A Hidden London Secret.......St Dunstan In The East

Just a short walk from The Tower of London is the wonderful ancient ruins of The Church of
St Dunstan in the East. It's a building with quite a bit of history, having first been constructed back
in the Saxon days. And around 950 AD a Holy man by the name of Dunstan took it upon himself,
with a bit of help, to try and restore it.
It was then later destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. And shortly after that misfortune
Sir Christopher Wren stepped in and restored it even creating a new Church Tower which still
stands today, although the Church was destroyed once again during the Blitz in 1941. But thankfully
the Wren Tower survived leaving just a few standing walls with it's Gothic arched windows.
It was decided after that, that the Church would not be rebuilt and that a garden would replace
the central Church space, which was eventually opened up as a public space in 1967.

And yet it wasn't until I read a recent edition of the London Time Out magazine that I
discovered this secret hidden away place as they once again did a feature on such hidden
London gems. The article was titled 'Eight Properly Calm Places in London.'

While I was there on Saturday, visitors were flocking in and out all the time. And I counted
three model and two wedding photo shoots in the couple of hours I was there. In fact I
got roped in to help out on one wedding photo shoot where I was asked to hold up the Brides
long white veil for effect.
But I imagine it must get even busier in there during the working week as the grounds has
become a sort of lunch time refuge for the nearby City workers.

I imagine that in a few weeks that this place will look even more appealing as I noticed that
many of the large vine like leaves that surround those Gothic window arches, were slowly starting
to turn red.
And I did actually film a three and a half minute video on my phone but sadly had to
delete it as I hadn't left enough memory on it to stabilize the footage. Just wish they'd give
you more internal memory on these phones. So I'll probably return to the grounds and
re film it, but for a shorter time. 

Returning back home I couldn't resist passing The Tower Of London as well
as Tower Bridge.

For a warm early October day I was amazed at the huge crowds
of tourists and visitors that were roaming around The Thames
near Tower Bridge.

Below: The River Thames and The London Shard Building.