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Canon Row

Streets in the City of Westminster
Canon Row geograph.org.uk 1510671
Canon Row geograph.org.uk 1510671

Canon Row is a historic street in the City of Westminster in London. It is best known as the location of Canon Row Police Station.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Canon Row (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Canon Row
Canon Row, City of Westminster Lambeth

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.5016 ° E -0.12546 °
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Canon Row
SW1A 2LW City of Westminster, Lambeth
England, United Kingdom
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The Cenotaph
The Cenotaph

The Cenotaph is a war memorial on Whitehall in London, England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is the United Kingdom's national memorial to the British and Commonwealth dead of the two world wars, and British casualties from later conflicts. The original Cenotaph was a temporary structure erected in 1919 for a parade celebrating the end of the First World War. Over 15,000 servicemen, including representatives from France and the United States, saluted the monument during the parade. The word "cenotaph" is derived from Greek, meaning "empty tomb". Most of the dead were buried close to where they fell; thus, the temporary Cenotaph came to symbolise the absent dead, and provided a focal point for the public's mourning. Over a million people visited the Cenotaph within a week of the parade, some of whom made pilgrimages from distant parts of the country. Calls for a permanent Cenotaph began almost immediately. After some debate, the government agreed and construction work began in May 1920. Lutyens added entasis (curvature) but otherwise made minimal design alterations. The Cenotaph is built from Portland stone. It takes the form of a tomb chest atop a rectangular pylon, which diminishes as it rises. The memorial is austere, containing almost no decoration. From each side hang three flags. The permanent Cenotaph was unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920 in a ceremony combined with the repatriation of the Unknown Warrior, an unidentified British serviceman to be interred in Westminster Abbey. After the unveiling, millions more people visited the Cenotaph and the Unknown Warrior. The memorial met with public acclaim and has been largely praised by academics, though some Christian organisations disapproved of its lack of overt religious symbolism. The Cenotaph was the site of pilgrimages for years after its unveiling, and men removed their hats while passing it. Officials attempted to avoid censoring tributes but sometimes removed those with political messages. The Cenotaph has been the scene of several political protests and has been vandalised with spray paint twice in the 21st century. The National Service of Remembrance is held annually at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday; it is also the scene of other remembrance services. The Cenotaph is a grade I listed building and forms part of a national collection of Lutyens's war memorials. Dozens of replicas were built in Britain and other Commonwealth countries. While there was no set or agreed standard for First World War memorials, the Cenotaph proved to be one of the most influential. Lutyens designed several others, which all shared common features with the Whitehall monument. The Cenotaph has been the subject of several artworks and has featured in multiple works of literature, including a novel and several poems. The public acclaim for the monument was responsible for Lutyens becoming a national figure, and the Royal Institute of British Architects awarded him its Royal Gold Medal in 1921. For several years afterwards much of his time was taken up with war memorial commissions.

Big Ben
Big Ben

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the striking clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The official name of the tower in which Big Ben is located was originally the Clock Tower, but it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin in a neo-Gothic style. When completed in 1859, its clock was the largest and most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world. The tower stands 316 feet (96 m) tall, and the climb from ground level to the belfry is 334 steps. Its base is square, measuring 40 feet (12 m) on each side. Dials of the clock are 22.5 feet (6.9 m) in diameter. All four nations of the UK are represented on the tower on shields featuring a rose for England, thistle for Scotland, shamrock for Northern Ireland, and leek for Wales. On 31 May 2009, celebrations were held to mark the tower's 150th anniversary.Big Ben is the largest of the tower's five bells and weighs 13.5 long tons (13.7 tonnes; 15.1 short tons). It was the largest bell in the United Kingdom for 23 years. The origin of the bell's nickname is open to question; it may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or heavyweight boxing champion Benjamin Caunt. Four quarter bells chime at 15, 30 and 45 minutes past the hour and just before Big Ben tolls on the hour. The clock uses its original Victorian mechanism, but an electric motor can be used as a backup. The tower is a British cultural icon recognised all over the world. It is one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and parliamentary democracy, and it is often used in the establishing shot of films set in London. The clock tower has been part of a Grade I listed building since 1970 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. On 21 August 2017, a four-year schedule of renovation works began on the tower. Modifications have included adding a lift, re-glazing and repainting the clock dials, and upgrading lighting and repairing roof tiles among other improvements. With a few exceptions, such as New Year's Eve and Remembrance Sunday, the bells are to be silent until the work is completed in 2022.