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

MAY

2017

Whites Row, E1
White’s Row is a narrow thoroughfare running east-west from Commercial Street to Crispin Street. The roadway and northern side of White’s Row formed part of the Wheler estate. The southern side was in the late seventeenth century owned by Nathaniel and John Tilly and in the eighteenth century by the Shepherd family. It formed the northern boundary of the tenter ground stretching south to Wentworth Street, which remained an open space until the nineteenth century. The southern side was built up by Nathaniel Tilly quickly in the 1650s.

The line of the street appears to be shown, without buildings, on Faithorne and Newcourt’s map which was published in 1658 but probably surveyed in the 1640s. In 1675 it was said that houses had been built on the south side of the street by ’Mr Tilly’ about twenty-five years before.

The street was apparently not designedly laid out nor its northern side, at the southern end of Spital Field, built up until about 1673, when building at this southern end of the field was undertaken by Nicholas and C...
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MAY

2017

Arkley Lane, EN5
Arkley Lane, off Barnet Road, is an old drovers’ road. Arkley Lane and Pastures is a 50-hectare Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II. Located on the Barnet Plateau, it is now a quiet country lane with a traditional bank and ditch. The thick hedges are composed of beech and hornbeam, ash, field maple and magnificent old pedunculate oaks.

The hedge flora are dominated by cow parsley, and the ditches have wetland flowers including water figwort and wild angelica. A small adjacent woodland, which is probably ancient, has nesting birds, including sparrowhawks, willow warblers and stock doves. Muntjac deer are often seen there.

The fields on either side of the lane are traditionally managed, some grazed by horses and others managed as hay meadows. Three fields which have escaped agricultural improvement support wild flowers typical of old grassland, such as sneezewort and pignut.

There is only public access to the lane itself. The tarmacked road continues as a bridleway beyon...
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MAY

2017

Gateshead Road, WD6
Gateshead Road is a major east-west road in Borehamwood. It runs from Theobald Street to Cowley Hill.

The St.Michael and All Angels Church is located on the roundabout junction with Brook Road. The church was built in 1955 by N.F. Cachemaile-Day. The striking glass is by Mary Adshead. The foundation stone having been laid by Princess Margaret. The bell came from the mortuary chapel at Ayot St Peter, donated by Charles Willes Wilshere of The Frythe in 1876.

One of the main secondary schools of Borehamwood, Lyndhurst School, lay in a prime location along Gateshead Road. The school, built in 1954, was a post-war experiment in prefabricated buildings - instead of bricks, it was built with a material called Holoplast, invented by two Hungarian engineers. Holoplast panels, composed of tough plastic and paper, were ready-made, and could be clipped into position on a frame.

Other distinctive architectural features at the Gateshead Road school were A-frames, to support the ceilings in the school’s lib...
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MAY

2017

Whiteley’s
Whiteley’s, pictured here in the 1920s, was designated a Grade II Listed Building in 1970. The original Whiteleys department store was created by William Whiteley, who started a drapery shop at 31 Westbourne Grove in 1863.

In 1907, William Whiteley was murdered by Horace George Rayner, who claimed to be his illegitimate son, "Cecil Whiteley". After his death, the board including two of Whiteley’s sons allowed the leases on the various Westbourne Grove properties to lapse and moved into a new purpose built store on Queens Road (now called Queensway).

The building was designed by John Belcher and John James Joass, and was opened by the Lord Mayor of London in 1911. It was the height of luxury at the time, including both a theatre and a golf-course on the roof. It appears in a number of early 20th-century novels, and in Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion, where Eliza Doolittle is sent "to Whiteleys to be attired." In the late 1920s, Dr. A. J. Cronin, the novelist, was appointed the medical officer of Whiteleys, and in 1927 rival store Selfridg...
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MAY

2017

Looking towards Temple Fortune (1905)
This image shows the arrival of street lamps on the hill leading up to Temple Fortune from Golders Green. By 1754 there were about 16 houses with small gardens at Golders Green, most of them on small inclosures from the waste and by 1751 there were two inns at Golders Green: the Hoop, commemorated later by the name Hoop Lane, and the White Swan. The White Swan had tea gardens for summer visitors to Golders Green in 1882.

In the early 19th century, the manorial waste at Golders Green was enclosed for villas. In 1814 Golders Green contained ’many ornamental villas and cottages, surrounded with plantations’, and in 1828 detached houses spread on both sides of the road as far as Brent Bridge. The green was finally enclosed in 1873-4.

At Golders Green, a straggling hamlet in 1901, new houses were built at the corner of Wentworth Road and Hoop Lane in 1905. Two years later the arrival of the Underground started a building boom in houses whose rustic appearance was to set a trend for suburban exteriors over the next three decades. Growth continued until after ...
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MAY

2017

Albany Mews, KT2
Albany Mews is a development dating from the 1980s. The Bank Grove Estate, a triangular area, was bounded by Richmond Road, Lower Ham Road, the River Thames and Bank Lane. It was occupied by a mansion built in the 18th century and renovated by Sir Charles Freake. Later on a new mansion was built on the same site but several of the outbuildings from the original mansion were retained. The site is now occupied by Albany Mews which is a modern development following the demolition of Bank Grove in 1982.
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MAY

2017

Arkley
Arkley is located north-west of London, and at 482 ft above sea level is one of the highest points. It consists of a long village strung out between Barnet and Stirling Corner roughly centred around the "Gate" pub and is composed of the ancient hamlets of Barnet Gate, Rowley Green and Arkley hamlet. It is also home to one of the oldest windmills in southern England.

From at least the early 19th century until the 1890s, Arkley was commonly known as 'Barnet Common' or 'West Barnet'.

It is thought by some that Hendon Wood Lane was originally a minor Roman road. Certainly the name, 'Grendel's Gate' (now Barnet Gate, and formally known as 'Grims Gate'), is associated with the monster from the Saxon epic, Beowulf. This implies that the place was of modest importance as early as 1005. It may have been a centre of a small but significant community, founded on a woodland economy.

The area is latter referred to in medieval documents as 'Southhaw', and may have pre-dated the settlement at Chipping Barnet. Certainly, Barnet manorial court was held...
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MAY

2017

Falcon Court, EC4Y
Falcon Court is a courtyard off the south side of Fleet Street between Chancery Lane and Fetter Lane. There is an ornate wrought iron gate at the entrance to Falcon Court.

If you had lived in the 16th century and been making a visit to the Temple Church then your access would probably have been through Mr Davis’s tailors shop in the Court. In those days all churches, their graveyards and cemeteries were places of sanctuary where law breakers could deposit themselves in full assurance that they were out of reach by the hand of justice. The Temple Church was one of the most popular resorts for such criminals and Mr Davis must have been sick to the high teeth with the constant procession through his premises.

Henry Styrrell, a barrister of the Middle Temple, too was at the end of his tether with the annoyance caused by the disorderly gathering. In 1610 he petitioned the societies of the Inner and Middle Temple to take action and withdraw the right of way through the tailors shop. Three months after the petition Davis was forced to leave and the building ...
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MAY

2017

Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet is located at the intersection of Colney Hatch Lane (running north and south), Woodhouse Road (taking westbound traffic towards North Finchley) and Friern Barnet Road (leading east towards New Southgate). Friern Barnet was an ancient parish in the Finsbury division of Ossulstone hundred, in the county of Middlesex.

The area was originally considered to be part of Barnet, most of which was in Hertfordshire. By the 13th century the Middlesex section of Barnet was known as Little Barnet, before becoming Frerenbarnet and then Friern Barnet (sometimes spelt in other ways, such as "Fryern Barnett"). The "Friern" part of the parish’s name derives from the French for "brother" and refers to the medieval lordship of the Brotherhood or Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

The opening of railway stations on the Great Northern and Metropolitan Railways, in the mid-19th century, prompted some development.

