www.secret-london.co.uk is a guide to London for Londoners that Kieran Meeke set up in 2006 as a hobby while features editor of Metro. That hobby has now grown into the best guide around to the capital’s most curious corners. Here are Kieran's favourite London oddities.

London is full of odd things that we pass very day without noticing. Many have great stories attached – some of which might even be true. Here’s my list of top ten that I’ve discovered in the past decade of exploring London; see more at www.secret-london.co.uk

Patent Sewer Ventilating Lamp

This is one of the last remnants of the remarkable ingenuity of the Victorian era. Around 100 years old, it was designed to burn off methane from the sewage system, while providing light and masking any unpleasant smells for guests at the Savoy Hotel. The story also goes that the hotel put it here to stop ‘ladies of the night’ entertaining their customers in this dark alleyway.

Carting Lane WC2

Tube: Charing Cross

Porter’s Rest

Sitting opposite the Hard Rock Café, this wooden plank was put here (as the brass plaque on it says) ‘At The Suggestion Of R.A. Slaney Esq. Who For 20 Years Represented Shrewsbury In Parliament This Porter’s Rest Was Erected In 1861 By The Vestry Of St. George Hanover Square For The Benefit Of Porters And Others Carrying Burdens.’

opp 128 Piccadilly W1

Tube: Hyde Park Corner

The First Red Phone Boxes

Just inside the gates of the Royal Academy on Piccaddilly are two Listed red phone boxes. They are the original 1926 wooden K2 design and cast iron prototype by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott that evolved into the more familiar K6 box in 1935. Note how tall they are – you could wear your top hat while phoning a friend rich enough to have a phone. Scott also designed Waterloo Bridge and Battersea and Bankside power stations.

Burlington House, Piccadilly W1

Tube: Green Park

TowerBridge Chimney

Is this the only bridge in the world with a chimney? Millions of visitors cross Tower Bridge every year but few notice this cast iron chimney painted to blend in with the lamp-posts. It’s a flue for a former guardhouse – now a coffee shop - under one of the bridge piers, facing the Tower of London.

Tower Bridge EC1

Tube: Tower Hill

Nazi Dog

This tiny gravestone at the top of the Duke Of York steps may be the only Nazi memorial in London. The Nazi Embassy stood here until the start of World War II and this is the grave of the ambassador’s pet Alsatian dog, Giro - ‘Ein treuer Begleiter’ (a true friend) - who was accidentally electrocuted in 1934.

7-9 Carlton Gardens SW1

Tube: Charing Cross

Imperial Measures

Sitting on the steps below the National Gallery to eat their sandwiches, many tourists unknowingly rest their feet on the standard Imperial measures of length, set into the granite paving in brass. Here’s where you can check the length of a perch, a pole, a chain or a yard.

Trafalgar Square WC2

Tube: Charing Cross

Texas Embassy

After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, the new country sent a Charge d’Affaires to the Court of St James’s. This, the closest embassy to the palace, was in offices rented from Berry Bros. London’s last duel is also said to have taken place in this alleyway but it’s hard to pin down any exact details about it. Let me know if you can help.

Pickering Place SW1

Tube: Green Park

Smallest Cathedral

OK, this is a bit of a trick question but do you know where London’s smallest cathedral is? Ask a cabbie and he’ll tell you: you need to look over the top of Vauxhall Bridge, where this miniature of St Paul’s is being held by one of the lovely statues that decorate each side.

Vauxhall Bridge

Tube: Vauxhall

Edward VIII Post Box of 1936

The abdication of Edward VIII left few pillar boxes in his name as, although 161 were made, most were vandalised or had the cypher ground off. There are perhaps 15 left  in London of this design – perhaps the most elegant cypher of any royal. Every pillar box made has a unique key, meaning a postman has to carry a large bunch - note how it scores older boxes.

Great North Road N2

Tube: East Finchley

Yorke Street 1636

I read about this street sign – the oldest in London -  in an old book and walked Covent Garden for months looking for it. I was starting to think it must have gone, like many other old bits of London, when I suddenly spotted it. I’ve given you the street address to save those weeks of effort but you’ll still have to look hard – it’s not where you expect it to be, given the uniformity of our modern signs.

34 Tavistock Street SW1

Tube: Covent Garden

www.secret-london.co.uk

All pictures copyright Kieran Meeke