Restoring Abbey Mills pumping station’s Victorian splendor

A few years ago, the grand Victorian interior of Abbey Mills Pumping Station was restored, and there's an online talk about how it was done.

Campaign to save a Victorian community hall

A Victorian community hall could be sold to a hotel developer by the local council, if it cannot be saved by a campaign.

Queen Victoria as seen on screen at the BFI

One of a number of attempts to jump on the QV200 anniversary, the BFI has taken a look back at the black and white queen as seen on the silver screen.

How steam trains drove Victorians to acts of madness

The newly invented steam train, traveling so fast and far were blamed for triggering dark desires in men, driving them to insane acts of violence.

A Victorian Bath House surrounded by glass and steel

Just around the corner from Liverpool Street Station, in a space surrounded by modern offices, can be found this Turkish inspired Victorian bath house.

There will be fun at the British Library with Victorian Entertainments

Roll up, roll up, be amazed and astonished, magic to astound, entertainments to delight, all the fun of the Victorian music hall and stage.

Photos of Victorian London from a hot air balloon

Rare photographs of Victorian London taken from a hot air balloon have been shown off ahead of an auction. Hot air balloonist-photographer Cecil Victor Shadbolt took the photos around 1882-1892 for a lecture series he gave. The photos include the…

How Victorian London invented the modern domestic pet dog

Dogs have been companions to humans for tens of thousands of years. In a new book, Dr Philip Howell argues that it was the Victorians who ‘invented’ the modern dog with a place at the heart of the family.

Victorian London’s double-decked cable cars

Plans for a cable car in London are as old as Victorian inventiveness -- for example, this double-decker cable car which would have run from Monument in the City over to Hyde Park Corner.

Unbuilt London: The railway in the middle of the Thames

Imagine if you will, a city straining to cope with a growing population and a transport network barely able to keep up. Lots of plans are submitted for new railway schemes to deal with the bottleneck, but all have one major downside -- the destruction of vast swathes of housing and factories.

Unbuilt London: Victorian plans to encircle London with a Crystalline Railway

Bend your imagination to thoughts of the grandest of grand Victorian visions, and encircle the centre of our Metropolis with a vast crystal snake.

Unbuilt London: Victorian Railway Stations that Tried to Span the Thames

Blackfriars railway station has recently become the first station to span right across the River Thames, with entrances on both sides of the river – but it wasn’t the first time that someone tried to put a railway bridge across…

The Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee

We are all familiar with vending machines dispensing sugary drinks and confections at various locations around our fine city, but did you know that some of the earliest vending machines were built into the bases of gas lamps?

GASP at the splendour of St Christopher’s Chapel inside GOSH

A chapel that dates from 1875 and built in the High Victorian style that almost out-Pugins Pugin for sheer over the top decoration.

Photos of the Church of St. Alban the Martyr in Holborn

Wandering around London I tend to keep my eyes either watching the ground for any curious manhole covers or the like – or looking around the tops to see what might catch my attention. Sometimes, one of those things is…

The Victorians: Time and Space

On Tuesday, I wandered over to a lecture on how technology changed the Victorian’s perception of time and space. Or at least that is what I thought it was going to be about. As a concept it is a fairly…

Visiting the Markfield Beam Engine

After a few years of restoration work, a Victorian steam pumping station was brought back into life late last year, and today was one of the periodic steaming days where the engine is powered up and surrounded by wreaths of…

A Horn Fair Procession From Rotherhithe to Charlton

As much as a admire the Victorians for many achievements, they did have two rather annoying habits. One was to rewrite, or at least censor ancient history when they discovered the supposedly enlightened folk were rather keen on Bacchanalian propensities.…

The Accending Room*

This morning I, as is my wont, chose to take the lift down from the 5th floor to leave the building. As I got in and instinctively reached for the G button, my nose was assailed by a most vile…