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Featured · * ·
MARCH
19
2024
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.

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


Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence


Click here to explore another London street
We now have 664 completed street histories and 46836 partial histories
Find streets or residential blocks within the M25 by clicking STREETS


APRIL
30
2017

 

Stag Lane Aerodrome
Stag Lane Aerodrome was a private aerodrome between 1915 and 1934. The land for an aerodrome was purchased by the London & Provincial Aviation Company during October 1915. The company used the aerodrome for flying training during the First World War. London & Provincial ceased flying in July 1919 after a dispute with Department of Civil Aviation (see United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority), which refused them a licence.

Stag Lane became the main base of The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited in 1920. Former wartime aircraft were refurbished in the early years, and the company designed and built large numbers of aircraft at Stag Lane in the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1934 the company moved to a larger factory and airfield at Hatfield Aerodrome, Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

Stag Lane Aerodrome was sold for housing development in 1933, though a small 15-acre (61,000 m2) site was retained as a factory and offices for The de Havilland Engine Company Limited. The last flight from the airfield was a de Havilland Hornet Moth in July 1934.
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APRIL
26
2017

 

Back Alley, EC3N
Back Alley is a small alleyway off of Northumberland Alley. How we love to use figurative terms of description; they form such a distinctive part of our daily life that we would probably experience great difficulty if they were somehow barred from our vocabulary. Nicknames applied to friends (or enemies), relating to some particular feature of their make-up or a habit is an easy method of making reference to certain persons. For generations people have used terms and names of endearment in casual conversation and the necessity for such usage was even more so in times past than it is now.

Back Alley has been here, under the same name, for centuries and was quite simply the back access passage to houses on Aldgate, and because at that time it had no name, it was figuratively referred to as the ’Back Alley’. It now runs along the rear of the General Accident Insurance Company and, although it is still fairly narrow, its dimensions have been greatly increased over the years. Whereas there would have been many gateways along here...
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APRIL
25
2017

 

Brent Street
The largest hamlet of Hendon parish was Brent Street. The name Hendon dates from Anglo-Saxon times and is linked to the topography of the area, and the presence of a ’high hill’. The dun element is a term believed to have been used in the very earliest Anglo-Saxon times, and was often given in recognition of the location of a hill-top village. Hendon was first mentioned by a charter dating from 972 AD.

The high ground at the centre of the parish of Hendon was originally occupied by three hamlets: The Burroughs, Church End and Brent Street.

Brent Street was noted for its large houses, the largest of which was Hendon House. Many cottages and shops clustered about the junction of Brent Street and Bell Lane, including the Bell, mentioned in 1751 and considerably altered by 1970. Villas built between Bell Lane and Parson Street in the early 19th century, almost linking the hamlet of Brent Street with Church End, have all been demolished.

At the foot of Brent Street another group ...
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APRIL
23
2017

 

Hungerford Stairs
The Hungerford Stairs were the entrance point to Hungerford Market from the River Thames. They are now the site of Charing Cross railway Station. Hungerford Market occupied a strip 126 feet wide, extending 465 feet northward towards the Strand. The market had been built in 1680 and rebuilt in 1831 and was named after the Hungerford family of Farleigh Castle, near Bath in Somerset.

The site had become the property of the Hungerford family in 1425, when it was acquired from Sir Robert Chalons and his wife Blanche by Sir Walter Hungerford (later Baron Hungerford), Speaker of the House of Commons and Steward of the Household of King Henry V. It finally passed down the family to Sir Edward Hungerford (1632–1711), created a Knight of the Order of the Bath at the coronation of Charles II.

Before its rebuilding, Hungerford Market was called "a disgrace to the metropolis" (Mogg’s New Picture of London and Visitor’s Guide to it Sights, 1844). Mogg further says: "The present elegant and convenient structure was erected from designs by Mr. Fowler in 1831 and 1833."

