I drive the night London night bus route N 26. It is not scheduled to cross Holborn viaduct but at weekends the route is sometimes diverted,due to road works etc.. away from Fleet St. and Ludgate Hill and underneath the viaduct on the westbound run and over it and then taking a sharp left on to Snow Hill and then under the Viaduct again, on the eastbound run. I never tire of the viaduct's beauty and it's worth going on diversion for !!
@@andrewcbartlett Why not,it's much more fun. I ended up (well when I say I meant the passengers and I) in Brighton the other day and a good time was had by all. Bleeding idiot,fancy thinking I go on diversion unofficially
@@andrewcbartlett I for one would love to go on one of Simon's mystery tours! (Insert "We had a sweepstakes on where where were going, and the driver won 53 quid" joke here)
I have worked in one of the adjacent buildings and there are four, possibly five, "street levels" - Farringdon St, Shoe Lane, Holborn Viaduct and Charterhouse Street - which makes finding your way around inside very confusing. Apparently random sloping floors and stairs are all over the place to match up with these street levels.
Thank you. I remember sitting on the living room floor watching tv one day in 1988 , as usual in those days I was miserable. My grandmother was knitting, I asked her about her dad and she told me he came to London in 1869 to find work . He was a scaffolder and she said Holborn viaduct was one job he was on . He was 12 years old!
"Tis a common pastime down my way. The villeins love it. It keeps them on their toes. The young, fast moving ones, at least." - Giraldus The Utter Bastard, Duke Of Penge, 1367.
Wow! 150-200 year old bridges here in the USA are usually covered in grime, rust, crumbling concrete and graffiti. Y'all do take good care of London. I've gotta visit!
Like our present Queen, Victoria was a very busy girl. She too probably thought that the world smelt of fresh paint, disinfectant and rose petals. Thanks, as always, for delivering some interesting insights into a part of London's history.
Apparently the viaduct was officially opened by Queen Victoria on the same day she opened Blackfriars Bridge. She was either a very busy lady or she was saving on travel expenses.
@@nanoamp considering they are in easy walking distance I don't think there's much to save there. Not that the Queen would have walked it, that's what a chariot is for...
As an ex route 45 & 63 bus driver and a current PCV instructor I've a long standing fascination and regard for Holborn Viaduct. Since it's renovation it is truly one of London's most beautiful structures and with so much detail loved by it's Victorian designers you could quite happily lose half an hour wandering round it. I did just that one day when I was walking the length of the Fleet earlier this year. Having aching legs and feet and nearing the end of my journey I still had to explore this marvel close up and appreciate all the work gone into it. Thank you Jago for highlighting this monument and delving deeper into it's history.
Holborn Viaduct honestly looks amazing in it’s architecture. Planners of the 1860s designed a lot more architecturally beautiful buildings & structures than those in the 1960s. Almost every building and structure made to look like an eyesore
That’s not hideousness, it’s authenticity! And purity of vision! And, er, embracing the fundamental nature of the materials! In all seriousness, much of the ugliness and anti-human feel of much of modern architecture since the 1930s may be a consequence of the architectural profession embracing the warped aesthetic preferences of the autistic Le Corbusier.
When I was aged about 7yrs old in 1960 we passed beneath the viaduct in my brothers Bedford van. This was one of my first "what the hell is that?" moments. Funnily enough, St. Pancras station was the next one.. Back then they both had a liberal coating of black soot and pigeon crap, which gave them a somewhat sinister appearance in my childhood imagination. Ta.
Everything in every town or city was covered in black soot and pigeon crap in 1960! As you say, very sinister. Lots of formerly elegant buildings were torn down and replaced by the ‘white heat’ of modern architecture simply because they were old and dirty. Then there was the third reich town planning department which was still very evident.
I always thought that St. Pancras station looked sinister - Victorian Gothic does that. It is like a hideous shriek in stone - The Albert Memorial, and Holly Lodge in Highgate are two excellent examples of this. Innocent structures rendered terrifying by over-ornamentation.
When I was a kid, I was used to the black sandstone and thought this was normal. Then stone cleaning came about. I had no idea the buildings were so bright and shiny and light.
I once attended a course at Keeble College Oxford (I think I was invited by mistake; but I accepted before the could change their minds). I commented that it looked like St Pancras Station. Before I could withdraw my faux pas, I was told it was indeed the same architect, so I actually looked clever rather than rude.
@@stevebluesbury6206 I remember a lot of sand blasting taking place in the late sixties or early seventies after the Clear Air Acts had removed much of the soot from the air.
Typical Victorians: practical solution to a problem, albeit with a boatload of over-engineering, and the mandatory lashings of allegorical statuary, curlicues, mosaics, naming of things after the queen, etc.
It might not be a popular tourist destination but once you see it and cross it you realize it's part of this beautiful and so special city. Thanks for your excellent video as usual
Used to live in Barking and work in Holborn. Commute: Barking>Mile End (change to Central Line)>Chancery Lane. Coming home, there were often buses stopped at lights or bus stops in High Holborn so I sometimes jumped on one of these for a change. They went over Holborn Viaduct on the way to the City where I hopped off in Leadenhall Street and walked over to Fenchurch Street for a BR train to Barking. Some of the buses went to Ilford, so I stayed on them now and again and went home via Ilford. Anyway, this video brought this all (early 1970s) back to me. I miss London sometimes.
There is a Gustav Dore drawing of a steam train passing St Pauls and a congested crowd scene. I've always tried to work out where the line actually was
That railway ran at 90° to this viaduct was a very short distance to the east. The scene in the picture is at the foot of Ludgate Hill and is south of Holborn Viaduct.
