Carter Lane had been a big disappointment when I entered it from the east. I’d been reading Geoffrey Fletcher’s description from the late 1960’s of its medieval village atmosphere and higgledy-piggledy nature. The area had unusually escaped the attention of the Luftwaffe but might not be so lucky with the town planners. He mentioned that there were plans to redevelop the area circulating at the time.
Directly opposite St Paul’s is a flat concourse where teenage skateboarders practise their tricks and their attitude around an old drinking fountain. Geoff had mentioned the fountain but it was now surrounded by faceless modern office blocks. One of them had a sign saying 1 Carter Lane. Oh dear. Progress seemed to have done its worst.
But no! Keep walking west and you enter Carter Lane proper. It is indeed a winding, medieval street that was rebuilt after the Great Fire and has lots of little courtyards and passages off it as well. A bunch of drinkers were well stuck in at The Rising Sun and a bunch more at The Cockpit on St Andrews Hill, which looks a perfect little boozer, wonderfully unreconstructed by modern interior decorations. My kind of place.
Avoiding temptation I pushed on along Carter Lane until my eye was caught by the sign Wardrobe Place winking at me and inviting me, in like Fawn Tumnus at the entrance to Narnia. What could I do but follow my nose down the white walled passage and into a delightful little court.
On the left side of Wardrobe Place is a relatively recent set of buildings of no interest apart from their location, but I could see that the red bricked building at the far end was old, likely 18th century. It has a ghost sign by the door. “S Nashall & Sons, Printers, Stationers and Account Book Manufacturers” which can just about be picked out. St Paul’s was a traditional printing quarter of the City. There are no printers working in Wardrobe Place now,. In Geoffrey’s time these were more likely to be lawyers’ offices and it looked like the legal profession still resides in the courtyard.
To the right are the architectural gems. No 2 Wardrobe Place dates from 1680 and is the actual house rebuilt immediately after the Great Fire. A row of houses from 1715 are next door to it. The houses boast period a boot scraper and lovely old door bells. They seem to have replaced the Kings Wardrobe. There is a plaque to that effect. I thought at first that this must have been where the king kept his less used clothes – in much the same way my wife puts away her summer clothes each autumn – but I was wrong. It was indeed part storage facility but was particularly an archive for the kings personal papers.
Wardrobe Place is topped off by a charming tree in its midst across which we’re strewn a line of fairy lights. It must look lovely in the dark with these lights twinkly.
Another lovely little London nook.
And now for a pint. The Cockpit or The Rising Sun?
Maybe time for both.
