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

JUNE

2019

St Mary’s Church, Vincent Square
St Mary’s was established in 1837 and closed in 1923. He was born in Derby, and was trained by his father, Thomas, who was an antiquarian and a topographer. Edward became skilled at drawing accurate and detailed architectural illustrations. His commissions included drawings of Peterborough, Durham, and Winchester Cathedrals. His drawings of Althorp brought him to the attention of Earl Spencer, who was influential in introducing him to other wealthy and influential patrons. After his father died in 1818, Blore started to prepare architectural designs for new buildings. The first of these was for the enlargement of Sir Walter Scott�s Abbotsford House. Although this was not accepted, it led to the acceptance of his design for Corehouse, a large country house in Lanarkshire, Scotland, for the judge George Cranstoun. More commissions for country houses followed. Blore then became involved with the Church Commissioners, designing, with others, a series of churches that have become to be known as Commissioners� churches, the first of these...
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JUNE

2019

St Mary Somerset
St Mary Somerset was a church in the City of London first recorded in the twelfth century. Destroyed in the Great Fire, St Mary Somerset was one of the 51 churches rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren.

Pre-Fire London had 14 churches named after the Virgin Mary, six of which were rebuilt after the Fire. The derivation of ’Somerset’ is uncertain. It has been linked to Ralph de Somery, who is mentioned in records at the same time. It is also linked to Summer’s Hithe, a small haven on the Thames, the banks of which would have been closer in medieval times. The church was first mentioned in a deed during the reign of Richard I.

According to John Stow, in 1370, the Brabant weaver community was ordered by the Mayor to meet in the churchyard of St Mary Somerset for the purpose of hiring serving men, following disputes with the Flemish weavers. The latter were ordered to meet a safe distance away in the churchyard of St Laurence Pountney.

After the Fire, the parish was combined with that of St Mary Mounthaw, w...
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JUNE

2019

Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove is named after James Weller Ladbroke, who developed the Ladbroke Estate in the mid nineteenth century, until then a largely rural area on the western edges of London. Ladbroke Grove station is located on the road. It originally opened as part of the Metropolitan Railway on 13 June 1864 as Notting Hill with the extension of that line from Paddington to Hammersmith. It was renamed Notting Hill & Ladbroke Grove in 1880 and Ladbroke Grove (North Kensington) on 1 June 1919 before acquiring the present name in 1938.

The adjacent bridge and nearby section of the Westway (London) was regenerated in 2007 in a partnership including Urban Eye, Transport for London and London Underground. It is the nearest tube station to Portobello Road Market and on the route of the annual Notting Hill Carnival in August.
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JUNE

2019

Deans Yard, SW1P
Dean’s Yard comprises most of the precincts of the former monastery of Westminster, not occupied by the Abbey buildings. Dean’s Yard is a large quadrangle, closed to public traffic, surrounding a green upon which Westminster School pupils (who know is as ’Green’) have legal rights to play football.

The Yard is entered through a grand archway situated amid a row eight Gothic style houses, built in 1854 as part of the Westminster Improvement Act. Before that time, the area to the west of the Abbey was littered with several narrow streets and alleys.

Until the seventeenth century the Green was just a third of its current size. Before this to its south was the Queen’s Scholars’ Dormitory.

There is evidence that the Benedictine monks had their own school here as early as the 12th century; it functioned until Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in 1533, ousted the community and, with no masters, the school was abandoned.

The east and west sides now have buildings of Westminster School. On the south side is Church House, the headquarters of...
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JUNE

2019

Between Streets, KT11
Between Streets started its life as a lane which crossed Church Field. The road from Leatherhead is older than the Portsmouth Road and caused a bend in the main road as the two alignments met. A market here at the junction with Portsmouth Road, granted by King Stephen, funded the settlement of Church Cobham. It was closed at the end of the 16th century.

A 1879 plan for a railway was made for a line from Kingston with a station proposed on what is now Oakdene Parade.

Between Streets got its very odd name by being the road which connected the two communities of Church Cobham and Street Cobham. It was called Street Cobham Road at the end of the nineteenth century rather than its modern name.

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JUNE

2019

Cannon Street, EC4N
Cannon Street runs nearly parallel with the River Thames, about 250 metres north of it, in the south of the City of London. The London Stone, from which distances were measured in Roman times, was originally situated in the middle of Cannon Street.

The area around Cannon Street was initially the place of residence of the candle-makers. The name first appears as Candelwrichstrete (i.e. "Candlewright Street") in 1190. The name was shortened over 60 times as a result of the local dialect and settled on Cannon Street in the 17th century. It is not related to firearms.

In the late Victorian period, Cannon Street was occupied by large warehouses - especially of cotton goods.
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JUNE

2019

Aldermanbury Square, EC2V
At the centre of Saxon London, the aldermen (elder statesmen of City wards) met in a ’bury’ (house) in a time before the Guildhall was built. Aldermanbury Square was laid out in 1962 following significant war damage in the area as part of the London Wall Plan of 1955.

Originally more a traffic island rather than a square, re-landscaping took place in time for the Millennium enabled by the Brewers’ Company. In 2006 it was again reconfigured as part of the Street Scene Challenge initiative run by the City of London.

It is now a traffic-free public space with tree planting, lighting, seating and a water feature.
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JUNE

2019

Tobago Street, E14
Tobago Street was formerly called both Cross Street and Marsh Street. Cross Street, built in the 1810s, linked Robert Street (now Cuba Street) and Alfred Street (now Manilla Street).

Cross Street was extended before the 1860s across Alfred Street to meet George Street - the latter street probably named after a member of the Batson family who built it. In 1870 it was renamed Tobago Street.

By the 1890s Tobago Street north of Manilla Street had lost most of its residential character. The west side of the street was occupied by industrial and commercial buildings. In the twentieth century industry continued to make inroads into the housing throughout the former estate. By the 1900s, most of the remaining houses were let to weekly tenants and were in poor condition.

During the 1960s, the southern half of Tobago Street was closed to be replaced by an extension of an adjacent firm and by 1970, the only houses left in the area were those in Cuba Street.
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