|  Turn
left into Brooke Street, where a plaque marks the site of
number 39. Here in 1770 Thomas Chatterton, the Bristol
boy poet, committed suicide in the garret when he was only
17 years old. Chatterton was described by Wordsworth as
"the Marvellous Boy" and is immortalised in the
famous Pre-Raphaelite painting by Henry Wallis.
Continue up to Brooke Street towards the Church of St
Alban the Martyr where the Tower and Clergy House survive
from the original 1863 design by William Butterfield. The
church suffered bomb damage in the World War II and was
rebuilt to designs by Adrian Gilbert Scott in 1961. A dramatic
sculpture, by Hans Feibusch, welcomes you to an unexpected
small courtyard.
Return
to Holborn and stop at the massive, dignified red-brick
complex, that was designed for the Prudential Assurance
Company by the famous architect John Waterhousse. The first
part of the building was ready in 1879 and the second part
completed between 1899 and 1909. The outstanding quality
of design, materials and craftsmanship have earmarked this
impressive and beautiful edifice as a Grade 1 listed building.
The courtyard is open during the week when the architecture
can be admired more easily, and you can also look for the
plaque that identifies this as a site where Charles Dickens
once lived. A
museum dedicated to his life is 10 minutes away, at
48 Doughty Street, off Theobolds Road.
Dickens
knew the area well and used it to set the scenes in many
of his novels - Gray's Inn from David Copperfield, Little
Dorrit in Bleeding Heart Yard and Oliver Twist, where the
Magistrates Court was in Hatton Garden, and Fagin’s
Den was on Saffron Hill.
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