Above: St. Clement Danes in 1896.
BOW STREET SOCIETY LOCATIONS YOU CAN ACTUALLY VISIT
Above: Sculpture Hall, South Kensington Museum in 1896.
Above: St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in 1896 (left) and today (right)
In The Case of the Spectral Shot, Detective Inspector Conway has a secret meeting with Detective Chief Inspector Jones in the sculpture hall located in the south corridor of the South Kensington Museum. The museum’s name was changed in 1899 to the Victoria and Albert, and it still houses many impressive sculptures. Initial research I’ve conducted on the internet suggests “The Wrestlers” sculpture (or a variation of it) is now owned by the National Trust.
Victoria and Albert Museum
ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS CHURCH
Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ
Above: New Scotland Yard in 1896 (left) and Norman Shaw South & North Buildings today (right)
BOW STREET
London, WC2E 7AW
As readers of the Bow Street Society books will know, I enjoy featuring real-life locations within the fictional stories. Also, that as far as possible, I source floor plans of these locations to ensure the descriptions are as accurate as possible. Although the series is far from over, lots of real-life locations have already been featured. As someone who enjoys visiting locations featured in fiction myself, I thought it might be fun to highlight a few locations from the Bow Street Society books which you can actually visit. Where precise locations no longer exist, I’ve included the modern-day equivalent. If you visit any of these locations, I’d love to hear about it. You can email me at info@bowstreetsociety.com or send me a private message through social media, simply search for Bow Street Society.
Bow Street Society logo artwork by Heather Curtis: mouseink@gmail.com
Copyright 2017 Tahnee Campbell. All rights reserved.
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Unlike the previously mentioned locations, you can’t enter these buildings as they house parliamentary offices. You can view them from across the road, however. Between the two, the Norman Shaw North building (on the right) is the one featured in The Case of the Curious Client, The Case of the Maxwell Murder, and The Case of the Pugilist’s Ploy. Construction on the Norman Shaw South building was only just beginning at the time The Case of the Pugilist’s Ploy is set. It should be noted that, when I originally conceived the Bow Street Society, Dr Weeks’s Dead Room was housed in the basement of New Scotland Yard. I changed this in the books, though, following further research. You can discover more about the history of the Norman Shaw buildings in my Listverse list here.
Above: Bow Street, 1896.
In The Case of the Curious Client and The Case of the Maxwell Murder, Bow Street Society members Mr Sam Snyder and Mr Callahan Skinner respectively visit the cabman shelter on St. Clement Danes in London. The shelter can be seen on the left-hand side of the image above. Unfortunately, this particular shelter no longer exists. Several equivalent shelters do still exist in London, however, and are still used by cabmen to this day. These are located at:
Chelsea Embankment, SW3
Embankment Place, WC2
Grosvenor Gardens, SW1
Hanover Square, W1
Kensington Park Road, W11
Kensington Road, W8
Pont Street, SW1
Russell Square, WC1
St. George's Square, SW1
Temple Place, WC2
Thurloe Place, SW7
Warwick Avenue, W9
Wellington Place, NW8
Whilst cab drivers with “The Knowledge” are the only ones permitted to sit inside, many offer takeaway refreshments to the public, too.
The most obvious location is, of course, Bow Street itself. I’ve written several articles about Bow Street, including Police Strike at Bow Street. Therefore, I won’t go into too much detail about that here. There are two Bow Street locations which I’d like to highlight, though.
Firstly, the former Police Station and Law Courts. Now a hotel, it also houses the Bow Street Police Museum, where you can explore Bow Street’s place in the history of policing. In the Bow Street Society books, Detective Inspector Woolfe’s office is on the second floor of the main building, overlooking the Royal Opera House. A notable scene featuring this location is Mr Gregory Elliott confronting Detective Inspector Conway about the alleged assault against Mr Thaddeus Dorsey in The Case of the Curious Client. This takes place on the steps at the front of the building.
Bow Street Police Museum
The second location I’d like to highlight is the Bow Street Society’s house. Although the structure is fictional, I placed it a couple of doors down to the right of the police station. In the 1890s, a ticket office stood beside the police station and law courts building. I imagine another building stood beyond that and then the Bow Street Society’s house.
NORMAN SHAW NORTH & SOUTH BUILDINGS (formerly NEW SCOTLAND YARD)
Victoria Embankment, Westminster, SW1A 2JF
SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM: SCULPTURE HALL
Now The Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
CABMAN SHELTER
Various locations
The interior of this church, specifically the right-hand side balcony, was featured in The Case of the Spectral Shot when Detective Chief Inspector Jones and Miss Trent had a secret meeting in the pews there. Bow Street Society member Mr Sam Snyder also collected Miss Trent’s wages from the Church in The Case of the Maxwell Murder.
St Martin-in-the-Fields
SOURCES:
https://www.victorianlondon.org/ql/queenslondon171.htm
https://www.victorianlondon.org/ql/queenslondon363.htm
https://www.victorianlondon.org/ql/queenslondon95.htm
https://www.victorianlondon.org/ql/queenslondon7.htm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68760195
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/organisation/south-kensington-museum
https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/530889
There are many more real-life locations featured in the Bow Street Society books which haven't been mentioned here. If you'd like me to discuss more of them, please let me know.
~ T.G. Campbell, June 2024