These neighbourhood areas consist of a few buildings located on the northern side of Fenchurch Street, in the financial district of the City. Home to a number of headquarters for some notable firms, Fenchurch Street is the ground in which the London skyline is rooted. A sizeable Marks and Spencer stands at the western-most corner where Fenchurch Street intersects Gracechurch Street.

Further east, a row of fascinating architecture, including an 1880 Dutch red brick and an 1865 Italian stone gothic building with arched windows stand as relics of this street’s Tudor origins. Opposite of this exhibition is the locale’s celebrity – 20 Fenchurch Street, otherwise known as the Walkie Talkie, a commercial 34-storey building featuring a ‘Sky Garden’ with a restaurant, bar, and viewing deck on the top floor. The scene from here until the fork with Leadenhall Street in the east is predominantly characterised by office buildings with a typical array of high street shops at ground level.

Fenchurch Street serves as a relic of the capital’s early origins at the dawn of the current era. Not only is it thought to be one of London’s oldest thoroughfares, archaeological excavations have revealed that a huge fortification, built in the first century, is buried beneath Fenchurch. About 500 Roman soldiers could have been accommodated here in response to Queen Boudica’s offensive on Londinium in AD 60-61. This fort, it is believed, was in use for only a decade or so, and it was not until the third century that a more sizeable wall was built around the early trading settlement. It is also thought that a market for hay used to be held regularly at the western side of the locale. The latin for hay is faenum, hence the name ‘Fenchurch’. Plantation Place takes its name after Plantation House which stood here in the 20th century as a global centre for the tea trade.

It is said that the Enlightenment philosopher and radical thinker, Voltaire, once lived on what was “a very handsome, open, and airy place”, Billiter Square. The young poet had come to England in exile in 1726 and although he only stayed for two and a half years, the relative liberalism and tolerance of the English left a great mark on Voltaire. Naturally for a satirist and open critic of the French authorities, the anarchic and bustling London would have seemed a haven. If at home, theatre followed Aristotelian norms, where a nobleman and a peasant would seldom converse, here Voltaire watched Shakespeare’s witty dialogues which readily mixed drama with comedy and which confidently disobeyed the dogmatic laws that censored art in the ancien régime. Indeed, Billiter Square ran parallel to the old Billiter Lane. Whilst the former was home to some of the most grandiose buildings in the City, Billiter Lane was a ‘mean’ street, historically inhabited by widows and beggars. It was perhaps this melting pot of differences that so rubbed off on the Frenchman’s philosophy.

20 Fenchurch Street has earned itself the nickname ‘Walkie Scorchie’ for its aforementioned ability to direct the sun’s rays onto Eastcheap below. One astute barista was able to capitalise on the solar power aimed at their café to fry an egg. The Aldgate Pump at the east end of the locale is known for having claimed the lives of hundreds of Londoners when, at the turn of the 19th century, the water flowing through it became contaminated with bacteria. Leaks from new cemeteries at Hampstead Heath infiltrated the waterways and soon after, many were falling very ill.

Some would marvel at the magnificent views from the top of the Walkie Talkie. A sizeable other half of Londoner’s have chided the misshapen giant, awarding it the Carbuncle Cup of worst building of the year in 2015. Along with causing powerful winds capable of blowing people away, the tower has even managed to reflect concentrated sunrays into the streets below, melting the bumpers of cars. Others might also judge the eastern wing of Fenchurch Street on the north side as somewhat dull. Check out London’s smallest sculpture on Philpot Lane or the grade I listed St Olave Hart Street church around the corner.

Commuters will be pleased to hear that recent improvements have been made to Bank Station. A new entrance on Cannon Street, upgraded concourse, and an expanded Northern Line platform with step free access have been added. Above this new entrance will also sit a new office block. Taller than originally planned, planners recently gave permission for TFL to add an eighth floor to their plans, with work scheduled to start by the end of 2022. Planning has also been approved for the redevelopment of the site at 50 Fenchurch street. Plans detail a 35-storey mixed use commercial development with ground floor retail and a huge green wall extending up past a public terrace garden on the 10th floor.