Now this is what great heritage preservation & architecture is all about - respecting & preserving the original design and engineering while giving the structure new functionality & a modern purpose. Absolutely love that the reconstructed buildings house an elevator for improved accessibility 👌🧐
There was a shop underneath the bridge where I bought my first composing stick. I was an apprentice compositor working with hot metal type in 1948. As far as I knew it was the only place in London that sold such tools.
@Ernie. I entered the printing industry in 1972. Our compositors used to go to a shop called "Printer's Pye" (which I believe is an old hot - metal compositors' expression for type that has been removed from the chase, piled up unsorted and put back into the foundry for re - melting) and to buy their composing sticks. I vaguely remember the shop being in the Clerkenwell area. Was this the shop you knew sir?
The shop was directly under the bridge and can almost be seen in the picture. You are correct about the meaning of pie. Hence the saying as easy as pie. Never seen it spelt pye. The shop was very close to Fleet Street and the London Society of Compositors had offices in the vicinity. The LSC was a very powerful union until Murdock challenged them.
@Ernie. I think "Pye" was the surname of the proprietor of the shop, so it fitted in with the old saying. The London Society of Compositors must have been amalgamated into The National Graphical Association (NGA). All of our comps. and letterpress machine minders were NGA members.
I think anyone considering a visit to the Marble Arch mound would better enjoy a visit to Holborn Viaduct instead. Even the view from the top is better.
@@AAAyyyGGG May be perfect with your coffee, but I started watching when having my Sunday morning egg on toast, while Jago waxed lyrically about effluent and stench.
I've walked over/under that thing many times and always wondered about it because it's quite unusual to see an ornate road bridge over a road. It almost feels like there should be a railway line going either under or over it. Thanks for filling us in!
Love these videos, as a young apprentice in Hatton Garden I used to walk around here on my way to the river and then travel home via the nearest station. Im glad that the old London is still around for future generations to enjoy.
I think worth pointing out the second span painted a matching colour - if not designed with such aplomb - some eighty metres to the west, over Shoe Lane.
Love it! Going East takes you to Chancery Lane, Bank station, Bank of England, the Monument, King William Street, London Bridge, Cannon Street and Liverpool Street Stations, Tower of London and Tower Bridge.SouthEast takes you to the Old Bailey, Millennium Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, New Change shopping mall. Love London, just love it!
What a masterpiece! I will never understand why ornamentation of this kind has completely fallen out of fashion in the modern age, especially given our tools are much more advanced and the materials cheaper than ever!
It's worth remembering that Victorian builders merchants catalogues were full off of-the-peg ornament. If you wanted an Old Testament prophet or something resembling a Babylonian demon to fill an empty alcove, there'd be an array of such figures to prompt popular imagination.
Materials are cheaper but not as cheap as just not building it sadly. Also government directives can proscribe or prescribe the use of government funds for certain artchitectural styles or elements.
It’s not the materials, it’s the skilled stonemasons. Such labor was cheap a century ago, while there are probably only a few dozen stonemasons of comparable ability still working in Britain today. My hope is that CNC milling will eventually bring the price of architectural ornaments down enough for them to start reappearing in new construction again.
Why would a modern developer care about such things. It just adds cost and reduces their profit. They couldn't give a monkies about how it looks as long as it slides past the planners and gets that all important stamp of approval.
It really is a fine structure - thanks for filling us in on its history. It’s also good to see that in the 21st century we can still recreate excellence!
I remember a few years ago {how many}? being at Blackfriars Station,which was a terminus and a through station, and noticing a branch off to the left which appeared to go underground. Looking at a London map ,I noticed a junction just east of Farringdon station where the Underground lines just disappeared ! This was the line under Snow Hill,as I discovered later. The future Thameslink Cross London Route ! As usual, a very interesting Jago video .
As there was an electric rail power sub station the tracks down to Snow Hill were always there as it was cheaper to leave then than install high current cables. I worked near there when the old intermediate station between Blackfriars and Holborn Viaduct, at Ludgate Hill, was being demolished.
@@terrymurphy2032 I believe a couple of carriages of that still exist and may be restored (not for main line use) after many years deteriorating in open storage.
1:02 _”… the monks at Whitefriars…”_ are mentioned, in passing, in Richard III (1:2); much of whose actions takes place around these Holborn environs, including at the former Ely Palace with its once famous strawberries. Where the Inns of Court now stand, south of Fleet Street, were once the site of multiple monastic houses - before Henry VIII’s dissolution business - whose only real in situ remnant is the Temple Church; hence, the names, _Black…_ (Dominican), _Grey…_ (Franciscan), and _White…friars_ (Carmelite). And off to TLM, I go, then: another splendid Sunday upload, Jago.
@@chimneysweepin If you’re into that sort of history and find yourself in the neighbourhood pay _Ye Olde Mitre_ a visit. (that most intimately furtive of pubs, which being tucked away is notoriously difficult to locate, purports to preserve, among its structural supports, behind a pane of glass, the maypole about which Elizabeth I gambolled as a lass) That is, should your tastes tend more towards the boozy profane; if they lean more in the direction of the sacred, the preserved chapel of the long gone palace, next door - “reclaimed to the Old Faith” - has a somewhat unique sanctity to it. (my own inclinations unsurprisingly feature much wrestling between the two tendencies) Little if anything lingers of the monastic houses, mentioned, further to the South though - they did dig up a portion of the crypt of Whitefriars, once, which is behind a screen around Fleet Street somewhere I think.
