The Companion Guide to London

Front Cover
Companion Guides, 2000 - Religion - 450 pages
Has strong claims to be among the best guidebooks ever written. SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

It is surely remarkable to write of a guidebook that it is difficult to put down. But it is certainly true of this one. ECONOMIST
Calls our attention to everything beautiful, historic or curious left in the heart of London. SUNDAY TIMES

David Piper's classic book is the most elegant, lyrical and stimulating of all guides to London, written with undisguised enthusiasm, intimacy and affection. It traverses London from Regent's Park to Lambeth, from the Tower of London to Kensington, with excursions on the river and forays to outlying points of interest, each chapter covering an area which can be comfortably walked in a day. The author draws out the individual character of each district through history, literature, art and architecture and his own informed and entertaining comments. This is an essential guide for those who really want to understand how London has developed; it has been thoroughly revised and updated for this new edition.

DAVID PIPER was an art historian, director of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, from 1973-1985, and before that director of the National Portrait Gallery, London; FIONNUALA JERVIS, who revised the guide, has edited and contributed to numerous historical and art historical publications, and in the course of this revision has walked every step of the way in David Piper's footprints from her home in Kensington.

 

Contents

Thames
1
The Tower and Tower Hill
23
Piccadilly Green Park and the Haymarket
37
Leicester Square and Soho
51
St Jamess
61
Mayfair
77
Trafalgar Square
95
Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament
103
Covent Garden
245
Fleet Street and the Strand
255
Legal and Literary
273
Bank
290
A Circuit about the Bank
301
St Pauls
319
Liverpool Street to Blackfriars
333
Holborn Circus to the Guildhall
347

Westminster Abbey
123
St Jamess Park to Tate Britain
141
Belgravia Victoria and Pimlico
153
Hyde Park
163
Knightsbridge and South Kensington
179
Chelsea
195
Bloomsbury
209
St Marylebone South
225
St Marylebone North Regents Park
239
South Bank Southwark to Lambeth
361
Points of Interest Beyond
373
Envoi
385
Appendices
386
Travel in London
389
City Churches
403
Opening Hours
407
Index
421
Copyright

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