Talking Location With author Julie Anderson – LONDON

3rd September 2022

#TalkingLocationWith … Julie Anderson, author of Opera, mystery set in LONDON

Hidden London – in plain sight and free to visit, the gems which often aren’t in the Guidebooks

London is one of the world’s most popular destination cities, attracting (pre-pandemic) about 30 million overnight visitors a year, of which 12 million were from Britain. The capital is also a favoured destination for days out, in 2019 alone 195 million trips were made by UK citizens to London for the day (excluding business trips)[1]. Its top tourist attractions are well-known, mainly cultural or historic sites and all worth seeing, if you haven’t seen them before, but what about the lesser known, the little gems which aren’t in the Guidebooks?

I write crime fiction and my Whitehall sleuth, Cassandra Fortune, is based in London. The first novel she appeared in, Plague (Claret Press, 2020) was set mainly in Westminster, at the sites of former ‘Plague Pits’ and a lot of the action happened in hidden places, often beneath the surface. I devised a self-guided walk to accompany the book, following the course of the ‘lost’ river Tyburn from Bond Street to the Thames (you can access it on my web-site at Julie Anderson – Writer and author (julieandersonwriter.com it’s free). In the second book, Oracle (2021) she travelled to Delphi, Greece and I wrote about that location for Trip Fiction at Talking Location With Julie Anderson – Delphi Blog | TripFiction.

Cassie returns to the capital in the third book, Opera, published on 5^th September, 2022 and this time the locations are more accessible, though you have to know that they’re there. Here are some gems ‘hiding’ in plain sight and, best of all, they are free to visit. All of them feature in Opera.

The Houses of Parliament

Westminster Square is always thronging with tourists, taking photographs of the Palace of Westminster. What many people don’t know is that British citizens can go on a guided tour around the Palace for free, as long as they book in advance, contacting their MP, or the booking team at the Palace of Westminster (see Tours – UK Parliament ). The Palace is open most mornings in the week (before midday) when the Houses are sitting and on late Friday afternoons. During the Summer and Christmas recesses the public also usually has access to the public rooms. The history of the Palace is fascinating and the architecture spectacular, it is really worth visiting and the guides are knowledgeable and amusing. A tour takes about an hour and twenty minutes.

N.B. Non-UK citizens can also tour, but their tour is not gratis.

Close by is the second ‘gem’.

Photo: Tim Knox

Duck Island Cottage, St James’s Park

In Opera, Cassandra meets with baronet and former spy Sir Rory Newcomen in this Swiss-style cottage in St James’s Park. This is actually two buildings linked by a wooden covered bridge spanning a channel between Duck Island and the side of the lake. As Sir Rory explains ‘…this cottage became a sinecure for whoever was the monarch’s favourite. Now it belongs to the Historic Parks and Gardens Trust, but there has been a dwelling here since the seventeenth century, when St James’s was a real hunting park and Birdcage Walk was lined with the aviaries of game birds. Then it fell within the perquisites of the Ranger of Parks. Horace Walpole called Lady Pomfret ‘the Queen of Duck Island’ when her husband got the post, I don’t think she was pleased.’

St James’s Park is open from 5 a.m. until 10.30 p.m. (later in summer). Pre-pandemic the Cottage was staffed on weekdays and open to the public.

It’s a brisk walk through St James’s to Pimlico and my third ‘gem’.

Royal Horticultural Halls, 80, Vincent Square, Pimlico

Vincent Square is the site of a 17^th century Plague Pit, although now the square now belongs to Westminster School and houses its playing fields. Illustrious political connections include PM Harold Wilson, politicians, Duncan Sandys, Baron VanSittart, Richard Crossman and, today, Robert Jenrick MP. It is in the Lindley Library within the Royal Horticultural Halls that Cassie first meets with Sir Rory in Opera, a library which houses the RHS’s world class collection of botanic writings and illustrations, going back to 16^th century manuscripts. My characters meet in the Lower Library, in the basement of the RHS building, which is only open to researchers. The general public are, however, usually allowed into the Upper Reading Room, to browse gardening magazines and the 20^th century collection (available for lending to RHS members). This was a condition of the RHS receiving Lottery funding to develop the basement.

This practice ceased at the start of the pandemic, though appointments can still be made to visit.

Brompton Garden Cemetery

Photo: Ida-Design

This gem is slightly out of the centre, but it isn’t far to Chelsea where, stretching between the Fulham and Old Brompton Roads, you can find the thirty-nine acres of peaceful and lovely Brompton Garden Cemetery. One of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ garden cemeteries opened on the cusp of the Georgian and Victorians eras between 1833 and 1841, Brompton isn’t as famous as it’s Highgate sister or as often used in film and TV productions as the Kelsall Green catacombs ( its Tower hamlets sister featured in the prologue to Plague ). It too has catacombs, though not open to visitors, as well as a beautiful domed Chapel at the apex of the Grand Circle, modelled on the colonnade of St Peter’s in Rome. Designed to be a public park as well as a last resting place it is run by the Royal Parks and so is Britain’s only ‘Crown’ cemetery. All the main characters in Opera attend a funeral there – it is still a working cemetery.

It’s worth taking a look at the Friends of Brompton Cemetery web-site to find out about all the famous people interred there and the site also has a useful map.  I have spent many a happy hour wandering around ( and wrote an article about it on my blog at ‘Opera’ London – Julie Anderson (julieandersonwriter.com) There is a café in the North Gate for refreshments. The Cemetery opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. in summer.

Four London gems and free to visit

[1] Visit England

JULIE ANDERSON

Catch Julie on Twitter @jjulieanderson and on Insta @julieandersonwriter

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