The Royal Mews

The Royal Mews were formerly located at Charing Cross in the west end of The Strand during the 14th century where they housed the royal hawks. Trained hawks were kept in cages inside the Mews while they were moulting which is where the word mew (to moult) and where the name Royal Mews is derived from. However, the building at Charing Cross was burned down in a fire during the 1500s. It was rebuilt in 1732 under the designs of William Kent (Wikipedia). 

Pall Mall

Pall mall was a popular ball game played in England during the 17th century. Similar to modern croquet, pall mall was first introduced by James I who often enjoyed the game with his two sons Henry and Charles along with other English aristocrats.

Whitehall

Whitehall “used to be the usual residence of the kings of England,” and was once the largest palace in Europe before that title was given to the Palace of Versailles (De Saussure, 1902, p. 64). After a devastating fire in 1698, only the Banqueting Hall and a few other rooms in the king’s apartments remained intact (p. 65). Once the royal family stopped living in this palace, it was torn down and a complex of other palaces belonging to the Duke of Portland was built in its place (p. 65).

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey, alternatively dubbed the Abbey, was a church dedicated to St. Peter that lied just west of the Palace of Westminster. The church was a Benedictine Monastery until it dissolved in 1539, and was then a cathedral for approximately sixteen years. Since 1650 it has held the status of Church of England “Royal Peculiar.”

St. James Park

In 1532 Henry VIII purchased a large area of land just west of Whitehall, intended as another deer park. The area of land ultimately became known as St. James Park, its name deriving from a leper hospital built in the 13th century named after St. James the Less. By the 18th century, when César De Saussure roamed its grounds, St. James Park had become a bustling oasis amid the city, with crowds dense with people bumping shoulders (De Saussure, 1902, p. 48).

Story Map

César-François de Saussure (1705 – 1783) was a Swiss travel writer. After the death of his father in 1724, he spent eleven years travelling around Europe. De Saussure arrived in London in May 1725 by way of Germany and Holland, and lived in the English metropolis until October 1729.