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.

Amersham

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...

Amersham

Amersham is a market town 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills, England. It is part of the London commuter belt. Amersham is split into two distinct areas: Old Amersham, set in the valley of the River Misbourne, which contains the 13th century parish church of St. Mary’s and several old pubs and coaching inns; and Amersham-on-the-Hill, which grew rapidly around the railway station in the early part of the 20th century.

Records date back to pre-Anglo-Saxon times, when it was known as Egmondesham.

In 1200 Geoffrey, Earl of Essex obtained a charter for Amersham allowing him to hold a Friday market and a fair on 7 and 8 September. In 1613 a new charter was granted to Edward, Earl of Bedford, changing the market day to Tuesday and establishing a statute fair on 19 September.

The area of the town now known as Amersham on the Hill was referred to as Amersham Common until after the arrival of the Metropolitan Line in 1892. After this date growth of the new area of the town gradually accelerated, with much work being done by the arch...

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NOVEMBER

2023

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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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Peter Gambia Street, SE1 Added: 4 Dec 2023 07:05 GMT	Gambia Street, SE1 Gambia Street was previously known as William Street. Reply
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

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

APRIL

2020

Unknown as yet
The Alexandra Road estate, often referred to as Rowley Way, is a housing estate in the London Borough of Camden. Since the 1950s, tower blocks surrounded by public open space had been the preferred method for councils to replace terraced housing while maintaining the same high population density. By the mid-1960s, the shortcomings of that method were becoming apparent.

The Alexandra Road Estate was designed in a brutalist style in 1968 by Neave Brown of Camden Council’s Architects Department. Construction work commenced in 1972 and was completed in 1978.

Neave Brown believed that ziggurat-style terraces, little higher than the terraces they replaced, could provide a better solution for council housing. Th estate is constructed from site-cast, board-marked white, unpainted reinforced concrete.

The estate has suffered less vandalism than many Camden estates, and it was granted Grade II* listed status in 1993, the first post-war council housing estate to be listed.
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APRIL

2020

Alexander Street, W2
Alexander Street was built in 1853 by Alexander Hall of Watergate House, Sussex. Alexander Hall owned several acres of land around this site, largely occupied by the principal London depot of his family’s quarry-owning interests, conveniently situated beside the main railway line into Paddington.
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APRIL

2020

Ave Maria Lane, EC4M
Ave Maria Lane is the southern extension of Warwick Lane, between Amen Corner and Ludgate Hill. Ava Maria Lane’s name is derived from the feast day of Corpus Christi.

Monks chanting the Lord’s Prayer set off from Paternoster Row (Pater Noster being the Latin opening words of the Lord’s Prayer) in procession to St Paul’s Cathedral. They would reach the final “Amen” as they turned into Ava Maria Lane – also responsible to the name Amen Corner.

Ave Maria Lane is home to the Stationers’ Hall, the livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers since 1670.
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APRIL

2020

Purley Oaks
Purley Oaks station was opened by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway on 5 November 1899 Nearby, Brighton Road school was built in 1873 when the area was still undeveloped and livestock grazed at Purley Oaks Farm until the end of Victoria’s reign. The conditions of the sale at auction of Purley Oaks Farm in 1903 included the provision that houses were built for the professional classes.

The station was opened as part of the improvements to the main line and the opening of the Quarry Line. However much of the surrounding land remained agricultural until the First World War. In 1916 James Relf established a market garden near the station.

The school was renamed Purley Oaks in 1922 as the area started to develop with suburban housing.

A short walk away from Purley Oaks is Sanderstead railway station with services to Victoria and East Grinstead.

On Saturday 4 March 1989, it was affected by the Purley station rail crash.
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APRIL

2020

Alma Place, NW10
Alma Place lies between Kensal Green Cemetery and the railway. Alma Road, a small cul-de-sac, is a small terrace of houses built around 1860. It is tucked into the space between the lodge and gates of St Mary’s Cemetery to the south and the terrace fronting Harrow Road to the north. It lies directly over the western end of the tunnel which carries the railway between Willesden Junction and Kensal Green.
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APRIL

2020

Ace Cafe
The Ace Cafe is a former transport cafe located in the Stonebridge area on the A406. The Ace Cafe opened in 1938 to accommodate traffic on the then-new North Circular. The cafe was open 24 hours a day and started to attract motorcyclists in the evening and at weekends.

The emergence of the teenager, an increase in traffic, and the British motorcycle industry at its peak made the Ace a success. Young people started to meet at the cafe to socialise and listen to rock’n’roll on juke boxes.

It became especially popular in the 1950s and 1960s with ’Rockers’.

