Pool of London (2012)

Tower Bridge and the former City Hall

Tower Bridge and the former City Hall.

It takes well under five minutes to raise each half (bascule) of Tower Bridge’s central stretch to allow large ships to pass.

When the Tower Bridge bascules are fully lowered, 18 tons is the weight limit of vehicles using the bridge. 86 degrees is the maximum angle each bascule can be raised.
Credit: Wiki Commons

It takes five minutes to raise each half (bascule) of Tower Bridge’s central stretch to allow large ships to pass.

When the Tower Bridge bascules are fully lowered, 18 tons is the weight limit of vehicles using the bridge. 86 degrees is the maximum angle each bascule can be raised.

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

The Underground Map Pepys Street, EC3N Added: 20 Sep 2020 13:01 GMT	Pepys starts diary On 1 January 1659, Samuel Pepys started his famous daily diary and maintained it for ten years. The diary has become perhaps the most extensive source of information on this critical period of English history. Pepys never considered that his diary would be read by others. The original diary consisted of six volumes written in Shelton shorthand, which he had learned as an undergraduate on scholarship at Magdalene College, Cambridge. This shorthand was introduced in 1626, and was the same system Isaac Newton used when writing. Reply
Admin Tower Bridge, SE1 Added: 26 Aug 2022 15:19 GMT	Bus makes a leap A number 78 double-decker bus driven by Albert Gunter was forced to jump an accidentally opening Tower Bridge. He was awarded a £10 bonus. Reply
Jonathan Cocking Tower Bridge, SE1 Added: 30 Aug 2022 13:38 GMT	Tower Bridge, SE1 The driver subsequently married his clippie (conductress). Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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Bank station Credit: IG/steven.maddison TUM image id: 1653840363 Licence: CC BY 2.0	The Great Synagogue of London (1810) The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during the Blitz. Credit: Thomas Rowlandson TUM image id: 1518368926 Licence:	The Boar’s Head was located on the north side of Whitechapel High Street. The Boar’s Head was originally an inn, which was built in the 1530s; it underwent two renovations for use as a playhouse: first, in 1598, when a simple stage was erected, and a second, more elaborate renovation in 1599. Credit: Unknown TUM image id: 1518792376 Licence:	The Aldgate Pump (1874) Aldgate Pump is a historic water pump located at the junction where Aldgate meets Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street. The pump is notable for its long, and sometimes dark history, as well as its cultural significance as a symbolic start point of the East End of London. The term "East of Aldgate Pump" is used as a synonym for the East End or for East London as a whole. Credit: Wellcome Images TUM image id: 1518792844 Licence:	Bevis Marks Synagogue Credit: John Salmon TUM image id: 1519475277 Licence: CC BY 2.0
St Katherine Cree, City of London St Katharine Cree is a Church of England church on the north side of Leadenhall Street near Leadenhall Market. The present church was built in 1628–30, retaining the Tudor tower of its predecessor. The church escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666 and suffered only minor damage in the London Blitz. Credit: Prioryman TUM image id: 1519729630 Licence:	St James Duke’s Place The church survived the Great Fire of London, but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1727, retaining much of the original woodwork. The poverty of the Aldgate area made it increasingly difficult to raise funds to maintain the church; Godwin described it as being "in a very dirty and dilapidated state". In 1874, under the 1860 Union of Benefices Act, it was demolished and the parish joined to that of St Katherine Cree. The site of the church is now occupied by the Sir John Cass School. Credit: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux TUM image id: 1520552156 Licence:	The Third Goodmans Fields Theatre, Great Alie Street (1801) Credit: W. W. Hutchings TUM image id: 1520855916 Licence:	A drawing published in 1907 of the west front of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories Credit: Uncredited TUM image id: 1523993568 Licence:	Etching of All Hallows Staining tower, drawn in 1922 Credit: Public domain TUM image id: 1585749143 Licence: CC BY 2.0
Mark Lane station Credit: London Transport TUM image id: 1585759751 Licence:	Byward Tower, 1893 TUM image id: 1556882285 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Southwark Cathedral Credit: IG/aleks london diary TUM image id: 1653856025 Licence:	"London Bridge from the Old Swan" by the Irish painter Hubert Pugh (1780) Shooting the tidal rapids at old London Bridge was dangerous; many passengers preferred to get off at the Old Swan, and walk. Immediately across the river in the painting is St Saviour’s Church, now Southwark Cathedral. Credit: Hubert Pugh (Bank of England Museum) TUM image id: 1623675815 Licence:	HMS Belfast (2022) Credit: IG/city visual TUM image id: 1653838128 Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...

A drawing published in 1907 of the west front of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories
Credit: Uncredited
Licence:

Etching of All Hallows Staining tower, drawn in 1922
Credit: Public domain
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Mark Lane station
Credit: London Transport
Licence:

Byward Tower, 1893
Licence: CC BY 2.0

HMS Belfast (2022)
Credit: IG/city visual
Licence: CC BY 2.0

The Church of All Hallows Lombard Street as seen from Ball Alley in the 1820s. All Hallows was a rare City of London church not demolished due to the Great Fire or the Blitz but to falling attendances. Taken from ’The Churches of London’ by George Godwin (1839)
Credit: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux
Licence:

The Shard, taken from the Sky Garden on top of the ’Walkie-Talkie’ (2015)
Credit: Wiki Commons/Colin
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Adelaide House from above
Credit: https://manchesterhistory.net/
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Bermondsey Street (1881) "One cannot help speculating as to the origins of this singular group of houses, with their eight gables. Mr Rendle, who was good enough to take great pains - unfortunately fruitless- to glean something for me about the history of these houses, tells me that in the early part of this century, houses of this type were exceedingly common in the main thoroughfares and bye places of Southwark. They are good specimens of the houses of the time of Elizabeth and somewhat later; the frame of massive timber, else mere shells of lath and plaster; but though often out of shape and leaning in all directions, wonderfully durable." This description was written by Alfred Marks.
Credit: Society for Photographing Relics of Old London/Henry Dixon
Licence:

"Crescent", Minories near to the Tower of London (1913) Crescent was the first planned crescent in London and introduced the concept of curved street frontages. Crescent was built at the same time as John Woods’s Royal Crescent in Bath, between 1768 and 1774 to the designs of George Dance the Younger.
Credit: London Metropolitan Archives
Licence:

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