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.

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.

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

Latest on The Underground Map...

Yiewsley

Yiewsley is a large suburban village in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Yiewsley’s transition from an agrarian community began when the Grand Junction Canal was opened. Construction started in May 1793 and connected the area to the Thames at Brentford, passing through Yiewsley on its way north following the River Colne. An aqueduct was built at Cowley Lock to cross the Fray’s River. In 1794, the canal opened between the Thames and Uxbridge, and in 1795, the aqueduct over the Fray’s River was likely completed.

The following year, in 1796, Colham Wharf, Yiewsley’s first dock, was established near Colham Bridge. In 1801, the Paddington Arm of the canal opened, connecting the area to national trade routes.

The canal played a vital role in transporting Cowley stock bricks, which were made from the abundant brick-earth in Yiewsley. The bricks were transported mainly along the Grand Junction Canal and the Regent’s Canal to supply the demand for building materials in Victorian London.

By t...

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NOVEMBER

2023

South Harrow
South Harrow originally spread south and west from the hamlet of Roxeth as a result of easier access from Central London by rail In the 1890s, the Metropolitan District Railway, which later became the District Line but was operating as an independent company at the time, recognised the inadequate service to Uxbridge and Harrow. To address this, they proposed the construction of a railway line towards both towns, and this led to the formation of the Ealing & South Harrow Railway. The railway line was intended to extend to South Harrow, which was then a rural area located to the south of Roxeth.

Construction of the railway line was completed by 1899, but the District Line faced financial difficulties that delayed its opening until 1903. Consequently, South Harrow became the terminus of a line extending from Park Royal & Twyford Abbey. The location around Northolt Road subsequently developed into South Harrow’s own commercial and residential hub.

The original station building was approximately 170 metres south of the present-day station. This extension marked a significant miles...
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SEPTEMBER

2023

Great Portland Street
Great Portland Street is a London Underground station near Regent’s Park Great Portland Street station was opened on 10 January 1863 as Portland Road, renamed Great Portland Street and Regents Park in 1923 and changed to its present name on 1 March 1917.

The station’s present structure, constructed in 1930, is situated on a traffic island at the intersection of Marylebone Road, Great Portland Street and Albany Street. This building features a steel-framed design with a cream terracotta exterior. The station’s perimeter also houses shops and, in the past, included a car showroom with office spaces above it. Notably, Great Portland Street was a significant sales location for the motor industry. The station’s architectural design, credited to C.W. Fowler, earned it a Grade II listing in January 1987.

The area around Great Portland Street station offers various points of interest. Regent’s Park and the iconic BT Tower are nearby attractions. Additionally, the station’s proximity to Regen...
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SEPTEMBER

2023

Courtfield Gardens, SW5
Courtfield Gardens is named after the field beneath it, cultivated until the 19th century According to 16th-century records, Courtfield Gardens was built on a vast open meadow known as Great Courtfield. This meadow was surrounded by fertile land and small farms and was part of a large area of land that extended from Cromwell Road to The Old Brompton Road in one direction, and from Gloucester Road to Earl’s Court Road in the other direction. Great Courtfield was included in the Earl’s Court ’manor’.

During the 18th century, Earl’s Court House, a grand manor house, was constructed on the land that is now the western terrace of Barkston Gardens. This building replaced an extensive dwelling that was described in 1705 as having fountains, a marble-tiled dairy, engines for water, and impressive gates at its entrance.

In the 19th century, the area surrounding Courtfield Gardens was developed with rows of terraced houses, as the demand for housing in London grew. Earl’s Court House was demolished in the middle of th...
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JUNE

2023

Alba Place, W11
Alba Place is part of the Colville Conservation Area Originally the stable house accommodation for the main houses on Lancaster Road, the primary purpose of the Mews properties is now residential.

Alba Place is located on the site of an original Mews but has been redeveloped to a degree that it no longer contains any surviving Mews properties. It is a gated cul-de-sac off Portobello Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, almost opposite Hayden’s Place (another redeveloped Mews). It contains 16 properties used for residential purposes.

