Back Alley EC3 How we love to use figurative terms of description; they form such a distinctive part of our daily life that we would probably experience great difficulty if they were somehow barred from our vocabulary. Nicknames applied to friends (or enemies), relating to some particular feature of their make-up or a habit is …
March 2017 archive
The alleyways and courtyards of London: A
Abchurch Yard EC4 This is one of those retreats in which London is so abundantly rich. Although not one of the City’s most secluded byways, it is ideally situated at the side of a tiny lane – an antique area that has changed little in layout since the 12th century. The bulk of Abchurch …
The alleyways and courtyards of London
A guide to the alleys, courts, passages and yards of Central London by Ivor Hoole This page is taken from Ivor Hoole’s sadly defunct GeoCities site listing the alleys and courtyards in Central London, last updated in 2004 and now taken offline. The Underground Map blog lists this information as is, with no claim of …
One Hundred Elms Farm
[advanced_iframe securitykey=”73bfdf36bff161fdb6d48c80a87afbe943e66891″ src=”http://theundergroundmap.com/iframe.html?id=38169&mapyear=1900&zoom=17&iheight=400″ width=”400″ height=”400″] N.B. Clicking on map markers take you to articles on the main website There was a farm on this site, on the northern edge of Sudbury Common, since at least the time of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. Hundred Elms Farm was probably named after the avenue of …
Lavender Hill, SW11
The name Lavender Hill derives from the use of the fields on either side of this stretch of road for the cultivation of lavender and other herbs, by the nursery business set up in 1820 by William Pamplin. The hill would have been a fragrant and beautiful place until the late 1850s, with a few …
Wornington Road, W10
[advanced_iframe securitykey=”73bfdf36bff161fdb6d48c80a87afbe943e66891″ src=”http://theundergroundmap.com/iframe.html?id=10403&mapyear=1900&zoom=17&iheight=400″ width=”400″ height=”400″] N.B. Clicking on map markers take you to articles on the main website Wornington Road was built in the late 1860s. A plan existed, dated March 1865, called a ’Design for Laying out the Portobello Estate for Building Purposes’. The fields lying south of the Hammersmith and City Railway were …
White Conduit Fields
White Conduit Fields in Islington was an early venue for cricket and several major matches are known to have been played there in the 18th century. It was the original home of the White Conduit Club, forerunner of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The cricket field was adjacent to the former White Conduit House, immediately south …
White Conduit Street, N1
White Conduit Street was laid out and built up with houses and tenements from the mid-1790s. It was subsequently extended north of the Penton Estate to link up with Cloudesley Road in Islington, but has now been reduced to a short dead-end. White Conduit Street acquired a number of shops, but the London County Council …
Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is a much-admired masterpiece of Victorian public works engineering, built in 1865–8 and nicknamed ’the cathedral of sewage’. The Abbey Mill was an ancient tidal watermill in West Ham, dating back to at least the 12th century. It was sited on Channelsea Island in the Channelsea River and was one of …
The Potteries and the Bramley Road area
Between the Ladbroke and Norland estates there extended northward from the Uxbridge Road a lane which provided access to the half-dozen fields between the northern boundary of the Norland estate and the southern boundary of Notting Barns Farm (later the St Quintin estate). In the eighteenth century this lane was known as Green’s Lane, perhaps …