Ludgate Circus

[hb88banzai]

The Post on the northeast corner of Ludgate Circus, which is the junction of Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, Farringdon Street and New Bridge Street.

Here's a photo of the PA3 version, probably from somewhere in the 1970s or 1980s --



Blowup --



Here's what the Post Site looks like now --



URL: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5141573,-0.1042162,3a,75y,62.55h,92.45t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snqKVWm_WuTNuRnmHGJya9g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Here's a glimpse of it from the British Pathe short Traffic And Buses Of London (1970) --



You can just see it on the corner between the tops of the two buses.

Another British Pathe Short, London Traffic (1952), shows this corner from the reverse (from under the bridge), but fails to show anything on the corner.



It should be visible on the corner on the right unless the later PA3 was resited. The 1939 Survey seems to confirm it was on the northeast corner, however, so as with other Ambulance No. 2 Posts it was probably originally located closer to or even against the buildings rather than at the curb, so would be just around the edge of the bridge footing.

[domvar]

The Post on the northeast corner of Ludgate Circus, which is the junction of Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, Farringdon Street and New Bridge Street.

Here's a photo of the PA3 version, probably from somewhere in the 1970s or 1980s --

That image is post 1984 as the montego estate was released then.

Pre 1990 as that is when the bridge was removed.

[starcross]

I've got the AP1 in this location as suspected tucked close to the bridge.

The AP1 close to 1907 since the Post is still White.
Source: Blog



This Photo is dated 1925, and shows the post painted in something darker, likely Green, towards the end of its days.
Source: Flickr & Blog

[starcross]

The AP2 is frustratingly more difficult to spot as this Traffic Officers Shack is in the way in almost every photo past 1925 it seems.
This is the Traffic Shack in 1940 and even through the Gap the AP2 isn't visible where the AP1 was located. Its probably behind the Lamp Post.

Source: Getty Images
"7th March 1940: A poster on the railway bridge over Ludgate Circus, London, promoting the War Loan."
No message is associated with this attachment.

Which is fine because I found a photographer daring enough to go higher, and sure enough there is the AP2 in May 1935.
"3rd May 1935, London, England, The picture shows a panoramic view of London's St Paul's Cathederal and Ludgate Hill adorned with decorations for King George V's Silver Jubilee"

Source: Getty Images



That's the Hat Trick Folks, Confirmation of all three eras.

[paul hayes]

On Thursday at the radio station where I work, we played an archive clip of the Bishop of Norwich from 1981, talking about how he's going to camp out for the royal wedding procession in London because he hasn't been invited. He says he's going to camp at "Ludgate Hill", next to "a blue Doctor Who police box."

This naturally piqued my interest, as surely there can't have been any police boxes still in the wild in central London in 1981? Having done a search I assume he means this post, but it seems an odd thing to refer to so specifically as a "Doctor Who police box".

Here's the clip, if anyone's interested:

https://soundcloud.com/paul-hayes-882952482/the-bishops-tardis

[Teppic]

[bobjohns]

The King Lud is now my local Leon (or was in less pandemic-y days). I suspect the reason this post no longer exists when there are others in the locale (Queen Victoria Street for example) is that the street level was raised at some point in the 90's. That pub/Leon is now accessed via steps down.

An interesting side effect of this, is that many of the buildings on New Bridge Street and surrounding area, now have their old ground floors as basements.