Page 215 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

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Serpentine Gallery. The Round e Speakers’ Corner
Pond, created in 1728 just east Hyde Park W2. Map 11 C2.
of the palace, is often packed 1 Marble Arch.
with model boats navi gated by
children and older enthusiasts. An 1872 law made it legal to
In the north, near Lancaster assemble an audience and
Gate, is a dogs’ cemetery, address them on whatever
started in 1880 by the Duke of topic you chose; since then
Cambridge after the death of this corner of Hyde Park has
one of his pets. become the established venue
for budding public speakers
and a fair number of eccentrics.
It is well worth spending time
here on a Sunday: speakers
from fringe groups and one-
member political parties reveal
their plans for the betterment An orator at Speakers’ Corner
of humanity while the assem-
bled onlookers heckle them t Harrods
without mercy. 87–135 Brompton Rd, Knightsbridge
SW1. Map 11 C5. Tel 020 7730 1234.
r Marble Arch 1 Knightsbridge. Open 10am–9pm
Mon–Sat, 11:30am–6pm Sun. ^ 0
Park Lane W1. Map 11 C2. - 7 See Shops and Markets p317.
1 Marble Arch. ∑ harrods.com
John Nash designed the arch London’s most famous
Riding on Rotten Row, Hyde Park in 1827 as the main entrance department store began in
to Buckingham Palace. It was, 1849 when Henry Charles
w Hyde Park however, too narrow for the Harrod opened a small grocery
grandest coaches and was shop nearby on Brompton
W2. Map 11 B3. Tel 0300 061 2000.
1 Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, moved here in 1851. Historically, Road. By concentrating on
Lancaster Gate, Marble Arch. Open only senior members of the good quality and impeccable
5am–midnight daily. - Sports royal family and one of the royal service, the store soon became
facilities. ∑ royalparks.org.uk artillery regiments are allowed popular enough to expand.
to pass under it. It used to be claimed that
The ancient manor of Hyde The arch stands near the Harrods could supply anything
was part of the lands of site of the old Tyburn gallows from a packet of pins to an
Westminster Abbey seized by (marked by a plaque), where elephant – not quite true today,
Henry VIII at the Dissolution of until 1783 the city’s most but the range of stock is still
the Monasteries in 1536. It has notorious criminals were vast. A dress code applies:
remained a royal park ever hanged in front of crowds of shorts, bare midriffs and flip-
since. Henry used it for hunting bloodthirsty spectators. flops are not permitted.
but James I opened it to the
public in the early 17th century.
The Serpentine, an artificial
lake used for boating and
bathing, was created when
Caroline, George II’s queen,
dammed the flow of the
Westbourne River in 1730.
In its time, the park has been
a venue for duelling, horse
racing, demon strations and
music. The 1851 Exhibition
was held here in a vast glass
palace (see pp30–31). There is
a Princess Diana Memorial
fountain to the south of the
Serpentine. Hyde Park is
the setting for one of the UK’s
largest Christmas markets,
complete with an ice rink
and funfair. Harrods at night, lit by 11,500 lights

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