Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
large borough stretching south to Brixton and beyond). Vestiges of village atmosphere are
notably absent, although
Lower Marsh
with its weekday market and
The Cut
retain a local
feel and have avoided the plague of the franchises that characterizes the South Bank. A few
minor sights are worth considering, such as
Lambeth Palace
and the
Garden Museum
, and
it's from this stretch of the riverbank that you get the best views of the Houses of
Parliament. Inland lies London's most even-handed military museum, the
Imperial War
Museum
, which has a moving permanent exhibition devoted to the Holocaust.
Florence Nightingale Museum
Lambeth Palace Rd • Daily 10am-5pm • £5.80 •
T
020 7620 0374,
W
florence-nightingale.co.uk •
!
Lambeth North, Waterloo or
Westminster
On the south side of Westminster Bridge, a series of red-brick Victorian blocks and
modern white accretions make up
St Thomas' Hospital
, founded in the twelfth century,
but only established here after being ejected from its original location by London
Bridge in 1862, when the railway came sweeping through Southwark. At the hospital's
northeastern corner, off Lambeth Palace Road, is the
Florence Nightingale Museum
,
celebrating the devout woman who single-mindedly revolutionized the nursing
profession by establishing the first school of nursing at St Thomas' in 1860 and
publishing her
Notes on Nursing
, emphasizing the importance of hygiene, decorum
and discipline. The exhibition is imaginatively set out, aided by audioguides in the
shape of a stethoscope. It hits just the right note by putting the two years she spent
tending to the wounded of the Crimean War in the context of a lifetime of tireless
social campaigning. Exhibits include the Turkish lantern she used in Scutari hospital,
near Istanbul, that earned her the nickname “The Lady with the Lamp”, and her pet
owl, Athena (now stuffed), who used to perch on her shoulder.
15
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace Rd • Certain Thurs & Fri 10.30am & 2pm • £10 •
T
0844 248 5134,
W
archbishopofcanterbury.org •
!
Westminster,
Lambeth North or Vauxhall
A short walk south of St Thomas' stands the imposing red-brick Tudor Gate
of
Lambeth
Palace
, London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury since 1197. The
whole complex is well worth a visit, although guided tours are extremely popular, so
you'll need to book in advance.
The most impressive room is, without doubt, the
Great Hall
(now the library), with its
very late Gothic, oak hammerbeam roof, built after the Restoration by Archbishop
Juxon, whose coat of arms, featuring African heads, can be seen on the bookshelves.
Upstairs, the
Guard Room
boasts an even older, arch-braced timber roof from the
fourteenth century, and is the room where Thomas More was brought for questioning
before being sent to the Tower (and subsequently beheaded).
Among the numerous portraits of past archbishops, look out for works by Holbein,
Van Dyck, Hogarth and Reynolds. The final point on the tour is the
palace chapel
,
where the religious reformer and leader of the Lollards, John Wycliffe, was tried (for
the second time) in 1378 for “propositions, clearly heretical and depraved”. The door
and window frames date back to Wycliffe's day, but the place is somewhat overwhelmed
by the ceiling frescoes by Leonard Rosoman, added in the 1980s, telling the story of
the Church of England. Best of all is the fact that you can see the choir screen and stalls
put there in the 1630s by Archbishop Laud, and later used as evidence of his Catholic
tendencies at his trial (and execution) in 1645.
Garden Museum
Lambeth Palace Rd • Mon-Fri & Sun 10.30am-5pm, Sat 10.30am-4pm; closed first Mon of month • £5•
T
020 7401 8865,
W
gardenmuseum.org.uk •
!
Westminster, Lambeth North or Vauxhall
Next door to Lambeth Palace stands the Kentish ragstone church of
St Mary-at-Lambeth
,
largely rebuilt in Victorian times, but retaining its fourteenth-century tower. The church
