10 places in Moscow that are surprisingly British

The English football team flew home this weekend, leaving a proud trail of memories and goals behind them. These memories add to an already rich legacy of British culture in Moscow. The whole of Russia's capital is littered with monuments marking almost 500 years worth of Brits in Moscow. 

Trading places  

Shadowed by the Kremlin's high walls, a 16th century Elizabethan mansion cuts through the onion-domed churches of Moscow's skyline. The Old English Court was once the home of the first English traders and ambassadors in Russia. Today it is one of the oldest buildings in Moscow. After an English navigator pitched up in Russia by accident in 1553, trade between the two countries began. Relations were so successful that Ivan the Terrible even asked for Elizabeth I's hand in marriage. The response from the Virgin Queen was a polite no. From Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II: the Old English Court was reopened as a museum in 1994 with the British monarch herself in attendance. Mind your head on the low ceilings.

The times they were a-changing

When the Romanov dynasty came to power in 1613 they decided to give Moscow's Red Square a bit of a facelift. The Kremlin's iconic Spasskaya (Savior's) Tower was rebuilt and installed with the first ever chiming clock in Moscow. Scottish engineer, Christopher Galloway designed the timepiece so that not just the hands but the entire clock face would rotate. His reasoning? That the Russians do everything in an unusual way, so their national clock should do the same.

Alice's Adventures in Russia-land

It's a little-known fact that the only time Lewis Carroll ever left British soil was on a trip to Russia. And the city of Moscow is very proud of its Carroll legacy. You can take tea at the March café in Moscow's Museum of Modern Art and admire the statue of the White Rabbit on Shcherbakovskaya Street. The bizarre events of the trip, documented by the author in his travel journal, supposedly became the inspiration for Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll spent his time in Moscow eating cabbage soup, drinking rowanberry liqueur and recording his favourite Russian words, including "zashchishchaiushchikhsya" (someone who protects themselves).

Jumping through hoops

Croquet was first introduced to Russia by the British in the 1860s. It was embraced by the country's elite who often indulged in a round after breakfast. The game is still played in Russia today. One of the most popular lawns is at the Chekhov Museum at Melikhovo. Spend the day as a 19th century nobleman, whacking mallets and chasing balls on the former estate of Russia's greatest playwright. A gentleman in the most British sense of the word, Chekhov was a lover of croquet, tea and gardening.  

Only gentleman allowed

The classical facade of one of the most beautiful mansions on Moscow's Tverskaya Street was once also a smokescreen for wild gambling, sumptuous banquets and fierce political discussions by British expats. From 1771 it was home to the English Club, membership of which was hankered after by any self-respecting dandy in Russia. Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol and Alexander Pushkin counted among these lucky few. Once the Bolsheviks seized power the English Club was turned into a military hospital. Today it houses the Museum of Contemporary History.

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Moscow's Braveheart

The Scotsman who saved Russia from Napoleon, Michael Barclay de Tolly was a hero of the Napoleonic Wars and one of the most famous commanders in Russian history. Though born in what is now Lithuania, de Tolly's ancestry can be traced right back to the lochs and highlands of Caledonia. At the Battle of Borodino in 1812, de Tolly personally led Russia's troops on the bloodiest day of fighting during the Napoleonic Wars. The day is celebrated as the best example of Russian national spirit. De Tolly's portrait can be found at the Borodino Panorama Museum alongside a magnificent 360-degree painting of the battle.   

"Elementary my dear Vasily..."

On the Smolenskaya Embankment, just in front of the British Embassy, you can find the world's only statue to feature both halves of literature's most famous detective duo. The faces of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are not modelled on any British actors but on the two Russians who starred in the Soviet Holmes series that was one of the most successful programmes in Russian TV history. Both Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher named Vasily Levanov's Holmes as their favourite ever portrayal of the detective.

A heavenly chorus

St. Andrew's, 8 Voznesenskiy Pereulok, Moscow: not the address you might normally expect from an Anglican church. Since 1885, St Andrew's has been baptizing and marrying most of the expat Brits in Russia's capital. Legend has it that the church's benefactor, Scotsman William Hopper, also organised the first football match in Moscow. Apparently 200 to 300 locals would gather to watch English workers from Hopper's factory play. Today, congregations still worship in English at St Andrew's every Sunday and Wednesday. Its red brick facade and Victorian Gothic tower are a quirky British addition to Moscow's golden cupolas and grey skyscrapers.  

Pitch perfect

After the first balls were kicked by Brits on Moscow's fields, the beautiful game began to take hold in Russia. An avid Blackburn Rovers fan, Englishman Harry Charnock founded one of the first professional football teams in Russia in the industrial town of Orekhovo-Zuevo to the south-east of Moscow. Matches at Orekhovo-Zuyevo were played on grass brought over from England with players wearing imported Blackburn shirts. Founded in 1909, the club at Orekhovo-Zuyevo (now known as FC Znamya Truda Orekhovo-Zuyevo) is the oldest club still active in the country.

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Retail therapy fit for a tsar

In 1908 Scottish merchants Andrew Muir and Archibald Merrilees opened the doors of their Moscow haberdashery to the public, delivering high-end fashion and the latest gadgets across the entire Russian empire. Today their shop, Moscow's Central Universal Department Store, better known as TsUM, is the largest fashion department store in Eastern Europe. The Gothic Revival building which dominates the city's Theatre Square boasts of its own restaurants, cafés, cigar room, and champagne bar. Don't be surprised to bump into Victoria Beckham or Naomi Campbell at one of TsUM's glitzy events.