But Friern Barnet parish remained largely rural until after the First World War. The building of Colney Hatch asylum in 1851 helped to cut off the area to the south, and the location of railways caused the edges of the parish to be built u...
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MAY

2017

Totteridge And Whetstone
Before becoming part of the London Borough of Barnet in 1965, Totteridge was in Hertfordshire and Whetstone in Middlesex. The boundary to the north and east is the Dollis Brook and the boundary to the south is that river’s tributary, the Folly Brook. While these rivers define the parish and the area covered by the residents’ association, the southern part of the area (with postcode N12 rather than N20) is generally regarded as being in Woodside Park.

The main road is the A5109, which runs roughly east-west. The western part is called Totteridge Common, the central part by the village green is called Totteridge Village and the eastern part is called Totteridge Lane; the Lane continues into Whetstone, terminating at its junction with High Road Whetstone. At the western end of Totteridge Common is a set of traffic lights; the road to the north from these lights, Hendon Wood Lane, is just to the west of the western boundary.

Totteridge Village itself has many spacious detached properties in a rural setting that are highly valued - some of the most expensive houses in Lond...
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MAY

2017

Metropolitan Borough of Westminster
The Metropolitan Borough of Westminster was a metropolitan borough in the County of London from 1900 to 1965. By royal charter dated 29 October 1900 the borough was granted the title City of Westminster. Westminster had originally been created a city and seat of the short-lived Diocese of Westminster in 1541. The diocese was suppressed in 1550, but the area was still known as a "city", although without official sanction.

Previous to the borough’s formation it had been administered by five separate local bodies: the Vestry of St George Hanover Square, the Vestry of St Martin in the Fields, Strand District Board of Works, Westminster District Board of Works and the Vestry of Westminster St James. The Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter had not been under the control of any local authority prior to 1900.

The borough was formed from eleven civil parishes and extra-parochial places: Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter, Liberty of the Rolls, Precinct of the Savoy, St Anne Soho, St Clement Danes, St George Hanover Square, St James Piccadilly, St Martin i...
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MAY

2017

Totteridge
Totteridge is an old English village, and a mixture of suburban development and open land, situated 8 miles north north-west of Charing Cross. This area was called Tataridge in the 13th Century. It may have been named after someone called Tata. The ridge is the high ground between the valleys of the Dollis Brook and Folly Brook.

Over the centuries the rural qualities of Totteridge have attracted well-to-do families. Cardinal Manning was born at Copped Hall in Totteridge in 1808.

With the opening of the Great Northern Railway station in 1872, late-Victorian and Edwardian mansions were built around the old village. In line with overall trends in the late 1930s, following the conversion of the railway station (in operation from 1872 until 1941) into a London Underground station (from 1940) on the Northern line, smaller properties were built within walking distance of the station (Totteridge and Whetstone tube station). In 1968 much of Totteridge was designated a Conservation Area, and no major developments have taken place since then.

Totteridge was a civil parish of Hertfordshire c...
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MAY

2017

Eagle Court, EC1M
Eagle Court is a courtyard situated off of Benjamin Street. Situated within a stone’s throw of the Grand Priory Church of Order of St John, this forlorn Court lies in a near state of dejection, abandoned by the Order which many years ago raised it to the status of recognition. This site was once occupied by the house of one of the top-ranking officials of the Order of St John – the Bailiff of Egle.

In the year 1312, the Pope issued a decree that the Order of the Knights Templars were to be abolished and that all their assets, buildings and furnishings, were to be given over to their opponents, the Knights Hospitallers, or the Order of St John of Jerusalem. It turns out that only a very small portion of the Templars’ great wealth reached the clutches of the Hospitallers; the lion’s share being retained by Edward II and Philip le Bel, King of France and ali of Pope Clement. Protests by the Hospitallers were at first overruled, merely inspiring loud proclamations from Edward that they were forbidden from meddling with the f...
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MAY

2017

Goldbeaters Farm
An old farm in the Burnt Oak area, Goldbeaters already existed by the 14th century. The Goldbeaters estate may have originated in a grant of land and rent by John le Bret to William of Aldenham, goldbeater of London, in 1308. John Goldbeater held a house and some land of the manor of Hendon in 1321.

