The Underground Map

The Underground Map is a project which is creating street histories for the areas of London and surrounding counties lying inside the M25.

Oliphant Street, W10

In a series of maps from the 1750s until the 1950s, you can see how London grew from a city which only reached as far as Park Lane into the post war megapolis we know today. There are now over 85 000 articles on all variety of locations including roads, houses, schools, pubs and palaces.

You can begin exploring by choosing a place from the dropdown list at the top left and then clicking Reset Location.

As maps are displayed, click on the markers to view location articles.

You can also view historical maps of London - click on the "pile of paper" control on the top right of a page's map to change to a particular decade.

Latest on The Underground Map...

Oliphant Street, W10

Oliphant Street was the final alphabetical street on the original Queen’s Park Estate naming scheme. The Manor and Parish of Chelsea owned an enclave - covering Kensal Town and Queen’s Park - until 1901 when it was divided between Kensington and Paddington. Kensal Town went to the former and the other side of the Harrow Road to the latter.

The north section was developed in 1875 by the Artizans, Labourers & General Dwellings Company, who were the landlords until 1964. The north-south streets of their grid were numbered 1-6 and euphemistically entitled ’avenues’ : First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The remaining streets were simply labelled A Street through to O Street.

Eight years later it was decided that even artisans and labourers deserved a little better. A became Alperton, after the Company’s brickyard in Middlesex, and was followed by Barfett, Caird, Droop (after H R. Droop, Artizans, Labourers & General Dwellings Company Director 1877-1883), Enbrook, Farrant (Sir Richard Farrant, Director 1877-1906), Galton (probably i...

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JUNE

2021

Turk’s Head
The Turk’s Head was one of two Wapping pubs of the same name It was situated beside Union Stairs and had the grim task assigned to it of briefly hosting prisoners on their journey to Execution Dock. They would be allowed one quart of ale before departure.

Its address was 30 Wapping High Street (at number 326 on the same street before Victorian renumbering).

Its rather un-PC name derives from many such names coined during the Crusades. Any pub called ‘The Turk’s Head’ or ‘The Saracen’s Head’ is a reference to that period.

It had a dining room by 1940 but the pub was destroyed in the Blitz.
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JUNE

2021

Abbotsbury Road, W14
Abbotsbury Road runs between Melbury Road and the road known as Holland Park Abbotsbury Road takes its name from one of the Dorset estates of the Earl of Ilchester. It is exclusively residential.

It is a wide tree-lined street and most houses have off street parking – some with their own garages. The road has humps in it to slow down the traffic. Traffic can go both ways. The south end is very close to the shops in Kensington High Street, and the north end to the shops in Holland Park Avenue. Holland Park itself is next to the road.

Work began in the early years of the 20th century, but only Nos. 3-9 odd, and 8-10 and 24-28 (even) were built before the Second World War.

During the 1960s houses and blocks were built on the west side of Abbotsbury Road. These include Abbotsbury House, a 10-storey block of flats, and Abbotsbury Close, a series of small crescents with houses and landscaped gardens, designed by Stone Toms and Partners and built by Wates Builders.

The brick houses are fairly uniform in...
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JUNE

2021

Victoria Embankment, EC4Y
Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment scheme of 19th-century civil engineering that reclaimed land next to the River Thames The Victoria Embankment was primarily designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette with architectural work on the embankment wall and river stairs by Charles Henry Driver. Started in 1862, it incorporates the main low level interceptor sewer and the underground District Line over which a wide road and riverside walkway were built. In total, Bazalgette’s scheme reclaimed 22 acres of land from the river. It prevented flooding, such as around what had been the remnants of Thorney Island (Westminster).

Much of the granite used in the projects was brought from Lamorna Cove in Cornwall.

The named named Victoria Embankment runs from the Houses of Parliament to Blackfriars Bridge. It incorporates gardens and open space collectively known as the Embankment Gardens.