@@michaeljames4904 "(my own inclinations unsurprisingly feature much wrestling between the two tendencies)" This is the great Welsh tradition, building churches and pubs next to each other. In fact there's a "village" near where I'm from which *only* has a church and a pub, no houses.
@@paulsengupta971 Think it might be more a universal Celtic tendency! On a trip to Inverness, once, all the churches, of the previously fiercely competing Christian denominations, could be observed side by side, along the banks of the picturesque loch. And behind each, of those, there was a pub. When we were walking past it was Sunday service time, and the pints were stacked up on each of their bars, ready and waiting to receive the thirsty faithful, when they piled right out of the churches’ doors directly opposite.
There is also a similar seemingly cast iron bridge on Roseberry Avenue over Warner St, not very far north of this, near the old Mount Pleasant postal sorting office/museum.
Up to your usual high standard I see! Ahh, you reminded me of the stairs each end. I had fond memories of the area. My mum worked in Fleet building for some time, and the Christmas visit to Gamages to see the model railway was a regular occurrence, as was sausage, egg 'n' chips in the ABC cafe, next door. Yes please, a feature on Holborn Viaduct rail station would be most welcome.
Oh yes, the model railway at Gamages was an annual treat for me too. I seem to recall going post-Christmas because it was less crowded, but that might be memory playing tricks.
Fantastic! Just got back from London and whilst walking towards the Tower of London we crossed this beautiful bridge with it's statues and decorations. It truly did stop us in our tracks to admire what is a work of art right in the middle of modern London. I agree sadly most don't know it exists, as we didn't, and stumble upon it just by chance.
I was doing research to update my notes on the Viaduct and pleased to find Jago pop up. It's a stop which I cover on my tours but which is neglected by many other guides.
Masterpiece! And the accompanying video wasn’t too shabby either 👍 It is certainly deserving of praise architecturally as well as functionally, and as you rightly imply, is far more deserving of recognition than it receives. Perhaps it is precisely because it so perfectly blended in to its surroundings that it gets overlooked? 🤔 I remember going to meet a friend back in the early 90s at his work. In the slightly more relaxed days when not everything had to be terror-proofed, I was allowed to go down to where he was working in the basement. His offices were build on foundations of an old wharf building of the long covered river (which in pre-t’internet days I knew little of) and he took me down an apparently dead-end passageway. However, by opening up a padlocked door I found myself in a cavernous space faced with arches through the top of which you could see the wheels of passing vehicles on the roadway that occupies the river’s footprint 🤷🏻♂️ Cheers for another splendid video 👍🍀🍻
I moved out of London 20 years ago but right from my youth in the seventies when I lived on the Isle of Wight I have worked at Smithfield at least a couple of times a year. Strangely enough back in May I ended up coming down Farringdon road and noticed how good the viaduct looked. It's amazing how many times I have been over it and under it and not taken much notice. Thanks Jago for another entertaining and informative video...
Great video on a very fine structure. Back in my student days in the early/mid 1980s we’d spend the odd lunchtime in the pub that stood very close to the north west corner. I used to look up at the viaduct wondering what it was and now I know. Sadly the pub has long gone.
My daily commute across this bridge to Chancery Lane office often leaves me admiring its striking red color. Although I stumbled upon this video while searching for wold's first coal power station.
I love the Viaduct. I have many happy memories of walking under/over it. It was pretty much how I defined 'arriving' in the City when I used to walk into chambers from Hoxton. Might I trouble you to consider a similar video on Archway Bridge (the one with the unfortunate nickname). It seems quite similar in style. I could look up the details; but I like it when you tell me stuff.
Thank you for this! I lived for a few years further up Farringdon and I've walked under, and less frequently over, the viaduct more times than I can count. I haven't been back in years, so it's good to see the neighbourhood again, and attempt to recognise what has changed .
I absolutely love the viaduct. I crossed it on foot so many times in commuting over 20 years. Frequently I stopped to admire the 4 statues, never coming across anything similar in London or elsewhere. It’s a treasure that I hope lasts far into the future.
In just two weeks I begin working right next to the viaduct, and was hoping for someone to eventually make a video on it!! I was completely taken aback by the fact I'd never seen it despite being a Londoner, and it being so lovely :)
The registered office for my business is in Gresham House so I'm quite fond of the viaduct. Look forward to a video on the station, which closed on my birthday.
I think all bridges / viaducts should be made to look this awesome. I will give you two examples. In Melbourne, we have a freeway viaduct which crosses Punt Road near Richmond, just north of the Yarra river. The bridge that crosses the Yarra for Punt Road is a glorious sight to be seen, recommend you take a look at a street view. Now, if you look north from this bridge, you'll see an ugly concrete viaduct. And it truly destroys the magic. Next I will take you to Oakleigh station in Melbourne again, and it has an ugly road running north south which crosses the trainline in a massive ugly bridge. It really destroys the way this area looks. We call a bridge like this a form of dividing a community, since people won't want to walk over it.
Seems appropriate that the statue for "agriculture" was carved by a guy named "Farmer". Either that, or the guy's profession was as a farmer and no one bothered to learn his actual name.
The smell of Jeyes fluid is what I recalled when I started wathing this video, cleary the overnight cleaners had cleaned up before I got there, I worked weekend overtime for BT in London during 1999 - 2001 & used to park my van in the since demolished BT Fleet Building, then walk/tube out from there, many a time I've walked up & down those stairs.
@@tonypreston6778 I was working at Blackfriars and would walk from st.Paul’s everyday through those stairs. It made your eyes water. I eventually found an alternative route!!!
I used to buy booze at the Oddbins which was under the east side of the viaduct in the 70s and 80s. The further in you went, the darker it got, and the cases of wine petered out, but I was never able to locate where the space ended.