The market consi...
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APRIL
22
2017

 

Scala Theatre
Scala Theatre was a theatre in London, sited on Charlotte Street, off Tottenham Court Road. The first theatre on the site opened in 1772, and was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by fire. The theatre began on this site as The New Rooms where concerts were performed, in Charlotte Street, in 1772, under the management of Francis Pasquali. Popularity, and royal patronage led to the building’s enlargement by James Wyatt, and its renaming as the King’s Concert Rooms (1780–1786). It then became Rooms for Concerts of Ancient Music and Hyde’s Rooms (1786–1802, managed by The Directors of Concerts and Ancient Music).

In 1802, a private theatre club, managed by Captain Caulfield, the "Pic-Nics" occupied the building and named it the Cognoscenti Theatre (1802–1808). It became the New Theatre (1808–1815, under Saunders and Mr J. Paul) and was extended and fitted out as a public theatre with a portico entrance, on Tottenham Street.

It continued under a succession of managers as the unsuccessful Regency Theatre (1815–1820), falling into decline. The theatre then reopened as the West London Theatre (1820–1831, under Brunton), Queen’s ...
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APRIL
19
2017

 

Stockwell station (1930)
Clapham Road in 1930, showing Stockwell station. Binfield Road runs off to the right. Stockwell station was ceremonially opened on 4 November 1890 by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), as the most southerly station on the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) – London’s first deep-level tube railway. Passenger services began just over one month later on 18 December 1890.

The station was built with a single island platform with tracks on either side, an arrangement rarely used underground on the network, but which exists today at Clapham North and Clapham Common. Stockwell’s original platform was further north than the new ones, and trains pass them today. The other terminus of the C&SLR line was King William Street in the City of London. In 1900, when an extension to Clapham Common was opened, Stockwell ceased to be a terminus. A flight of stairs at the south end of the platform was also added to take passengers to a subway that passed over the new northbound tunnel and joined the lift shaft at a higher level.

The ori...
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APRIL
18
2017

 

Watling Estate
The extension of the Northern Line to Edgware in 1924 caused the London County Council to purchase 387 acres of farmland adjacent to the new Burnt Oak station. In 1890, Parliament passed the Housing of the Working Classes Act, which paved the way for a government programme of slum clearance and replacement housing.

After the First World War, the government promised "Homes for Heroes" to returning soldiers in need of housing and employment. This led to an expansion of the house-building programme, with the provision of working-class housing becoming a statutory duty of local authorities in 1919.

The design manual accompanying the bill emphasized the need for "good houses" for the working man’s family, with designs influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and early Garden City planning. The London County Council built several large housing estates based on these ideas, including the Watling Estate, designed by architect George Forrest.

The first residents moved into the estate by April 1927, and within a year, 2100 families were iving there. By 1930, all 4000 dwellings were completed. Despi...
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APRIL
16
2017

 

Swan Lane, N20
Swan Lane is one of the roads built on the edge of the original Finchley Common. Swan Lane was most likely laid out around 1780.
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APRIL
16
2017

 

Bow
Bow lies at the heart of London’s East End. The area was formerly known as Stratford, and "Bow" is an abbreviation of the medieval name Stratford-atte-Bow, in which "Bow" refers to a bridge built in the early 12th century. Bow is adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and a section of the district is part of the park.

Old Ford, and with it Fish Island, are usually taken to be part of Bow, but Bromley-by-Bow (historically and officially just ’Bromley’) immediately to the south, is a separate locality. These distinctions have their roots in historic parish boundaries.

Stratforde was first recorded as a settlement in 1177. The ford originally lay on a pre-Roman trackway at Old Ford about 600 metres to the north, but when the Romans decided on Colchester as the initial capital for their occupation, the road was upgraded to run from the area of London Bridge, as one of the first paved Roman roads in Britain. The ’paved way’ is likely to refer to the presence of a stone causeway across the ...
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APRIL
14
2017

 

Westbourne Green
The story of the building of a suburb. Westbourne Green had only a few houses by 1745, mostly south of the point where Harrow Road had a junction with Westbourne Green Lane (also known as Black Lion Lane) running northward from the Uxbridge Road. A footpath later called Bishop’s Walk (eventually Bishop’s Bridge Road) provided a short cut to Paddington Green. The Red Lion, where Harrow Road bridged the Westbourne, and another inn were recorded in 1730. The second inn was probably one called the Jolly Gardeners in 1760 and the Three Jolly Gardeners in 1770, near the Harrow Road junction, where it probably made way for the Spotted Dog.

