In T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, there were two cats who lived right here in our neighbourhood in Kensington, which isn’t surprising because Eliot lived just down at the end of the street. We used to see the second Mrs. Eliot (Valerie) walking every now and then but sadly she died in 2012. But we still have cats that roam the neighborhood. All the places mentioned in one of his poems are in a little corner of Kensington.
Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer
were a very notorious couple of cats.
As knockabout clown, quick-change comedians,
tight-rope walkers and acrobats
They had extensive reputation.
They made their home in Victoria Grove–
That was merely their centre of operation,
for they were incurably given to rove.
They were very well know in Cornwall Gardens,
in Launceston Place and in Kensington Square.
They had really a little more reputation
than a couple of cats can very well bear.
Valerie Eliot granted permission for Andrew Lloyd Webber to develop a stage musical based on her husband’s poems. This became a legendary hit musical: Cats. With her portion of the proceeds, she established “Old Possum’s Practical Trust”, a literary charity, and funded the T.S. Eliot Prize, an annual prize that has been called “the most coveted award in poetry”
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- This is a sign up that hangs at the corner Kensington High Street and Kensington Church Street. It was for The Civit Cat, a pub that closed many years ago. I’m really glad they left the sign.
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- This little carving is also on a pub – The George pub at 213 Strand, right across from the Royal Courts of Justice. The pub opened in 1723 as a coffee-house and became a pub in 1830. This little monk is tasting the ale from his barrel. His little companion is very interested in what is going on.
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- “The Crossed Keys” is a legenday pub in Chelsea. The name indicates there was a church nearby, and sure enough,Chelsea Old Church is just around the corner.
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- The pub has a 300 year history and has long been a haunt of locals, including famous musicians. Former patrons include Agatha Christie, Dylan Thomas, Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.
The recent history of the “Crossed Keys” is very interesting.
In 2012 the Crossed Keys was purchased by property developers who closed the pub and planned to develop it as a luxury private residence. Thousands of people signed a petition to save it but the new owners boarded up the pub. Squatters managed to get into the property and caused a significant amount of damage. With all the local opposition and a good chance that their plans would not be approved by the local council, the property developers sold the building to a company that reopened it as a pub in January 2014.
Score one for the Vox Populi.
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- This is a memorial for Dr. Johnson’s cat “Hodge” in the courtyard at Gough Square, off Fleet Street. Hodge looks very smug! If you look closely, on top of the book are some oyster shells. Dr. Johnson would go out himself and buy oysters for Hodge.
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- There are lots of hanging signs on Lombard Street in the City of London, and this is one I like. My research says there was an Inn called the Cat and the Fiddle, ages ago. King Charles II banned these hanging signs – don’t know why. But replicas were put up in 1902 for the coronation of Edward VII.
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- Sam the Cat climbs over a wall in Gordon Square.
The Carraras Building at 180 Hampstead Road in Camden is a real treat for cat lovers.
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- Carreras House began life as a cigarette factory. It was built in 1926.
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- The original bronze cats on either side of the main entrance were removed when the factory was converted into offices in 1961, replaced with replicas in the restoration of 1998.
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- All things Egyptian were very popular then, a few years after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. A black cat was the symbol of Carreras’ best-selling cigarette, so it was natural to decorate entrance with large bronze cats and to have little black cats looking out from round niches under the first floor windows.
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- This cat defies gravity on the façade of Sketch, a restaurant on Conduit Street. I think it’s a lynx, which is a wild cat.
These carved animals are on the rear entrance of the Royal Courts of Justice – the Judges’ Entrance. The little stone cat and dog are supposed to represent fighting litigants who come to court.
This is the most famous cat in London – Dick Whittington’s cat.
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- He sits on top of the Whittington stone on the hill on Archway Road in Highgate.
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- The stone marks the legendary spot where the fleeing young man decided to turn again and return to London.
Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423) was a medieval merchant and a politician. He was Lord Mayor of London four times, served in Parliament and as a sheriff of the City. He also made a large fortune in trade, importing luxury fabrics and perhaps exporting the very desirable England woolen cloth to Europe.
He married but had no children and he used his great wealthy to fund a number of public projects, such as rebuilding Guildhall, building drainage systems in poor areas of medieval London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, nearly 600 years later, continues to assist people in need.
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- Dick and his cat appear in a stained glass window in the church of St. Michael Paternoster, the church he belonged to and where he was buried.
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- Here’s one last cat – at least I hope he’s a cat. He’s a bit of a monster. He’s on the Basinghall Street entrance of Guildhall.
All photos taken by Cathey Leitch @Cathey Leitch, 2015