WALK 24 - Walking Sherlock Holmes' London
Use two fingers to zoom into, and move the map above
INTRODUCTION
Approximately 6.2 Miles / just under 10 Km (allow approx. 2.5 - 3.5 hours)
Walking Sherlock Holmes’ London is a guided walk through central London. It passes 21 London locations which have a connection with a particular Sherlock Homes story or with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Further info. links are shown in brown text.
Online map of walk to view from your phone - tinyurl.com/sherlockwalk
Click here if you want to download a printable PDF version of the walk, to print and use offline, instead of following the walk on your phone screen.
OVERVIEW
The walk starts at Baker Street, and ends at the Lyceum Theatre at the Strand.
Locations on the route:
Location 1 - Sherlock Holmes Museum
Location 2 - Sherlock Holmes Statue
Location 3 - 2 Devonshire Place
Location 4 - Upper Wimpole Street
& Wimpole Street
Location 5 - Harley Street
Location 6 - Queen Anne Street
Location 7 - The Langham Hotel
Location 8 - Cavendish Square
Location 9 - Vere Street
Location 10 - Brook Street
Location 11 - New Bond Street
Location 12 - Conduit Street
Location 13a & 13b - Regent Street & Cafe Royal
Location 14 - The Criterion Bar
Location 15 - Haymarket Theatre
Location 16 - The Sherlock Holmes Pub
Location 17 - The Charing Cross Hotel
Location 18 - The Strand
Location 19 - Simpsons in the Strand
Location 20 - Burleigh Street
Location 21 - Lyceum Theatre
___________________________________________
START THE WALK
To begin the walk, go to the Baker Street tube station.
The station serves the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines. The Baker Street station is one of the original stations built for the Metropolitan Railway, which went from Paddington to Farringdon. This was the world's first underground railway, and opened in January 1863.
Leave from the Baker Street exit. Turn right and walk along Baker Street for about 30 metres. Cross over Baker Street at the pedestrian crossing. Continue walking along Baker Street for about 80 metres. On the left is the Sherlock Holmes Museum, 221b Baker Street, the address that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rent rooms in for the majority of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Location 1
221b Baker Street
The Sherlock Holmes Museum
The Museum is sited on what is now 221b Baker Street. The street numbers have been adapted to make this happen. Next door on the left of 221b is 237 Baker Street, and on the right is 241b, so it appears that the numbers have been “massaged” to give the museum the famous fictional address.
"We met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221b, Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bedrooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were the apartments, and so moderate did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into possession."
Later on in the walk, when you get to Location 14 - The Criterion Bar, you will read how Watson meets young Stamford, who first introduces Watson to Sherlock Holmes who is looking for someone to share the rooms at 221b Baker Street .
To get to the next location, return back down Baker Street. Cross over to the left hand side of the road when you come to a crossing.
When you get to Marylebone Road, turn left. Keep the buildings close on your left. You will pass the Marylebone Road entrance to the Baker Street tube station, continue on. After about 50 metres you will come to the Sherlock Holmes Statue.
Location 2
Sherlock Holmes Statue
The statue (see left), is facing the remnants of the 1911 entrance into the Metropolitan Railway and it’s left-luggage office.
In 1911, Charles W Clark, the Chief Architectural Assistant to the Engineer of the Metropolitan Railway (MR), began a major remodeling of Baker Street station. The project included a new company headquarters and Chiltern Court, a large apartment building above the station.
Return to, and cross over Marylebone Road and turn left along it. Walk for about 500 metres. Go past St Marylebone Church on the right, pass Marylebone High St, and then next turn right is Devonshire Place. Walk down Devonshire Place to Conan Doyle House, at 2, Devonshire Place, on the left.
Location 3
2 Devonshire Place
Conan Doyle House
Continue walking in the same direction into Upper Wimpole Street, then continue to just before the next intersection and stop at 2 Upper Wimpole Street.
Location 4
2 Upper Wimpole Street
Continue walking in the same direction into Wimpole Street.
Wimpole Street is mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle". Here is an extract:
"It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord"
After 30a Wimpole Street there is an intersection with New Cavendish Street.Turn left into New Cavendish Street, then turn right into Harley Street.
Location 5
Harley Street
Harley Street is mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot". Here is an extract:
"It was then, in the spring of the year 1897, that Holmes's iron constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated, perhaps, by occasional indiscretions of his own. In March of that year Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may some day recount, gave positive injunctions that the famous private agent lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown."
