Waterloo

This is the 3rd post in my series 'Above the Underground' which is looking at the interesting places you can find within a few minutes walk of the Underground station. This is stop number 3 on the Bakerloo line and one from which the name originates - Waterloo.

 It is the busiest station on the underground network with over 89 million passengers using it every year. Four different lines use the station: Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo and City line. This station has the most escalators on the Tube system at 23.

A very unusual sight - taken early on a Sunday morning when no-one was around. During the morning rush hour, Waterloo is the busiest tube station with about 57,000 people entering the station each weekday morning.

Exiting the station at Waterloo Road you will see this red elephant coming out of the wall. It is a wire structure by Kendra Haste and was on display at a temporary exhibition at Gloucester Road tube station. It now has found a permanent home at Waterloo.

The main exit from the underground station emerges onto the concourse of  the main line Waterloo station

The original Waterloo station was built in 1848 and over the coming years had many, often confusing extensions. The Underground station opened here in 1898. The station was rebuilt between 1900 and 1922 to become the more familiar station we know today.

The main entrance was built in memory of all the railwaymen from this region that died in WW1 and WW2. The Victory Arch has statues depicting war and peace with the statue of Britannia directly above the arch.

Across the road from the entrance you will find these two mosaics on the wall of a tunnel going under the railway lines. It is one of the many Southbank Mosaics (more info here )which are found within a kilometre of the station. This Bus Sign  is a combination of famous masterpieces and London icons. The skyline of London behind the bus can clearly be seen. Whilst in front is the naked figure with the face of Mona Lisa and the body of Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

The Train Sign focuses on a group of people catching a train from Waterloo to the countryside. This one takes its influence from Seurat's works: 'Bathers at Asnieres' (National Gallery, London) and 'Un Dimanche apres-midi a l'lle de la Grande Jatte'

The Waterloo Imax Cinema is situated in the middle of the busy roundabout next to Waterloo station. To reach it you need to use one of the subways. Although you would think a very noisy place for a cinema, once you enter through the glass doors you are in another world. The semi circular screen is 20metres high and 26 metres wide stretching from floor to ceiling making you feel part of the 3D films shown there.

The Shell building was built in 1961 and at that time was the tallest office building in the UK  with its 23 floors  and another 3 floors below ground. It is still a prominent feature of the Southbank providing a backdrop to the London Eye.

This was the General Lying-in hospital, an old phrase for child birth. It was opened in 1828 and continued as a maternity hospital until 1971. At least 150,000 babies were born here.

In March 2013 it opened as a Premier Inn Hotel with the exterior remaining the same and many of the original features being retained. However, the new extension was nominated for the 2013 Carbuncle Award for bad buildings.

This building on the South Bank of the Thames was the home of the Greater London Council(the local government for London) from 1922 to 1986 when Margaret Thatcher dissolved the Council. It took 11 years to build with its six floors. The building was eventually sold and is now home to hotels, restaurants and The London Aquarium as well as the London Dungeon.

The Lion can be seen on the South side of Westminster Bridge. It is made from Coades artificial stone. It originally stood outside the Lion Brewery in Lambeth. It survived the bombing of WW2 and  was put on display here on the wishes of King George VI

The London Eye was built to celebrate the new Millennium but eventhough construction started in 1998 it didn't open to the public until March 2000. Originally it only had planning permission for 5 years but it proved so popular that in 2003 it was extended for another 24 years.

The Jubilee Oracle by Alexander (1980), One of the numerous sculptures on the South Bank of the Thames  just a few minutes walk from Waterloo Station.

The Southbank Centre on the Thames includes the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, the Hayward Gallery and the Poetry Library. Built in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain the Centre provides a wealth of wide ranging  cultural events.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall Boat. You can stay here overnight for an unusual look over the Southbank.

Beneath the Southbank centre is a favourite home for Skateboarding 

The Festival Pier from where you can take a boat trip down the Thames.

Or just sit and admire the view or even play in the sand.

There is a large book market beneath Waterloo bridge next to the River Thames where you can spend time browsing through the hundreds of books on offer.

Also just underneath the bridge is the BFI - British Film Institute.

The National Theatre

The National Theatre Company was formed in 1962 to perform'serious' plays and performed at the Old Vic theatre. It took until 1976 for this theatre to be finished as part of the South Bank complex.

The Old Vic theatre

The Old Vic has a varied history going back to the early 19th Century when it first opened in 1818. 

Walking through the streets near the Old Vic you come across the Victorian terraced houses giving an insight into life as it used to be but, of course, nowadays these houses will fetch very high prices on the open market.

