Castles in Bloomsbury

I was wondering round Gordon Square last week, looking for the venue of a meeting I was supposed to be at, when something grabbed my attention; I didn't know what it was, I just knew that I had seen something incongruous out of the corner of my eye. It took me a few seconds to track down what it was.

These stained glass windows flank the front door of number 48 Gordon Square. None of the other houses has them; in some cases they've been replaced with plain glass, in most with plywood panels bearing rows of bells. But I should think that these are original. The whole square was built between 1820 and 1850.


They do have a familiar look about them, don't they? Those stylised castles, the water and the sails behind them. It doesn't take us any closer to understanding whare the inspiration came from in the first place, but it's an interesting twist nonetheless.

I found the right building eventually - in Gordon Street, not Square - where I spent a happy afternoon second-marking piles of essays and exam scripts. But I was very glad to have had the accidental diversion.

P.S. Unless you've got a pop-up blocker installed, you can click on the photos and they'll come up much bigger - worth the effort in this case.