Continue down Harley Street and turn first left into Queen Anne Street.
Location 6
Queen Anne Street
Watson lives here in the last of the Holmes books, "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes". It is noted in the story "The Illustrious Client".
“I was living in my own rooms in Queen Anne Street at the time, but I was round at Baker Street before the time named. Sharp to the half-hour, Colonel Sir James Damery was announced. It is hardly necessary to describe him, for many will remember that large, bluff, honest personality, that broad, clean-shaven face, and, above all, that pleasant, mellow voice. Frankness shone from his gray Irish eyes, and good humour played round his mobile, smiling lips. His lucent top-hat, his dark frock-coat, indeed, every detail, from the pearl pin in the black satin cravat to the lavender spats over the varnished shoes, spoke of the meticulous care in dress for which he was famous. The big, masterful aristocrat dominated the little room.”
At the end of Queen Anne Street, turn right into Chandos Street, then left into Portland Place. The entrance to the Langham Hotel is further down, just before the corner of Portland Place and Langham Place.
Location 7
The Langham Hotel
"To my surprise, the young lady (Mary Morstan) held up her gloved hand to detain me. “If your friend,” she said, “would be good enough to stop, he might be of inestimable service to me. ”I relapsed into my chair.
“Briefly,” she continued, “the facts are these. My father was an officer in an Indian regiment who sent me home when I was quite a child. My mother was dead, and I had no relative in England. I was placed, however, in a comfortable boarding establishment at Edinburgh, and there I remained until I was seventeen years of age. In the year 1878 my father, who was senior captain of his regiment, obtained twelve months' leave and came home. He telegraphed to me from London that he had arrived all safe, and directed me to come down at once, giving the Langham Hotel as his address. His message, as I remember, was full of kindness and love. On reaching London I drove to the Langham, and was informed that Captain Morstan was staying there, but that he had gone out the night before and had not yet returned. I waited all day without news of him. That night, on the advice of the manager of the hotel, I communicated with the police, and next morning we advertised in all the papers. Our inquiries led to no result; and from that day to this no word has ever been heard of my unfortunate father. He came home with his heart full of hope, to find some peace, some comfort, and instead...”
She put her hand to her throat, and a choking sob cut short the sentence."
Continue past the entrance to the Langham Hotel turning right into Langham Place. Turn first right into Cavendish Place. When you get to Cavendish Square on your left, head diagonally across it (heading towards the John Lewis sign). You will pass an information board in the Square, which explains some of it’s history.
Cavendish Square
Cavendish Square appears in both the "The Resident Patient" and "The Adventure of the Empty House". The extract below is from the latter one, where Watson, as usual, is the narrator.
"I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes stopped the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square. I observed that as he stepped out he gave a most searching glance to right and left, and at every subsequent street corner he took the utmost pains to assure that he was not followed. Our route was certainly a singular one. Holmes's knowledge of the by-ways of London was extraordinary, and on this occasion he passed rapidly, and with an assured step, through a network of mews and stables the very existence of which I had never known."
As you are leaving Cavendish Square on the far side, walk ahead and right into Henrietta Place. Continue along Henrietta Place, then turn into the third road on your left, Vere Street.
Location 9
Vere Street
Vere Street appears in "The Adventure of the Final Problem", meant by Conan Doyle to be Sherlock's last appearance. However, due to an outcry by his readers, Conan Doyle relented and bought him back. In the extract below, Holmes explains to Watson about an attempt on his life by Moriarty in Vere Street.
"My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass grow under his feet. I went out about midday to transact some business in Oxford Street. As I passed the corner which leads from Bentinck Street on to the Welbeck Street crossing, a two-horse van furiously driven whizzed round and was on me like a flash. I sprang for the footpath and saved myself by the fraction of a second. The van dashed round by Marylebone Lane and was gone in an instant. I kept to the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down Vere Street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses and was shattered to fragments at my feet. I called the police and had the place examined. There were slates and bricks piled upon the roof preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me believe that the wind had toppled over one of these. Of course I knew better, but I could prove nothing.”
After just under 200 metres, where New Bond Street crosses Brook Street, pause here. And look along Brook Street.
Location 10
Brook Street
"'My name is Doctor Percy Trevelyan,' said our visitor, 'and I live at 403, Brook Street.'
Are you not the author of a monograph upon obscure nervous lesions?' I asked.
His pale cheeks flushed with pleasure at hearing that his work was known to me.
