Eastcote

October 18, 2021

Eastcote also housed an outstation of the Bletchley Park codebreaking activities during the Second World War, with several codebreaking computers in use. This operation became the precursor to GCHQ, which remained in Eastcote after the war until the department moved to purpose-built buildings in Cheltenham in 1952.
Eastcote was originally recorded as Ascot, one of the three medieval tithings of the parish of Ruislip, along with Westcot and Norwood. Norwood, in the north of the parish, became Northwood; Westcot, in the west became Westcote (the main Ruislip village), and Ascot, in the east, became what is now Eastcote.

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Stone of Free Speech

October 14, 2021

The 'Stone of Free Speech' is an object of uncertain origin and purpose. Said to be at least 200 years old, it has been described variously as a historic focal point for political and religious debate, North London equivalent of Speakers Corner or simply a waymarker post, it certainly continues to attract attention.

From the now sadly defunct blog London - One Foot Up, One Foot Down:

I had passed the stone on a previous day, quite unintentionally, so was unable to re-trace my steps. But Roscoe, the walking-talking GPS in this twosome, had his eye on a triangle of grass situated between two lakes.
Discovery! We see the stone monument surrounded by young people and walk up to make sure we have the right site. I want a photo, so ask permission of the group sitting there. "Sure," says one young woman. "Do you know what this is? Some people call it the Stone of Free Speech, but we call it The Great Tampon."

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The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

October 7, 2021

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the seventh story of twelve in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Strand Magazine in January 1892.

As London prepares for Christmas, newspapers report the theft of the near priceless jewel, the 'Blue Carbuncle'. John Horner, a plumber and a previously convicted felon, is soon arrested for the theft. Though the police have yet to find the jewel, and despite Horner's claims of innocence, the police are sure that they have the thief.

Just after Christmas, Watson pays a visit to Holmes at 221B Baker Street. He finds the detective contemplating a battered old hat, one brought to him by the commissionaire Peterson. Both the hat and a Christmas goose had been dropped by a man in a scuffle with some street ruffians. Peterson, an honest man, had hoped for Holmes' help in returning the items to their owner; the goose bears a tag with the owner's name - Henry Baker:

“So much for Mr. Henry Baker,” said Holmes when he had closed the door behind him. “It is quite certain that he knows nothing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?”
“Not particularly.”
“Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot.”
“By all means.”
It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors’ quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn.

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"Newton" (1995)

October 7, 2021

The large piazza in front of the British Library includes a large bronze sculpture of Sir Isaac Newton by Eduardo Paolozzi, inspired by William Blake's 1795 study Newton. As with the Blake original it illustrates how Isaac Newton's equations changed our view of the world to being one determined by mathematical laws. Several of Newton's most significant scientific papers are preserved in the Library's collection.

From the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences "Paolozzi's Sculpture of Isaac Newton":

The maquette of Paolozzi's sculpture is based on a sculpture commissioned for the new British Library at St Pancras. Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 - 2005) gave it to the Institute. The choice of Blake's engraving of Newton as the model for the sculpture caused some controversy, as Blake was known to be deeply anti-scientific and displayed profound antagonism to Newtonian rationalism. Paolozzi was inspired by the union between two British geniuses, both representing nature, poetry, art, and architecture. Rodin's famous sculpture also springs to mind. Paolozzi decided that this synthesis of concepts would be ideal for the new British Library.

Rachel Huddart, writing for the British Library's Science blog:

When I started work at the Library, Newton’s statue struck me as a strange way to honour one of our greatest scientists. He doesn’t stand proudly over the piazza, gazing out at the visitors, but is bent over his compass, seemingly oblivious to everything around him. There isn’t even any sign of the famous apple. Surprisingly, the sculptor who created the statue, Eduardo Paolozzi, used a picture that criticises Newton as his inspiration. William Blake’s study of Newton, which is on display in Tate Britain, shows Newton sitting on a rock, absorbed in his work and ignorant of the colour and beauty on the rock that he sits on. The print is believed to show Blake’s disdain for Newton’s scientific thinking at the expense of nature and creativity. Paolozzi saw the work as a connection between the arts and science and between two great historical figures, despite their differences.

