MONITOR
FELLOWSHIP
WCIT City Walks
Bunhill Fields, Shoreditch,
Hoxton & Vauxhall
O
n the 20th May WCIT members and guests met Diane Burstein at City
Road, London for the next in the series of WCIT City Walks.
Diane guided us through the cemetery, which had been firstly used for victims
of the Great Plague in 1665 and then for nonconformists, who were not allowed
to be buried in the City. These included John Bunyan, William Blake and Daniel
De-Foe. There was a tomb to a lady, Mrs Page, who had been ‘tapd 66 times
in 67 months’ to remove 240 gallons of water, without complaint!
As an extra feature and courtesy of Michael Grant, we were allowed into the
Honourable Artillery Company’s Armoury, with Abi trying on the armour and
holding a pike!
We visited John Wesley’s house and the Methodist Chapel (but didn’t see his
grave on the same site) before proceeding through Shoreditch to Hoxton
Market, where we saw the Shoreditch Electrical Company’s building from
1896: it burned waste to create electricity, but is now the National Centre for
Circus Arts.
We passed several other interesting buildings, including what was a
Library built by the great philanthropist, Passmore Edwards, on our way to
Hoxton Square where we had a delicious meal in Bill’s - in the home of the
doctor after whom Parkinson’s Disease is named.
Following this Summer walk the latest in the series of walks took place on the
9th September in Vauxhall, London. Diane was as usual interesting and
informative and showed us the area in detail.
Among the highlights were the Oval Cricket Ground, where cricket began
(although the museum is at Lord’s); Bonnington Square, where a bombed site
had been turned into a beautiful wild garden by the residents; Vauxhall Park,
with its lavender