The early 19th-century village contained five notable residences: Westbourne Place, west of Black Lion Lane at its junction with Harrow Road, and, from south to north on the east side of Harrow Road, Desborough Lodge, Westbourne Farm, Bridge House, and Westbourne Manor House. Bridge House was built c. 1805 by the architect John White, owner of Westbourne Farm.

...
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APRIL
13
2017

 

Page Green Common
Page Green Common is a much reduced area of common land. Page Green Common is former common land was gifted to Tottenham Urban District Council by the Townsend Trust, the owner of the last manorial land in Tottenham. It was laid out in 1897 as a public garden by Tottenham UDC, who had commissioned F F McKenzie, then Superintendent of Epping Forest, to advise on how the various Tottenham commons might be improved. He recommended Page Green be laid out as a garden with a gravel circle and seats around the existing feature of the Seven Sisters trees, which originated as a circle of seven elm trees.

In 1619, a survey was made on behalf of the Earl of Dorset and produced a map of the Parish of Tottenham, Middlesex. South is on the top of this map - so it is upside down compared with most other maps. Hence Page Green depicted running left of the main road is shown on a modern map the other way around. The Seven Sisters trees are clearly shown.

The seven elms were planted in a circle with a walnut tree at their centre...
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APRIL
12
2017

 

Cadby Hall
Cadby Hall was a major office and factory complex in Hammersmith, London which was the headquarters of pioneering catering company Joseph Lyons and Co. for almost a century. The name originated from Charles Cadby, piano manufacturer, who purchased 8.5 acres (34,000 m2) of land along the High Road (today named Hammersmith Road) in 1874. The location had formerly been known as the Croften Estate. Cadby allocated 1.5 acres (6,100 m2) on the site for his new piano factory and showrooms while the remaining 7 acres (28,000 m2) were set aside for smaller building plots.

Cadby Hall itself was designed by Lewis Henry Isaacs and constructed using Portland stone and red Fareham bricks, with terracotta panelling above the first floor windows, and carved portraits of famous composers. Reliefs on the sides of the entrance doorway depicted scenes celebrating music and poetry. Cadby called the building the Cadby & Company Pianoforte Manufactory.

The arrangement of buildings in the complex was designed primarily to prevent the spread of fire by confining it to one building should such an incident occur.

Cadby lived for a time i...
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APRIL
11
2017

 

Earl’s Court Farm
Earl’s Court Farm is pictured here as it was in 1867, before the opening of the underground station two years later. There was no church or ancient nucleus in Earl’s Court, although a malthouse or brewhouse belonging to a Matthew Child had stood somewhere near the present No. 185 Earl’s Court Road in about 1683–1703. The Rocque map of 1741–6 shows little building in the locality. What it does show is three paths coming from the north-east and east, corresponding very roughly to Marloes Road and (still more roughly) Cromwell Road and the line of Harrington Road and Harrington Gardens.

These converged towards the manor house and farm of the manor of Earl’s Court on the other side of Earl’s Court Road and in doing so brought potential customers past a well-placed tavern, the White Hart, which since at least 1722 had stood back from but facing Earl’s Court Lane, in what is now Hogarth Road, slightly forward and west of No. 2. It survived, not much modernised until 1869.

It was one of the last areas of southern Kensington to be developed. The farm, under sever...
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APRIL
10
2017

 

Uxendon Shooting Grounds
Uxendon Shooting Grounds was the location of the clay pigeon shooting for the 1908 Olympics. A field just to the east of Uxendon Farm had been set aside for shooting at the end of the nineteenth century.

Uxendon on the western slopes of Barn Hill was first recorded in 1257 as a small settlement in a transaction concerning Hugh of "Woxindon". In the 14th or 15th centuries some local people, including the Uxendon family, moved south to form another small community at Forty Green, where the Sudbury to Kingsbury road crossed the Lidding brook at Forty Bridge. This settlement was known as Uxendon Forty, Wembley Forty or Preston Forty. In 1516 the Bellamy family acquired Uxendon through marriage. They remained staunchly Roman Catholic after the Reformation and sheltered Catholic priests. Because of their faith the Bellamys suffered considerably in the final years of the 16th century.