'I so seldom hear of the work that I thought it was quite dead,' said he. 'My publishers give me a most discouraging account of its sale. You are yourself, I presume, a medical man?'
'A retired Army surgeon.'
'My own hobby has always been nervous disease. I should wish to make it an absolute specialty, but, of course, a man must take what he can get at first. This, however, is beside the question, Mr Sherlock Holmes, and I quite appreciate how valuable your time is. The fact is that a very singular train of events has occurred recently at my house in Brook Street, and to-night they came to such a head that I felt it was quite impossible for me to wait another hour before asking for your advice and assistance.'"
As you look down Brook Street, look for the left two houses in the picture above, where there are two interesting (but non Holmes linked) Blue Plaques. The Plaques commemorate places that Jimi Hendrix (23 Brook St in the 1960’s) and George Frideric Handel (25 Brook Street in the 1720’s) lived).
Continue down New Bond Street, cross over Maddox Street, and when you get to Sotheby's, pause here.
Sotherby’s regularly sell First Edition Sherlock Holmes books, original illustrations, and other Holmes memorabilia. Have a look at this URL on your phone to see some examples: tinyurl.com/sotherbySH
Location 11
Bond Street
Where we are currently is now named New Bond Street. Bond Street was originally owned by the man who built it, Thomas Bond, and dates from 1686. At the start of the 1700's an extension to the Street was started, which finished in 1720. The original Bond Street became Old Bond Street (which is now a 173 metre southern continuation from New Bond Street to Picadilly), and the newer northern extension to Oxford Street became New Bond Street. In the Holmes stories it is all just referred to as Bond Street.
Bond Street appears in the stories "Silver Blaze", “The Sign of Four” and "The Hound of the Baskervilles". The following extract is from Silver Blaze, where Holmes investigates the disappearance of a champion racehorse and the murder of its trainer on a lonely moor.
“This is a very singular knife,” said Holmes, lifting it up and examining it minutely. “I presume, as I see blood-stains upon it, that it is the one which was found in the dead man’s grasp. Watson, this knife is surely in your line?”
“It is what we call a cataract knife,” said I.
“I thought so. A very delicate blade devised for very delicate work. A strange thing for a man to carry with him upon a rough expedition, especially as it would not shut in his pocket.”
“The tip was guarded by a disc of cork which we found beside his body,” said the inspector. “His wife tells us that the knife had lain upon the dressing-table, and that he had picked it up as he left the room. It was a poor weapon, but perhaps the best that he could lay his hands on at the moment.”
“Very possibly. How about these papers?”
“Three of them are receipted hay-dealers’ accounts. One of them is a letter of instructions from Colonel Ross. This other is a milliner’s account for thirty-seven pounds fifteen made out by Madame Lesurier, of Bond Street, to William Derbyshire. Mrs. Straker tells us that Derbyshire was a friend of her husband’s, and that occasionally his letters were addressed here.”
“Madame Derbyshire had somewhat expensive tastes,” remarked Holmes, glancing down the account. “Twenty-two guineas is rather heavy for a single costume. However, there appears to be nothing more to learn, and we may now go down to the scene of the crime.”
Continue about 100 metres further down New Bond Street, and then turn left into Conduit Street.
Location 12
Conduit Street
Conduit Street appears in "The Adventure of the Empty House". It is where the home of Colonel Sebastian Moran, who tries to assassinate Sherlock Holmes, is situated.
The following extract from the "The Adventure of the Empty House" story describes Holmes sharing a book with Watson, in which are his notes about dangerous criminals, specifically Colonel Sebastian Moran.
drawn by Sidney Paget. The picture was captioned “Sebastian Moran is arrested”.
"He (Holmes) turned over the pages lazily, leaning back in his chair and blowing great clouds of smoke from his cigar.
'My collection of M's is a fine one,' said he. 'Moriarty himself is enough to make any letter illustrious, and here is Morgan the poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our friend of to-night.'
He handed over the book, and I read: ' Moran, Sebastian, Colonel. Unemployed. Formerly 1st Bengalore Pioneers. Born London, 1840. Son of Sir Augustus Moran, C.B., once British Minister to Persia. Educated Eton and Oxford. Served in Jowaki Campaign, Afghan Campaign, Charasiab (dispatches), Sherpur, and Cabul. Author of Heavy Game of the Western Himalayas, 1881; Three Months in the Jungle, 1884. Address: Conduit Street. Clubs: The Anglo-Indian, the Tankerville, the Bagatelle Card Club.'