Some parts of the Embankment were rebuilt in the 20th century due to wartime bomb damage or natural disasters such as the 1928 Thames flood.
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JUNE

2021

Carmelite Street, EC4Y
Carmelite Street continues south from Whitefriars Street, which itself is just off Fleet Street Carmelite Street is a very narrow road and runs down a slope to its south end, where it meets the Victoria Embankment. Named in 1901, it commemorates the old foundation of the Carmelite or Whitefriars monastery here. Before 1901, it had been an extension of Whitefriars Street but was wharfland until the 1860s.

The street seems to have begun as an alley to serve ship berthings which by the 1860s had been repurposed to lead to the new Sir Joseph Bazalgette-designed Embankment.

The buildings which now stand on Carmelite Street were mostly constructed after the Second World War. There are also some very old buildings such as The Harrow, a public house said to have been frequented by Evening News reporters.

Founded by a City merchant, William Ward, in 1881, the City of London School for Girls opened in Carmelite Street in 1894 at a time when there was so little faith in academic education for girls that the building was designed so that it cou...
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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Peter H Davies Ethelburga Street, SW11 Added: 17 Jun 2021 09:33 GMT	Ethelburga Estate The Ethelburga Estate - named after Ethelburga Road - was an LCC development dating between 1963–65. According to the Wikipedia, it has a "pleasant knitting together of a series of internal squares". I have to add that it’s extremely dull :) Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Reply
Norman Norrington Blechynden Street, W10 Added: 8 Jun 2021 08:08 GMT	Blechynden Street, W10 Lived here #40 1942-1967 Reply
Brenda Newton Hewer Street, W10 Added: 5 Jun 2021 07:17 GMT	Hewer Street W10 John Nodes Undertakers Hewer Street W10 Reply
All bar one Added: 3 Jun 2021 15:50 GMT	All Bar One The capitalisation is wrong Reply
Morley Road, IG11 Added: 2 Jun 2021 16:58 GMT	Parachute bomb 1941 Charles Thomas Bailey of 82 Morley Road was killed by the parachute bomb March 1941 Reply
Abbeville Road, SW4 Added: 1 Jun 2021 12:41 GMT	Abbeville Road (1940 street directory) North west side 1A Clarke A S Ltd, motor engineers 15 Plumbers, Glaziers & Domestic Engineers Union 25 Dixey Edward, florist 27 Vicary Miss Doris J, newsagent 29 Stenning John Andrew, dining rooms 31 Clarke & Williams, builders 33 Hill Mrs Theodora, confectioner 35 Golding W & sons, corn dealers ... here is Shandon road ... 37 Pennington Mrs Eliz Harvie, wine & spirit merchant 39 Westminster Catering Co Ltd, ham, beef & tongue dealers 41 Masters A (Clapham) Ltd, butchers 43 Thomas Euan Ltd, grocers 45 Garrett C T & Co Ltd, undertakers 47 Mayle T & Sons, fishmongers 49 Mayles Ltd, fruiterers 51 & 73 Hardy Arthur Sydney, draper 53 United Dairies (London) Ltd ... here is Narbonne avenue ... 55 Norris William Lennox, baker 57 Silver Star Laundry Ltd 59 Thorp John, oilman 61 Bidgood Leonard George, boot makers 63 Wilkie Rt Miln, chemist 65 Gander George Albert Isaac, hairdresser 67 Harris Alfred William, greengrocer 69 & 71 Lambert Ernest & Son Ltd, grocers ... here is Hambolt road ... 73 & 51 Hardy Arthur Sydney, draper 75 Cambourn Frederick, butcher 77 Siggers Clement, chemist 77 Post, Money Order, Telephone Call & Telegraph Office & Savings Bank 79 Hemmings William, baker ... here is Elms road ... 85 Cornish Joseph 91 Bedding Mrs 151 Johnson Mrs H K 157 Robinson Albert Ernest, grainer 173 Yardleys London & Provincial Stores Ltd, wine & spirit merchants 175 Clark Alfred, butcher 175A Morley Douglas Frederick, confectioner ... here is Crescent lane ... ... her is St Alphonsus road ... South east side ... here is Trouville road ... 4 Bossy Miss, private school ... here are Bonneville gardens ... 24 Osborn Charles Edward, ladies hairdresser 24 Hall H Ltd, builders 24A Walton Lodge Laundry Ltd ... here are Shandon road & Abbeville mansions ... 28 Copley Fred Smith, chemist 30 Finch H G Ltd, laundry 32 Carter William Alfred, furniture dealer 34 Spriggs Charles & Co, wireless supplies dealer 36 Miles Frederick William, confectioner 38 Pitman Frederick, hairdresser 40 Rowe Frederick F, valeting service 42 Modridge Edward J, oilman ... here is Narbonne avenue ... 44 Southorn Albert, butcher 46 Brown Ernest, fruiterer 48 Stanley Mrs A A, confectioner 50 Fryatt Owen, delixatessen store 52 Benbrooks, domestic stores 54 Davis William Clifford, boot repairer 56 Blogg Alfred, newsagent 58 Rowlands Thomas & Sons, dairy ... here are Hambalt, Elms, Franconia, Caldervale & Leppoc roads ... 124 Clarke Frederick, decorator ... here are Crescent lane, Briarwood road & Park hill ... Reply
Boo Horton Stepney Green, E1 Added: 31 May 2021 13:39 GMT	Angel & Trumpet, Stepney Green The Angel & Trumpet Public House in Stepney Green was run by my ancestors in the 1930’s. Unfortunately, it was a victim on WWII and was badly damaged and subsequently demolished. I have one photograph that I believe to bethe pub, but it doesn’t show much more that my Great Aunt cleaning the steps. Reply
MCNALLY Blackfriars Added: 17 May 2021 09:42 GMT	Blackfriars (1959 - 1965) I lived in Upper Ground from 1959 to 1964 I was 6 years old my parents Vince and Kitty run the Pub The Angel on the corner of Upper Ground and Bodies Bridge. I remember the ceiling of the cellar was very low and almost stretched the length of Bodies Bridge. The underground trains run directly underneath the pub. If you were down in the cellar when a train was coming it was quite frightening Reply

