Beckenham and Bromley National Trust Centre

11:41am Wednesday 25th June 2008

A LARGE number of members met in the Great Hall of the Civic Centre on June 11 to hear an illustrated talk given by Jon Wittich on the Curiosities of London.

Many interesting places were mentioned including the wall of the Roman city of Londinium exposed in the Second World War along the London Wall.

The London Stone in Cannon Street may have been a Druid's altar stone or a Roman milestone from the London Forum.

The Aldgate Pump in Leadenhall Street commemorates the killing of the last wolf in London.

And on the Royal Exchange, the grasshopper sign from the crest of the Gresham family is a reminder of the importance of this family of Merchant bankers.

The Watch-house on a corner of Oxford Street was one of several leading to Tyburn.

The bee keystone in Honey Lane. Cheapside marks the area where the Wax Chandlers Company sold to housewives who could not afford newly imported sugar.

In the 1930s on Carlton House Terrace the gravestone of a dog named Ger was put up by the German ambassador as a memorial to his favourite dog.

And a Public Shelter Notice in Lord North Street directed the public to former coal storage vaults which had been made into air raid shelters.

The next meeting will take place on July 9 in the Great Hall of the Civic Centre at 8pm.

Christopher Rudd will describe a voyage by cargo ship to the Islands of the Windward chain.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

To find out more about membership, call 020 8658 4338.

For general information, visit the website ntbbcentre.freeuk.com

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