Sidney R. Jones, in his book London Triumphant enthuses over the church of St. Mary-le-Bow:

`Just look how the sun catches it, I said to Anthony as we saw Bow Church rising serene over the rattle and

traffic of Cheapside. See how the old boy (i.e. Christopher Wren) jumped off the square of the tower to the

circular base of the steeple, engaged the four tower corners with finials to send the lines upward, and in delicate,

lessening proportions swept right up to the vane of the tapering spire'.

This church was one of fifty-two city churches built or restored by Christopher Wren after the great fire of

London. In 1904 Sir Charles Stanford revived the old time chimes `Turn again Whittington' thrice Lord Mayor of

London. We dare not allow our interest to cause us to loiter here however, for our geographical centre lies across

the river to the South East. The reader's attention is drawn to the map that forms an end paper of this book, to which

reference will have to be made as this pilgrimage proceeds. We therefore make our way past the Mansion House

and the Bank of England, affectionately called by the Londoner, `The little old lady of Threadneedle Street'. Stow

speaks in 1598 of `Three Needle Street' from the sign of the `Three Needles', but the origin of the sign is a matter of

conjecture and need not detain us.

The visitor to London should not omit a walk through Lombard Street, where many of those ancient coloured

signs have been revived. We proceed down King William Street, so named after a statue of `the sailor King' which

stood at the foot of London Bridge, and cross the river to the South side. On our left just as we reach the river side

stood Adelaide House, which was demolished in 1920, bringing to light one of the arches of old London Bridge. A

Roman bridge, the first to cross the river cannot be described, but some reference to its fate, or to its successor,

seems to linger in the children's song `London Bridge is broken down'. Old London Bridge was built of many

arches, and supported a double row of timbered houses, and until 1739 it was the only crossing of the river. Very

few visitors to London can avoid standing for a moment and looking down the river with its shipping, its cranes and

its wharves. Those that do, unconsciously belong to a `goodly company':

`And just as everybody who crosses it today peers over for a moment to the business of ships below, so Herman

Melville, who wrote our greatest story of the sea (Moby Dick), leaned on this parapet to consider the ships, the

morning he arrived in London' (Below London Bridge by Tomlinson).

Straight ahead, as we cross the Bridge, under the railway arch that links Charing Cross with the coast, lies the

Borough, and on the right, at a much lower level than the present street, stands the Church of St. Saviour's or

Southwark Cathedral. This church was originally attached to the Augustine Priory of St. Mary Overie. The

American reader may be interested to know that John Harvard was baptized here on November 29th 1607. The

church contains a memorial to Shakespeare, and the Globe theatre was situated immediately behind the cathedral:

`The original foundation of London Bridge, by report of Bartholomew Linstead, last Prior of St. Mary Overies

church of Southwark, was this:

A ferry being kept in place where now the bridge is built, at length the ferryman and his wife deceasing, left the

same to their daughter, a maiden named Mary, which with the goods and profits arising, built a house of Sisters

... after converted into a college ... the priest built the bridge of timber ... till at length ... by the aid of the citizens

of London, and others a bridge was built with arches of stone' (John Stow).

Although our way leads down Duke Street Hill to Tooley Street, we will just pause a moment, for the Borough

High Street teems with interest. Adjoining the cathedral is Borough Market and close by is Clink Street, famous or

infamous, inasmuch as a prison stood here originally for the confinement of heretics, and the word `clink' has

passed into thieves' slang as a synonym for prison. Further along the High Street another prison was situated known

as the Marshalsea, used from 1377 until 1842 first for political prisoners, and later for debtors, in which the father of

Charles Dickens was imprisoned for debt.