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

2021

Cloth Fair, EC1A
Cloth Fair stands where the original Bartholomew Fair was held in medieval times. The name ’cloth fair’ derives from the cloth merchants who used to buy and sell goods during the Bartholomew market.

Cloth Fair runs beside the Anglican church of St Bartholomew-the-Great. Some of the nearby buildings survived the Great Fire of London with numbers 41 and 42 built between 1597 and 1614 still surviving. The buildings were almost lost when they were classified as dangerous structures but the architects Paul Paget and John Seely bought the buildings in 1930 and carried out a sympathetic restoration. Their success enabled them to purchase and restore many other local buildings and they continued living and working together in 41 Cloth Fair.

The street was originally within the precincts of the Priory of St Bartholomew’s. Until 1910, it formed a separate liberty with gates that were shut every evening. It was this early ’gated community’ which helped the street avoid destruction in the Great Fire - the priory walls protected the area ...
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MAY

2021

Old Dick Whittington
The Dick Whittington Inn at 24 Cloth Fair was a sixteenth century building and once part of a row of medieval buildings lining the street. The Old Dick Whittington stood at the end of Cloth Fair at its junction with Kinghorn Street and Middle Street. It was a three-story building with an attic gable and slightly jettied (an overhang) on the second floor.

It first became a beerhouse in 1848, although its owners claimed it at the time that it was the oldest licensed premises in London. There are though many pubs in London older than this.

The row of buildings that the pub was in was acquired by the Corporation of London. The medieval houses along Cloth Fair which had stood for hundreds of years were demolished in 1916 for ’slum clearance’. At the opposite end of the terrace there is one survivor of the slum clearance - 41/42 Cloth Fair.
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MAY

2021

Argyle Road, W13
Argyle Road came into existence in 1870. The road finally allowed a direct route to the north from West Ealing. Previously, the only route in this direction was Drayton Green Lane, which twisted and turned around the fields and the ancient hamlet of Drayton.

Argyle Road wasn’t fully laid out until the early 20th century. John Campbell, Duke of Argyll who owned Ealing Grove from 1775 until 1791, although this streetname derivation is tenuous.
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MAY

2021

Christmas Street, SE1
Christmas Street ran north from Tower Bridge Road, west of Green Walk. In a surreal piece of renaming, Christmas Street had been originally Noel Street before 1938. Under this first name, it was laid out sometime in the 1810s decade. At that point, Tower Bridge had not been built - therefore the main road was called Bermondsey New Road rather than Tower Bridge Road.

Christmas Street was some sixty yards long and by the twentieth century categorised as a slum. Along the street was Clifton Buildings - a series of four-storey tenements accessible via open stairwells. On the other side of the street was Haddon Hall, a Baptist chapel opened during the 1890s standing between Rephidim Street and Noel Street. It was probably named after Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), a notable Baptist preacher.

In the 1960s Christmas Street was erased from the map and the Haddonhall Estate was built. Haddon Hall - the church - was rebuilt on the corner of Tower Bridge Road and Leroy Street.
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MAY

2021

Alderman’s Walk, EC2M
Alderman’s Walk was formerly Dashwood’s Walk, for Francis Dashwood, who lived here in the 18th century. Alderman’s Walk has been a busy section of the City for centuries; carts and trucks have been rumbling around here ever since the Romans built the Bishops Gate and opened up a main thoroughfare into the City. Despite all this turmoil Frances Dashwood, an 18th century Member of the Common Council of the City, liked it so much that he built his house here, on the south side of the Walk near to Old Broad Street. When Dashwood received a Knighthood the place became known as Dashwood’s Court until he was elected to the Court of Aldermen of the City of London and from that time the name changed to Alderman’s Walk.

Adjoining the Walk, on the south side, is the church of St Botolph, Bishopsgate, one of three surviving churches dedicated to the seventh century patron saint of travellers. The first church on this site was built about the beginning of the 13th century and was probably twice replaced before the 17th century. On Tuesday 4 September 1666 St Botolph’s was ...
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MAY

2021

Bayswater Road, W2
Bayswater Road is the main road running along the northern edge of Hyde Park. Like Oxford Street to the east, Bayswater Road follows the course of the old Roman road linking London with Silchester.

