew John Robert Spencer. On inheriting in 1809, John took the additional name of Phillips. Instead of altering the old manor house, he chose to build a new mansion on a spectacular site c 600m to the south-west of the old one. He began the house, which he called Riffhams, in 1815, the same year in which Humphry Repton (1752-1818) was called in to give advice on the grounds. Although a Red Book was not prepared, Repton advised on the location of the new house and prepared 'a panoramic sketch of the views from the site proposed for Riffham's Lodge' (Repton watercolour (copy), UEA). In 1836 Wright included an engraving in his History of Essex which shows the early C19 flower gardens and shrubberies. John Spencer died in 1874, aged eighty-seven years. The estate was inherited by his son Major John Charles Spencer-Phillips but was let to a Mrs E Kirk and then to Mr and Mrs Charles Parker in c 1904. During their tenancy the Danbury Flower Show was held in the grounds. In 1928 the house was occupied by Sir Adam and Lady Richie and in 1933 Percy Tyrell Spencer Phillips put it on the market. It was purchased by Sir Follett Holt, a railway engineer. Sir Follett's son sold Riffhams in c 1968 to the Benson family. In 1976 the estate was again put up for sale and the house and park were purchased by the Hindmarch family. The estate remains in single private ownership.

We cross out into Riffhams Lane and back up to Main Road and cross the road and take a path back into Essex Outdoors Centre. 

A great walk of 12 miles!