This is a striking and iconic sculpture which is truly representative of a great shift in human thinking. I love that it is both beautiful and thought-provoking even with the context removed; it simultaneously depicts man as animal, as well as capturing the act of thinking itself - perhaps even of understanding.

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Golders Hill Park

October 7, 2021

Golders Hill Park is managed by the City of London Corporation and is part of the Hampstead Heath Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. Unlike the rest of the Heath, Golders Hill Park is closed at night.

It adjoins the West Heath part of Hampstead Heath and is on the site formerly occupied by a large house which was bombed during World War II. Its main characteristic is an expanse of grass, but it also has a formal, beautifully tended, flower garden next to a duck pond with a small humpback bridge, a separate water garden, which leads onto a larger pond with both black and white swans, a separate area for fallow deer, near to a recently renovated small zoo. There are also tennis courts, a well subscribed playground and a putting green. A restaurant stands at the top of the park, on the site of the original house.

During the summer, children's activities are organised and through June and July there is live music on the bandstand on Sunday afternoons. Unlike most of Hampstead Heath, dogs must be kept on a lead in the park.

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"Traffic Light Tree" (1998)

October 6, 2021

Traffic Light Tree is a public sculpture created by the French artist Pierre Vivant. Its design in some ways reflects the restlessness and impatience of Canary Wharf.

Eight metres tall and containing 75 traffic lights, each controlled by computer, the sculpture was described by Vivant thus:

The Sculpture imitates the natural landscape of the adjacent London Plane Trees, while the changing pattern of the lights reveals and reflects the never ending rhythm of the surrounding domestic, financial and commercial activities.

Traffic Light Tree was installed in 1998 on the site of a plane tree that was suffering as a result of pollution. It was initially intended that the lights would be triggered to reflect flurries of activity on the London Stock Exchange, but this proved to be too expensive to put into practice.

Although some motorists were initially confused by the traffic lights, mistaking them for real signals, the sculpture soon became a favourite among both tourists and locals. In 2005, Saga Motor Insurance commissioned a survey asking British motorists about the best and worst roundabouts in the country. The one containing Traffic Light Tree was the clear favourite.

As part of remodelling work to the original location on Westferry roundabout, Tower Hamlets Council reinstalled the iconic piece at the Trafalgar Way roundabout near Billingsgate Market at the other end of Canary Wharf.

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The Temple

October 5, 2021

History of the Temple: Wanstead Park's souvenir from an exotic past (via Guardian Series):

Although the current building’s designer remains a mystery, the exterior’s Tuscan style is a product of the vision of John 2nd Earl Tylney (1712-1784), the owner of Wanstead house in the latter half of the 18th century.
Inspired by what he had seen on a tour of Europe, Tylney wanted to replicate the remains of ancient Rome in Wanstead, and duly started planning his architectural ode to classical civilisation. […]
Inventories reveal that the house used to be a sanctuary for birds of every creed and colour.
Originally a poultry house, the Temple was promoted to an exotic aviary in the 1760s.
In the 18th century it was fashionable for aristocracy to keep exotic animals from distant lands.
Tenants included unusual birds from the East Indies, with naturalist George Edwards noting “a snake-eater” on a visit in 1770. […]
Wanstead House itself was demolished in 1824 but the Temple survives to this day.
It was used as housing for forestkeepers and then opened to the public in the late 20th century, now used as a community space.

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North Greenwich

September 16, 2021

"A Slice of Reality" (2000), by Richard Wilson.

The Greenwich Peninsula (via Wikipedia):

The peninsula was drained by Dutch engineers in the 16th century, allowing it to be used as pasture land. In the 17th century, Blackwall Point (the northern tip of the peninsula, opposite Blackwall) gained notoriety as a location where pirates' corpses were hung in cages as a deterrent to other would-be pirates.