The eastern end of Bayswater Road starts at the Marble Arch junction, and in the west continues into Notting Hill Gate. It is mostly within the City of Westminster but a small portion of the road’s western end lies in Kensington and Chelsea.

By 1828, the main road (then known as Uxbridge Road) facing Kensington Gardens, had been built up between St Petersburg Place and Porchester Terrace. Along the west side of Black Lion Lane there were houses as far as the corner of Moscow Road and more spacious villas, at first called Westbourne Terrace, farther north almost reaching Pickering Place at the southern end of Westbourne Green. The east side of Black Lion Lane was still open, apart from a few large houses at the Uxbridge Road end, and villas lined Porchester Terrace only as far as the corner of Craven Hill, which itself had cottages only...
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MAY

2021

Collins’ Music Hall
Collins’ Music Hall was a notable Islington venue. At the rear of the Lansdowne Arms public house, there was, as early as 1790, an annex in Old Paradise Row.

The Lansdowne Music Hall was erected here in 1861-2. A bankrupt proprietor of the Marylebone Music Hall, Samuel Thomas Collins Vagg, also performed under the stage name of Sam Collins. He was a ’Stage Irishman’ and vocalist. He took over the management of the Lansdowne Music Hall in 1863 but died in 1869.

His widow took over with Harry Sydney who himself died in 1870. The music hall was rebuilt in 1897 with a capacity of 1800 and had ten bars.

By 1908 it had become Collins Theatre of Varieties and during the First World War, the Islington Hippodrome.

In June 1904 Bioscope pictures were shown there. Gracie Fields appeared in 1915 when the price of a gallery seat was tuppence. Tommy Trinder made his first stage appearance there and Norman Wisdom appeared in December 1945. Old-time ’greats’ were numerous: Charles C...
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MAY

2021

Islington Green, N1
Islington Green is both a small green and a series of roads which surround it. Islington Green lies at the convergence of Upper Street and Essex Road (which was once called Lower Street).

Historically it is not an old village green like others in London but a surviving patch of common land which was carved out of old manorial wasteland. It was where local farmers and tenants had free grazing rights. The original land was far more extensive but was largely built over in the 19th century. Recent excavations revealed evidence of 15th-century tenements, demolished in the 17th century.

Though already named Islington Green by then, the Marquess of Northampton, lord of the manor of Canonbury, granted Islington Green to the vestry in 1777. It was cleared and enclosed with posts and rails. Trees were planted in 1808.

In the 1860s Islington Green was ’improved’. More trees and shrubs were planted, and Islington Green was transformed into the Victorian view of a city space.

In 1885, Henry Vigar-Harries descri...
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MAY

2021

Chapel Place, SE1
Chapel Place largely followed the modern route of Hankey Place. Chapel Place in Southwark, was named after a Methodist Chapel which was situated on one of its many bends. The street began as a short cul-de-sac leading off Long Lane with a path leading to the chapel in the 1820s. It appears to have been preceded by a tenter ground.

The road, along with its chapel, appearing on 1930s maps, seems to have disappeared by the time of 1950s mapping, suggesting that it didn’t survive the Second World War.

Hankey Place was largely laid out over the northern section of its route.
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MAY

2021

Harrow Road, W10
Harrow Road is a main road through London W10. Harrow Road is an ancient route which runs from Paddington in a northwesterly direction towards Harrow. It is also the name given to the immediate surrounding area of Queens Park and Kensal Green, straddling the NW10, W10 and W9 postcodes. With minor deviations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the route remains otherwise unaltered. There are dozens of other existing roads throughout the United Kingdom using the same name which do not lead to or from Harrow but merely use the name of the town or, in some cases, a person of that name.

