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
Tag: London
The Cock Lane Ghost
In my last post I related the tale of a less that virtuous parson who apparently haunted an hotel in Covent Garden. As Christmas is usually the time for ghost stories I thought I’d relay one that was the talk of London during the 1760s The ghost of Cock Lane also known as “Scratching Fanny”… Continue reading The Cock Lane Ghost
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
Rush
One word Sunday
Summer in light, Winter in shade
Six word Saturday
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
Dining with Baron Beaverbrook
One of my favourite blogs is the photographer Debbie Smyth’s Travel With Intent. She recently posted a great photograph of the Daily Express building on Fleet Street, which brought to mind an anecdote that my Dad told me. It would have been in the early 1970s and his uncle worked at the Express. My Dad… Continue reading Dining with Baron Beaverbrook
Below
One word Sunday The chimney on the former Bankside power station (Now the Tate Modern) My partners Mum & Dad had their first date at the top of the chimney when the power station was being constructed in 1952
Seeing things from a different perspective
Six word Saturday