*”Mason’s Yard” – off Duke Street-St. James’s – London SW1 – London’s Historic+Notorious Alleys+Passages -Pt6

The other day London Shoes ventured off to the posh St. James district of the ‘Smoke’ for the purpose of seeking out and exploring a particular courtyard that’s tucked away in Duke Street-St. James – not far from Green Park tube station.

The specific reason I decided to visit this courtyard location was because it’s the location of an old pub, that’s steeped in history – that I had never visited before.

Unfortunately – what I didn’t account for on this trek out was the dreadful weather that suddenly developed whilst I was journeying to my intended destination.

By the time I surfaced from Green Park tube station, the wind had picked up and the heavens had opened and it was chucking it down in biblical proportions (ok – perhaps a slight exaggeration).

Piccadilly was a chaotic scene, with traffic snarl ups and people running about all over the place, looking for shelter.

After 5mins heading towards my destination, I was already completely soaked right through – my so called ‘shower resistant’ puffer coat proving to be as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike – similarly my saturated jeans were by now sticking to my legs -and I was freezing cold – very uncomfortable indeed for a little old pensioner such as I.

However – in the hope that the down pour would soon ‘ease-off’ I continued with my quest – and having done a right – off Piccadilly into Duke Street-St. James – I had reached my intended destination and the subject matter of this blog – namely:- ………..

“MASON’s YARD”

And what a find it turned out to be too – as it ended up ‘delivering’ much more than I had originally anticipated.

Mason’s Yard is quite simply a cul-de-sac halfway down Duke Street-St. James’s London SW1.

Old London maps indicate that “Mason’s Yard” started life a few centuries ago now, probably in the 1600’s  – when a 200ft square plot was laid out as stable yards.

By 1740 the site became known as “Mason’s Yard” – named after Hugh Mason – he of the world famous ‘Fortnum & Mason’ grocery store, situated just around the corner.

Hugh Mason was a very wealthy man who owned a few of the houses backing on to the Yard from Duke Street – and apparently, he took over most of the stables and coach houses located within the Yard.

Cavendish House in Duke Street used to back on to Mason’s Yard and it was home to the ‘Duchess of Jermyn Street’ namely ‘Rosa Lewis’ who from very humble beginnings in Leyton-East London – ‘worked her way up’ to become the proprietor of the Cavendish Hotel – personal chef and very good ‘friends’ with Edward-Prince of Wales, who – when his mother Queen Victoria died – became King Edward VII – at which time he dropped his ‘female friend’ like stone – causing a lot of gossip on London’s street.

The popular old tv drama series ‘The Duchess of Duke Street’ drama series, is said to be based on the life and experiences of ‘Rosa Lewis’ in and around Mason’s Yard.

Backing on to Mason’s Yard from Duke Street is an amazing old London pub called The Chequers Tavern – which you can enter from Duke Street and exit via Mason’s Yard.

After the Great Fire of London in 1666 a fair bit of London had to be rebuilt, and the St. James’s district was one of the first areas to be renovated – and it is round about that time that The Mason’s Arms pub started life.

Mason’s Yard at the back of the pub was a busy old place – full of coachmen and grooms attending to all the horses and carriages using the stables situated in the Yard – and it was also frequented by stonemasons who use the yard to clean up and prepare the stonework being used to rebuild St. James’s Palace, just down the bottom of the road.

The stonemason and grooms/coachmen used to get together in mason’s Yard and play the board game ‘chequers’ whilst drinking ale outside the back of the Mason’s Arms.

Hence the reason as to why the Mason’s Arms became re-named ‘The Chequers Tavern’.

Apparently, throughout the Victorian era there were a few scandalous incidents within the confines of Mason’s Yard – but mainly it was just a little-known place tucked away in a very wealthy part of London.

However – it is in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ that Mason’s Yard carved an interesting little niche in its ‘backstory’.

As I mentioned earlier – the reason Shoes wanted to check out Mason’s Yard was because of its historic ‘Chequers Tavern’ pub.

However -it wasn’t until I did a little bit of research about it on the tube journey there – that I discovered some interesting aspects of its history – on stuff that is right up my street.

Between the years 1965 to 1967 – no.6 Mason’s Yard was the home of the ‘Indica Bookshop’ – that housed the ‘Indica Gallery’ in its basement.

The ‘Indica’ was owned by John Dunbar (husband of Marrianne Faithfull) & Peter Asher (brother of Jane Asher – Paul McCartney’s girlfriend at that time).