On the margin was written in Holmes's precise hand: 'The second most dangerous man in London.'"
Continue down Conduit Street, then turn first right into Savile Row.At the end of Savile Row, turn left into Vigo Street. When you get to the intersection with Regent Street, turn right. Cross over Regent Street at the pedestrian crossing.
Location 13a
Regent Street
Regent Street is mentioned in "The Adventure of a Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles". The following extract is from the latter. It describes what happens after a meeting with Dr Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville in 221b Baker Street.
Dr Mortimer and Sir Henry Baskerville leave. Holmes decides to follow them on foot with Watson, as he believes Mortimer and Baskerville are in danger. In the following extract, Watson describes this:
"He (Holmes) quickened his pace until we had decreased the distance which divided us by about half. Then, still keeping a hundred yards behind (Mortimer and Baskerville), we followed into Oxford Street and so down Regent Street. Once our friends stopped and stared into a shop window, upon which Holmes did the same. An instant afterwards he gave a little cry of satisfaction, and, following the direction of his eager eyes, I saw that a hansom cab with a man inside which had halted on the other side of the street was now walking slowly onwards again. 'There's our man, Watson! Come along! We'll have a good look at him, if we can do no more.'
At that instant I was aware of a bushy black beard and a pair of piercing eyes turned upon us through the side window of the cab. Instantly the trap-door at the top flew up, something was screamed to the driver, and the cab flew madly off down Regent Street. Holmes looked eagerly round for another, but no empty one was in sight. Then he dashed in wild pursuit amid the stream of the traffic, but the start was too great, and already the cab was out of sight."
Continue down Regent Street as it curves around towards Piccadilly Circus. After about 100 metres, the Cafe Royal is on the left.
Location 13b
Cafe Royal on Regent Street
The Cafe Royal (now The Hotel Cafe Royal) appears in "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client". The extract below describes Watson coming across a newspaper vendor who is selling papers describing an attack on Holmes, who has been beaten up outside of The Cafe Royal."MURDEROUS ATTACK UPON SHERLOCK HOLMES!
I think I stood stunned for some moments. Then I have a confused recollection of snatching at a paper, of the remonstrance of the man, whom I had not paid, and, finally, of standing in the doorway of a chemist's shop while I turned up the fateful paragraph. This was how it ran:
We learn with regret that Mr Sherlock Holmes, the well-known private detective, was the victim this morning of a murderous assault which has left him in a precarious position. There are no exact details to hand, but the event seems to have occurred about twelve o'clock in Regent Street, outside the Café Royal. The attack was made by two men armed with sticks, and Mr Holmes was beaten about the head and body, receiving injuries which the doctors describe as most serious. He was carried to Charing Cross Hospital, and afterwards insisted upon being taken to his rooms in Baker Street. The miscreants who attacked him appear to have been respectably dressed men, who escaped from the bystanders by passing through the Café Royal and out into Glasshouse Street behind it. No doubt they belonged to that criminal fraternity which has so often had occasion to bewail the activity and ingenuity of the injured man.
I need not say that my eyes had hardly glanced over the paragraph before I had sprung into a hansom and was on my way to Baker Street. I found Sir Leslie Oakshott, the famous surgeon, in the hall and his brougham waiting at the kerb."
Continue down Regent Street until you reach Piccadilly Circus. Cross over to the Eros statue, and behind it the building that houses the Criterion Theatre. To the left of the theatre (separated by Lillywhites Sportsware Shop) is the entrance to what was once the Criterion Restaurant, established 1874.
Location 14
The Criterion Bar
"So alarming did the state of my finances become that I soon realised that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile...
...On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when someone tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognised young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man...
...'Poor devil!' he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to my misfortunes. 'What are you up to now? Looking for lodgings,' I answered. 'Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price.'
'That's a strange thing,' remarked my companion, 'you are the second man to-day that has used that expression to me.'
'By Jove!' I cried; if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone.'
Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wine-glass. 'You don't know Sherlock Holmes yet,' he said; 'perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion.' "
Looking at the Criterion, turn left and head towards Leicester Square. Before getting there, turn right down Haymarket and pause at the Haymarket Theatre on the left.
Location 15
The Haymarket Theatre
Amberley says that he was at the Haymarket Theatre when she disappeared. Holmes suspects Amberley is not being honest. He asks Watson to check out The Haymarket Theatre. Here is an extract from The Retired Colourman:
"On that particular evening old Amberley, wishing to give his wife a treat, had taken two upper circle seats at the Haymarket Theatre. At the last moment she had complained of a headache and had refused to go. He had gone alone. There seemed to be no doubt about the fact, for he produced the unused ticket which he had taken for his wife.'