The peninsula was steadily industrialised from the early 19th century onwards […] Later came oil mills, shipbuilding (for example the 1870 clippers Blackadder and Hallowe'en built by Maudslay), boiler making, manufacture of Portland cement and linoleum (Bessemer's works became the Victoria linoleum works) and the South Metropolitan Gas company's huge East Greenwich Gas Works […]

For over 100 years the peninsula was dominated by the gasworks which primarily produced town gas, also known as coal gas. The gasworks grew to 240 acres (0.97 km2), the largest in Europe, also producing coke, tar and chemicals as important secondary products. The site had its own extensive railway system connected to the main railway line near Charlton, and a large jetty used to unload coal and load coke […]

The peninsula remained relatively remote from central London until the opening of the Blackwall Tunnel in 1897, and had no passenger railway or London Underground service until the opening of North Greenwich tube station on the Jubilee line in 1999.

Closure of the gasworks, power station and other industries in the late 20th century left much of the Greenwich Peninsula a barren wasteland, much of it heavily contaminated […]

Redevelopment since early 1990s

In addition to the construction of the Millennium Dome, new roads were built on the eastern side of the Peninsula in anticipation of new developments […] Two phases of Greenwich Millennium Village, a mixed-tenure residential development, with a primary school, a medical centre, a nature reserve with associated education centre have been completed […]

Central Park runs through the central spine of the Peninsula, with the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park further south providing a haven for many different species of bird, plants and insects.

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Hitchcock Mosaics

September 14, 2021

Alfred Hitchcock mosaics, Leytonstone (via The joy of shards):

Alfred Hitchcock was born at 517 High Road, Leytonstone, in the east of London on 13th August 1899. To mark 100 years since this event, and to commemorate the director's link with the area, 17 mosaics have been installed in the entrance corridors of Leytonstone tube station. They were made in vitreous glass tesserae, using the reverse method, by Greenwich Mural Workshop. The work required some 80,000 tiles, took seven months to complete, and the final installation took place during April 2001.

The mosaics are quite stunning and make Leytonstone my favourite station on the entire network. The still-frame images somehow capture the essence of each film they depict and are well chosen. I particularly like Strangers on a Train, To Catch a Thief, Suspicion, and of course Vertigo featuring the nightmarish scene in the church tower. Any Hitchcock fan should make a pilgrimage here, they won't be disappointed.

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Kyoto Garden

September 14, 2021

The original design of the garden was dictated by the world's oldest gardening manual - a Japanese text written sometime between 785 and 1184 AD. It subscribes to a series of principles including those of Buddhism and geomancy; which most of us will be more familiar with in its popular form of feng shui. Structurally the garden makes use of the two key elements of the natural world: mountains and water. The "mountains" in the garden are the rocks scattered throughout the garden, some apparently randomly, and others built into an impressive rockery and waterfall. A staggered bridge runs across this waterfall, and you can walk across it, peering into the froth of the waterfall to spot enormous koi carp lurking in the pools.

BogglishSuzie has some wonderful photos of the garden in all its summer glory; Gerry at That's How The Light Gets In beautifully captured it in the snow.

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The DollHouse

September 14, 2021

Bishopsgate bathhouse frolics (via Spitalfields Life):

This extravagant domed orientalist edifice topped by the crescent moon is what you see above ground in the churchyard of St Botolph’s Bishopsgate, but it is the mere portal to a secret subterranean world beneath your feet. These Turkish baths were built in 1895 by Henry and James Forde Neville, and clad with dazzling ceramic tiles worthy of the Alhambra – manufactured in Egypt in the Turkish style and shipped over. As you descend the spiral staircase inside, note the ceramic motif of the hand of Fatima raised in blessing. […]
The club promises a gin-soaked evening and I’ve no doubt that getting tanked is the best way to enter into the spirit of things. So that next day you wake, as I did this morning, with just a partial memory of the night before – recalling only images of glittery burlesque showgirls worthy of Walter Sickert.

Sadly, the nightclub is now closed and this curious little building is once more locked up.

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Tower of London

September 14, 2021

Tower of London (via Wikipedia):

It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite. The castle was used as a prison from 1100 (Ranulf Flambard) until 1952 (Kray twins), although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat. […]
The peak period of the castle's use as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries, when many figures who had fallen into disgrace, such as Elizabeth I before she became queen, were held within its walls. This use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower". Despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death, popularised by 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century writers, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the World Wars of the 20th century. […] In the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison, and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage. […]
Later medieval period
Much of the latter half of the 15th century was occupied by the Wars of the Roses between the claimants to the throne, the houses of Lancaster and York. […] Shortly after the death of Edward IV in 1483, the notorious murder of the Princes in the Tower is traditionally believed to have taken place. The incident is one of the most infamous events associated with the Tower of London. Edward V's uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester was declared Lord Protector while the prince was too young to rule. Traditional accounts have held that the 12-year-old Edward was confined to the Tower of London along with his younger brother Richard. The Duke of Gloucester was proclaimed King Richard III in July. The princes were last seen in public in June 1483; it has traditionally been thought that the most likely reason for their disappearance is that they were murdered late in the summer of 1483. […] Opposition to Richard escalated until he was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 by the Lancastrian Henry Tudor, who ascended to the throne as Henry VII.
Menagerie
The Royal Menagerie is first referenced during the reign of Henry III. In 1251, the sheriffs were ordered to pay fourpence a day towards the upkeep for the King's polar bear, probably a gift from Haakon IV of Norway; the bear attracted a great deal of attention from Londoners when it went fishing in the Thames. In 1254, the sheriffs were ordered to subsidise the construction of an elephant house at the Tower. The exact location of the medieval menagerie is unknown, although the lions were kept in the barbican known as Lion Tower.

See the official Tower of London site for more information as well as prices and opening times.

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The Gravestone of George Edward Doney

September 14, 2021

George Edward Doney is believed to have been born around 1758 in Gambia. He was transported to Virginia as a young boy and sold into slavery. He is believed to have come to Watford in around 1765 as a servant for the Earl of Essex and the Capel family and was based at Cassiobury House. He achieved respect and status at Cassiobury House and was included in a painting of Cassiobury Park in around 1748.

An unfinished painting from c.1809, 'Harvest Home', painted by J.M.W. Turner on his second visit to Cassiobury, depicts a black servant at a harvest dinner in one of the barns at Cassiobury House. Black figures have featured in many Western paintings, but were typically shown at the edge of the canvas as peripheral, subordinate characters; Turner's positioning of the servant in the main group of people is thought to indicate that this was a high-ranking servant in the Cassiobury household, and it is likely that this is Doney himself.

Records at St Marys Church, Watford show he was baptised there on 1st August 1774. Doney died a free man in 1809, two years after the British abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. He was buried St Marys and a mark of the high regard The Earl of Essex had for him can be seen in the handsome headstone complete with original poetical epigraph which was erected in the churchyard. The gravestone still stands today and was given Grade II listed status in 2008.

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Motifs & Shying Horses

September 13, 2021

There are two distinct works of art at the station, both depicting black horses, in reference to the station's name. One is in the form of a tile motif depicting a black horse on a white cameo against a light blue background (identical to the colour of the Victoria line). It was done by Hans Unger, who also did the tile motif at Seven Sisters tube station, the original platform mural at Green Park and the ticket hall at Oxford Circus.

Hans Unger (1915 - 1975) was born in Prenzlau, Germany, and went on to study graphic art with the poster designer Jupp Wiertz in Berlin, before emigrating to South Africa in 1936. He fought for the South African army in the Second World War broke out, and was briefly captured - and then escaped from - the Italian army in North Africa. After the war he settled in London and co-founded the Unger Mosaic Workshop. He designed many posters and artworks for London Transport (1950-74). His other works include mural mosaics for Lewisham Town Hall and the Royal Free Hospital, London, as well as the stained glass windows of many English churches.

Sadly, as noted by Gerald Cinamon at German Designers:

Although a sense of humor pervades Unger’s work, he committed suicide in London in 1975.

The other mural (by David McFall) is outside the station's entrance, of a black stallion titled Shying Horse, 1968. David McFall (1919 – 1988) was a Glaswegian sculptor.

Notable works include Bull Calf, which was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and bought for the Tate in 1942 while McFall was still a student; Boy & Foal, which featured in the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain; and a major statue of Winston Churchill in Woodford Green.

