.... is the most powerful street in Britain! Well actually it's the term commonly used for the whole of the Executive machinery. The most important ministries are physically in Whitehall - the Treasury; Foreign Office (and the Welsh Office!!!). Downing Street is a street just off Whitehall. Many Departments are elsewhere. (Click here for addresses).There are some excellent books about the working of Whitehall - but the street itself has an interesting history. Over the summer I've been dipping into my library to learn a little more about a street I walk down fairly frequently. There is an official illustrated history by Simon Thurley (London: Merrell, 2008), which I picked up at the Parliamentary Bookshop. Colin Brown has also written book entitled "Whitehall. The Street that Shaped a Nation". (London: Simon & Schuster, 2009).
The street takes its name from the Palace that stood there. From it the Banqueting House remains - the place outside which Charles I was executed. Over the coming weeks I will write a few posts about this interesting street and its history.