'That is remarkable — most remarkable,' said Holmes, whose interest in the case seemed to be rising. 'Pray continue, Watson. I find your narrative most arresting. Did you personally examine this ticket? You did not, perchance, take the number?'
'It so happens that I did,' I answered with some pride. 'It chanced to be my old school number, thirty-one, and so it stuck in my head.'
'Excellent, Watson! His seat, then, was either thirty or thirty-two.'
'Quite so,' I answered, with some mystification. 'And on B row.'
'That is most satisfactory. What else did he tell you?'
'He showed me his strong-room, as he called it. It really is a strong-room — like a bank — with iron door and shutter-burglar-proof, as he claimed. However, the woman seems to have had a duplicate key, and between them they had carried off some seven thousand pounds' worth of cash and securities.'"
Holmes confronts Amberley with the dramatic question "What did you do with the bodies?" Holmes manhandles Amberley just in time to stop him taking a poison pill. Amberley is obviously guilty.
It turns out that Amberley, jealous of his wife’s relationship with Dr Earnest, has gassed them in a locked room at home. He has the room painted to disguise the smell of the gas. Examination of the seating plan at the Haymarket Theatre, show that the booked seats had never been used, so Amberley wasn’t at the theatre on the evening of the murder.
Continue down Haymarket, at the bottom, cross over Pall Mall into Cockspur Street, and proceed to along it to Trafalgar Square. At Trafalgar Square, walk around it anti-clockwise by crossing over The Mall, then Whitehall and Northumberland Avenue. Turn right down Northumberland Avenue and then left into Northumberland Street. On the right is The Sherlock Holmes Pub.
Location 16
The Sherlock Holmes Pub
The Sherlock Holmes is a themed pub and restaurant . It serves old fashioned English food and drinks. It is might be a useful place to drop in on for a break in the walk.
Turn right from the Sherlock Holmes Pub and continue up Northumberland Street.
When you come to The Strand, turn right. After about 65 metres, on the right is Charing Cross station and on the left side of the building is the Clermont Hotel, Charing Cross. Originally the hotel was called The Charing Cross Hotel.
Location 17
The Charing Cross Hotel
What follows is an extract from “The Adventure of Bruce-Partington Plans”.
Here Holmes dictates a letter to lure the spy “Oberstein” in to the Charing Cross Hotel to be arrested:
"Here are paper and pen. Sit at this desk and write to my dictation. Direct the envelope to the address given. That is right.
Now the letter: "Dear Sir, - With regard to our transaction, you will no doubt have observed by now that one essential detail is missing. I have a tracing which will make it complete. This has involved me in extra trouble, however, and I must ask you for a further advance of five hundred pounds. I will not trust it to the post, nor will I take anything but gold or notes. I would come to you abroad, but it would excite remark if I left the country at present. Therefore I shall expect to meet you in the smoking-room of the Charing Cross Hotel at noon on Saturday. Remember that only English notes, or gold, will be taken."
That will do very well. I shall be very much surprised if it does not fetch our man.
And it did! It is a matter of history - that secret history of a nation which is often so much more intimate and interesting than its public chronicles - that Oberstein, eager to complete the coup of his lifetime, came to the lure and was safely engulfed for fifteen years in a British prison. In his trunk were found the invaluable Bruce-Partington plans, which he had put up for auction in all the naval centres of Europe."
Continue walking down the Strand for about 400 metres. Just after passing The Savoy Hotel, on the right you will come to Simpson’s In The Strand.
Location 18
The Strand
The Strand appears in “A Study in Scarlet”, which was the first Sherlock Holmes novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The story was first published in the Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887.
“A Study in Scarlet” was written in six weeks, between the March and April of 1886.
When first writing the story, Conan Doyle called it “A Tangled Skein” and the detective character was named Sherrinford Holmes. However, Conan Doyle changed the detective’s name to Sherlock Holmes before publication.
Here is an extract from “A Study in Scarlet”, where Watson wants to leave where he is living on the Strand, which results in his meeting with Sherlock Holmes and the move to 221b Baker Street:
"I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air - or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile."
Continue down the Strand until you get to the restaurant, Simpson’s in the Strand, just past The Savoy Hotel.