As a newcomer to London, Holborn Viaduct was one of the first "hidden gem" landmarks I stumbled across and quickly became a landmark I used to learn that part of the city. Really glad to see a video about it! Thanks
Apple maps 3D view shows construction under and to a lot near the fly over. If you switch to 2D the construction is complete. It is like a magic trick. The best thing about the viaduct fly over is the level of maintenance keeps it beautiful. It could have easily been scrapped for a concrete eyesore. This is the kind of video I like to see. I wish I could be a second camera operator and have a steady-cam to give a walking tour for you voice over descriptions.
Thanks - described with your usual aplomb. It's a wonderful, rather anachronistic structure, seemingly squeezed among new office buildings. There used to be a handy little winding cobblestone street rat-run that connected Old Bailey with Farringdon St, called Old Seacoal Lane, just south of it, but that fell prey to redevelopment during the late 1990's. Apparently, coal was brought up the Fleet River by lighter to a wharf hard by, hence the name. Today, it's all snooty offices and cafes with continental-sounding names that charge you an arm and a leg for coffee and a bun. The whole of Smithfield Market is also doomed to the same fate, which is a tragedy...
It's interesting to note that when looking at the area today on Google Earth, it looks like the NEW Thameslink lines were slewed to the right of what was once the path into Holborn Viaduct Station. So therefore a NEW section of tunnel for City Thameslink station was created before being built over.
I used to be a 'messenger boy' at ' Alfred Bates' (corner of Shoe Lane) in Fleet Street in the 1960's. Always remember the bustle & noise at Holborn Viaduct. These were very precious days for observing the pre-computer age.
I worked in an office on the. Viaduct in the 90’s-2000’s. Beautiful architecture and not as busy as central London. Farringdon Station underneath has since been modernised for the Crossrail. Very historic area many little hidden gems in that area. Fleet Street, The Old Bailey and St Paul’s Cathedral a stones throw away. Thank you for the info. Great !!
What a charming video. Always loved Holborn Viaduct. Could never put my finger on one single reason. It’s a perfect storm of understated interesting things.
I crossed the main span on foot twice every weekday for more than a year, back in the late 1970s, yet, somehow, never realised that the viaduct was anything more than that bridge.
On the subject of the Fleet being once navigable: Interesting fact, the my dear friend-now sadly deceased- Very Rev Clive Young, the one time Archdeacon of Hackney (based at St Andrews Holborn) once showed me that the church was built with a quay which allowed boats to come up the fleet and alight worshippers. The now defunct doorway from the basement of the church to the quay can still be seen in Shoe Lane.
I drive the night London night bus route N 26.
It is not scheduled to cross Holborn viaduct but at weekends the route is sometimes diverted,due to road works etc..
away from Fleet St. and Ludgate Hill and underneath the viaduct on the westbound run and over it and then taking a sharp left on to Snow Hill and then under the Viaduct again, on the eastbound run.
I never tire of the viaduct's beauty and it's worth going on diversion for !!
Snow hill for some reason one of my favourite roads
@@highpath4776
Not paths!!,geddit!!
Always nice to hear from you.
You can't just take your bus on diversions when you feel like it!
@@andrewcbartlett
Why not,it's much more fun.
I ended up (well when I say I meant the passengers and I) in Brighton the other day and a good time was had by all.
Bleeding idiot,fancy thinking I go on diversion unofficially
@@andrewcbartlett I for one would love to go on one of Simon's mystery tours!
(Insert "We had a sweepstakes on where where were going, and the driver won 53 quid" joke here)
Your delivery this morning was first-class. Thank you.
The Viaduct is one of those things that's easily taken for granted.
I have worked in one of the adjacent buildings and there are four, possibly five, "street levels" - Farringdon St, Shoe Lane, Holborn Viaduct and Charterhouse Street - which makes finding your way around inside very confusing. Apparently random sloping floors and stairs are all over the place to match up with these street levels.
Thank you. I remember sitting on the living room floor watching tv one day in 1988 , as usual in those days I was miserable. My grandmother was knitting, I asked her about her dad and she told me he came to London in 1869 to find work . He was a scaffolder and she said Holborn viaduct was one job he was on . He was 12 years old!
So your great-grandfather was born in 1857? So your grandmother must have been pretty old in 1988, or maybe her father had had her later in life?
@@Minzalin Good point.
“In the 14th century, Robert, Duke of Brampton used to amuse himself by shooting peasants”
Wait - what? 🤔
"Tis a common pastime down my way. The villeins love it. It keeps them on their toes. The young, fast moving ones, at least." - Giraldus The Utter Bastard, Duke Of Penge, 1367.
Latterly an h was introduced into the word peasant and was considered slightly less controversial 🔫
I think Jago said 'residents', not peasants, but it comes to much the same.
In those days it was only murder if the family of the victim was wealthy enough to set the lawyers on you, or had connections.
@@brianartillery I've never been there but they tell me its nice.
Wow! 150-200 year old bridges here in the USA are usually covered in grime, rust, crumbling concrete and graffiti. Y'all do take good care of London. I've gotta visit!
We just get Robert, Duke of Brampton, to shoot anyone who defaces it.
Like our present Queen, Victoria was a very busy girl. She too probably thought that the world smelt of fresh paint, disinfectant and rose petals. Thanks, as always, for delivering some interesting insights into a part of London's history.
Like whitewashed coal! 😊
I’m sure you meant woman and not girl? Unless you’re referring specifically to the two years when Victoria was a teenaged queen?
Yes because her s**t didn't stink!
