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

AUGUST

2019

Cannon Street, EC4R
Cannon Street follows the route of a riverside path that ran along the Thames. Linking the Monument to St Paul’s Churchyard, Cannon Street does not refer to cannons at all but to candles - being the street of the candlemakers and first appearing in 1183 as ’Candelwrichstrete’ (’Candlewright Street’). The City ward of Candlewick come from the original name before it was corrupted.

In the late Victorian period, Cannon Street was occupied by large warehouses - especially of cotton goods. It had been lengthened and widened in the mid-1850s, clearing away a maze of small streets. Cannon Street station as the new terminus of the South-Eastern Railway opened in 1866.

The London Stone, from which distances were measured in Roman times, was originally situated in the middle of Cannon Street.
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AUGUST

2019

Edgware bus station
Edgware Bus Station lies behind Edgware train station. In August 2009, writer Tanya Gold attempted to be the writer in residence at the bus station emulating Alain de Botton who had a similar position at Heathrow Airport.

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AUGUST

2019

Abbey Wood
Between Plumstead to the west and Erith to the east, Abbey Wood takes its name from the nearby Lesnes Abbey and Bostall Woods. The original 19th century Abbey Wood (known locally as The Village) is the area immediately south of Abbey Wood railway station, built where Knee Hill became Harrow Manorway and crossed the railway (North Kent Line). This is now the centre where three phases of house building (almost) meet.

The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) bought two farms on the hillside to the south and between 1900 and 1930 built the Bostall Estate. Once known as Tin Check Island after the Society’s dividend system, this has streets named for Co-operative themes (Alexander McLeod, Rochdale, Robert Owen, Congress), a school & shops but no pubs.

Between 1956 & 1959 the London County Council built the Abbey Estate on former Royal Arsenal marshland to the north (between the railway and the Southern Outfall sewer bank heading for Crossness). Predominently conventional brick houses with gardens, equipped with shopping centres, schools and open spaces, the estate...
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AUGUST

2019

Bush Theatre
The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd’s Bush. The Bush Theatre was established in 1972 to showcase for the work of new writers. The theatre strives to create a space which nurtures and develops new artists and their work. The Bush Theatre has produced many premieres, many of them Bush Theatre commissions, and hosted guest productions by theatre companies and artists from across the world.

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AUGUST

2019

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a professional performance career. During its 100-year history, the Academy produced many established actors of stage and screen, including Angela Lansbury, Julian Fellowes, Antony Sher, Donald Sinden, Hugh Bonneville, Minnie Driver, Amanda Root, Julia Ormond, Terence Stamp, Natalie Dormer, and Miranda Raison.

The school was founded in London in 1926 as the Webber Douglas School of Singing, by Walter Johnstone Douglas and Amherst Webber. It was created from the singing academy founded in 1906 in Paris by Jean de Reszke. By 1932 the school had added full theatrical training to its curriculum, and it was renamed the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art. It was located at 30 Clareville St in South Kensington.

In 2006, the academy was absorbed into the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Many of the academy’s past alumni ha...
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AUGUST

2019

Shepherd’s Bush Village Hall
Shepherd’s Bush Village Hall is a Victorian building on Wood Lane. Shepherd’s Bush Village Hall was originally constructed as a drill hall for the 1st City of London Volunteer Artillery. It is now a community centre.

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham sold it to Wigoder Family Foundation in 2012. Among the charities which continue to use it is the West London School of Dance.

Shepherd’s Bush Village Hall falls within the Shepherd’s Bush Conservation Area.
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AUGUST

2019

Conway Crescent, UB6
Conway Crescent was a 1930 estate of privately-built homes. By the 1840s, Perivale was former wheat fields - which had grown wheat of some prestige - had been converted to grow hay. The coming of the Grand Union Canal made the formerly isolated village better connected to serve London’s growing population of horses. John Betjeman’s poem ’Return to Ealing’ states:

"...And a gentle gale from Perivale / blows up the hayfield scent."

The population of Perivale remained very low until the start of the twentieth century. In 1901, the census counted only 60 people.

In the 1930s, the Western Avenue was built, running east-west across the fields of Perivale and led to its rapid expansion. In the 1930s, many factories and houses arrived in Perivale. The Hoover Building opened in 1932 and employed more than 3000 people at its height. Sanderson’s wallpaper factory also went up in 1929, eventually employing some 2000.

In contrast to the pattern of development in many ...
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AUGUST

2019

Weymouth Avenue, W5
Weymouth Avenue dates from the period of the First World War. Little Ealing village existed by 1650 and was situated where Little Ealing Lane and Northfield Avenue (then Northfield Lane) and Windmill Road (then Windmill Lane) met. The manor house of Coldhall lay along Little Ealing Lane between the village and South Ealing Road. Until the late 19th century Little Ealing was only a small hamlet.

In 1883, the Metropolitan District Railway built its Hounslow extention as a branch from Acton Town. At first there were two stations in the area - South Ealing and Boston Road (now Boston Manor). By 1908, the Northfields area begun to develop and a halt was built. The station and platforms were then on the west side of Northfield Avenue.

The bridge where Weymouth Avenue now crosses the railway, preceded the laying out of the road and linked the right of way which connected Little Ealing and Allacross Road. Weymouth Road built to connect Little Ealing Lane northwards to Windermere Road, integrated this bridge which forced th...
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AUGUST

2019

Pottery Lane, W11
Pottery Lane takes its name from the brickfields which were situated at the northern end of the street. The local soil was stiff clay and after 1818, the clay begun to be dug out here and used for brickmaking to supply London’s growing suburbs. Bricks and tiles were stored in sheds lining Pottery Lane and were fired in large kilns. Parts of the diggings flooded and a particular area became known as ’The Ocean’. Rubbish and effluent ended up here and it was bounded by dangerous walkways. Over the years, many drowned there.

Roughly at the same time as the brickmaking took off, pig keepers moved into the area. They had been evicted by their landlord from the Tottenham Court Road area and settled here. Many of those families lived together with the pigs in their houses.

As the area thus became a slum known as either The Potteries or The Piggeries. Conditions in Pottery Lane became so bad it became known as Cut Throat Lane.

On Sundays, there was cockfighting, bull-baiting and the killing of rats by dogs to amuse the residents.

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