Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
Latest news articles about London’s long history.
A look around Boston Manor House
Sitting half way between posh Chiswick and ahem, less posh Hounslow lies Boston Manor, named after a Manor House – and one of the ancient manors of Middlesex. A short walk from the suitably named tube station is Boston Manor…
70th anniversary of an aircraft factory hidden in a tube tunnel
After 16 months of preparation during the height of the blitz, a secret aircraft components factory was completed deep underground in North London in what were unfinished tunnels for the Central Line extension.
Punch on the London Underground
Just a few cartoons that I recently acquired about the London Underground that were published in Punch Magazine at the start of the last century. Apart from the jokes, which may or may not work a hundred years after they…
The memorial to London’s largest ever explosion
At precisely 6:52 in the evening on the 19th January, 1917, one of the largest explosions in the UK took place – in Silvertown, East London. The explosion killed 73 people, injured 328 more and left around 600 people with…
The dead bodies service from King’s Cross railway station
Although the necropolis railway at Waterloo Station running out to Surrey is quite well known, its northern counterpart is seemingly largely forgotten...
A look at the original Kings Cross station – at Maiden Lane
Just under 150 160 years ago the Great Northern Railway proudly opened its London terminus railway station at Kings Cross. However, it wasn’t the first attempt by the railway company at building a terminus station in London, and was a…
A London history festival that’s worth looking forward to
The City of London has outlined the details for a weekend of heritage based events around the Square Mile that is looking like a rather good mini Open House Weekend.
I’ve recently treated myself to a nice new toy, in the form of an A3 sized flat-bed document scanner. I say new – actually second hand from eBay otherwise I couldn’t have afforded it. However, it will finally let me…
The restoration of Clissold House in Hackney
The heart of Stoke Newington boasts a rather large front garden in the form of Clissold Park, which was formed as the front garden for the imposing Clissold House.
The year that you could catch a Helicopter from Waterloo Station
In the days before the Piccadilly Line reached Heathrow Airport how would a person of means in Central London get to the airport if they didn't want to use the roads?
Look out for the English Civil War march on Sunday
This Sunday, a spectacular sight will greet anyone in central London as roughly 500 members of the King’s Army of the English Civil War Society will march along The Mall and muster in Horseguards.
Mummers, Maypoles and Milkmaids
An exhibition and a book all rolled into one – and the exhibition is basically excerpts from the book, so if feeling frugal, the exhibition is a cut-down version of the book to save you buying it. Book author and…
London’s Last Surviving Toll Gate
Dotted around London largely up to Victorian times, were a number of toll gates which charged people to use the road -- but one still exists, still charging people to drive up the road.
The tale of the “Dead Body Train” at Whitechapel
There is a tale that is often repeated late at night in spooky surroundings that there was once a Dead Body Train that ran through a special tunnel and collected the dead from the Royal London Hospital and took them no one knows where.
The story of the Golden Boy of Pye Corner
As I was by Cock Lane the other day, just had to take a few photos of “The Golden Boy of Pye Corner”, a small monument located on the corner with Giltspur Street (map link). It was erected where the…
It’s the 250th anniversary of the Cock Lane ghost
At some point in a January 250 years ago, in a rented apartment near Holborn, the ghost of a recently dead wife appeared to warn that she had been murdered by her husband.
A Victorian Advent Calendar – Christmas Day
Last one! Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert…
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 24th Dec
Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 22nd Dec
Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 21st Dec
Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 20th Dec
Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 18th Dec
Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 17th Dec
Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…
A Victorian Advent Calendar – 16th Dec
Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…