@@mattscudder1975 You can use the word girl for females older than teenagers, you know
@@david-stewart Yes you could but it would be infantilising with misogynistic undertones :/
Apparently the viaduct was officially opened by Queen Victoria on the same day she opened Blackfriars Bridge. She was either a very busy lady or she was saving on travel expenses.
It's ok, they're both Zone 1 😉
@@nanoamp considering they are in easy walking distance I don't think there's much to save there. Not that the Queen would have walked it, that's what a chariot is for...
A case of killing two peasants (or pheasants) with one stone.
As an ex route 45 & 63 bus driver and a current PCV instructor I've a long standing fascination and regard for Holborn Viaduct. Since it's renovation it is truly one of London's most beautiful structures and with so much detail loved by it's Victorian designers you could quite happily lose half an hour wandering round it. I did just that one day when I was walking the length of the Fleet earlier this year. Having aching legs and feet and nearing the end of my journey I still had to explore this marvel close up and appreciate all the work gone into it. Thank you Jago for highlighting this monument and delving deeper into it's history.
Which operator?
@@bobwalsh3751 Go-Ahead London, but in the route 63 days it was still just London Central.
Holborn Viaduct honestly looks amazing in it’s architecture. Planners of the 1860s designed a lot more architecturally beautiful buildings & structures than those in the 1960s. Almost every building and structure made to look like an eyesore
There's an opinion that blames some inadequacy of recent times on the use of computers in design.
That’s not hideousness, it’s authenticity! And purity of vision! And, er, embracing the fundamental nature of the materials!
In all seriousness, much of the ugliness and anti-human feel of much of modern architecture since the 1930s may be a consequence of the architectural profession embracing the warped aesthetic preferences of the autistic Le Corbusier.
When I was aged about 7yrs old in 1960 we passed beneath the viaduct in my brothers Bedford van. This was one of my first "what the hell is that?" moments. Funnily enough, St. Pancras station was the next one.. Back then they both had a liberal coating of black soot and pigeon crap, which gave them a somewhat sinister appearance in my childhood imagination.
Ta.
Everything in every town or city was covered in black soot and pigeon crap in 1960! As you say, very sinister. Lots of formerly elegant buildings were torn down and replaced by the ‘white heat’ of modern architecture simply because they were old and dirty. Then there was the third reich town planning department which was still very evident.
I always thought that St. Pancras station looked sinister - Victorian Gothic does that. It is like a hideous shriek in stone - The Albert Memorial, and Holly Lodge in Highgate are two excellent examples of this. Innocent structures rendered terrifying by over-ornamentation.
When I was a kid, I was used to the black sandstone and thought this was normal. Then stone cleaning came about. I had no idea the buildings were so bright and shiny and light.
I once attended a course at Keeble College Oxford (I think I was invited by mistake; but I accepted before the could change their minds). I commented that it looked like St Pancras Station. Before I could withdraw my faux pas, I was told it was indeed the same architect, so I actually looked clever rather than rude.
@@stevebluesbury6206 I remember a lot of sand blasting taking place in the late sixties or early seventies after the Clear Air Acts had removed much of the soot from the air.
Seems a rather extravagant way of getting rid of a stinky ditch, but thankyou for this "Short History" on a Sunday morning Mr Hazzard.
Bangkok had a busy network of canals and the king used his royal gondolas for his city processions. Now it’s all been converted as covered sewers…
Typical Victorians: practical solution to a problem, albeit with a boatload of over-engineering, and the mandatory lashings of allegorical statuary, curlicues, mosaics, naming of things after the queen, etc.
It might not be a popular tourist destination but once you see it and cross it you realize it's part of this beautiful and so special city. Thanks for your excellent video as usual
And, lovely to hear the bells ringing.
Used to live in Barking and work in Holborn. Commute: Barking>Mile End (change to Central Line)>Chancery Lane. Coming home, there were often buses stopped at lights or bus stops in High Holborn so I sometimes jumped on one of these for a change. They went over Holborn Viaduct on the way to the City where I hopped off in Leadenhall Street and walked over to Fenchurch Street for a BR train to Barking. Some of the buses went to Ilford, so I stayed on them now and again and went home via Ilford. Anyway, this video brought this all (early 1970s) back to me. I miss London sometimes.
Fascinating. Nice to hear snatches of the bells of St Sepulchre during the video . Thanks.
There is a Gustav Dore drawing of a steam train passing St Pauls and a congested crowd scene. I've always tried to work out where the line actually was
That railway ran at 90° to this viaduct was a very short distance to the east. The scene in the picture is at the foot of Ludgate Hill and is south of Holborn Viaduct.
Now this is what great heritage preservation & architecture is all about - respecting & preserving the original design and engineering while giving the structure new functionality & a modern purpose. Absolutely love that the reconstructed buildings house an elevator for improved accessibility 👌🧐
There was a shop underneath the bridge where I bought my first composing stick.
I was an apprentice compositor working with hot metal type in 1948. As far as I knew it was the only place in London that sold such tools.
I think that odd bins took it over.
@Ernie. I entered the printing industry in 1972. Our compositors used to go to a shop called "Printer's Pye" (which I believe is an old hot - metal compositors' expression for type that has been removed from the chase, piled up unsorted and put back into the foundry for re - melting) and to buy their composing sticks. I vaguely remember the shop being in the Clerkenwell area. Was this the shop you knew sir?
The shop was directly under the bridge and can almost be seen in the picture. You are correct about the meaning of pie. Hence the saying as easy as pie. Never seen it spelt pye. The shop was very close to Fleet Street and the London Society of Compositors had offices in the vicinity. The LSC was a very powerful union until Murdock challenged them.
