The London Daily Newsletter Wednesday 14 June

St James Duke’s Place
St James Duke’s Place was an Anglican parish church in the Aldgate ward of the City of London.

The area which was to become Duke’s Place was occupied until its dissolution in 1531 by the Priory of Holy Trinity, Christ Church. Henry VIII then gave the land to Sir Thomas Audley who cleared it and built houses on the site, although fragments of the medieval buildings still survived at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The area was eventually inherited by Audley’s son-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk, from whom the name “Duke’s Place” is derived. In the early 17th century the residents of the former priory precinct, finding worship at St Katherine Cree “uncongenial” sought permission from the king, James I to build a parish church for themselves. Permission was granted, and the new church, dedicated to St James in tribute to the king, was consecrated on 2 January 1622. The patronage of the new church belonged to the lord mayor and commonalty of London, and the parish claimed exemption from the Bishop of London in ecclesiastical matters. It was notable in the late 17th century as a “marriage factory”, with multiple ceremonies each day. The church survived the Great Fire of London, but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1727, retaining much of the original woodwork. George Godwin, writing in 1839, called it “a plain warehouse like construction of brick, quite unworthy of description”. It was 65 feet long and 42 feet wide, and divided into nave and aisles by wooden columns supporting entablatures and a flat ceiling. The stained glass in the east window, included the arms of Sir Edward Barkham, the Lord Mayor who had been instrumental in the establishment of the church. There was a tower; Godwin suspected its trefoil openings were survivals from the priory building. An organ (“exceedingly small”, according to Godwin ) was installed in 1815 and the church restored in 1823. The poverty of the area and its increasing Jewish population made it increasingly difficult to raise funds to maintain the church; Godwin described it as being “in a very dirty and dilapidated state”. In 1874, under the 1860 Union of Benefices Act, it was demolished and the parish joined to that of St Katherine Cree. The site of the church is now occupied by the Sir John Cass School.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

The Strand frontage of Northumberland House (1752) The Percy Lion is atop the central façade and the statue of Charles I at right survives to this day The pedestrianised area in the foreground became the site of Trafalgar Square – back then it was the Royal Mews

Giovanni Canaletto

Video: Co-ordinate near to Gardner Close, Wanstead
Jago Hazzard went to the far reaches of the Central Line