It is a notable venue in motorcycle culture which originally operated from 1938 until 1969 when it closed.

The cafe closed in 1969 but reopened on the original site in 1997 as a cafe and entertainment venue.
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APRIL

2020

Virginia Primary School is a mixed school in Tower Hamlets, built in 1887. The location of the school when it opened - ’The Old Nichol’ was one of the most notorious slums in London.

During the early 1880s the plight of the poor and their housing were subjects of great debate. Prime Minister William Gladstone ordered a Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes was established, and the Housing of the Working Classes Act followed in 1885.

In 1891, Parliament passed the Public Health (London) Act and the Boundary Street Scheme Act. The demolition of the Old Nichol began in 1893 and the building of the Boundary Estate began in 1895. The Boundary Estate was formally opened in 1900 - the world’s first council housing estate. The demolition rubble was used to construct a mound in the middle of Arnold Circus at the centre of the development and a bandstand was placed at the top. The estate consists of multi-story brick tenements radiating from the central circus, each of which bears the name of a location along the ...
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APRIL

2020

The 1860s map of London
"Stanford’s Library Map of London and its Suburbs" was published in 1862 Edward Stanford’s 1860s map shows the growth of London at a key time of its development and with the impact of the railways.

Stanford had embarked on an ambitious cartographic project - a series of large copper-engraved wall maps of the continents which he called Stanford’s Library Maps. The London map was published at a scale of 6 inches to the mile.

Stanford took the Ordnance Survey 12 inch to a mile sheets of their Skeleton Survey for the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers, and dispatched his own surveyors to complete an immense quantity of detail for which this map is notable.

The original map extent runs from Hammersmith in the west), Greenwich (east), Crouch End (north), Anerley (south). Please note that the Underground Map project does not yet cover the southwestmost section of the original map.

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APRIL

2020

Museum Street, WC1A
Museum Street is so-named since it approaches the main entrance of the British Museum. The British Museum collection dates from 1753 with the building on the site since 1823. However the street dates from before the 14th century. It was a rural lane until the late 17th century when the growth of London caused its urbanisation.

It was at first called Peter Street which may refer to a saltpetre manufacturer which is thought to have existed there. After the area became urban, the road was the site of slum tenements.

An attempt at gentrification saw its name changed to Queen Street. It became home to parish schools for the education of local poor children.

A bookseller called Charles Mudie opened a bookshop and stationers. He explored the possibility of lending books as well as selling them and Mudie’s Select Library proved so popular that, after a decade, it moved out to larger premises. The street then became fashionable area with many of the foremost writers of the day gathering in taverns to converse. The occult Atlantis Bo...
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APRIL

2020

Alexander Square, SW3
Alexander Square is a garden square in Chelsea. John Alexander was the inheritor of the Thurlow Estate through being a descendent of the first husband of Anna Maria Browne.

In 1826 Alexander drew up plans to for a speculative development with the builder James Bonnin. George Basevi became the architect of the scheme when under construction in 1829.

Alexander Square and South Street (now South Terrace), Alfred Place (now Alexander Place), North Terrace, Alexander Place and York Cottages were subsequently built.

The communal garden at the centre of the square is a third of an acre in size.
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APRIL

2020

Bolsover Street, W1W
Bolsover Street - home to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital since 1907. Rocque’s map of 1746 shows the area to be mainly open fields - Bilson’s farm located to the north with hand-dug quarries for road construction in the immediate area.

Norton Street and Upper Norton Street were part of the Portland Estate and laid out as part of the development of the area in the 18th century. They were named after the village of Norton on the Duke of Portland’s Welbeck Abbey estate in Nottinghamshire. At first, Norton Street was described to be home to many artist and sculptor studios and was "the smartest of the local streets socially" up to about 1820.

After about 1825, a decline had set in. Norton Street with Cirencester Place became the local focus of a wider outcry against prostitution.

In 1858, the streets had a change of name and were combined to become Bolsover Street – reflecting links to the Cavendish family and their Derbyshire estate. The name change was designed to rescue its reputation.

...
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APRIL

2020

Pickax Street, EC2Y
Pickax Street once ran from Long Lane to Goswell Road (which before 1864 was called Goswell Street). The word ’Pickax’ may derive from ’Pickt Hatch’ - an area of brothels said to be in this part of London during the Elizabethan era.

Pick Hatch is mentioned in both ’The Merry Wives of Windsor’ ("Goe … to your Mannor of Pickt-hatch") and in ’The Alchemist’ ("The decay’d Vestalls of Pickt-hatch\).

The principal features on the west side of Pickax Street in the late seventeenth century were two substantial inns - ’The Horse and Groom’ and ’The Black Horse’.