@Ernie. I think "Pye" was the surname of the proprietor of the shop, so it fitted in with the old saying. The London Society of Compositors must have been amalgamated into The National Graphical Association (NGA). All of our comps. and letterpress machine minders were NGA members.
I think anyone considering a visit to the Marble Arch mound would better enjoy a visit to Holborn Viaduct instead. Even the view from the top is better.
A perfect watch to go with my morning coffee ☕️. Thanks Jago and have a great day 👍🏽
Ironically, also a perfect watch when you're settling into bed and about to go to sleep. Aren't timezones great fun?
I find them the perfect way to wake up before actually getting out of bed in the mornings, just the right length and packed with interesting facts 😁
@@AAAyyyGGG May be perfect with your coffee, but I started watching when having my Sunday morning egg on toast, while Jago waxed lyrically about effluent and stench.
I love the tiled mural in the stairwell that shows it’s construction.
What an excellent video. The number of time I have passed by, and yet missed SO much.
I've walked over/under that thing many times and always wondered about it because it's quite unusual to see an ornate road bridge over a road. It almost feels like there should be a railway line going either under or over it. Thanks for filling us in!
Love these videos, as a young apprentice in Hatton Garden I used to walk around here on my way to the river and then travel home via the nearest station. Im glad that the old London is still around for future generations to enjoy.
Brilliant video mate. I wish they could uncover part of the Fleet. I think BJ discussed this when he was mayor.
I think worth pointing out the second span painted a matching colour - if not designed with such aplomb - some eighty metres to the west, over Shoe Lane.
Love it! Going East takes you to Chancery Lane, Bank station, Bank of England, the Monument, King William Street, London Bridge, Cannon Street and Liverpool Street Stations, Tower of London and Tower Bridge.SouthEast takes you to the Old Bailey, Millennium Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, New Change shopping mall. Love London, just love it!
Good Morning all.
A gentle smile always comes across my face when a watch your videos.
A broad grin this morning.
Keep up the good work!
What a masterpiece! I will never understand why ornamentation of this kind has completely fallen out of fashion in the modern age, especially given our tools are much more advanced and the materials cheaper than ever!
It's worth remembering that Victorian builders merchants catalogues were full off of-the-peg ornament. If you wanted an Old Testament prophet or something resembling a Babylonian demon to fill an empty alcove, there'd be an array of such figures to prompt popular imagination.
Materials are cheaper but not as cheap as just not building it sadly. Also government directives can proscribe or prescribe the use of government funds for certain artchitectural styles or elements.
It’s not the materials, it’s the skilled stonemasons. Such labor was cheap a century ago, while there are probably only a few dozen stonemasons of comparable ability still working in Britain today. My hope is that CNC milling will eventually bring the price of architectural ornaments down enough for them to start reappearing in new construction again.
Why would a modern developer care about such things. It just adds cost and reduces their profit. They couldn't give a monkies about how it looks as long as it slides past the planners and gets that all important stamp of approval.
Also the public is more aware of the cost of projects and push back if it costs any more than the minimum
It really is a fine structure - thanks for filling us in on its history. It’s also good to see that in the 21st century we can still recreate excellence!
An excellent video, thank you. I used to work nearby and always loved its victorian splendour.
It's a thing of beauty and rather grandeur in real life.
I remember a few years ago {how many}? being at Blackfriars Station,which was a terminus and a through station, and noticing a branch off to the left which appeared to go underground. Looking at a London map ,I noticed a junction just east of Farringdon station where the Underground lines just disappeared ! This was the line under Snow Hill,as I discovered later. The future Thameslink Cross London Route ! As usual, a very interesting Jago video .
As there was an electric rail power sub station the tracks down to Snow Hill were always there as it was cheaper to leave then than install high current cables. I worked near there when the old intermediate station between Blackfriars and Holborn Viaduct, at Ludgate Hill, was being demolished.
@@terrymurphy2032 I believe a couple of carriages of that still exist and may be restored (not for main line use) after many years deteriorating in open storage.
1:02 _”… the monks at Whitefriars…”_ are mentioned, in passing, in Richard III (1:2); much of whose actions takes place around these Holborn environs, including at the former Ely Palace with its once famous strawberries.
Where the Inns of Court now stand, south of Fleet Street, were once the site of multiple monastic houses - before Henry VIII’s dissolution business - whose only real in situ remnant is the Temple Church; hence, the names, _Black…_ (Dominican), _Grey…_ (Franciscan), and _White…friars_ (Carmelite). And off to TLM, I go, then: another splendid Sunday upload, Jago.
oh wow!! This is incredible information, thank you so much for sharing :))!
@@chimneysweepin If you’re into that sort of history and find yourself in the neighbourhood pay _Ye Olde Mitre_ a visit. (that most intimately furtive of pubs, which being tucked away is notoriously difficult to locate, purports to preserve, among its structural supports, behind a pane of glass, the maypole about which Elizabeth I gambolled as a lass)
That is, should your tastes tend more towards the boozy profane; if they lean more in the direction of the sacred, the preserved chapel of the long gone palace, next door - “reclaimed to the Old Faith” - has a somewhat unique sanctity to it. (my own inclinations unsurprisingly feature much wrestling between the two tendencies)
Little if anything lingers of the monastic houses, mentioned, further to the South though - they did dig up a portion of the crypt of Whitefriars, once, which is behind a screen around Fleet Street somewhere I think.
@@michaeljames4904 "(my own inclinations unsurprisingly feature much wrestling between the two tendencies)"
This is the great Welsh tradition, building churches and pubs next to each other. In fact there's a "village" near where I'm from which *only* has a church and a pub, no houses.
