London - Whitehall - Ministry of Magic

This is an excerpt from the tour Whitehall  found on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

As you turn right into Scotland Place you are passing near the entrance to the Ministry of Magic!  

In the first Harry Potter movie they added a false telephone box on the corner which serves as the entrance to the Ministry of Magic.  In part one of the Deathly Hallows it is in this garage where Harry, Ron and Hermione knock out some unsuspecting Ministry workers and use polyjuice to steal their identities.  Sadly for our trio the phone box disappeared in this movie and they have to flush their way into the Ministry via some public toilets.   

So proceed with caution… muggles are everywhere.

More details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour London - Whitehall  available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

London - Whitehall - Civil Service Club

This is an excerpt from the tour Whitehall  found on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

 Set slightly back from the main street line is the Civil Service Club - a private club for all Civil Servants including employees of the Crown or the Police.   They provide accommodation, a bar and dining facilities.  They arrange banquets, outings, discounted tickets, quiz nights, comedy nights, poker, tours and provide an exclusive Westminster location for conferences, meetings, weddings and private dining.   

The site was for the London County Council Fire Station and the indented forecourt allowed room for the horses to be attached to the fire engines without blocking the street.  

More details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour London - Whitehall  available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

London - Whitehall - Scotland Yard

This is an excerpt from the tour Whitehall  found on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

There is no real certainty about how Scotland Yard gets its name.  The main contender is that it derives its name from land and buildings given by the English King Edgar the Peaceful (943-975) to the King of Scotland, Kenneth (954-995).  Kenneth built a house which was enjoyed by him and his posterity until the reign of King Henry II  (1133-1189)  when William the King of Scots (1143-1214) turned against Henry at the Battle of Alnwick (1174).   The land and building were forfeited, but the ‘Scotland’ label stuck. 

In 1829 a police station was established here in Scotland Yard which became the headquarters for the newly formed Metropolitan Police created  by Robert Peel from whom derived the nickname of an English ‘Bobby’.    The name of Scotland Yard is now inseparable with the Police Force – they are one and the same – even though they have moved elsewhere the name has stuck. 

The force was made up of 895 constables, 88 sergeants, 20 inspectors and 8 superintendents.  Their leader  Sir Richard Mayne wrote:

"The primary object of an efficient police is the prevention of crime: the next that of detection and punishment of offenders if crime is committed. To these ends all the efforts of police must be directed.”

In  1890 they relocated down by the river and nearer to Parliament with the name of New Scotland Yard.  We shall see these buildings later in this tour.  (Now called Norman Shaw Buildings.)    The stables retained here are for use of the mounted police - mind your feet as you can often find evidence of the horses in the vicinity.   Above the arch, between the crowns of King George  you can faintly see the words ‘Greater London Recruiting Depot’ which remind us these buildings were established by the War Department to gather recruits.

More details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour London - Whitehall  available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

London - Whitehall - Old Admiralty

This is an excerpt from the tour Whitehall  found on   www.obelisktours.co.uk

On the other side of the street are Trafalgar Studios and Glyn, Mills & Co – we will learn about those buildings near the end of our tour.  Remaining on this side of the street keep looking across the road until you are facing the Old Admiralty building.  We will walk by this building at the conclusion of this tour, but we get a better vantage point of the buildings from this side of the street.

For nearly 400 years this site has been directly connected with overseeing the Royal Navy.    George Villiers – the Lord High Admiral, first purchased the site in 1622 although the first purpose built building was not erected until 1695.  Within three decades the navy had outgrown this original Navy building and it was replaced (1726) with the one we can see behind the screen.

The screen is decorated with some appropriate nautical carvings including two, well… mutants – a kind of  horse-fish-bird (Pegasus meets Neptune?).  Looking through the screen at the pediment you can see more ‘sea’ carvings of an anchor.

After the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) the body of the Vice Admiral, Horatio Nelson, rested here briefly before his huge funeral procession through the streets of London to his final resting place in St Paul’s Cathedral.   His monument in nearby Trafalgar Square seems to be looking towards this building which was such a big part of his life.   Inside the building is the original model for Nelson’s statue. 

In 1964 the creation of the Ministry of Defence altered the way the armed forces were administered, but the navy still uses these facilities. 

 More details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour London - Whitehall  available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk