day-1-chapter-3-city-of-westminster

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You might notice that there are actually two separate station facades. The reason is simple and very usual for the history of railways, especially for the history of British and London's raillines. There were simply two different companies bulding their terminals here. The eastern side (on the left side of the photo) is for the Chatham Main Line that was built by London, Chatham and Dover Railway and as the name suggests, it links London with Dover via Medway (Chatham) - to Kent. This side is now used by Southeastern, but there used to be also trains to mainland Europe that were put on a ferry in Dover. However, after the Channel Tunnel was opened, the need for such trains basically vanished. The western (right) building is for the Brighton Main Line and is currently used by Southern and Gatwick Express, for services to Surrey and Sussex. It was actually constructed by Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway (which was formed by four different rail companies - the railway history of London is REALLY diverse) and was opened on 1 October 1860. It was designed by Robert Jacomb Hood. The eastern side was opened just two years later, on 25 August 1862. It was also used by Great Western Railway back then. When the Big Four grouping was pursued, the station was brought into the single ownership by the Southern Railway. They were renumbered (now the eastern side has platforms 1-8 and the western side 9-19). During the British Rail era it was operated by the Southern Region and the electrification was finished (it had been started in 1909, currently all services are operated using EMUs).

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It is one of two Catholic cathedrals in London, the second one is the Southwark cathedral, but not the one next to the London Bridge station (this one is Anglican), but the one next to the Tube station Lambeth North. The modern history of the Catholic Church in Great Britain is actually quite interesting. Well, after the reformation in the 16th century Catholicism was declared illegal and stayed like this until 1829, when the Catholic Relief Act was passed. There were some apostolic vicars appointed during the outlaw era, but the diocesan hierarchy was re-established by Pope Pius IX on 29 September 1850 (with the Scottish hierarchy restored in 1878). The province of Westminster and the Diocese was founded in 1850. It was based upon a missionary Apostolic VIcariate of England. It was later divided into many Apostolic Vicariates, including the Apostolic Vicariate of London District. It is now a metropolitan diocese (but not an archdiocese).

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