Location 19
Simpson’s in the Strand
"Can you ask, my dear Watson? Do you imagine that I have no respect for your medical talents? Could I fancy that your astute judgment would pass a dying man who, however weak, had no rise of pulse or temperature? At four yards I could deceive you. If I failed to do so who would bring my Smith within my grasp?
No, Watson, I would not touch that box. You can just see if you look at it sideways where the sharp spring like a viper's tooth emerges as you open it. I dare say it was by some such device that poor Savage, who stood between this monster and a reversion, was done to death. My correspondence however is, as you know, a varied one, and I am somewhat upon my guard against any packages which reach me. It was clear to me however that by pretending that he had really succeeded in his design I might surprise a confession. That pretence I have carried out with the thoroughness of the true artist.
Thank you, Watson, you must help me on with my coat. When we have finished at the police-station I think that something nutritious at Simpson's would not be out of place."
Continue walking down the Strand. Cross over the Strand on the crossing, and walk 50 metres left to turn first right into Burleigh Street. This was where The Strand Magazine offices were sited.
Location 20
The Strand Magazine
Walk up Burleigh Street, turn right into Exeter Street, then turn right into Wellington Street. On the right is the Lyceum Theatre.
Location 21
The Lyceum Theatre
"She (Mary Morsten) opened a flat box as she spoke, and showed me six of the finest pearls that I had ever seen.
'Your statement is most interesting,' said Sherlock Holmes. 'Has anything else occurred to you?'
'Yes, and no later than to-day. That is why I have come to you. This morning I received this letter, which you will perhaps read for yourself.'
'Thank you,' said Holmes. 'The envelope, too, please. Post-mark, London, S.W. Date, July 7. Hum! Man's thumb mark on corner - probably postman. Best quality paper. Envelopes at sixpence a packet. Particular man in his stationery. No address. "Be at the third pillar from the left outside the Lyceum Theatre to-night at seven o'clock. If you are distrustful bring two friends. You are a wronged woman, and shall have justice. Do not bring police. If you do, all will be in vain. Your unknown friend." Well, really, this is a very pretty little mystery! What do you intend to do, Miss Morstan?'
'That is exactly what I want to ask you.'
'Then we shall most certainly go - you and I and-yes, why, Dr. Watson is the very man. Your correspondent says two friends. He and I have worked together before.'
'But would he come?' she asked, with something appealing in her voice and expression.
'I shall be proud and happy,' said I, fervently, 'if I can be of any service.'"
In the story, Mary Morsten and Dr Watson fall in love, and later on, get married...
She looked at me with a quick, questioning smile.
'Why do you say that?' she asked.
'Because you are within my reach again,' I said, taking her hand. She did not withdraw it. 'Because I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, "Thank God."
'Then I say "Thank God," too,' she whispered, as I drew her to my side.
Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one."
The Lyceum is also the first location in the UK that the Sherlock Holmes character appeared in a play called “Sherlock Holmes”..
The American actor and playwright William Gillette played Sherlock Holmes here from September 1901 to April 1902 (See picture above right).
William Gillette had written and appeared in the play . He made some changes to the character, such as giving Holmes a love interest named Alice Faulkner. Arthur Conan Doyle was at first uncomfortable with these changes, but he eventually came to warm to the play.
The play's run at the Lyceum was a major triumph. It was the most successful production during the final years of Sir Henry Irving's time managing the Lyceum Theatre.
A Strand Magazine article from 1901 described Gillette's tall, slender figure, clear-cut features, and deep-set eyes as enabling him to faithfully embody the character Sherlock Holmes.
END OF WALK
Onward Travel:
There are a number of tube / train stations within walking distance of the Lyceum Theatre. They are:
Waterloo Station - Just walk over Waterloo Bridge, which you can see on your left when looking at the front of the Lyceum.
Embankment Station - Walk towards Waterloo Bridge, then turn right into the Strand, then left into Savoy Street. Turn right along the Victoria Embankment. It’s more pleasant to walk through the Victoria Embankment Gardens.
Charing Cross Station - Walk towards Waterloo Bridge, then turn right into the Strand . The station is on the left.
Covent Garden Station - When facing the Lyceum, turn right and walk up Wellington Street, which becomes Bow Street. Turn left into Long Acre where the station is situated.
Holborn Station - When facing the Lyceum walk left down Wellington Street. Turn first left and walk around Aldwych. Take the third turning on the left into Kingsway. Holborn tube station is on the right hand side of the road after around 500 metres .
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