@@paulsengupta971 Think it might be more a universal Celtic tendency! On a trip to Inverness, once, all the churches, of the previously fiercely competing Christian denominations, could be observed side by side, along the banks of the picturesque loch. And behind each, of those, there was a pub. When we were walking past it was Sunday service time, and the pints were stacked up on each of their bars, ready and waiting to receive the thirsty faithful, when they piled right out of the churches’ doors directly opposite.
There is also a similar seemingly cast iron bridge on Roseberry Avenue over Warner St, not very far north of this, near the old Mount Pleasant postal sorting office/museum.
Very Classy Structure. You know you're entering the business district when you see this Viaduct.
Yet another excellent and interesting show on one of my favourite parts of London. Thank you.
Up to your usual high standard I see! Ahh, you reminded me of the stairs each end. I had fond memories of the area. My mum worked in Fleet building for some time, and the Christmas visit to Gamages to see the model railway was a regular occurrence, as was sausage, egg 'n' chips in the ABC cafe, next door. Yes please, a feature on Holborn Viaduct rail station would be most welcome.
Oh yes, the model railway at Gamages was an annual treat for me too. I seem to recall going post-Christmas because it was less crowded, but that might be memory playing tricks.
and the annual visit to Hamleys in Regent Street
Fantastic! Just got back from London and whilst walking towards the Tower of London we crossed this beautiful bridge with it's statues and decorations. It truly did stop us in our tracks to admire what is a work of art right in the middle of modern London. I agree sadly most don't know it exists, as we didn't, and stumble upon it just by chance.
I was doing research to update my notes on the Viaduct and pleased to find Jago pop up. It's a stop which I cover on my tours but which is neglected by many other guides.
Masterpiece! And the accompanying video wasn’t too shabby either 👍 It is certainly deserving of praise architecturally as well as functionally, and as you rightly imply, is far more deserving of recognition than it receives. Perhaps it is precisely because it so perfectly blended in to its surroundings that it gets overlooked? 🤔
I remember going to meet a friend back in the early 90s at his work. In the slightly more relaxed days when not everything had to be terror-proofed, I was allowed to go down to where he was working in the basement. His offices were build on foundations of an old wharf building of the long covered river (which in pre-t’internet days I knew little of) and he took me down an apparently dead-end passageway. However, by opening up a padlocked door I found myself in a cavernous space faced with arches through the top of which you could see the wheels of passing vehicles on the roadway that occupies the river’s footprint 🤷🏻♂️
Cheers for another splendid video 👍🍀🍻
I moved out of London 20 years ago but right from my youth in the seventies when I lived on the Isle of Wight I have worked at Smithfield at least a couple of times a year. Strangely enough back in May I ended up coming down Farringdon road and noticed how good the viaduct looked. It's amazing how many times I have been over it and under it and not taken much notice. Thanks Jago for another entertaining and informative video...
I have not been to Holborn Viaduct in a long time, so it is nice to know its missing buildings have been restored and replaced. Thanks muchly.
Great video on a very fine structure. Back in my student days in the early/mid 1980s we’d spend the odd lunchtime in the pub that stood very close to the north west corner. I used to look up at the viaduct wondering what it was and now I know. Sadly the pub has long gone.
My daily commute across this bridge to Chancery Lane office often leaves me admiring its striking red color. Although I stumbled upon this video while searching for wold's first coal power station.
I love the Viaduct. I have many happy memories of walking under/over it. It was pretty much how I defined 'arriving' in the City when I used to walk into chambers from Hoxton.
Might I trouble you to consider a similar video on Archway Bridge (the one with the unfortunate nickname). It seems quite similar in style. I could look up the details; but I like it when you tell me stuff.
By far the best commentator of London ever. I mean it.
It looks architecturally appealing for the world's first flyover! ;-)
Thank you for this! I lived for a few years further up Farringdon and I've walked under, and less frequently over, the viaduct more times than I can count. I haven't been back in years, so it's good to see the neighbourhood again, and attempt to recognise what has changed .
I absolutely love the viaduct. I crossed it on foot so many times in commuting over 20 years. Frequently I stopped to admire the 4 statues, never coming across anything similar in London or elsewhere. It’s a treasure that I hope lasts far into the future.
Nothing similar? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Albert_Hall#Design en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Memorial#Allegorical_sculptures
In just two weeks I begin working right next to the viaduct, and was hoping for someone to eventually make a video on it!! I was completely taken aback by the fact I'd never seen it despite being a Londoner, and it being so lovely :)
The highlight of my walk to work.
One of the more pleasing constructions in London, that the Luftwaffe had no part in planning.
he said half of it did get demolished by the Luftwaffe
I love these informative vignettes.
We definitely need a video on Holborn Viaduct station
A beautiful building.♥️
The registered office for my business is in Gresham House so I'm quite fond of the viaduct. Look forward to a video on the station, which closed on my birthday.
This video is proof, that you are not just a train fan, and that all those amazing train video's aren't a fluke.. Great stuff Thank you..
My student accommodation just up the road! walked past this every day
I think all bridges / viaducts should be made to look this awesome.
I will give you two examples. In Melbourne, we have a freeway viaduct which crosses Punt Road near Richmond, just north of the Yarra river. The bridge that crosses the Yarra for Punt Road is a glorious sight to be seen, recommend you take a look at a street view.
Now, if you look north from this bridge, you'll see an ugly concrete viaduct. And it truly destroys the magic.
