History – Page 5 – A LONDON MISCELLANY

Mr Brundsen, Mr Platts & Mr Crapper

I’m currently researching a walking tour along the Thames path between Putney and Battersea Park. The route has thrown up a lot of interesting facts, not surprisingly given it’s location, many based around it’s industrial past. I always try and weave a human element into the tours with stories or facts that show what life… Continue reading Mr Brundsen, Mr Platts & Mr Crapper

Thursday Doors

The Willies of Westminster Bridge

This post is going to be short, to the point, trivial and above all puerile. (Sorry) Westminster Bridge was designed by Thomas Page and opened in 1862. I think we can all imagine the complexity in designing such a structure and it seems Page wanted the bridge to look appealing as well as functional and… Continue reading The Willies of Westminster Bridge

Trivialising Matters

Trivia seems to be the lifeblood of any good tour. Back in the day when I used to take actual people on actual tours and actually talk to them I could go into an interesting ramble about pre stressed concrete construction and at the end get barely a flicker of appreciation. However, deliver a decisive… Continue reading Trivialising Matters

The Strange Tale of Mr Fribourg and Mr Treyer …….. and Mr Fribourg and Mr Pontet

Friborg and Treyer were fashionable snuff sellers in the 18th century. Based at 34 Haymarket their clientele included King George IV, the actor David Garrick and all-round dandy Beau Brummell. The Fribourg’s had originally come to England from Switzerland and the claim is that the firm was started in 1720 by P. Fribourg, although the… Continue reading The Strange Tale of Mr Fribourg and Mr Treyer …….. and Mr Fribourg and Mr Pontet

Just watchin’ the world go by

Six Word Saturday

Musca domestica Linnaeus

A few weeks ago I was musing on the rat infestation around the Strand in 1903. Well that seemed bad enough, but I found an incident some two hundred years earlier which really made my skin crawl. During July 1707, the 8th of July to be exact, there was if records are to be believed… Continue reading Musca domestica Linnaeus

Searching For Old King Lud

Ok, let us start with the supposition of Geoffrey of Monmouth the 12th century chronicler of the British Isles. King Lud was a pre-Roman King of the Britain’s. He founded the city of London and when he died he was buried close to the site of where the main western entrance to the city was… Continue reading Searching For Old King Lud

A House of ill repute

I recently came across this story while researching a new audio tour around Southwark. I have to admit as a born and bred North Londoner I’m a bit sniffy about anything Souwf of the river, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised about what I turned up. Hopton Street is situated between… Continue reading A House of ill repute

Philpot Lane (No Mice)

last week I took a look at a quirky piece of art that adorns the wall of a building on Philpot Lane and so as I was there so to speak, I thought I’d take a look at the lane itself. In the late fourteen hundreds the lane was known as St Andrew Hubert’s Lane.… Continue reading Philpot Lane (No Mice)