The Goldbeaters estate was held by John and Eve Clerk in 1434. By the early 18th century it had passed to Joseph Marsh, whose daughter and heir married Thomas Beech of London, the holder of 130 acres in the north of Hendon parish in 1754. After Beech’s death in 1772 some of the property was conveyed to John Raymond and later to Richard Capper.

In 1802 Mary Capper of Bushey (Herts.) and Robert Capper sold the whole of Goldbeaters to William Smith of Mayfair, who bought two closes called Staines and Shoelands, adjoining the farm, from John Nicholl of the Inner Temple in 1803 and a house, later the Bald Faced Stag, and four fields at Redhill from William Geeves in 1807. William Smith bought part of the near-by Shoelands Farm from John Nic...
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MAY

2017

Brent Street, NW4
Brent Street was a section of a main road north out of London. Brent Street was the southward continuation of Parson Street, already called this by 1321. At the Quadrant there is a milestone, the last piece of physical evidence of the old road. A small hamlet grew up during the Tudor period, at the junction of Brent Street and Bell Lane.

Brent Street parish pump supplied water for much of the area in the early 19th century, and there was also a ’cage’ between 1796 and 1883 - an outdoor cell for holding for criminals.

There were a few large Victorian mansions such as Tenby Mansion (built around 1845), which is near the Quadrant. By the 1850s there were shops in Brent Street, and a new street called New Brent Street. Brent Street was described as a "genteel hamlet" in 1876 and became the leading shopping district in the late 19th century. Christ Church was opened in October 1881.

The first Hendon police station from 1855 was in New Brent Street, as was Hendon British School, built in 1876. Mu...
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MAY

2017

Saffron Green Primary School
Saffron Green is a community primary school which accepts students between the ages of 3 and 11. Situated in Nicoll Way, it was built on the former site of the Barnet Grass Speedway track. The first bell for lessons sounded at Saffron Green Primary School in September 1953.

The total school capacity is 210 and it has nursery classes.
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MAY

2017

Long Lane, N3
Long Lane runs from Church End to East Finchley. Long Lane, known as such by 1719, may have been called Ferrours Lane in medieval times. Roughly half way along its route is Squires Lane, which runs from the manor house to the High Road, the traditional division between East Finchley and Church End.

Behind the large houses which fronted Ballards Lane on the west, Squires Lane, and Long Lane was Claigmar Vineyards, started in 1874 by Peter Edmund Kay. By the 1890s the vinery’s 161 greenhouses were producing "100 tons each of grapes and tomatoes and 240,000 cucumbers a year".

In 1903 Finchley Electric Light Co. opened a generating station on the Kay’s site which was purchased by Finchley Council two years later and then in 1955 by the Eastern Electricity Board. Sir Charles Redvers-Westlake, who was engineer at the works between 1935 - 1948, was later responsible for the building what was then called the Owen Falls dam, Uganda.
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MAY

2017

Dormers Wells
Dormers Wells or Dormer's Wells is a neighbourhood consisting of a grid of mostly semi-detached or terraced houses with gardens and small parks. Until urban/suburban development in the mid 20th century this area formed a small, east part of the Precinct of Norwood a relatively rare half subdivision of the large parish of Hayes.

Southall and Norwood manors in much of the medieval period belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury hence giving the Norwood quasi-chapelry — virtually all a mixed agricultural area which covered today's Dormer's Wells, Norwood Green and Southall — the higher, less alienable status of a precinct.

The 12th century founded, much-altered chapel is St Mary's Church, Norwood Green.

St John's Church, Southall was built and endowed in 1838; consecrated in three years and made a parish in 1850. Nine years later Norwood precinct was created a parish separate from that of Hayes.

Further Anglican churches followed: Holy Trinity, St George, Christ the Redeemer and Emmanuel none are named after this area.

In 1800 the precinct's overshot ...
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MAY

2017

Laleham
Laleham is a village beside the River Thames, immediately downriver from Staines-upon-Thames in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey. Until 1965 the village was in Middlesex. The name Laleham" probably derives from lael meaning ’twig’ and ’ham’ meaning homestead.

