Paddington

Continuing my series on 'Above the Underground' I am now at Paddington, the 12th station on the Bakerloo line when travelling North. There are two separate underground stations here but they are shown as one on the Underground map. Between them they serve four different lines: Bakerloo, District, Circle and the Hammersmith and City. Paddington is also the London terminus for the Great Western Railway.

The tiling in the Underground is illustrated with a variety of drawings for Marc Isambard Brunel's  early tunnelling shield for the Thames Tunnel.

His son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, also an engineer, was responsible for the design and construction of many tunnels, bridges and viaducts for the Great Western Railway including the design of Paddington Rail Station.A statue of him can be found sitting under the clock on Platform 1.













Paddington is also well known for another reason:-


Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform. In fact, that is how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear for Paddington was the name of the station. 
From 'A Bear Called Paddington' by Michael Bond. So began Paddington Bear's long association with the station.

Close to the station is St Mary's hospital which houses the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum. It was here that Fleming (1881-1955) discovered penicillin.

Behind the hospital is the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal ending in the Paddington Basin.

The basin is at the centre of a new development which includes the Rolling Bridge.built in 2004

The footbridge consists of eight triangular sections which curl up to form an octagonal shape and allow boats to pass.

Walking beside the canal towards Sheldon Square you will see the Walking Man and the Standing Man(1998 and 2000) by Sean Kelly

Also 'The Family' by Jon Buck (2003)

The area around Paddington Station is busy with lots of hotels, shops, pubs, restaurants.






The wide variety of restaurants seem to cater for all tastes.

Here the Italian restaurant is next to the Indian restaurant which is next to the Greek Taverna and so on.

Padddington also has a few green areas known as squares. Squares are very much part of London's cityscape. Despite the urbanisation of the city, these squares have been around since the 17th C as a way of creating an open space in a residential area. There are over 300 garden squares in the Greater London area. There is however a certain class divide with these squares as some of them such as Norfolk Square are open to the public and maintained by the local council.

Whereas others like Sussex Square are private and for the use of local residents who
pay for their upkeep.




(I did manage to put the camera through the railings so I could take a photo though)














Around the other side of the Sussex Square I spotted this 1960s style house with a blue plaque on the wall (blue plaques provide a link between notable figures of the past and the buildings in which they lived and worked).



Very surprised to see this plaque but noticed it wasn't an English Heritage sign or Local Authority sign so not able to research the authenticity of the claim.

Here is the entrance to one of many Mews that I came across. Mews are converted stable blocks which were common during the 18th and 19th C to cater for the most common form of transport, the horse and carriage. You find Mews in the more expensive parts of London behind the elegant squares and Georgian terraces. A number of these properties have a garage on the ground floor and living accommodation above. Many of these properties have a price tag of millions of pounds sterling.

St James's Church Paddington is not a particularly old church, consecrated in 1882 but it is worth having a look at the stained glass windows.


This is the window at the back of the church which was my favourite window.

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