Marylebone Meanderings - 3 March 2007

Marylebone is an interesting area of London: even the name is interesting, as everyone seems to pronounce it differently. There are three official “correct BBC” pronunciations and a forth, used by London Underground when announcing the station on the Bakerloo Line. However you say it, the name derives from the name of the Parish Church, St Mary’s, which just happened to be near a river, or bourne – hence St Mary Bourne: became St Mary-le-bourne; became St Marylebone; became Marylebone. The river Tyburn has long since been culverted and appears only briefly as the lake in Regent’s Park



Property speculators developed the area in the 1700s and it retains a distinctive Georgian style.

It is also home to 221b Baker St, a (then) fictitious address made famous by Arthur Conan Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes series. The address has now been given a physical location and is the home of the Sherlock Holmes Museum: a fascinating collection of memorabilia from the stories.

On our wanderings, we revisited one of our favourite Museums: Hertford House, home of the Wallace Collection. This remarkable collection, the work of the 3rd and 4th Marquises of Hertford, was gifted to the nation in 1897 with the unusual stipulation that nothing is ever added to or loaned from the collection.

The day was rounded off in spectacular style as clear skies gave a magnificent view of a total lunar eclipse.