Before urbanisation the entire road was known as the "Harrow Road" but, as various local authorities came into existence and imposed independent numbering schemes and more localised descriptions on the parts of the road within their respective boundaries, the principal name was replaced in a number of places along its course.

Starting at the junction of Harrow Road and Edgware Road at Paddington Green, Harrow Road (A404) passe...
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MAY

2021

Pavilion Theatre
The Pavilion Theatre at 191–193 Whitechapel Road was the first major theatre to open in the East End. The theatre was opened in 1827 on the site of a former factory.

The first Pavilion Theatre was destroyed by fire on 13 February 1856. It was rebuilt in 1858 as the New Royal Pavilion Theatre, with a capacity of 3500.

It was reconstructed in 1871 by the architect J. T. Robinson, and the capacity increased to 4000.

In the early 20th century it became the home of Yiddish theatre, catering to the large Jewish population of the area, and gave birth to the Anglo-Jewish ’Whitechapel Boys’ avant-garde literary and artistic movement.

In later years, it operated under the names, Royal Clarence Theatre, Eastern Opera House, and New Royal Pavilion Theatre, continuing in business until 1935. The building was demolished in 1962.
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MAY

2021

Gibraltar Walk, E2
Gibraltar Walk leads north from Bethnal Green Road. Gibraltar Walk began its life in the mid eighteenth century as a tiny side street amidst fields. The named road then was at right-angles to its later alignment. In the early nineteenth century, the area build up and Gibraltar Walk spread north. The southernmost section was called Samuel Street by the 1830s but this lost its separate name by the 1860s.

Gibraltar Walk retains a terrace of nineteenth-century red brick. The terrace bends along Gibraltar Walk, turning a corner and extending the length of Padbury Court.

The buildings were historically occupied by small-scale labour intensive workshops, mostly furniture makers. The interior of each building was spread across four levels.

The Gibraltar Tavern was at 28 Gibraltar Walk (11 Gibraltar Walk prior to street renumbering at 1882). The pub was present before 1750 and a path beside it led to a street called Gibraltar Gardens.

The northern end of Gibraltar Walk was redesigned i...
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MAY

2021

Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green - a happy corner Bethnal Green is located 3.3 miles northeast of Charing Cross, It was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney, Middlesex.

The name Blithehale or Blythenhale, the earliest form of Bethnal Green, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon healh (’angle, nook, or corner’) and blithe (’happy, blithe’).

Following population increases caused by the expansion of London during the 18th century, it was split off as the parish of Bethnal Green in 1743, becoming part of the Metropolis in 1855 and the County of London in 1889. The parish became the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green in 1900 and the population peaked in 1901, entering a period of steady decline which lasted until 1981. Bethnal Green has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

The economic history of Bethnal Green is characterised by a shift away from agricultural provision for the City of London to market gardening, weaving and li...
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MAY

2021

Cambridge Heath Road, E2
The route of Cambridge Heath Road, passing through Bethnal Green as a broad stretch of waste, was mentioned in the 1580s as the highway from Mile End to Hackney. The name of Cambridge Heath Road had changed from Cambridge Road in 1938. The road was widened in 1862, 1905 and 1926.

The route from Essex to Smithfield market passed from Mile End along Cambridge (Heath) Road and then along Hackney Road to Shoreditch, bringing ’vast numbers of cattle and many heavy carriages’ which left the roads beyond the ability of Bethnal Green to keep in repair.

Leases of waste along the road in the 16th century included covenants to ’keep the footway well gravelled’. In 1654 Bethnal Green’s highway surveyors were ordered to fill up a gravel pit which they had made in the green.

Bethnal Green was rated with other Stepney hamlets in 1671 to repair the highways and causeways ’in great decay’. By 1671 it was generally accepted that roads built up on both sides should be paved. Paving with stone and gravel was the responsibility of the houses lining the roads - Thomas Street being singled out in 1734.
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MAY

2021

West Ruislip
West Ruislip is a station located between Ickenham and Ruislip. It is served by both London Underground and National Rail trains on independent platforms. It is the western terminus of the Central Line’s West Ruislip branch. The station was opened on 2 April 1906 as Ruislip & Ickenham by the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway (GW&GCJR). The GW&GCJR connected London and the Midlands via High Wycombe and provided an alternative route to the Great Central Railway’s main line through Aylesbury, Harrow and Wembley which shared its route with the Metropolitan Railway.