Just around the corner is this portico which was the entrance to the Unitarian Chapel built in 1821. Although the rest of the building was demolished in 1964,the entrance was felt worthy of restoration by the Greater London Council. The block of flats behind this building looks rather incongruous.

I have now walked in a complete circle round to the back view of Waterloo main line station.

Underground facts:  The first crash on the Underground occurred in 1938 when two trains collided between Waterloo and Charing Cross. 12 passengers were injured.

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Lambeth North

The second station on the Bakerloo line when travelling North. A deep level station at 70 feet below street level. Access to street level is by lift or by climbing an 84 step spiral staircase.

The station is at the junction of Westminster Bridge Road and Baylis Road. When it first opened it was called Kennington Road but after a few months it became Westminster Bridge Road station. Then in 1917 it was changed to its current name of Lambeth North.

Across the road is the Oasis Church Waterloo offering a range of services providing all aspects of support for the surrounding  community.

Continuing down St George's Road you come to St George's RC Cathedral. It doesn't look particularly impressive from the outside but the inside is magnificent.

Walking in the opposite direction along Westminster Bridge Road, brings you out on Lambeth Palace Road.  This is the site of St Thomas's Hospital. The hospital moved here in 1862 from Southwark where it had provided treatment and shelter for the poor since at least the 12th cent.

In 1859 Florence Nightingale began her nursing school at the hospital. There is a museum dedicated to Florence Nightingale in the grounds of the hospital.

On the opposite side of the road to the hospital is Archbishop's Park. The park was originally part of Lambeth Palace, the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1901 nine acres of land from the Archbishop's garden was given to the people of Lambeth on an indefinite lease

This is Morton's Tower built in 1490 and is the entrance into Lambeth Palace which is still used as the London home of  the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England.

Around the corner from the Palace on Lambeth Road is a deconsecrated church which is now The Garden Museum more info here

On Westminster Bridge Road just a few minutes walk from Lambeth North station is one of the strangest railway stations I have ever come across. At No 121 is the remains of the entrance to what used to be  London Necropolis Station. The sole purpose of this station was to transport dead bodies and their funeral parties to Brookwood Cemetery. This cemetery was once the largest in the world and was built to cope with the overcrowding of the London burial grounds. This began in 1854 and continued into the 1930s by which time other cemeteries in London were built. When bodies arrived at Brookwood there were two exits -  a South station for the Anglicans and a North station for any others. In 1941 bombing destroyed the line and the Necropolis Railway line was closed.

Walking along Hercules Road away from Lambeth North you will pass the site  where William Blake, the poet and artist, lived. Looking out on the right there is a short tunnel going beneath the railway lines and lining the walls are some mosaics describing extracts  from Blake's poems.

Turning left onto Lambeth Road and then right you arrive at Lambeth Walk made famous from the music hall song and dance featured in the musical Me and my Girl. The Lambeth Walk became a dance craze in the 30s and 40s

Anytime you're Lambeth way
Any evening, any day,
You'll find us all doin' the Lambeth walk.

The first building you see was built in the art deco style during the 1950s. It was the Lambeth public laundry and slipper baths before becoming  a health centre. The large doors on either side were the entrances into the baths. In the 50s very few houses had bathrooms or facilities for washing clothes so most local councils provided bath houses.

Continuing down Lambeth Walk this building cannot escape notice. Built in 1910, Pelham Mission Hall is now the sculpture studio of Morley College. If you look closely you will see its distinctive outdoor pulpit.

Looking at this corner building I noticed a stone with an inscription. With close inspection I read this unusual declaration.

Turning right onto Old Paradise Street  I walked to the end and entered the Old Paradise Gardens. The site was used as a burial ground between 1703 and 1853. Many of the old gravestones line the walls and it's still possible to see these cigar shaped tombs embedded in the grass.

This stone marks the spot of the 1825 Watch House where the parish's drunk and disorderly were locked up until they were sober enough to leave.

Since the 1970s the park has been landscaped with new shrubs, plants and a playground and fountains.

The name of this Victorian  pub - The Windmill is a reminder of the days when there were 3 windmills in this area.

Walking further down Lambeth High Street and you see such a mixture of architecture from different periods of history. The building that stands out is the old showroom of the Royal Doulton  Pottery Company.

The building is covered with terracotta tiles of various designs. The offices eventually moved to Staffordshire to be close to the factory where the pottery was produced.

Further down Black Prince Road turn into Newport Street to see this building which used to be Beaufoy's Ragged School. Ragged schools provided an education for the poor. They were open on Sundays as many children worked on the other days of the week.  By the late Victorian period there were several hundred of these schools around England until the Education Act of 1870 provided free state education so these schools were either run by the State or closed. This school was sponsored by the Beaufoy family and is said to have held 1000 children.

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