LAST YEAR, attentive readers may remember, I wrote about the famous local places I’d embarrassingly never been (the Observatory, the Maritime Museum, Ranger’s House, etc) and the obscure local places I’d visited instead (Severndroog Castle, Eltham Palace, etc.)
I’m afraid I still haven’t made it to any more marquee-name sites (I did get to the Maritime Museum food court once – did you know they’ve got a branch of that nice French bakery, Paul, in there?) But this Saturday and Sunday, we are all being given that precious once-a-year chance to stock up on our “really obscure attractions” quota.
It’s called Open House London; it’s the one weekend when lots of fascinating places normally closed to the general public crack open the doors for a few hours; and this year Greenwich has a good stock.
Sure, you could go round some of those show-off towers in the City, or various wood-panelled enclaves in Westminster (TfL engineering works permitting) – but I think you should stay here.
Remember “Kiss me, Hardy?” That was Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, to you – the flag captain on HMS Victory at Trafalgar, who was with Nelson as he died – and this weekend you have the very rare opportunity to visit his grave. The remains of Hardy, and that other celebrated seadog Admiral Lord Hood, are in the neo-classical Devonport Mausoleum (1749) in the grounds of Devonport House, in the town centre, which is being opened up to visitors for four and a half hours on Sunday only (11- 3.30.) That’ll be first on my list.
My second stop will be at another almost-never-open, not-to-be-missed military attraction in Woolwich – the Station Officers’ Mess at the Royal Artillery Barracks. That is the vast slab of Georgian frontage you see when you drive over Woolwich Common, allegedly the longest in Europe – and also the first communal mess to be used by the Army. They’ll throw in the ruins of the old garrison church as well, bombed during World War II and left as a reminder.
It is particularly important to get all this done now, because Woolwich Barracks is of course shortly due to be messed about for that Olympic shooting event that no-one in the entire universe, not even the shooters themselves, actually wants. Tours on Sunday, on the hour from 10 till 3. Entry via Front Parade West Gate on Repository Road. Stand by your beds!
Then it will be on to Severndroog Castle, recently rescued by a National Lottery grant and subject of a previous column of mine. It’s a high tower standing at almost the highest point in London and on both Saturday and Sunday you can, very unusually, climb to the top (10am- 3pm, entry off Castle Wood, Shooters Hill).
It is annoying that all the hours are so limited – what is the occult appeal of a 3pm closing time? If you’re feeling a little bit monumented out and you want some later-than-mid-afternoon action, there is daring ultra-late-night opening (till 4.30pm) at the Greenwich Yacht Club on the Peninsula, a nice modern building over the river with good views.
If there’s time, I might also make it to a couple of things in that cross-border twilight zone (Lewisham) – the 1682 Boone’s Chapel on the Lee High Road, only restored last year, is open until 5pm both days, and the nearby Manor Gardens ice house and underground chambers in the park are visitable between 2 and 5.
That’s my Open House day. What’s yours?
Just to clarify, Severndroog’s queue closes at 3pm which means as long as you are in the queue by 3pm, you are guaranteed entry. (This means the volunteers usually work past 4pm by the time the last lot of visitors are through the tour and can pack up. We have to get the portable toilets removed and back again on the Sunday morning for fear of some clever dick pushing them over.) Our closing time is governed by the available light at the heavily-wooded site of Severndroog. There is no electricity in the building and we don’t want anyone falling down the stairs! Also, our HLF funding is not guaranteed as yet and we have lots of fundraising still to do, so please see our information tent during the Open House event for the latest project update.
I hope you made it to the Devonport Mausoleum – I was stewarding there today 2.30-3.45 – we closed at the occult hour of 3.30pm!
I visited the wonderful Charnel House at 1 Bishops Square yesterday. It was built in about 1310 as part of the long-gone Priory of St. Mary. It was partly demolished in 1700 and then got built over and forgotten about. It was rediscovered ten years ago when the area was being redeveloped and following a long negotiation between Museum of London archaeologists, English Heritage and the developers it was incorporated into the new office building. You can look at it though the window, but even better, at the Open House weekend, you can go in, walk around.
It is wonderfully atmospheric and, because of being buried for so long, pretty unaltered – apart from finishing at just over head height.
Well worth a visit.
I did – in fact saw everything on my list. It was great… especially the Woolwich barracks. May write that up in future.