Prior to the Second World War plans had been made for a number of extensions to the Central Line. The London Passenger Transport Board’s 1935-40 New Works programme included the extension of the Central Line to run alongside the Great Western Railway tracks from North Acton to South Ruislip and the GW&GCJR tracks from there as far as Denham; the post-war introduction of the Metropolitan Green Belt caused the extension to be cut back to West Ruislip. Had the Central Line extension been completed as planned, the next station would have been Harefield Road. Preparatory work on this section had started just before...
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MAY

2021

Lismore Circus, NW5
Lismore Circus was a former Victorian circus with six streets radiating from it. Lord Mansfield, Lord Southampton and Lord Lisburne were the local landowners and plans were drawn up for six streets radiating from Lismore Circus. Houses here were built by 1853.

From 1868 the Midland Railway ran trains from Bedford to its own terminus at St. Pancras with the railway tunnel running underneath the southern half of the Circus. And also in 1868, Haverstock Hill station opened and was situated in the southwest of the circus (partially closing in 1916 but only finally decomissioned in 1983).

In 1870 St Pancras Vestry took over the central area following a memorial that it should be laid out as a garden. It opened to the public in 1871, a circular garden surrounded by privet hedge with grass, shrubs and trees.

The area was devestated by bombing during the Second World War. On 15 October 1940, a bomb demolished the Lismore Circus bridge over the railway, blocking it.

The housing estate surrounding Lismore Circus w...
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MAY

2021

Maze Hill, SE10
Maze Hill is believed to have taken its name from Sir Algernon May. Sir Algernon May lived nearby until 1693. Another May - Robert May - lived here in 1683. ’Moys Hill’ is marked on Rocque’s 1745 map. By the time of Greenwood’s 1827 map, it is ’Maize Hill’. It had settled to ’Maze Hill’ on Bacon’s map of 1888.

It is unknown when the road came into existence although the east side of the line of the road was the location for gravel extraction until the 1650s. After the gravel was fully extracted, the land started to become the site for the ’homes of gentlemen, scholars and naval officers’. (Hidden London)

The southern end of Maze Hill is adjacent to an area marked on Rocque’s 1745 map as ’Vanbrugh Fields’ named after Sir John Vanbrugh (1719-1726) who lived here. Vanbrugh Castle was built around 1720 at the junction of the current Maze Hill and Westcombe Park Road.

Former slave and abolitionist campaigner Olaudah Equiano lived briefly at 111 Maze Hill.

The John Roa...
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MAY

2021

Whitehall, SW1A
Whitehall is recognised as the centre of the government of the United Kingdom. The name ’Whitehall’ was used for several buildings in the Tudor period - referring to their colour, consisting of light stone. This included the Royal Palace of Whitehall, which gave its name to the street.

The Palace of Whitehall was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III before its destruction by fire in 1698. Whitehall was originally the road that led to the front of the palace. It was widened in the 18th century following the destruction of the palace.

It became a popular place to live by the 17th century. Oliver Cromwell had moved to Wallingford House in the street in 1647. Two years later, Charles I was carried through Whitehall on the way to his trial at Westminster Hall. Whitehall had sufficient space for a scaffold to be erected for the King’s execution in 1649. Cromwell in turn died at the Palace of Whitehall in 1658.

By the 18th century, traffic struggled along the narrow streets south of Holbein Gate. Th...
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MAY

2021

Little Compton Street, W1D
Little Compton Street was a street in Soho. Little Compton Street connected the east end of Old Compton Street at its junction with Charing Cross Road to New Compton Street at Stacey Street.

