Between Lombard and King William Streets

The above mentioned streets form a triangle area from near Monument towards the Bank Of England and across to Gracechurch Street. I covered most of the streets in this visit to the area, but not all, so will be back.

The first street that I photographed was more of an undercover alley, Plough Court, where apparently the poet Alexandra Pope was born in 1688.

At the far end (as seen in the picture) is Lombard Street, and the following shot was taken outside the the St Edmund, King and Martyr church, yet another built by Sir Christopher Wren.

Almost opposite and heading back towards King William Street, is Clements Lane.

Further down Clements Lane lies Lombard Court which leads to Gracechurch Street.

A bit further on and you come to the St, Clements Church, which claims (as the does a church by the same name in Westminster) to be that referenced in the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemon". Down the side of the Church is St. Clements Court, previously known as Church Court. Here there is a very small churchyard with a few tombs. According to this wiki page, the poet John Milton was reconciled with his wife here in 1645. There were also a lot of what looked like old displays from a perfume store/department -perhaps from the House of Fraser round the corner.

The final couple of pictures are not within the the same areas as the above pictures, but taken on the same day. The first is of Finch Lane and was taken on my way back to the office from taking the above shot. It lies between Cornhill and Threadneedle street.

The second is of Gutter Lane, which near St. Paul's and just off Eastcheap. It had been taken in the morning on the way to work and probably should have been in the previous post. Appropriately, the shot was taken from within the gutter.

More around Smithfield

Another quick morning shoot before work saw me start of at Fenchurch Street tube and tackle some of the streets south of the market. First up was Hosier Lane where I saw a more traditional cafe that will no doubt get turned into a Starbucks or something similar in a few years time.

This picture was taken on the junction with Giltspur Street and a little further along Giltspur Street on the junction with Cock Lane is where the Great fire of London stopped burning. It is commemorated by the Golden Boy of Pye Corner statue, but I photographed some roadworks instead.

From here I walked down to Holburn Viaduct where I was attracted to the steel girders in the picture below.

Off of the viaduct and leading back up to Smithfield is Snow Hill. I struggled for inspiration here for a bit, and was a bit conscious that I might look a bit suspicious walking up and down with my camera in front of the City of London police station;  I finally settled on a image of Boris' Bikes.

I then headed off to Greyfriars passage. This is the location of the Christ Church Greyfriars which was destroyed by the Great fire, rebuilt by Wren, and then mostly destroyed again in second world war. The ruins are now a public garden. Next door is the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, formed after the acquisition of the latter by the former in the wake of the credit crunch.

By now it was time to head to the office and I had time for one more street, Gutter Lane, where I appropriately took a shot from the gutter.