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Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

September 13, 2021

Oscar Wilde (1891)

“He had a dim memory of wandering through a labyrinth of sordid houses, of being lost in a giant web of sombre streets, and it was bright dawn when he found himself at last in Piccadilly Circus. As he strolled home towards Belgrave Square, he met the great waggons on their way to Covent Garden. The white-smocked carters, with their pleasant sunburnt faces and coarse curly hair, strode sturdily on, cracking their whips, and calling out now and then to each other; on the back of a huge grey horse, the leader of a jangling team, sat a chubby boy, with a bunch of primroses in his battered hat, keeping tight hold of the mane with his little hands, and laughing; and the great piles of vegetables looked like masses of jade against the morning sky, like masses of green jade against the pink petals of some marvellous rose. Lord Arthur felt curiously affected, he could not tell why. There was something in the dawn's delicate loveliness that seemed to him inexpressibly pathetic, and he thought of all the days that break in beauty, and that set in storm. These rustics, too, with their rough, good-humoured voices, and their nonchalant ways, what a strange London they saw! A London free from the sin of night and the smoke of day, a pallid, ghost-like city, a desolate town of tombs! He wondered what they thought of it, and whether they knew anything of its splendour and its shame, of its fierce, fiery-coloured joys, and its horrible hunger, of all it makes and mars from morn to eve. Probably it was to them merely a mart where they brought their fruits to sell, and where they tarried for a few hours at most, leaving the streets still silent, the houses still asleep. It gave him pleasure to watch them as they went by. Rude as they were, with their heavy, hob-nailed shoes, and their awkward gait, they brought a little of a ready with them. He felt that they had lived with Nature, and that she had taught them peace. He envied them all that they did not know.
By the time he had reached Belgrave Square the sky was a faint blue, and the birds were beginning to twitter in the gardens.
CHAPTER III
WHEN Lord Arthur woke it was twelve o'clock, and the midday sun was streaming through the ivory-silk curtains of his room. He got up and looked out of the window. A dim haze of heat was hanging over the great city, and the roofs of the houses were like dull silver. In the flickering green of the square below some children were flitting about like white butterflies, and the pavement was crowded with people on their way to the Park. Never had life seemed lovelier to him, never had the things of evil seemed more remote.”

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The Dell

September 13, 2021

A gently sloping bowl known as the Dell was a popular setting for wrestling matches and other sporting events, especially in the 18th century.

Daniel Mendoza came to the Dell to defend his heavyweight title in 1795. Mendoza was the 16th heavyweight champion of the old prize ring and had defeated dozens of opponents before this fight. The fight was won by Mendoza’s opponent, 'Gentleman' John Jackson. Jackson won in nine rounds, securing victory by seizing Mendoza by his long hair and holding him with one hand while he pounded his head with the other. Mendoza was pummelled into submission in around ten minutes. Since this date boxers have worn their hair short.

The Dell lay to the south-west of the church in the Mill Field, which was possibly the site of the monastery and is now a recreation ground.

Hornchurch, The Dell 1909 (via Francis Frith):

I will always have fond memories of the Dell as our scout hut was located there. Also I lived a few minutes walk away at Ravenscourt Grove. I moved there in 1948. The Dell was a boy's dream place to play in.

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Franklin's Ponds

September 9, 2021

Clapham Common contains three ponds, two of which are historical features (as well as a more modern paddling pool, oddly known as Cock Pond). Eagle Pond and Mount Pond are used for angling and contain a variety of species including carp to 20 lb, roach, tench and bream. Eagle Pond was extensively refurbished in 2002 when it was completely drained, landscaped and replanted to provide a better habitat for the fish it contained. Long Pond has a century-old tradition of use for model boating.

Tim Lambert, in his detailed A Brief History of Clapham, explains that the ponds began as gravel pits, and were named after local inns:

Cock Pond is named after an inn called the Cock, which is now the Frog and Forget-me-not. Eagle Pond may be named after a building called Eagle House, which was built nearby about 1820. (It got its name from decorative eagles on its gate pillars). Mount Pond probably got its name from a mound of earth that once stood nearby).

There is also some evidence that prehistoric burial mounds or barrows may once have existed near the present day Mount Pond. In the mid 1700's there was a Royal Artillery battery encampment here too, likely for military exercises.