JUNE

2021

Gloucester Road
Gloucester Road: Where Rumpole of the Bailey hung his hat. Gloucester Road - the street - runs north-south between Kensington Gardens (at which point it is known as Palace Gate) and the Old Brompton Road at the south end. At its intersection with Cromwell Road is Gloucester Road tube station, close to which there are several pubs, restaurants, many hotels and St. Stephen’s Church (built in 1867 and, notably, the church warden of which was the poet T. S. Eliot).

The road is named after Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh who built a house there in 1805. It was earlier called Hog Moore Lane (1612), that is ’lane through marshy ground where hogs are kept’, a name that was still used until about 1850.

Gloucester Road is the residence (25B Froxbury Court) of the fictional barrister Horace Rumpole of John Mortimer’s Rumpole of the Bailey series of short stories.

Gloucester Road underground station is in two parts: sub-surface platforms, opened in 1868 by the Metropolitan Railway as part of...
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JUNE

2021

Abbeville Road, SW4
Abbeville Road runs parallel to Clapham Common Southside, lying close to the line of Stane Street - the Roman military road from London to Chichester. The earliest settlement of Clapham was centred around present day North Street, Turret Grove and Rectory Grove. The land surrounding Clapham Common remained undeveloped and covered with farmland until the late 17th century, at which point the village began to expand towards the Common.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, large individual villas and houses lined Clapham Common Southside, set within extensive grounds - for example, The Clock House and Eagle House which can be seen on Stanford map of 1860. This land remained virtually undeveloped until 1875 when Clock House Farm was sold and the most southerly portion of Abbeville Road, close to the junction with Cavendish Road, was laid out.

Development along Abbeville Road and on its surrounding streets gathered pace during the last decades of the 19th century as more of the large mansions lining Clapham Common were demolished and their land sold off.

Locally Hambalt Road, Narbonne Av...
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