Iron Age spearheads from the 5th century have been found in the River Thames at Laleham Ferry. The Middlesex section of the Domesday Book of 1086 records the village as Leleham. The manor was held partly by Fécamp Abbey from Robert of Mortain and partly by Estrild, a nun. The manor of Laleham was later held by Westminster Abbey. In the 13th century Westminster Abbey had a grange and watermill on the banks of the Thames near the site of Laleham Abbey.

The Church of England parish church of All Saints dates from the 12th century but was largely rebuilt in brick about 1600 and the present tower was built in 1780.

Today, Laleham has a Church of England primary school, an archery club and Burway Rowing Club.

The poet Matthew Arnold (1822–88) lived here, dividing his time between Laleham and Rugby School.
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MAY

2017

Saffron Hill, EC1N
Saffron Hill’s name derives the time that it was part of an estate on which saffron grew. Saffron Hill formed part of the liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place which became part of the County of London in 1889. It was abolished in 1900 and formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn until 1965.

In 1850 it was described as a squalid neighbourhood, the home of paupers and thieves. In Charles Dickens’s 1837 novel Oliver Twist (Chapter 8), the Artful Dodger leads Oliver to Fagin’s den in Field Lane, the southern extension of Saffron Hill: "a dirty and more wretched place he (Oliver) had never seen. The street was very narrow and muddy, and the air was impregnated with filthy odours".

Saffron Hill is mentioned in the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", as the Italian Quarter where the Venucci family can be found.

Saffron Hill has become more residential in recent years with the building of several blocks of ’luxury’ apartments, including Da Vinci Hous...
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MAY

2017

Devereux Court, EC4Y
Devereux Court lies on the south side of the Strand, opposite the Law Courts. One of the earliest buildings ever to occupy this site was Exeter House, built by Bishop Stapledon in the early 1320s as the London residence of the Bishop’s of Exeter. Unfortunately Stapledon happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and in 1326 was set upon by a demonstrating mob, dragged from his horse and relieved of his head by a flying butchers knife.

When Henry VIII decided to split from the Church of Rome this house became the property of the Crown and was leased to William Paget who promptly renamed it Paget House. Then came Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex and bosom pal of Elizabeth I. Learning that Paget House was up for grabs he visited the Queen to test the ground, and finding her in a receptive mood - Elizabeth was not the most predictable of characters - he laid before her his longing to live in the suburbs of the Temple. What an element of surprise came to his face when the Queen granted him a life long tenancy - but it was only play-acting, D...
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MAY

2017

Deans Court, EC4V
Deans Court is directly opposite the south west corner of St Paul’s Cathedral, on the south side of St Paul’s Churchyard. Of the numerous thousands of visitors to St Paul’s Cathedral each year, how many do we suppose take a few steps across St Paul’s Churchyard and venture into the ancient lanes to the south which have remained unchanged since the Cathedral was built? I suspect not more than a handful. In reality, the vast majority will not even be aware of these treasures and, without further ado, hop on to a number eleven bus back to Trafalgar Square or the Houses of Parliament.

St Paul’s is one of the most popular tourist venues in London. It is also most conveniently situated about mid-way on the bus route between the West End and the Tower (number 15), both very tempting haunts to the visitor on a summery day. But the next time you descend the steps of Wren’s wonderful masterpiece, let the buses go by, walk into Dean’s Court and have a look at one of the great architect’s less elaborate pieces. Here, on the west side of the Court, behind a black painted gateway is the old ...
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MAY

2017

Gunner’s Cottages (1910)
Gunner’s Cottages, off Salamanca Street, Lambeth 1910. Charles Booth, researching his Poverty Map of London, visited Gunner’s Cottages in 1892-1898:

"Gunner’s Cottages: entered through swing wooden door: dark blue to light blue, [colour guides indicating very poor / poor areas in his map]. Four 2-storey cottages, used to be tenanted by notorious dog-stealer. On his death, 50 dogs were found concealed in the yard.
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MAP YEAR:	1750	1800	1810	1820	1830	1860	1900	1950	2023	Show map without markers
ZOOM:	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17 18	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17 18
	TIP: Adjust the MAP YEAR and ZOOM to tweak historical maps

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