Benjamin Franklin used the ponds for scientific experiments, and developed a "magic" trick. Walter Gratzer, in his book Eurekas and Euphorias: The Oxford Book of Scientific Anecdotes retells how, while traveling on a ship, Franklin had observed that the wake of a ship was diminished when the cooks scuttled their greasy water:

Franklin some time later also observed a striking effect of oil on the surface of water in the bottom of a lamp that he hung in his cabin at sea. The promised experiment was carried out in London on the Round Pond on Clapham Common:
“At length being at CLAPHAM where there is, on the common, a large pond, which I observed one day very rough with the wind, I fetched out a cruet of oil, and drop a little of it on the water. I saw it spread itself with surprising swiftness on the surface […] the oil, though not more than a tea-spoonful, produced an instant calm over a space of several yards square, which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it reached the lee side, making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as a looking glass.”

Franklin later used the trick to "calm the waters" by carrying "a little oil in the hollow joint of my cane".

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Baseball Cap Girl

September 7, 2021

Spotted 7th Feb 2016

New Irony Street Art In Tooting (via London Calling Blog):

This morning we are back in Tooting, an area that is currently undergoing a colourful transformation due to the great work of The Real Art of Street Art and Irony, who have set to start decorating the Tooting Market and it’s surrounding walls with a series of beautiful murals. The project may be pretty fresh but it is already coming into its own, with there currently being some twelve works already to be seen in the area and nine of those put up since the new year. [..]
The work is most striking and really suits it location just along Tooting High Street, depicting a hyper-realistic portrait of a woman dressed in hoodie and baseball cap with a rather mischievous looking cat resting along her shoulders.

It is sometimes easy to forget how much effort, skill and artistry goes into these works, demonstrated by London Calling Blog's series of photos on a new Nick Flatt & Seeds One Collaboration in North London.

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Spaced House

September 6, 2021

Spaced (1999) was a 14 episode Channel 4 sitcom written by and starring Jessica Stevenson and Simon Pegg, and directed by Edgar Wright.

Daisy (Stevenson) and Tim (Pegg) are two London twenty-somethings posing as a couple in order to meet the requisites of an advertisement for a cheap flat at the fictional no. 23 Meteor Street (actually Carleton Road), Tufnell Park. Tim's moustachioed best friend Mike Watt is memorably played by Nick Frost.

The series largely concerns the surreal – and highly cinematic – adventures of Tim and Daisy as they try to figure out new and largely unproductive ways of killing time, navigate affairs of the heart and attempt to come to terms with The Phantom Menace.

Rent the flat from TV series Spaced in Tufnell Park (via Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff):

But the pair strike gold when Tim notices an advert in the paper which leads them towards their dream home.
“Spacious two bedroom apartment, fully furnished, £90 a week!” Tim says incredulously, before Daisy notices that the room is for “professional couples only”, leading the pair to pretend they are in a relationship.
This scene also serves to highlight how much the property market has changed in the area, as the house is now being rented at £460 per week, over five times more than the price – albeit fictional – in the 1999 comedy.

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Regent's Canal

August 28, 2021

Regent's Canal is over 200 years old and 13.8 km long, cutting through some of the most well known parts of the capital, for example the towpath route allows visitors to stroll (or cycle) from Victoria Park to Regent's Park.

Regent's Canal, via Canal & River Trust:

The Regent’s Canal is one of London’s best-kept secrets - a peaceful haven often hidden by the surrounding buildings. Today it is well-loved by boaters, walkers and cyclists all looking to escape the capital’s busy streets, but this gem of a canal was all too nearly converted into a railway. [..]
Walking along the Regent's Canal is always a pleasant experience. Step of the busy pavement, onto the towpath and recharge your batteries.
The story begins
In 1812, the Regent's Canal Company was formed to cut a new canal from the Grand Junction Canal's Paddington Arm to Limehouse, where a dock was planned at the junction with the Thames. The architect John Nash played a part in its construction, using his idea of 'barges moving through an urban landscape'.
Completed in 1820, it was built too close to the start of the railway age to be financially successful and at one stage the Regent’s only narrowly escaped being turned into a railway. But the canal went on to become a vital part in southern England's transport system.

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