Tag: History

Milestones

While poking around Smithfield recently I had occasion to take a break in a local hostelry and over a pint started reading an old guidebook. First thing I learnt was that the Great North Road that links London to Scotland and was the main route of travel from medieval times until the 20th century begins… Continue reading Milestones

Humumm’s

On the south east corner of Covent garden was an area in the 17th century that was known as the “Hummums“ The term crops up in several different places, diaries. letters etc from the 18th & 19th centuries and at first I thought it was the name of the people who owned the establishment that… Continue reading Humumm’s

Stumped!

Ok, so not the most inspiring photo, but as they say, “Every picture tells a story”. What you’re looking at here was the proposed site for the London terminus of the Great Central Railway in the 1890s. An enterprising businessman, Frank Crocker somehow got wind of these proposals and realising that the terminus would need… Continue reading Stumped!

Bucolic Bonnington Square

Bonnington Square in Vauxhall was built during the 1870s. Only a “six” away from the Oval cricket ground it comprised compact neat rows of London brick houses surrounding a central double terrace primarily used to house railway workers who were employed at Nine Elms Goods Yard close by. Booth’s map has the square marked as… Continue reading Bucolic Bonnington Square

Sorry, no fish today

Had the luxury of travelling on a bus a few weeks ago from Victoria to Charing Cross. I call it a luxury because it give a different perspective from pavement level when you sit upstairs (at the front pretending to be the driver obviously). Instead of sitting on the Westminster Abbey side I went for… Continue reading Sorry, no fish today

The Dog’s Nose

“Mr Walker, a convert to the Brick Lane branch of the United Grand Junction Ebenezer Temperance Association, thought that tasting Dog’s Nose twice a week for 20 years had lost him the use of his right hand.”  The passage comes from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. At first I thought it was perhaps some… Continue reading The Dog’s Nose

Let’s play “Blind Chivvy”

I was unaware of the game Blind Chivvy or psychogeography* as it is sometimes known. That was until I started to read a book called London Pilgrimages written in 1928 by Robert Thurston Hopkins. The book is quite a niche guidebook with seventeen chapters, one entitled Charlie Chaplin’s early days. I’d never heard of Hopkins… Continue reading Let’s play “Blind Chivvy”