Jubilee Market (Borough Market)

Gordon Museum

Borough Market · 0.1 miles

A collection of human pathological specimens, the Gordon Museum of Pathology forms part of King’s College London’s medical teaching facilities. Situated on the Guy’s Campus near Borough Market, the museum holds roughly 8,000 items, ranging from early specimens dating to about 1608 to historic artefacts such as Joseph Lister’s antiseptic spray and Thomas Hodgkin’s first stethoscope used in England. Highlights include the original kidneys, adrenal glands and lymph nodes that enabled Thomas Hodgkin, Thomas Addison and Richard Bright to describe the eponymous diseases, as well as Joseph Towne’s anatomical wax models and Lam Qua’s pre-operative tumour paintings. The collection also contains the mummified remains of Alan Billis, a former taxi driver who participated in research on ancient Egyptian mummification. The museum opened in 1905 on King’s Guy’s Campus after a donation from the lawyer Robert Gordon and was intended solely as a teaching resource. Specimens began to be gathered in 1802 under the first medical curator Thomas Hodgkin, forming the basis of the museum when the first medical school opened in 1826. By 1829 the collection numbered about 3,000 exhibits, and contemporary reports in 1861 placed it among the nation’s foremost medical collections. Admission is free, although the museum is not generally open to the public and access is limited to educational use within the college.

Bank of England

Tower of London · 0.6 miles

The Bank of England stands on Threadneedle Street in the City of London, opposite the historic Tower of London and at the junction known as Bank Junction. Often referred to as “The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street” after an 1797 cartoon, the building is listed as a heritage landmark and is operated by the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. Founded in 1694 to serve as the English Government’s banker and debt manager, the institution has remained at the same site since the early 18th century. It functions as the United Kingdom’s central bank, overseeing monetary stability through the Bank Rate and quantitative easing, and supervising payment systems such as CHAPS. The bank also safeguards the nation’s official gold reserves and manages foreign-exchange holdings. Although it no longer provides consumer banking, it maintains a limited public service for exchanging superseded banknotes. Visitors can view the façade from the surrounding streets and observe the distinctive architecture that houses the world’s second-oldest central bank. The location is readily reachable on foot via Bank Junction, with the Tower of London a short walk away. No admission charge or dedicated visitor facilities are mentioned, and access is limited to external observation and the occasional public-facing service.

Tower Hill Memorial

Tower Hill · 0.6 miles

Located in Trinity Square Gardens on Tower Hill, London, the memorial complex commemorates civilian, merchant seafarers and fishermen who lost their lives to enemy action and have no known grave. Two principal monuments dominate the site: the First World War memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, and the Second World War memorial, by Sir Edward Maufe. Both feature bronze panels that list the missing, while the Lutyens structure presents a vaulted corridor reminiscent of a Doric temple. The Maufe garden is set below ground level, accessed by steps, and includes relief sculptures of the seven seas by Charles Wheeler together with two sentry figures representing a Merchant Navy sailor and an officer. The First World War memorial was commissioned after the loss of more than 17,000 merchant seafarers and the sinking of over 3,300 British and Empire-registered vessels. Queen Mary unveiled the Lutyens design on 12 December 1928 after a rejected river-bank arch proposal. The Second World War memorial, reflecting the higher toll of 4,786 ships and 32 000 lives, was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in November 1955, after which relatives were invited to lay flowers. A third addition, dedicated to merchant seamen killed in the 1982 Falklands conflict, was installed in 2005. Both war-time memorials are protected as listed buildings – the Mercantile Marine Memorial at grade I and the Merchant Seamen’s Memorial at grade II* – and form part of a national collection of Lutyens’ war memorials. The site is on Crown land, offers step-free wheelchair access, and can be reached via the surrounding gardens in the Tower Hill area.

St Paul's Churchyard

West Smithfield · 0.6 miles

The area surrounding St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London has served as a public space with a long commercial and civic history. Historically the precinct incorporated St Paul’s Cross, an open-air pulpit where statements on the political and religious changes of the Reformation were proclaimed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A single execution is recorded there: the hanging of clergyman Henry Garnet, one of the conspirators in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. By the early modern period the site functioned as one of London’s main marketplaces, and as of 2024 the narrow lane to the north of the cathedral grounds bears the name St Paul’s Churchyard. With the introduction of printing, the location became the focal point of England’s book trade before the activity shifted to nearby Paternoster Row. The trade was initially dominated by foreign booksellers; a 1484 act passed by Richard III’s only parliament encouraged their presence, and the king intervened to secure exemptions for printers and booksellers from later protectionist measures. The area is also mentioned by Alexander Pope in *An Essay on Criticism*, where he uses it as a literary reference. Today the site is classified as a park and is operated by St Paul’s Cathedral. It lies close to West Smithfield and can be reached on foot from surrounding streets. No admission fee or specific visitor facilities are listed, so access is unrestricted and the space forms part of the open environment surrounding the cathedral.

Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice

West Smithfield · 0.6 miles

A collection of ceramic tablets in Postman’s Park commemorates ordinary individuals who died while saving others, ensuring their deeds are not forgotten. The monument stands in the City of London, close to West Smithfield, and forms part of the park’s historic setting. Visitors can view the wall of tiles arranged in three visible rows, with the original 24 De Morgan tablets occupying the central row, a second row of later additions above, and a fourth row added in 1908 below. The design includes a 50-foot wooden loggia that shelters the wall, and the tiles record fifty-four incidents ranging from a police officer’s bravery to a schoolboy’s sacrifice. Although the original plan allowed for 120 tablets, work ceased in 1931 with 53 in place; a further tablet was added in 2009, marking the first new addition in 78 years. The memorial’s development began with a proposal by painter-sculptor George Frederic Watts in 1887, later revived by St Botolph’s vicar Henry Gamble in 1898. After Watts’s death, his widow Mary Watts oversaw the project until work stopped in the early 1930s. Subsequent tiles were produced by William De Morgan, Royal Doulton and, more recently, in the Royal Doulton style. Access to the site is via the public pathways of Postman’s Park; wheelchair access is limited, and no admission fee or visitor facilities are recorded. The monument remains open to the public as part of the park’s landscape.

Michael Faraday Memorial substation

Pullens Estate · 0.6 miles

A stainless-steel box sits on Elephant Square at the northern side of the Elephant and Castle gyratory, commemorating the Victorian scientist Michael Faraday. Designed by modern-movement architect Rodney Gordon in 1959 and erected in 1961, the structure occupies the centre of what was formerly a roundabout. Inside the metal casing lies a London Underground electrical substation that powers the Northern and Bakerloo lines, a fitting tribute to a pioneer of electricity. The original concept called for glass panels so that the transformer work could be seen, but concerns about vandalism led to the current metal cladding. The monument carries an inscription set into the surrounding concrete paving, identifying it as the Faraday Memorial. Since being granted Grade II listed status in 1996, it has been fitted with a series of lighting schemes: a school-girl-designed installation from a 1996 Blue Peter competition, and a “disco” theme introduced by Southwark Council in May 2012 that illuminates the box each evening after dark. Although early-2000s regeneration plans considered relocating the monument 400 metres to Walworth Road, the scheme was abandoned and the memorial remains in its original position, now more readily reachable after the roundabout was “peninsulised”. Visitors can view the monument at any time without charge; it is openly visible from the surrounding streets and pedestrian routes. Access is straightforward via the Northern and Bakerloo Underground lines, whose tunnels the substation serves, and the site is operated by London Underground as part of the public transport infrastructure.