Old Compton Street absorbed Little Compton Street in 1896. The section of Little Compton Street between Charing Cross Road and New Compton Street is now blocked by an office block.

A street sign for Little Compton Street remains visible on a wall of a utility tunnel beneath a street grate on a traffic island in the middle of the junction of Old Compton Street and Charing Cross Road. Contrary to popular belief, this was a tunnel that previously ran under Little Compton Street, rather than the latter having been ’buried’. It now forms part of the Cambridge Circus Utility Tunnels.
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MAY

2021

Anchor Terrace, SE1
Anchor Terrace is a large symmetrical building on the east side of Southwark Bridge Road, situated very close to the River Thames. Anchor Terrace was built in 1834 with its original inhabitants being senior employees of the nearby Anchor Brewery. The building was later used as the brewery’s offices.

It was discovered that Anchor Terrace stands on the site of the original Globe Theatre after part of the foundations were found underneath the car park to its rear. However, as Anchor Terrace itself is a grade II listed building, there may never be a full excavation of the site.

It originally comprised eight residences. Among the original residents were the brewer John Hoy Waterman and Charles Spurrell (1783–1866), a member of the Spurrell family who, along with his brother, James Spurrell (1776–1840), was employed at the Anchor Brewery.

The building was converted into luxury flats in the late 1990s.

Anchor Terrace overlooks the site of the former brewery and is next to the headquarters of the Financial Times.
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MAY

2021

Black Lion Yard, E1
Black Lion Yard, a narrow passage, extended from Old Montague Street, where it could be accessed via a set of steps, to Whitechapel Road Named after the Black Lion Inn which is mentioned by Charles Dickens in Barnaby Rudge (1840), it was certainly in existence by 1746, probably earlier. In 1888 it was (like much of the surrounding area) predominantly Jewish. The Jewish Soup kitchen was based here before moving on to Brune Street in 1902 and it was known for its kosher dairy which had its own herd of cows.

Black Lion Yard eventually became known for its jewellers, described as the ’Hatton Garden of the East End’. It was earmarked for clearance in 1966 and despite petitions and media coverage, it was demolished 1972-5.

Black Lion House stands near the site today on Whitechapel Road.
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MAY

2021

Allum Lane, WD6
Allum Lane links Borehamwood with Watling Street just north of Elstree village. Originally the road was much straighter but encroachment by landowners altered the course slightly. Allum Lane is mentioned as far back as 1437 and at that time was known as Alwynlane. Following the Enclosure Act of 1776, which divided up the Boreham Wood Common, roads such as this were improved from what originally would have been simple dirt tracks.

Along the road many grand houses were slowly built including Hillside (also known as Barham House and Clock House) build in 1789. The explorer (not the actor) Sir Richard Burton, explorer was there.

In the 1860s, the Midland railway reached the area and Elstree station was built at the Borehamwood end of the lane. Allum Lane then became more used as Elstree people used it to access their station. Lord Aldenham build a carriage drive from Aldenham House to meet Allum Lane at the Elstree end so that his estate could easier access the station.

Though many of the larger houses made way for housing...
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MAY

2021

Frank Whipple Place, E14
East End campaigner Frank Whipple died in 2011 at the age of 103. Born in Ireland, Frank Whipple moved to east London with his family in 1916.

Having witnessed unrest on the streets in the garment business, where he was a shop steward, he became strongly political. He was involved in the 1926 General Strike, fought off fascists in Cable Street in the 1930s and worked as a policeman during the war.

After his wife Lily died in 1975, Frank dedicated his life to his disabled daughter Peggy at their home in Rhodeswell Road and lived to become the UK’s oldest registered carer.

In 2009, Tower Hamlets Council declared Mr Whipple a local hero and commissioned a set of photographs by Rankin.

A Millwall supporter since 1918, Mr Whipple had been the club’s oldest season ticket holder.
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MAY

2021

Sardinia Street, WC2B
Sardinia Street, formerly Duke Street, was a street that ran from Prince’s Street in the south to the western side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the north. The land lying just to the south of Sardinia Street (between Wild Street and Drury Lane), was leased by Henry Holford to John Ittery on 20 April 1618. It was described as "one hundred foote of ground from the south side of the close, called Oldwich Close".

Before 1629, the ground had been enclosed with a ditch on the north side and a mud wall on the west. South and east were respectively the Earl of Clare’s landholding and a "common sewer".

In 1629, what soon afterwards became known as Duke Street was described as "the pathway on the south side thereof, leading from Princes Streete towardes Holbourne, the said pathway conteyning in breadth 10 foote."

In 1652 the land came into the hands of Humphrey Weld who started to develop Duke Street. By 1661, Weld had let out a house with a 21 year lease but a 1658 map shows the street as fully built.

The street had an arch at its northern end which led to Lincoln’s Inn Fields - th...
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MAY

2021

Grantham Road, E12
Grantham Road, with Church Road, forms a crescent to the east of Dersingham Avenue. Manor Park was, until the late nineteenth century, called Little Ilford. It referred to the small crossing over the River Hile which was the former name of the Roding. The river was prone to flooding.

An alehouse stood on the site of the former Three Rabbits pub (on the corner of Rabbits Road) since the 1630s. It probably took its name from a rabbit warren on the old Aldersbrook estate which gave its name to Warren Avenue. The pub was used by dealers trading at the annual cattle fairs on Wanstead Flats until the nineteenth century.

Between 1829 and 1831, a prison called the Little Ilford House of Correction was built on the site of the current site of Gloucester Road and Worcester Road. It was demolished in 1878 and some of its rubble was used in the construction of local houses.

The area subsequently received its ’Manor Park’ name due to Manor Park railway station which took its name from the home of the Lord of the Manor of West Ham w...
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MAY

2021

Ha Ha Road, SE18
Ha Ha Road in Greenwich is no laughing matter. A "ha ha" is a ditch which serves as a boundary between fields or properties. It is designed to be a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier while preserving an uninterrupted view of the landscape beyond. Ha has are also used in landscape design to prevent access to a garden, for example by grazing livestock, without obstructing views.

There’s also a "ha ha gate" which connects and provides access between the two areas and a "ha ha wall" which shores up the ditch.

The "ha ha" of Ha Ha Road, SE18 still exists. It flanks the Barrack Field of Woolwich Garrison.
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MAY

2021

Mavelstone Road, BR1
Mavelstone Road dates from early in the Edwardian period. Mavelstone Road is an unadopted road - the London Borough of Bromley is not responsible for the road’s maintenance. As a result, Mavelstone Road has retained an high proportion of its original large early 20th century residences. Its character has led it to be designated a Conservation Area by the borough.

’Stotfold’, built in 1908-9, is a grade II listed building and is also on the statutory list of buildings of architectural or historic interest.

Both Mavelstone Close and Mount Close were developed in the middle 1950s off of Mavelstone Road. Park Farm Road, which adjoins Mavelstone Road, is also unadopted and also has some fine examples of Arts and Crafts residential architecture.
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MAY

2021

Anthony Street, E1
Anthony Street previously ran from Commercial Road through to Cable Street. Just a few metres survive. This part of Anthony Street was formerly known as Catherine Street with the oldest section of the street, always called Anthony Street, further south. It was combined into one street during the 1880s but largely swept away in the 1960s.

The Commercial Road had been built in 1803 as a conduit for newly arrived goods from the Isle of Dogs straight into the City of London. Catherine Street (Anthony Street) was a turning to the south.

As the nineteenth century progressed, the street became occupied by the Jewish community with the community surviving into the 1960s.

As a teenager in post-war years, the playwright Steven Berkoff lived for a time in Anthony Street. His father Abraham had run a successful tailor’s shop in Leman Street. The family’s move to the United States was unsuccessful, so they returned to two rooms and an outside WC, with chickens in the yard, in Anthony Street.

