Ireland day 1487. Friday 24 October 2025- Apsley House

Today’s summary	A full day in London today but a late start because of Val’s late arrival last night. Walked down Piccadilly to Apsley House to look at the Duke of Wellington’s old house. Called in at the Japanese embassy to see an exhibition on Sumo wrestling on the way there. Walked back through Green Park then had Charlie Bigham’s chicken en croute for dinner.
Today’s weather	Dry and bright with plenty of sun. Moderate westerly wind. Appx 13c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Apsley House

Commentary

While I was walking out to South Kensington yesterday, I passed by Apsley House – the London home of the Duke of Wellington (of Waterloo renown) at the end of Piccadilly. I thought it would be interesting to take a look inside one day, especially because of the Duke’s links to Dublin (where he was born) and County Meath (where he was educated).

An opportunity to pay a visit suddenly presented itself today, as the friend I was supposed to be meeting for lunch unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute (he had been stricken by dental emergency!). I did a bit of googling and discovered that the house was indeed open to the public from Wednesdays to Sundays, courtesy of the current (9th) Duke and English Heritage. So the scene was set for a visit.

We got up late, so that Val could enjoy at least a few hours sleep after her late (3:15am) arrival from Stansted this morning. When we eventually surfaced we had tea and toast for breakfast then pottered about for a while before setting out to walk to the House.

We retraced my steps from yesterday, down Piccadilly and got there in about an hour. Though that included half an hour spent in the Japanese Embassy visiting a fascinating exhibition about Sumo wrestling. Apsley House, once we got there, was definitely an worth a visit. The current Duke and his family still lives there (and remarkably he still sits in the House of Lords) in an apartment on the top floor, but the rest of the house is open for exploring.

There’s a lot to see, much of it memorabilia celebrating the first Duke (aka Arthur Wellesley)’s many military achievements. The audio guide was especially helpful. His greatest battle was of course Waterloo in 1815, at the age of 46, in which the Europe-wide scourge of Napoleon Bonaparte was finally extinguished. With the exception of a brief stint as Prime Minister between 1828 and 1834, I got the impression though that after Waterloo, life was a bit anticlimactic for the Duke. As I suppose must have been inevitable. He died in 1852, aged 83.

Eventually, we’d seen everything we wanted to see so took our leave of Arthur and walked back across town, this time via Green Park and Trafalgar Square.

In the evening, we had Charlie Bigham’s Chicken en Croute for dinner, before Val had to dash out again for an evening commitment. I meanwhile tidied up after our meal, then caught up on a few odd jobs and finally watched some TV until she got back. Then eventually an early bed called. It’s been a pretty full on couple of days, after all – especially for Val.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


At the entrance to the house – now operated by English Heritage	The view from Apsley House out onto Hyde Park Corner. The Wellington Arch is lurking out there in the trees somewhere. The Duke had the perfect view of his own memorial. The window gauze here makes it look like an impressionist painting

You guessed it – Wellington boots!	Taking a peek down one of the lavish yet labyrinthine corridors joining the various reception rooms hidden in the interstices in the house

Here we are, taking in the delights of Green Park	Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. Nelson’s victory in the 1805 sea-battle at Trafalgar, combined with Wellington’s land victory at Waterloo in 1815 decisively put paid to Napoleon’s expansionary plans and ushered in a century of relative peace in Europe. (Nelson and Wellington did apparently meet once – but seemed to view each other with mutual suspicion)

One of a pair of fine dining rooms in Apsley House. The Duke used to hold lavish banquets in them every year, on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo