In my last year as a history undergraduate, a very long time ago, my special subject was the ten years following the Restoration of 1660. A major source was the diary of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) and I have been fascinated by him ever since. A naval administrator who rose to be Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both Charles II and James II/VII, he obviously had a front seat at many of the major events of those years as well as being an entertaining character. He further endeared himself to me by being a bibliophile, collecting over 3000 books, all carefully catalogued and indexed. They can still be seen in Magdalene College, Cambridge, on their original book cases, in their original arrangement – by size. At this point I have to say we would have fallen out!

We visited the Library back in 2007 – photography is not allowed inside but you can see some of the interiors on the library website.

On a visit to London last year (November 2022) I decided to follow A Sightseer’s Guide To Samuel Pepys’s London which I found online. Originally, I planned to do this alone because John was working, but this was a period of on/off rail strikes and his meetings that day were cancelled so I had the bonus of his company.

We got off the Tube at Tower Hill to start our walk at All Hallows by the Tower, one of London’s most ancient churches. Pepys lived nearby in Seething Lane and relates in his diary that he climbed the steeple to watch the Great Fire of London in 1666.

All Hallows by the Tower

Oldest church in the City

Connections

Doorway

Doorway

All Hallows by the Tower

We spent quite a long time looking at the interior of this lovely church.

Interior

Interior

Interior

Interior

There were various sculptures, of which we particularly liked the Tower Hill Madonna.

Tower Hill Madonna

Tower Hill Madonna

The church had other connections, including to Philip Clayton, Vicar of All Hallows from 1922 to 1963 and founder of the international Christian movement, Toc H.

Philip Clayton memorial

Philip Clayton memorial

We then crossed to Seething Lane to a church even more closely related to Pepys, his own parish church, with the street opposite now being named after him. External features include a crest of skulls above the churchyard gate which inspired Charles Dickens to nickname the church St Ghastly Grim, a fact which is celebrated on the board next to it. There is also a bricked up door which was Pepys’ special entrance to the Navy Office pew. There should also be a bust to Pepys in the churchyard, but the plinth was empty – possible away for conservation?

Pepys Street

Churchyard entrance

Crest of skulls

St Ghastly Grim

Churchyard

Navy Office Pew entrance

The church interior was even more interesting than All Hallows. Pepys and his wife are both buried in the vault beneath the nave, and they have memorials on opposite walls. Although Samuel was a serial philanderer he was still very fond of his wife, Elizabeth, and devastated when she died of typhoid in 1669 at just 29. He placed her memorial where he could see it during services.

Nave

Samuel Pepys memorial

Elizabeth Pepys memorial

Pulpit by Grinling Gibbons

Memorial to brothers Andrew and Paul Bayninge, both Alderman of London

Leaving the church we headed for Munster Court, admiring along the way the juxtaposition of old and new. The Ship, whose website boasts friendly service since 1802, nestles in between newer buildings and you are never far away from a glimpse of plate glass.

The Ship

City of London street

In Munster Court we were looking for the Clothworkers’ Hall which has existed on this site since the 15th century, though this is its sixth building. Pepys was a regular visitor to a predecessor as Master of the Company.

Plaque

Clothworkers’ Hall

Clothworkers’ Company Crest

Once again, we wandered through old and new, savouring the evocative street names such as Mincing Lane and Eastcheap.

Munster Court

Munster Court

St Margaret Pattens

The Walkie-Talkie

View of the Shard

Our destination this time was Pudding Lane where the Great Fire of London began in September 1666. A plaque marks the site of Thomas Faryner’s bakery where the flames took hold, and a monument, erected in 1677, stands nearby. Pepys’ diary is one of the main sources for the history of the fire.

Spot the photographer!

Plaque on Pudding Lane

Monument to the Great Fire of London

The online walk suggested stopping for lunch at Pepys Bar, in another fabulously named street, Stew Lane, though this has no connection with Samuel other than its name. We decided instead to backtrack slightly to cross the Thames via the Southwark Bridge.

The Samuel Pepys Bar

Stew Lane

View of the Shard

Dome of St Paul’s dome from Southwark Bridge

River cruiser from Southwark Bridge

We chose to eat in the Anchor at Bankside which dates in its current form from the late 18th century, but Pepys writes of its predecessor that during the Great Fire, he took refuge “in a little alehouse on Bankside … and there watched the fire grow”. (This was later in the day after he had been up the church tower, these accounts do not conflict). Inside, it was quite a warren of small spaces, and as far as I can remember the food was good.

It’s worth expanding the information board to get the full history of the site if you are interested.

The Anchor, Bankside

The Anchor, Bankside

The Anchor, Bankside

Information board

One of the interior bars

After lunch we got back on track by recrossing the river via the Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s Cathedral. Designed by Christopher Wren, this cathedral was completed in 1710 and replaced Old St Paul’s, yet another building which Pepys watched burn. It would have been close to his heart – he was born nearby and attended St Paul’s School.

St Paul’s from Millennium Bridge

On the Millennium Bridge

St Paul’s from Millennium Bridge

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s Cathedral

A little further on in Salisbury Court we found the plaque commemorating Pepys’ birth on 23rd February 1633 and the church, St Bride’s, where he was baptised a few days later on 3rd March. (NB I have not got the year wrong. The plaque shows 1632, a confusion arising because of a change in the calendar at a later date, when the beginning of the year was shifted from March to January.) Again, this was not the building Pepys would  have known as it was a casualty of the fire and the current building, like St Paul’s, is a Wren replacement. Have a careful look at the tiered spire which, in the 18th century, became the inspiration for umpteen wedding cakes after baker William Rich created a three-tiered cake based upon Wren’s design for his marriage to Susannah, his former master’s daughter.

Pepys birth site

St Bride’s, Salisbury Court

The online tour ended here. However, from a comment below it we picked up that there are plaques on two separate houses in Buckingham Street where Pepys also lived.

Plaque where Pepys lived, 1679-1688.

Pepys lived here 1679-1688.

Buckingham Street plaque

From the nearby York Watergate, built about 1626, he could well have been rowed across to the Anchor on Bankside, the pub where we had lunch, although as the plaque points out, the gate is no longer on the river bank since the construction of the Embankment.

York Watergate

York Watergate

Although we continued walking, our Pepys tour ended here. I felt I had got a lot closer to the man whose writing was a constant companion to me for one year in the 1970s, and whom I have read about intermittently since. I have a small collection of books about him and dip in and out of the wonderful Pepys Diary site which publishes a new entry each day. Out of interest, I looked up the entry for the day on which I am writing. It’s a corker. Saturday 13 October 1660:

To my Lord’s in the morning, where I met with Captain Cuttance, but my Lord not being up I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. He was presently cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there was great shouts of joy.

What can I say to follow that? Bloodthirsty times. And yet, he ends the day quietly where I started my post: with his books.

Within all the afternoon setting up shelves in my study. At night to bed.

Goodnight, Samuel!

Linked to Jo’s Monday Walk.