In 1958 much of the street was subject to a...
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MAY

2021

Beethoven Street, W10
Beethoven Street is a street in the Queen’s Park Estate. The original streets of the Queen’s Park Estate were given names A Street, B Street, C street etc. up to P Street. They were eventually given real names but one of the distinguishing features of the Estate are these sequential streets.

The north-east corner of the Estate was acquired in 1874 by the United Land Company.

Four streets were eventually laid out - Beethoven, Mozart, Herries, and Lancefield Streets.

The terraced houses were tightly packed: a few, facing Kilburn Lane, were to be worth £500 and the rest £300. Less than half of the plots, towards the northern end, had been numbered by 1883 but Beethoven and Mozart Streets had been built up by 1886.

Both poor and comfortable households existed when surveyed in 1899 in Beethoven, Herries, and Lancefield Streets.
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MAY

2021

Bricket Wood
Bricket Wood is a station on the Watford to St Albans Abbey line. The area of Bricket Wood was mostly agricultural until Bricket Wood railway station was opened in 1861.

In 1889 brothers Henry and William Gray bought land in the area and built ’Woodside Retreat Fairground’. The fairground attracted hordes of visitors to the area from London and nearby towns and a small village developed around the station. In 1923, a rival fairground named Joyland was built nearby by R.B Christmas.

Both resorts were closed in 1929 and Christmas then used his land to build bungalows.

During the 1930s the area became popular with naturists after Charles Macaskie set up the naturist camp Spielplatz on the outskirts of the village. Naturists bought up plots of land on the edge of the village and built their own communities. The village also began to attract Wiccans after Gerald Gardner set up Bricket Wood coven.

During the 1950s housing estates were built for employees of aviation company Handley Page, who had a plant at nearby Radlett.
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MAY

2021

Green Street, E13
Since the 15th century, Green Street has marked the boundary of the ancient parishes of East Ham and West Ham, from the Romford Road to the marshes near the River Thames. The upper portion approaching Forest Gate was at one time called Gypsy Lane as it was once an area frequented by gypsies.

The southern portion of the road was the location of the Boleyn Ground, home to West Ham United. Due to the location of the football ground, Green Street was often the scene for football hooliganism and fan related violence including the 2009 Upton Park riot involving fans of West Ham and Millwall.

At the nearby junction with Barking Road, there is a Champions statue commemorating West Ham’s players who helped win the 1966 World Cup: Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.

Near Upton Park Underground station, the road becomes a regional centre for retail in food, jewellery and fabrics, and the location of Queens Market. The road has an array of shops specialising in primarily South Asian goods, catering to those with strong cultural and familial ties to Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The street also has a smaller...
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MAY

2021

Stratford International
Stratford International station was built as part of work on the second phase of High Speed 1 and reached completion in April 2006. Despite its name, no international services stop at Stratford International - plans for it to be served by Eurostar trains never came to fruition. The National Rail platforms are served by domestic Southeastern trains on the High Speed 1 route originating at St Pancras, with interchange to Eurostar trains at either Ebbsfleet or Ashford.

On the DLR it is a terminus – one of seven end-of-the-line termini – for local services via Canning Town.

Construction of the National Rail station was completed in 2006, but it only opened in 2009 to serve Southeastern services on HS1.
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MAY

2021

Stratford
Stratford station is a large multilevel railway station in Stratford, east London. The station served as a key arrival point for the London 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Stratford was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham in the county of Essex, which transformed into an industrial suburb following the introduction of the railway in 1839. As part of the growth of London in the late 19th century, Stratford significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming the centre of administration of the Borough of West Ham in 1886 and it has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

The more recent economic history is underpinned by a move away from railway works and heavy industry towards becoming a significant commercial and cultural centre.

Stratford station was opened on 20 June 1839 by the Eastern Counties Railway.

Central Line services started on 4 December 1946, extended from Liverpool Street station in new tunnels after being delayed due to the Second World War. The Docklands Light Railway opened on 31 August 1987 reusing redundant rail routes through the Bow and Popla...
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