Extended yards came into being behind the inns after the break-up around 1700 of the old houses and gardens on the east side of Charterhouse Square. Black Horse Yard was the largest, with stables, coach houses and gallery apartments.

By the late eighteenth century the name Pickax was no more in use, and the road was incorporated into Aldersgate Street.
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APRIL

2020

London (1926)
In 1926 Claude Friese-Greene shot some of the first-ever colour film footage around London, capturing everyday life. Friese-Greene’s technique - innovated by his father and called Biocolour - captures London in striking detail, as if putting the whole city in a time capsule. The people pass before us like ghosts.

Biocolour produced the illusion of true colour by exposing each alternate frame of ordinary black-and-white film stock through a two different coloured filters. Each alternate frame of the monochrome print was then stained red or green. Although the projection of Biocolour prints did provide a tolerable illusion of true colour, it suffered from noticeable flickering and red-and-green fringing when the subject was in rapid motion. In an attempt to overcome the colour fringing problem, a faster-than-usual frame rate was used.

Claude, born Claude Harrison Greene was the son of colour film pioneer, William Friese-Greene.

After William’s death in 1921, Claude Friese-Greene continued to develop the Biocolour system during the 1920s and ren...
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APRIL

2020

Mitre Square, EC3A
Mitre Square is a small square in the City of London. It occupies the site of the cloister of Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate which was demolished under Henry VIII during the Dissolution.

It is connected via three passages with Mitre Street, to Creechurch Place and, via St James’s Passage, to Duke’s Place.

The south corner of the square was the site of the murder of Catherine Eddowes by Jack the Ripper. This was the only murder located within the City of London.
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APRIL

2020

St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge
St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge is a Grade II* listed Anglican church. The church was consecrated in 1843 and designed by Thomas Cundy the younger. It was the first in London to champion the ideals of the Oxford Movement.

The chancel with its rood screen and striking reredos was added in 1892 by the noted church architect George Frederick Bodley.

A memorial commemorates 52 members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry who died on active service in World War II, carrying out work for the Special Operations Executive.

The church is located at 32a Wilton Place.
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APRIL

2020

Swinton Street, WC1X
Swinton Street was named after the two Swinton brothers. It is situated on the east side of Gray’s Inn Road north of and parallel with Acton Street.

The Swinton Estate lay to the east of Gray’s Inn Road and extended to the River Fleet. Its northern boundary was a common sewer and its southern side was the back of the houses on the northern side of Frederick Street.

James Swinton was a builder and surveyor from Gravesend. His brother Peter Swinton was listed in 1776 as residing in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street and a ’Doctor in Physick’.

Swinton Street was described on 7 September 1778, as "a street now building." Two years before that, it was a short cul-de-sac ending in a fence. The first occupants enjoyed a view down the meadows to the Fleet.

The extension eastwards began in the late 1830s. In 1841 there were 37 houses and by 1844 it was fully built.

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APRIL

2020

Acton Street, WC1X
Acton Street is found on the east side of Gray’s Inn Road and connects it with King’s Cross Road. Named after Acton Meadow which formerly occupied this site, Acton Meadow was in turn named after its landowner..

The western end was built as a short cul-de-sac in the early 1770s. The eastern end, where the street was later extended, has principal features to Swinton Street. It may be the work of the same builders.

Even as late as 1834, Acton Street was still unfinished. It was finally completed by 1845.

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APRIL

2020

Acorn Walk, SE16
Acorn Walk is named after a former area of the Surrey Commercial dock system. There was once a dock called the Acorn Pond which ran south from a point nearby. A cargo handling area was known as Acorn Yard.

Keeping the acorn theme, a small row of houses called Acorn Place lay across the north side of Trinity Churchyard.
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APRIL

2020

Lowndes Square, SW1X
Lowndes Square is named after the Secretary to the Treasury William Lowndes. The square runs parallel with Sloane Street to the east, east of the Harvey Nichols department store and Knightsbridge Underground station.

Lowndes Square has terraces with white stucco houses with George Basevi being the designer of many of the houses. The communal garden - not open to the public - contains many fine plane trees.

Lowndes Square is now home to some of the most expensive properties in the world. Russian businessman, Roman Abramovich bought two stucco houses in Lowndes Square in 2008.

The Pakistan High Commission is located on the square.
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APRIL

2020

Weston’s Music Hall
Weston’s Music Hall was a music hall and theatre that opened in 1857. In 1906, the theatre became known as the Holborn Empire. The theatre was constructed on the site of the Six Cans and Punch Bowl Tavern. The licensed victualler - Henry Weston - had already transformed the former Holborn National Schoolrooms into a music hall some years before. The facility was his response to the success of Charles Morton’s Canterbury Music Hall in Lambeth.