By 1608 their land was in the hands of the Page family, who had become the leading landowners in the Wembley area. The Bellamys had already enclosed a small amount of o...
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APRIL
7
2017

 

Hundred Elms Farm
There was a farm on this site, on the northern edge of Sudbury Common, since at least the time of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. Hundred Elms Farm was probably named after the avenue of elm trees which used to line the sides of Elms Lane from the Harrow Road up to the farm.

The Greenhill family were tenants of the farm from 1817 until the early 20th century, and the 1881 census shows Charles Greenhill, a farmer of 147½ acres, living at "100 Elms Farm”.

His father, William Greenhill, had made it a dairy farm (keeping cows to produce milk) by the 1860s. This type of farming needed more workers, so cottages were built for them to live in, including Keppel Cottages (now 920-930 Harrow Road) which can still be seen at the corner of Elms Lane.

By the 1890s the farm was selling its milk, cream and butter through a dairy shop in Harrow. Adverts for the shop invited customers to visit the farm at any time to see how its milk was produced. Cleanliness at the shop was ensured by its spotless tiled surfaces, and a specially painted tile mural adorned one of its walls.
...
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APRIL
6
2017

 

Kensington Hippodrome
The Kensington Hippodrome was a racecourse built in Notting Hill, London, in 1837, by entrepreneur John Whyte. The year of Queen Victoria's accession, 1837, saw the inauguration of a new venture in West London - an attempt to establish a race-course which would rival Epsom and Ascot in its attractions. The prospectus, issued in 1836, stated that 'an extensive range of land, in a secluded situation, has been taken and thrown into one great Park, and is being fenced in all round by a strong, close, high paling. This Park affords the facilities of a STEEPLE-CHASE COURSE, intersected by banks and every description of fence; and also of a RACE-COURSE distinct from the Steeple-Chase Course; and each Course is capable of being suited to a Four Mile Race for Horses of the first class.'

The founder of this enterprise was a Mr John Whyte of Brace Cottage, Notting Hill, who had leased about 200 acres of ground from Mr James Weller Ladbroke, the ground landlord. The course as originally laid out was bounded approximately by Portobello Road, Elgin Crescent, Clarendon Road and the south side ...
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APRIL
5
2017

 

Robert Street, WC2N
Robert Street is named after Robert Adam, who built the Adelphi development with his brother John in the 1760s. When the Adelphi scheme was first planned, Mr. Coutts, of the Strand, being anxious to preserve the fine prospect over the Kent and Surrey hills, which the back windows of his banking house then afforded, purchased a share of the Durham Gardens property, and arranged with the Adam brothers that the streets should be so laid out as to preserve their vista, and Robert Street was accordingly so planned as to form a frame for the wealthy banker@@@s landscape. The piece of land between William Street and John Street was at that time occupied by his strong rooms, connected underground with the office, and built up only to the level of the Strand. When it became necessary to enlarge his premises he procured a special Act of Parliament for throwing an arch over William Street.
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APRIL
4
2017

 

Adam and Eve Tearooms
The Adam and Eve Tearooms were a fashionable Georgian watering hole. The Adam and Eve Tearooms existed at least as early as 1718 on the site of the manor house at the northern end of Tottenham Court Road. In the 18th century it had a long room with an organ, bowling alleys and extensive gardens with arbours for tea drinking. It was famous for its quiet orchards of wild fruit trees and its location beside the toll booth for the Hampstead Road turnpike going north helped trade no end.

William Hone, in his Yearbook (1832), remembered the Adam and Eve “with spacious gardens at the side and in the rear, a fore-court with large timber trees, and tables and benches for out-door customers.” He speaks of the bowers and arbours for tea-drinking parties in the garden. The name of the inn goes back to 1718 and it is to be seen in Hogarth’s March of the Guards to Finchley in 1745 and it may be this inn to which George Wither, in Britain’s Remembrancer (1628), refers when he speaks of people resorting to Tottenham Court for cakes and c...
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