In 1966 the Indica Gallery hosted an exhibition of some little-known Japanese artist named ‘Yoko Ono’ – and it is at this exhibition that John Lennon and Yoko Ono first met.

The story goes that John didn’t have a clue who this Yoko was – and walking around the exhibition of her somewhat wacky work – he noticed a step ladder and hanging from the ceiling above the ladder, was a piece of string with a magnifying glass tied to it. On seeing this, John Lennon apparently climbed the step ladder, took hold of the magnifying glass and viewed a small label that had been pinned to the ceiling – on which was written the word “YES”.

In subsequent interviews Lennon explained that he admired the positivity of the message “YES” – so much, he sort fell in love with Yoko from that day on – and 3yrs later they were married – the rest, as they say – is history.

That little story explains why, on the wall of the entrance to Mason’s Yard, there is a mural of Yoko Ono standing next to the ladder, with the string – magnifying glass and ‘Yes’ message – above it

In the middle of Masons Yard is a massive white coloured rectangular box of a building. It used to be the site of an electrical sub-station during the early Victorian times when electricity was being ‘plumbed’ (not sure that’s the right terminology) in and across London.

Today – this large white obelisk of a building is the home of the ‘White Cube Gallery’ – one of the world’s leading gallery’s, that is now based in New York – Paris – Hong Kong – Seoul and of course Mason’s Yard in London.

No.9 Mason’s Yard was once the studio of renowned photographer Gered Mankowitz. Mankowitz was and still is very much, one of the greatest rock/pop photographers of the 1960’s & 1970’s – and I am a massive fan of his work. The images he created of popular music’s biggest stars/acts, are legendary – and still admired, all over the world, to this day, and will continue to be for ever.

Anyway – it is at his photographic studio at no.9 Mason’s Yard in 1967 that Gered Mankowitz photographed the legendary Jimi Hendrix – a photo that became, and still is – one of the most famous Jimi Hendrix images. He also did photos of the Rolling Stones posing in and around Mason’s Yard.

Another ‘hidden gem’ in Mason’s Yard is No.13 – which has the accolade of once being the iconic ‘Scotch of St. James’ nightclub.

Throughout the mid to late 1960’s the ‘Scotch of St. James’ was the in-place for the hierarchy of the rock/pop world to hang out and be seen.

The club was regularly frequented by the likes of the Beatles – the Stones – the Who – the Kinks – Sonny & Cher – the Animals – Rod Stewart plus many more.

It made its mark in rock n roll history as being the first place that the late great, and then virtually unknown, and definitely unseen “Jimi Hendrix” played his first ‘notes’ on the evening of his arrival into the UK on 24^th Sept 1966 – when he jumped up on stage to join the ‘house band’ for an unplanned off the cuff jam session.

On that very same night Jimi met and got together with ‘Kathy Etchingham’ who was to become a long term girlfriend.

In 2012 Kathy Etchingham published a book entitled ‘Through Gypsy Eyes’ all about her time with Jimi Hendrix – I have this in my music related books collection, and it’s a good little read.

In the audience that night were several of the rock ‘elite’ and word soon got around about this incredible guitarist who’d just arrived from the States – to the extent that very soon everybody wanted to see him perform ‘live’.

One year later, in Oct 1966 – the ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience’ band played their first UK gig together – at the ‘Scotch of St. James’.

Unfortunately, the ‘Scotch-of-St. James’ club went out of fashion in the 1970’s and eventually closed down in the 1980’s – but was revitalised and reopened in 2012 – and has returned to being a high-end celeb nightclub.

There are also a few renowned art galleries within Mason’s Yard – plus antique jewellers and a rare books shop that all operate from the Mason’s Yard today.

So – having spent time exploring Mason’s Yard in the pouring rain – and getting soaked right through – this drowned rat entered the Yard’s historic old London pub the “Chequers Tavern”.

I plonked myself down next to a radiator – hung my saturated coat over it – and proceeded to sink a couple of cheeky Guinness’s in the Chequers small but atmospheric bar – it’s the sort of London pub where you feel its historic vibe the moment you enter it – well worth a visit.

So – that’s Mason’s Yard for you – a lesser known London landmark, but one with quite an interesting back-story to it…..hope you enjoyed the photos.

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Below is the entire gallery of photos taken to support this “Mason’s Yard” blog