The theatre was renamed the Royal Music Hall in 1868, and then changed names again in 1892, becoming the Royal Holborn Theatre of Varieties.

The hall’s early years were presided over by an exacting chairman and master of ceremonies, W. B. Fair, famous for the song ’Tommy, Make Room for Your Uncle’. He chose the acts, warmed the audience up for each succeeding performance, and encouraged them at all times to interact with the performers throughout the evening.

In 1905 the theatre was bought by the variety impresario Walter Gibbons and in the following year, he had the theatre auditorium remodelled by Frank Matcham. It w...
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APRIL

2020

Home of Rest for Horses
The Home of Rest for Horses was situated at the corner of Furzehill Road and Barnet Lane, near Borehamwood. Opened as a Charity in 1886, the Home of Rest for Horses became a refuge where horses and donkeys could rest and find peace and contentment following their devoted service, purpose-built stables were opened in 1933.

It was demolished in the 1970s to make way for housing. The Home moved to Buckinghamshire where it thrives to the present day.

In the photograph, the stables and fields are pictured.
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APRIL

2020

Farriers Way, WD6
Farriers Way was built on the site of the former Home of Rest for Horses. Starting in 1886, the Home of Rest for Horses came to Borehamwood in 1933 from Cricklewood, and had extensive grounds, all now covered by housing. It was much loved by the locals who visited often, particularly at the weekend.

In 1968, the Elstree Rural District Council foresaw a housing shortage and requested that the Home of Rest’s site might be rezoned and scheduled as suitable for housing development. The charity began to look for new premises and a year later a new site was purchased in Speen, Buckinghamshire.

The home finally closed in 1975 and relocated to Speen, Princes Risborough where it still is today.

The names of all roads on this estate have connections to horses.
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APRIL

2020

St. Thomas’s Square, E9
St Thomas’s Square was laid out by Robert Collins in 1772 on land leased from St Thomas’s Hospital. St Thomas’s Hospital owned a lot of the land of Hackney - much of this had been previously been owned by the Hospital of the Savoy who by 1517 owned 6 acres of London Fields.

On the south-east corner was the 1771-built St Thomas’s Chapel. This site later became the Empress Cinema which opened in 1912. The cine,a became the Essoldo in 1937 and finally a bingo hall. The building was demolished in 1996 to build a new residential block for Cordwainers College.

The central area was open space until 1892. That year it was described by Benjamin Clarke as "anything but picturesque".

In 1892 it was laid out as a public garden by Hackney District Board. Hackney Borough Council purchased the garden in 1915 for £50.

The northwest corner of the square suffered bomb damage during the Second World War. After the war, the northern and eastern sides were compulsorily purchased by the London County Council in 1952 to build flats...
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APRIL

2020

North Park Farm, also known as Plum Farm, dates from the mid 16th century or before. North Park Farm was an arable farm which had started off at around 75 acres but grew to about 278 acres. It specialised in wheat but later on, market gardening. It was owned by the Earl of St Germans.

Two brothers, Edward and Samuel Sheppard took over the farm in 1849 and it was run on their behalf by William Fry at first. Fry was reported in 1871 as living at North Park Farm but had left by 1881.

By the time of the 1861 census, Edward Sheppard and his family were living at the new 1850s-built farmhouse which was located about halfway along the modern Duncrievie Road (which was later laid out on the line of the farm track). Edward died in 1892.

Samuel Sheppard and his family moved to the newly-built Eliot House at North Park Farm in 1867 and stayed there until 1904. Eliot House (or Lodge) is still on the Hither Green Lane / Duncrievie Road corner. His son, also called Samuel, would later take over Bellingham Farm.

The sale o...
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APRIL

2020

Great Marlborough Street, W1F
Great Marlborough Street was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. In the 16th century, the land it was laid out over belonged to the Mercer’s Company but was surrendered to Henry VIII in 1536.

The land was subsequently owned by a brewer Thomas Wilson whose son Richard sold it to William Maddox in 1622. Maddox called the estate ’Millfield’.

In 1670, William Maddox’s son Benjamin let the land to James Kendrick who in turn sub-let what is now Great Marlborough Street to John Steele. The land remained undeveloped, with building focusing on Tyburn Road (Oxford Street) to the north.

The street began development in the early 18th century, when Steele let five acres of land to Joseph Collens for property development. It was named after John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough who as commander of the English Army won the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

The Pantheon was based at the far eastern end of Great Marlborough Street, built on what had previously been gardens in 1772. A popular place of e...
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