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A few photos I took in Chiswick a few weeks back now - versions of a few of these have appeared on the 'final days' thread before, but as others have commented before it's better things are on the site more than once rather than not at all. A few views I haven't seen on this site before - apologies if I'm mistaken. My main reason for taking this trip was that I'm not sure how well Chiswick is known to many on here - I guess it's Ripper-relatedness depends on how you view Druitt as a suspect, but anyway I hope they add something for someone.
A big acknowledgement to Richard Jones, whose excellent London: History & Mystery provided an invaluable reference, surprisingly for a non-Ripper related chapter in a non-Ripper related book!. His Walking Haunted London is, if anything, even better.
As with my recent post of some Swanson document photos, taken on the same weekend (I have one final set in and around Whitechapel, Spitalfields and Aldgate still to post) I have found my technological ignorance a bit of a barrier here, and so as with that thread what I will do is simply post the links to the pages on Flickr at the appropriate places in the text, and if any clever mods want to attach them properly then that would be great, similarly if anyone else who knows how to do it wants to private message me with some idiot-proof instructions.
Osiers, Chiswick Mall. Built in 1786, owned in 1888 by Harry Wilson, Conservative member of Parliament. Wilson used it as the headquarters for his ‘Cambridge Conversazione Society’, aka ‘the Apostles’. Allegedly this was a society of ‘prominent though secretive homosexuals’ (Jones’ words), and as Druitt was found nearby (very nearby, in fact, as we shall see) it has been suggested that he had visited Wilson prior to his suicide (this is from Jones, I must admit it is not a reference I have come across?) Either way, it is a stunning house, one of many along this exclusive stretch (full of more Sunday morning joggers than you have ever seen in one place).
View along the Thames from Chiswick Mall, just a few feet into the road from where the Osiers shot was taken. Looks quite peaceful doesn't it? Chiswick Eyot just visible, an 'Eyot' for those who don't know being a small island in a river, of which there are many along the Thames, this being one of the largest. Chiswick Eyot was formerly used for growing a kind of wicker - osiers - for weaving baskets etc, hence the house name. The Oxford-Cambridge boat race passes along here.
Facing west along Chiswick Mall; Osiers is the last house visible (just!) before the road curves, just in front of the silver car.
Church Street Causeway. The location where Druitt’s body was found, more or less exactly. A few boats moored up here now, as likely then, one of which is just about visible on the left. Note the stray Halloween balloon. This is about ten yards from where the last photo was taken, and probably less than a hundred yards from Osiers. The boat race passes here, too.
Not the most salubrious of final resting places…
Looking back up the Causeway, towards Chiswick Mall, and St. Nicholas’ churchyard, where Hogarth – of 'Gin Lane' fame – is buried.
Church Street Causeway, 1849. From the information board on the wall by the ramp – and no, it makes no mention of Druitt. The Causeway can be seen two-thirds along on the right, St. Nicholas’ to the left and Chiswick Mall on the right, up which ‘we’ have just walked right to left.
Hogarth’s grave, epitaph by David Garrick. Couldn’t resist.
Old Burlington; a little bit of local flavour! An Elizabethan building, formerly the Burlington Arms (more on Lord Burlington later). Allegedly the site of Dick Turpin’s wedding breakfast. And immediately next door to…
Lamb Cottage, formerly the Lamb Tap public house – site of Montague Druitt’s inquest in 1889. The adjacent brewery still extant behind (2nd photo is the yard seperating Lamb Cottage from Old Burlington, formerly the access to the brewery).
Looking back towards the Thames from the Lamb Tap site, Old Burlington on the left, the Causeway just about visible straight ahead.
Chiswick Square. Another bit of local flavour. Described in Vanity Fair (the novel not the magazine), one of the smallest squares in London, Boston House (facing) is 17th century, the surrounding houses are 18th century.
Standing in Chiswick Square, facing the other way – what a contrast. The Great North Road, possibly the most depressing road in all of London. The flyover to the left leads up to the Hogarth Roundabout – you really know you’ve made it when you get a roundabout named after you. Very few places in London so clearly illustrate the capital’s growth over the last couple of centuries or so as Chiswick (to my mind at least), and how what is now just a rather pretty Western part of the capital would once have been a sleepy parochial village – as it would have still been in Druitt’s day.
A final piece of local flavour – Chiswick House. Built in the early 18th century for Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, it became a 19th century lunatic asylum and then a 20th century wreck, before being rescued by English Heritage. It is now undergoing yet more refurbishment, as are its grounds, which unfortunately impeded any better pictures. No Druitt links whatsoever, but the spectre of an asylum certainly seems to have played on Montague's mind, at least towards his final days. We can always wonder how this sight may have played on his fragile mind if indeed he did visit Chiswick on that last journey...
And just for a bit of fun – look what’s just around the corner!
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(Temple, London – not Chiswick). The Tudor Street entrance to the ‘Inner Temple’, one of the collections of barrister’s chambers along the Victoria (Thames) Embankment. This is as close as you can get unfortunately without a member of the Temple to accompany you, but King’s Bench Walk would be on the left immediately past the door, running – I think – to the left back towards the river. Druitt's chambers were at no. 9, of course.
A big acknowledgement to Richard Jones, whose excellent London: History & Mystery provided an invaluable reference, surprisingly for a non-Ripper related chapter in a non-Ripper related book!. His Walking Haunted London is, if anything, even better.
As with my recent post of some Swanson document photos, taken on the same weekend (I have one final set in and around Whitechapel, Spitalfields and Aldgate still to post) I have found my technological ignorance a bit of a barrier here, and so as with that thread what I will do is simply post the links to the pages on Flickr at the appropriate places in the text, and if any clever mods want to attach them properly then that would be great, similarly if anyone else who knows how to do it wants to private message me with some idiot-proof instructions.
Osiers, Chiswick Mall. Built in 1786, owned in 1888 by Harry Wilson, Conservative member of Parliament. Wilson used it as the headquarters for his ‘Cambridge Conversazione Society’, aka ‘the Apostles’. Allegedly this was a society of ‘prominent though secretive homosexuals’ (Jones’ words), and as Druitt was found nearby (very nearby, in fact, as we shall see) it has been suggested that he had visited Wilson prior to his suicide (this is from Jones, I must admit it is not a reference I have come across?) Either way, it is a stunning house, one of many along this exclusive stretch (full of more Sunday morning joggers than you have ever seen in one place).
View along the Thames from Chiswick Mall, just a few feet into the road from where the Osiers shot was taken. Looks quite peaceful doesn't it? Chiswick Eyot just visible, an 'Eyot' for those who don't know being a small island in a river, of which there are many along the Thames, this being one of the largest. Chiswick Eyot was formerly used for growing a kind of wicker - osiers - for weaving baskets etc, hence the house name. The Oxford-Cambridge boat race passes along here.
Facing west along Chiswick Mall; Osiers is the last house visible (just!) before the road curves, just in front of the silver car.
Church Street Causeway. The location where Druitt’s body was found, more or less exactly. A few boats moored up here now, as likely then, one of which is just about visible on the left. Note the stray Halloween balloon. This is about ten yards from where the last photo was taken, and probably less than a hundred yards from Osiers. The boat race passes here, too.
Not the most salubrious of final resting places…
Looking back up the Causeway, towards Chiswick Mall, and St. Nicholas’ churchyard, where Hogarth – of 'Gin Lane' fame – is buried.
Church Street Causeway, 1849. From the information board on the wall by the ramp – and no, it makes no mention of Druitt. The Causeway can be seen two-thirds along on the right, St. Nicholas’ to the left and Chiswick Mall on the right, up which ‘we’ have just walked right to left.
Hogarth’s grave, epitaph by David Garrick. Couldn’t resist.
Old Burlington; a little bit of local flavour! An Elizabethan building, formerly the Burlington Arms (more on Lord Burlington later). Allegedly the site of Dick Turpin’s wedding breakfast. And immediately next door to…
Lamb Cottage, formerly the Lamb Tap public house – site of Montague Druitt’s inquest in 1889. The adjacent brewery still extant behind (2nd photo is the yard seperating Lamb Cottage from Old Burlington, formerly the access to the brewery).
Looking back towards the Thames from the Lamb Tap site, Old Burlington on the left, the Causeway just about visible straight ahead.
Chiswick Square. Another bit of local flavour. Described in Vanity Fair (the novel not the magazine), one of the smallest squares in London, Boston House (facing) is 17th century, the surrounding houses are 18th century.
Standing in Chiswick Square, facing the other way – what a contrast. The Great North Road, possibly the most depressing road in all of London. The flyover to the left leads up to the Hogarth Roundabout – you really know you’ve made it when you get a roundabout named after you. Very few places in London so clearly illustrate the capital’s growth over the last couple of centuries or so as Chiswick (to my mind at least), and how what is now just a rather pretty Western part of the capital would once have been a sleepy parochial village – as it would have still been in Druitt’s day.
A final piece of local flavour – Chiswick House. Built in the early 18th century for Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, it became a 19th century lunatic asylum and then a 20th century wreck, before being rescued by English Heritage. It is now undergoing yet more refurbishment, as are its grounds, which unfortunately impeded any better pictures. No Druitt links whatsoever, but the spectre of an asylum certainly seems to have played on Montague's mind, at least towards his final days. We can always wonder how this sight may have played on his fragile mind if indeed he did visit Chiswick on that last journey...
And just for a bit of fun – look what’s just around the corner!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Temple, London – not Chiswick). The Tudor Street entrance to the ‘Inner Temple’, one of the collections of barrister’s chambers along the Victoria (Thames) Embankment. This is as close as you can get unfortunately without a member of the Temple to accompany you, but King’s Bench Walk would be on the left immediately past the door, running – I think – to the left back towards the river. Druitt's chambers were at no. 9, of course.
Sink the Bismark
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