Next I will take you to Oakleigh station in Melbourne again, and it has an ugly road running north south which crosses the trainline in a massive ugly bridge. It really destroys the way this area looks. We call a bridge like this a form of dividing a community, since people won't want to walk over it.
Seems appropriate that the statue for "agriculture" was carved by a guy named "Farmer". Either that, or the guy's profession was as a farmer and no one bothered to learn his actual name.
Very interesting.
I lived & worked near here. Thanks for doing this
Would love a video on the river fleet, how it was covered over and what remains and where to see it! 😊
I believe there is an old prison down there and if you lift a hatch up you can see it. I saw it on a BBC documentary about Fleet St.
Used to work close by on Old Bailey. Thank you for an informative film again.
One of my favourite landmarks. Very informative. Thank you
Walked it many times, particularly in the 70s early Sundays when no tube trains ran early
It makes me think of the Kew bridge pumping engines.
I definitely know I'm in Bristol when i see the good old Holborn viaduct🤗
I work just next to the viaduct - fascinating to get the history.
The stench of piss in the staircase under the bridge will haunt me forever
The smell of Jeyes fluid is what I recalled when I started wathing this video, cleary the overnight cleaners had cleaned up before I got there, I worked weekend overtime for BT in London during 1999 - 2001 & used to park my van in the since demolished BT Fleet Building, then walk/tube out from there, many a time I've walked up & down those stairs.
@@tonypreston6778 I was working at Blackfriars and would walk from st.Paul’s everyday through those stairs. It made your eyes water. I eventually found an alternative route!!!
I can confirm it’s still there 😂
Another gem, sir! You even checked that
Henry fits Alwyn... Brilliant!
Why yes as a matter of fact I did quite enjoy that cast iron episode. Now this is architecture right up my alley.
Well done to rebuild the buildings at the ends of the viaduct to the original designs which show up the tacky modern unimaginative eyesores beyond.
I used to work right by Holborn circus, walked from city thameslink over the viaduct regularly
Great video jago, beautiful architecture and story 👍👌
My walk to work (with my office featured in this video) takes me under the viaduct evert day, never thought much of it!
I used to buy booze at the Oddbins which was under the east side of the viaduct in the 70s and 80s. The further in you went, the darker it got, and the cases of wine petered out, but I was never able to locate where the space ended.
I worked in offices on top of Oddbins and did buy the occasional bottle there, too. I had forgotten about the back part of the shop.
I walked over it to work (from Holborn Viaduct station) every day for 11 years. Love it. And "yes" to a vid on Holborn Viaduct station.
As a newcomer to London, Holborn Viaduct was one of the first "hidden gem" landmarks I stumbled across and quickly became a landmark I used to learn that part of the city. Really glad to see a video about it! Thanks
Thank you for another wonderful video.
Thanks' Jago yet another Jem. 👍
Thank you for the look. It must take some upkeep considering it's made of cast iron. It looks beautiful.
I herewith upvote the Holborn Viaduct Station video idea.
Absolutely fascinating.
Apple maps 3D view shows construction under and to a lot near the fly over. If you switch to 2D the construction is complete. It is like a magic trick. The best thing about the viaduct fly over is the level of maintenance keeps it beautiful. It could have easily been scrapped for a concrete eyesore. This is the kind of video I like to see. I wish I could be a second camera operator and have a steady-cam to give a walking tour for you voice over descriptions.
Thanks - described with your usual aplomb. It's a wonderful, rather anachronistic structure, seemingly squeezed among new office buildings. There used to be a handy little winding cobblestone street rat-run that connected Old Bailey with Farringdon St, called Old Seacoal Lane, just south of it, but that fell prey to redevelopment during the late 1990's. Apparently, coal was brought up the Fleet River by lighter to a wharf hard by, hence the name. Today, it's all snooty offices and cafes with continental-sounding names that charge you an arm and a leg for coffee and a bun. The whole of Smithfield Market is also doomed to the same fate, which is a tragedy...
A what a splendid structure---and how heartening to learn how well it still serves the present. Thank you.
Holborn Viaduct Railway Station video please Jago! A strangely fascinating London terminus that warrants a further look.
It's interesting to note that when looking at the area today on Google Earth, it looks like the NEW Thameslink lines were slewed to the right of what was once the path into Holborn Viaduct Station.
So therefore a NEW section of tunnel for City Thameslink station was created before being built over.
I used to be a 'messenger boy' at ' Alfred Bates' (corner of Shoe Lane) in Fleet Street in the 1960's. Always remember the bustle & noise at Holborn Viaduct. These were very precious days for observing the pre-computer age.
Thank you. Very interesting.
Another excellent and informative video!
I worked in an office on the. Viaduct in the 90’s-2000’s. Beautiful architecture and not as busy as central London.
Farringdon Station underneath has since been modernised for the Crossrail.
Very historic area many little hidden gems in that area. Fleet Street, The Old Bailey and St Paul’s Cathedral a stones throw away.
Thank you for the info. Great !!
What a charming video. Always loved Holborn Viaduct. Could never put my finger on one single reason. It’s a perfect storm of understated interesting things.
Drive under this many times. Still catches my eye.
London’s viaduct game is strong.
I crossed the main span on foot twice every weekday for more than a year, back in the late 1970s, yet, somehow, never realised that the viaduct was anything more than that bridge.
On the subject of the Fleet being once navigable: Interesting fact, the my dear friend-now sadly deceased- Very Rev Clive Young, the one time Archdeacon of Hackney (based at St Andrews Holborn) once showed me that the church was built with a quay which allowed boats to come up the fleet and alight worshippers. The now defunct doorway from the basement of the church to the quay can still be seen in Shoe Lane.
Well done!