The Underground Map


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Bloomsbury ·
December
7
2019

The Underground Map is a project which is creating street histories for the areas of London and surrounding counties lying inside the M25.


In a series of maps from the 1750s until the 1950s, you can see how London grew from a city which only reached as far as Park Lane into the post war megapolis we know today. There are now over 85 000 articles on all variety of locations including roads, houses, schools, pubs and palaces.

You can begin exploring by choosing a place from the dropdown list at the top left and then clicking Reset Location.

As maps are displayed, click on the markers to view location articles.

You can also view historical maps of London - click on the "pile of paper" control on the top right of a page's map to change to a particular decade.

Latest on The Underground Map...
Woburn Mews, WC1H
Woburn Mews ran parallel between Woburn Place and Upper Bedford Place to the west of Woburn Place. Horwood’s 1807 map shows ’Wobourn Place’ but no Mews, instead having a sketched continuation of Great Coram Street. It is shown but not named on the 1819 edition.

It was developed as a mews for Woburn Place.

There is now no trace of its location beneath the vast Royal National Hotel, built in 1974.

»more


 

Featured articles

DECEMBER
6
2019

 

Woburn Mews, WC1H
Woburn Mews ran parallel between Woburn Place and Upper Bedford Place to the west of Woburn Place. Horwood’s 1807 map shows ’Wobourn Place’ but no Mews, instead having a sketched continuation of Great Coram Street. It is shown but not named on the 1819 edition.

It was developed as a mews for Woburn Place.

There is now no trace of its location beneath the vast Royal National Hotel, built in 1974.
»read full article


DECEMBER
5
2019

 

Manilla Street, E14
Manilla Street was originally Alfred Street, renamed in 1875. Alfred Street was named after Alfred Batson. Its name was changed in 1875, matching the change to international names of other streets in the area.

A Limehouse shipbuilder, Robert Batson, had purchased land in 1793 and rented parcels of it out.

Robert Batson senior died in 1806. His son, also called Robert Batson, set about laying out the first formal streets. One street ran along the southern boundary of the rope walk, and he named this Robert Street. A little further south, he created Alfred Street, named after his younger brother. They were connected by a short street, named Cross Street.

By 1818, a map was showing piecemeal development along Alfred Street. It would be the 1860s before the street was fully developed when newer streets were built in the area.

By 1862, the east end of Alfred Street shared a corner with the fledgling Alpha Road.

The houses were plain: two-up, two-down, terraced cottages with ...
»more


DECEMBER
4
2019

 

Platt’s Lane, NW3
A farmhouse on the edge of the heath was enlarged by Thomas Platt before 1811 and who gave his name to the lane. By the mid 18th century, Platt’s Lane was running from West End and Fortune Green to Hampstead and Hendon.

In the 1830s, farm buildings were erected on Thomas Platt’s estate fronting Platt’s Lane.

On a field of Platt’s estate, four houses fronting Finchley Road were built in the 1840s in the district which was briefly called New West End.

In 1843, T. Howard built Kidderpore Hall, a stuccoed Greek revival house for John Teil, an East India merchant with tanneries in the district of Calcutta from which the house took its name. Its grounds became a private park and two lodges were added, one on Platt’s Lane in the late 1860s. The 1860 Stanford’s map labels it as Pratt’s Lane.

By 1870 the farm buildings at Platt’s Lane had been replaced by a house. Two cottages were built in Platt’s Lane in 1875 and 13 more houses between 1884 and 1886.

In 1890 Kidderpore Hall was acquired by Westfield Col...
»more


DECEMBER
3
2019

 

Golders Green Road, NW11
Golders Green Road - known by many other names too during its history - lies along an ancient road from London to Hendon. In 1751 there were two inns at Golders Green: the Hoop (whose name was preserved in Hoop Lane) and the White Swan. In 1754, it was reported that there were about 16 houses with small gardens at Golders Green.

Half a century later, Golders Green contained ’many ornamental villas and cottages, surrounded with plantations’.

By 1828 detached houses had spread on both sides of the road as far as Brent Bridge. The green of Golders Green - a manorial waste both sides of Golders Green Road finally disappeared in 1874.

The villas in their wooded grounds - Alba Lodge, Golders Lodge, Gloucester Lodge, the Oaks, Grove House and Woodstock House - gave Golders Green its special character. They disappeared rapidly with the growth of suburban housing after the extension of the Underground.
»read full article


DECEMBER
2
2019

 

South Lambeth Place, SW8
South Lambeth Place links South Lambeth Road to Bondway. The road is older than the railway, following an above ground route at first. It was then simply the northern extension of South Lambeth Road which lead to Vauxhall Cross.

For most of its length, it runs through the viaduct bridge below Vauxhall Station. This alignment through the viaduct is due to the presence of the River Effra flowing beneath.

At the Bondway end stands the former Elephant and Castle pub (later a coffee shop). Dating from the mid-late 19th century, its upper floors are in stock brick. The decorative stucco work include elephant emblems and large elephant and castle statues decorate each of the parapets.

In the 2010s, the Vauxhall Street Food market was created underneath the arches.
»read full article


DECEMBER
1
2019

 

Woburn Place, WC1H
Woburn Place is situated on the Bedford estate, running north from the east of Russell Square to the east of Tavistock Square. It was laid out on the route of a track along the eastern boundary of the Bedford ducal estate. This was upgraded during the eighteenth century into a private road to improve the Duke’s access to the New Road (Euston Road).

It first appears as Wobourn Place, half-developed on Horwood’s map of 1819 and was named after Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, the principal seat of the Dukes of Bedford,

Its houses were intended for the wealthy and middle classes.
»read full article


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