Alba Place was Albion Place until 1937, one of the many patriotic names dating from the period immediately following the Crimean War.
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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Eileen Brecknock Road, N7 Added: 10 Nov 2023 09:42 GMT	Brecknock Road Pleating Company My great grandparents ran the Brecknock Road pleating Company around 1910 to 1920 and my Grandmother worked there as a pleater until she was 16. I should like to know more about this. I know they had a beautiful Victorian house in Islington as I have photos of it & of them in their garden. Source: Family history Reply
Squirrel’s Lane, IG9 Added: 6 Nov 2023 16:59 GMT	061123 Why do Thames Water not collect the 15 . Three meter lengths of blue plastic fencing, and old pipes etc. They left here for the last TWO Years, these cause an obstruction,as they halfway lying in the road,as no footpath down this road, and the cars going and exiting the park are getting damaged, also the public are in Grave Danger when trying to avoid your rubbish and the danger of your fences. Source: Squirrels Lane. Buckhurst Hill, Essex. IG9. I want some action ,now, not Excuses.MK. Reply
Christian Cornwall Road, W11 Added: 31 Oct 2023 10:34 GMT	Cornwall Road, W11 Photo shows William Richard Hoare’s chemist shop at 121 Cornwall Road. Reply
Vik Oaks Road, TW6 Added: 30 Oct 2023 18:48 GMT	Old pub sign from the Rising Sun Hi I have no connection to the area except that for the last 30+ years we’ve had an old pub sign hanging on our kitchen wall from the Rising Sun, Stanwell, which I believe was / is on the Oaks Rd. Happy to upload a photo if anyone can tell me how or where to do that! Reply
Phillip Martin Ashburnham Place, SE10 Added: 16 Oct 2023 06:25 GMT	16 Ashburnham Road On 15 October 1874 George Frederick Martin was born in 16 Ashburnham Road Greenwich to George Henry Martin, a painter, and Mary Martin, formerly Southern. Reply
Christine Bithrey Holly Park, N4 Added: 15 Oct 2023 15:20 GMT	The Hollies (1860 - 1900) I lived in Holly Park Estate from 1969 I was 8 years old when we moved in until I left to get married, my mother still lives there now 84. I am wondering if there was ever a cemetery within The Hollies? And if so where? Was it near to the Blythwood Road end or much nearer to the old Methodist Church which is still standing although rather old looking. We spent most of our childhood playing along the old dis-used railway that run directly along Blythwood Road and opposite Holly Park Estate - top end which is where we live/ed. We now walk my mothers dog there twice a day. An elderly gentleman once told me when I was a child that there used to be a cemetery but I am not sure if he was trying to scare us children! I only thought about this recently when walking past the old Methodist Church and seeing the flag stone in the side of the wall with the inscription of when it was built late 1880 If anyone has any answers please email me [email protected] Reply
Chris hutchison Broadhurst Gardens, NW6 Added: 15 Oct 2023 03:04 GMT	35 broadhurst gardens. 35 Broadhurst gardens was owned by famous opera singer Mr Herman “Simmy”Simberg. He had transformed it into a film and recording complex. There was a film and animation studio on the ground floor. The recording facilities were on the next two floors. I arrived in London from Australia in 1966 and worked in the studio as the tea boy and trainee recording engineer from Christmas 1966 for one year. The facility was leased by an American advertising company called Moreno Films. Mr Simbergs company Vox Humana used the studio for their own projects as well. I worked for both of them. I was so lucky. The manager was another wonderful gentleman called Jack Price who went on to create numerous songs for many famous singers of the day and also assisted the careers of Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. “Simmy” let me live in the bedsit,upper right hand window. Jack was also busy with projects with The Troggs,Bill Wyman,Peter Frampton. We did some great sessions with Manfred Mann and Alan Price. The Cream did some demos but that was before my time. We did lots of voice over work. Warren Mitchell and Ronnie Corbett were favourites. I went back in 1978 and “Simmy “ had removed all of the studio and it was now his home. His lounge room was still our studio in my minds eye!! Reply
Sue L Battersea Added: 13 Oct 2023 17:21 GMT	Duffield Street, Battersea I’ve been looking for ages for a photo of Duffield Street without any luck. My mother and grandfather lived there during the war. It was the first property he was able to buy but sadly after only a few months they were bombed out. My mother told the story that one night they were aware of a train stopping above them in the embankment. It was full of soldiers who threw out cigarettes and sweets at about four in the morning. They were returning from Dunkirk though of course my mother had no idea at the time. I have heard the same story from a different source too. Reply

Click here to explore another London street
We now have 628 completed street histories and 46872 partial histories

DECEMBER

2015

Hanger Lane Farm
Hanger Lane Farm stood on St Ann’s Road (then known as Hangers Lane). The farm was just to the west of Black Boy Lane - around where Chestnuts Primary School is today.

By the 13th Century much of the Parish of Tottenham, including the St Ann’s Road area, was occupied by farmland following the deforestation of areas of the Middlesex Forest. Most of the area was covered by open farmland, owned by a few large estates. Between 1229 and 1264 the Hospital of St Lawrence at Clayhanger was recorded to have occupied a site on Hangers Lane.

By the end of the 18th century most of the woodland within the Parish of Tottenham had been cleared and replaced by pasture and arable farmland. Hanger’s Green had been laid out as a small open space linking Hanger Lane to Black Boy Lane. During the same period a cluster of houses were also developed in the area. Rose Cottage, was on the north side of Hanger Lane and was to become known as Hanger Lane Farm by 1894.
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DECEMBER

2015

Kensington Park Hotel
The KPH is a landmark pub on Ladbroke Grove. The Kensington Park Hotel (KPH), standing on the corner of Ladbroke Grove and Lancaster Road and the pub which Timothy Evans - executed in place of John Christie - was fond of drinking in. It is a traditional public house right on the edge of Portobello Market and Notting Hill with untouched original features and beautiful Victorian décor.

Steeped in history, The KPH was the favoured watering hole of the English politician Oswald Mosely and a place where Tom Jones performed for the huge fee of £10 during the early days of his career.

The KPH Theatre Bar was also home to the Kensington Park Theatre Club in 1986, it reopened in 1988 as the Chair Theatre and then finally changed its name to the Grove Theatre in 1990 which hosted many years of performances.
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DECEMBER

2015

Eaves Housing for Women
Eaves Housing for Women (Eaves) was a charitable company based in London. It provided support to vulnerable women, including female victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking or domestic servitude, and campaigned against prostitution. The organisation also conducted research and lobbying.

Eaves was the umbrella organisation for a number of projects including: "The Poppy Project", "The Scarlet Centre", "The Serafina Project" and "The Lilith Project".

The charity closed in October 2015.

Read the Eaves Housing for Women entry on the Wikipedia...
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DECEMBER

2015

The Grange
The Grange was a large mansion situated on Kilburn High Road until the turn of the twentieth century. The Peters family lived in the Grange from 1843 until its demolition.

Thomas Peters was a successful and wealthy coach builder who made coaches for Queen Victoria. The final occupant was Mrs Ada Peters, the widow of his son John Winpenny Peters. Ada died in the house on 5 February 1910.

The Grange was the last of Kilburn’s large houses. Suburban building surrounded the property, leaving the house and its extensive grounds marooned in a sea of small streets and tight terrace housing.

After Ada’s death, the land was parcelled out - much of it became Kilburn Grange Park.

Meantime the house contents were disposed of in a 50 page catalogue, and the sheer volume of goods meant the auction lasted three days.

On 12 April 1910 more than 300 items of furniture went under the hammer, followed by 600 paintings, clocks and bronzes the next day. Finally there were around 1000 items of less valuable plate, c...
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DECEMBER

2015

Kilburn Lane Farm
A farm existed in Kilburn Lane until the 1860s, by which time it had been disrupted by the railway line. The name of the farm is as yet unknown as it appears on old mapping without a label.

In the late 1830s, the Hampstead Railway was built across the landscape cutting the farmhouse off from some of its land.
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DECEMBER

2015

Princess Road, NW6
Princess Road was once known as Alexandra Road. Alexandra Road was laid out about 1860 and aimed at a better class of clientelle.

Quite uniquely in Kilburn, this aim came to pass. By 1871, Alexandra Road saw half of its houses employing servants. This is contrasted with Granville Road, just one street south which became one of the poorest streets of nineteenth century Kilburn Park.

In the late nineteenth century, it was renamed Princess Road.
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DECEMBER

2015

Granville Road, NW6
Granville Road, NW6 was formerly Pembroke Road. At the turn of the 1860s, builders laid out Granville Road, then called Pembroke Road in Kilburn Park. Being so close to the Edgware Road, with its good connections to central London, they hoped to attract a higher class of purchaser.

But by 1871 Kilburn was socially mixed - not as high-class as the builders had hoped but still including a few large houses like Kilburn House and streets like Alexandra (later Princess) Road where more than half the houses employed servants.

Commercial travellers, salesmen, and shopkeepers were among the inhabitants. There was still a strong middle-class, mainly professional and commercial, element in the population.

From early on, however, the working classes predominated and contemporaries noted the horrifying conditions in which many of Kilburn’s inhabitants lived. The overall density of 8 persons to a house in 1875 concealed streets like the newly built Pembroke Road in Kilburn Park where each house c...
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DECEMBER

2015

3 Acklam Road
From the 19th century up until 1965, number 3 Acklam Road, near the Portobello Road junction, was occupied by the Bedford family. In the early 1970s the house was taken over by the North Kensington Amenity Trust and became the Notting Hill Carnival office before its eventual demolition.

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DECEMBER

2015

Political meeting (1920s)
Meeting in front of the Junction Arms situated where Tavistock Road, Crescent and Basing Road met. The banners include the National League of the Blind, the North Kensington Branch of the Street Traders Union, and the Union of General Workers Kensal Green.

Portobello market became official with licensed stalls and market inspectors in 1927. John Recordon recalled in ‘Going Down the Lane’: “There was a lot of political activity around Portobello market in the 20s and 30s, I was a Young Communist. Most of the meetings were on bread and butter issues, unemployment and the atrocious housing conditions. They were good humoured, though there was a lot of heckling. The costermongers tended to object. Our meetings didn’t interfere with their trade, it was more their politics – they were strongly patriotic Tory.”

In the 1970s the Junction pub at 92 Tavistock Road became the Point Community Action Centre, thus described in Tony Allen’s Corrugated Times: ’First it was a pub, the Junction Arms, then a Labour Exchange, then a clini...
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DECEMBER

2015

White Lion
The White Lion dates from 1700 or even earlier. The original name for the White Lion was The Dirt House. In 1712 a toolbooth was set up outside to pay for improvements to the High Road.

’Street manure’ (effluent from the streets and cesspits of London) was brought to Finchley to be used on the hay fields. The carters of the manure did not want to pay the extra cost of the toll so stopped at the inn. They would then return to London with hay.

By the 1830s railways made the High Road less important. The toll ceased in 1862 and the tollgate was removed in 1903.
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