Open House at the Archives!

Thousands of people enjoyed a weekend exploring London’s most fascinating buildings at this year’s Open House event.
At Westminster City Archives, we too adopted an “access-all-areas” approach for the event on Saturday 17 September. 86 visitors joined us for free tours, and were treated to a behind-the-scenes trip to the Archives Centre’s conservation studio and stores.

On the way, our Librarian and Archivist shared some entertaining stories about Westminster’s history, as well as showing some treasured items from our collections.

Among the exhibits was our very oldest item: a letters patent dating back to 1256! (see above). The document granted Westminster Abbey the right to hold a market at Tothill Fields – an area of common land in Westminster which has long since been built over.

A selection of 19^th century cartoons on display raised some laughter, including a Cruickshank sketch of architect John Nash impaled on the spire of All Souls, Langham Place. Cruickshank drew this humorous sketch in response to a Parliamentary debate of 1824, when MPs had demanded to know “who could be the architect who invented such a monstrosity”?

The design of the church, with its mixture of architectural styles, was so unpopular that one Minister commented:

“Among the many deplorable objects of the kind in the metropolis and its neighbourhood, this was the most melancholy departure from the rules of good taste that he had yet seen. The spire was only to be compared to an extinguisher on a flat candlestick”.

Other exhibits were more sobering. Looking at the Westminster bomb map, our tour parties were taken aback by how many attacks our City suffered during the dark days of the Second World War, and were saddened by photographs and reports of the Aldwych flying bomb incident.

For some visitors, our items on show whet the appetite so much that they got stuck into research straight after the tour! Others came back to our Meeting Room to be plied with teas and coffees by our Friends of the Archives.

A good time was had by all, and we can’t wait to fling wide our doors again for Open House next year.

[Judith]

Memories of the Blitz

Imagine a London where bright red buses pass by mountains of rubble and cavernous derelict buildings on one of the city’s busiest shopping streets… sounds like something from a science fiction film? If you don’t believe us, check out this amazing colour footage of Marylebone in the Blitz!

These fascinating films were shot by A.E. Reneson Coucher, Chief Air Raid Warden of St Marylebone, and were recently rediscovered by Cllr Keen’s family in an attic! The St Marylebone Society had the films digitised, and we’ve kindly been allowed to show them on Westminster Archives Centre’s West End at War community website.

News of the films has spread like wildfire over the past couple of days, and people from all over the world are suddenly seeing wartime in London in glorious and moving technicolour.

View of bomb damage to Selfridges, Oxford Street in 1941. Image property of Westminster City Archives.

Feeling inspired, your memory jogged? You can get involved with Westminster Archives Centre’s West End at War project by visiting the website.

Maybe you or a member of your family has memories or wartime London, or maybe you live on a street which, 70 years ago, was devastated by a bomb incident? The website allows you to explore original images, maps and accounts of the Blitz in Westminster, and to contribute your memories and comments.

Also, don’t forget to check your own attic or dusty cupboards – if you find any hidden gems, get in touch with us at the Archives Centre – we’d love to hear from you.

[Judith]