The Shard: The Tallest Building in London

The Shard which is the  tallest building in London features in my post for this week’s Black & White Challenge: Large Subjects

The first picture, taken at dusk, shows The Shard in juxtaposition to Borough Market. Both buildings are in the London borough of Southwark.

The Shard is a beautiful site to behold and on the late November afternoon this picture was taken it was iridescent blue with a sparkling golden top against a deep blue sky.

Borough Market & The Shard ©HelenBushe

The origins of Borough Market can definitely be traced back to 1014 when  it was written about in great detail in the Scandinavian sagas of Snorri Sturluson. If you want to read more about Viking raids, the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready, King Canute and all the “1014 and All That” history, there is great information here on Borough Market’s website:

“First they made their way to London, and so up into the Thames, but the Danes held the city. On the other side of the river is a great market town called Southwark…” –Borough Market Website

Borough market is worthy of a post or two in its own right, but that’s for another time.  These next posts will most certainly be in colour as I’d forgotten about all the photographs I took there. It’s a bustling and colourful area. (Thinks: London is just over 2 hours away by train…..maybe it’s time for another visit)

I took this second picture of The Shard  the following morning when the cloud was so low that The Shard disappeared into the mist. Just as I clicked the shutter an obliging seagull filled the gap where the building should have been.

The rooftops in the foreground are those of Lambeth Palace which has been the residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the 13th century.

Lambeth Palace & The Shard ©HelenBushe

Why not click on this icon to see more Black & White in Cee’s challenge for this week: