May 6, 2017 - We walked around London today and found this place.
The is the interior of St Bartholomew the Great. A church that has been in continuous use since 1143! It is hard to imagine something that old and still functioning.
It survived the great fire of London in 1666 as well as the Blitz. The classic Norman architecture is beautiful.
Just outside there is a square that is dominated by the Smithfield meat market. It is a pretty ordinary place except for a plaque against a wall. It denotes the location where William Wallace (aka 'Braveheart') was executed in a horrific manner. I always thought he died at the Tower but a Beefeater told me he was there for only a short time before taken to Smithfield - which was long known as a 'Plague pit' and the site of multiple executions.
Catholic 'Bloody Mary' Tudor was said to have watched executions here of Protestant heretics from the church I am standing in now. ----- Today was our last day in London. We start north tomorrow for Scotland.
Comments