The Underground Map

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

Locals sitting out on the street, chatting with their neighbours.

The location is probably at the corner of Old Montague Street and Dunk Street in the Whitechapel area
Credit: Mary Evans Picture Library/Peter Higginbotham Collection

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.

Latest on The Underground Map...

Dunk Street

Dunk Street ran parallel to Great Garden Street (now Greatorex Street) to the west, and King Edward Street, which has also ceased to exist, to the east. Dunk Street stretched approximately 200 metres from Old Montague Street to Hanbury Street, situated about 300 metres east of Baker’s Row, which is now the southern section of Vallance Road.

In 1643, Edward Montague, William Montague, and Mawrice Tresham acquired property from William Smith and others in the future Mile End New Town and Spitalfields areas.

This property comprised around forty-two or forty-three acres, which included five enclosed fields, a nursery, and a garden plot. A portion of this land would later become the southern half of Mile End New Town. Edward Montague eventually came into possession of all this land by approximately 1680.

The name Pelham Street was derived from Edward Montague’s wife, Elizabeth Pelham, who held ownership prior to their marriage.

In 1691, Elizabeth Pelham obtained a private Act that allowed her to grant leases for the rebuilding of dilapidated properties on her estates i...

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MAY

2023

Fountains Abbey
The Fountains Abbey was opened in 1824 and quickly became a popular meeting place for locals The name of the pub comes from two different sources; ’Fountains’ from the nearby sites of springs and wells, which were essential sources of water to the local inhabitants; and ’Abbey’ which comes from Westminster Abbey, and which owned the manor of Paddington in Saxon times.

It was rebuilt in 1895 and later Sir Alexander Fleming was reputedly a regular customer at the pub.
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MAY

2023

Wimbledon to Wimbledon Park walk
Traversing SW19 Oops. This text is not quite ready
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APRIL

2023

Uxbridge to Hillingdon walk
This walk takes us along the western end of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines Uxbridge is a suburban town in the west of Greater London and has a rich history. It was an important market town in medieval times and has been a place of trade for over 800 years.

The accompanying video delves into various points of Uxbridge’s history. Amongst facts we didn’t cover were that:

Although Uxbridge is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, St Margaret’s Church was built a hundred years later.
The existing pub, The Queens Head, depicts Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, on its sign. The pub was previously called ’The Axe’, possibly dates to the 1540s and is connected to the church by a tunnel.

A cemetery with an archway is located at the bottom of Windsor Street, and it was the site where three heretics were burned to death in 1555 for denying the trinity.

During Elizabeth I’s reign, Roman Catholics were subject to severe constraints, and Catholic priest Edmund Campion was tr...
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APRIL

2023

Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer walk
An amble through the Chess Valley .
»read full article

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Loraine Brocklehurst Holcombe Road, N17 Added: 24 May 2023 14:00 GMT	Holcombe Road, N17 I lived at 23Holcombe Rd. with my parents, Grandfather , Aunt and Uncle in 1954. My Aunt and Uncle lived there until it was demolished. I’m not sure what year that was as we emigrated to Canada. Reply
Jen Williams Corfield Street, E2 Added: 20 May 2023 17:27 GMT	Corfield Street, E2 My mother was born in 193 Corfield Street in 1920.Her father was a policeman. Reply
sofia East Acton Added: 19 May 2023 08:57 GMT	43 MELLITUS STREET 43 MELLITUS STREET Reply
Milson Road, W14 Added: 17 May 2023 11:50 GMT	Milson Road (1908 - 1954) My grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents the Manley family lived at 33 Milson Road from 1908 to 1935. My grandad was born at 33 Milson Road. His parents George and Grace had all four of their chidren there. When his father Edward died his mother moved to 67 Milson in 1935 Road and lived there until 1954 (records found so far, it may be longer). Before that they lived in the Porten Road. I wonder if there is anyone that used to know them? My grandad was Charles ’Ted’ Manley, his parents were called George and Grace and George’s parents were called Edward and Bessie. George worked in a garage and Edward was a hairdresser. Reply
Rendlesham Road, E5 Added: 16 Apr 2023 15:55 GMT	Rendlesham Road, E5 I lived at 14 Rendlesham Road in the 1940s and 50s. The house belonged to my grandfather James Grosvenor who bought it in the 1920s for £200.I had a brother who lived in property until 1956 when he married. Local families were the paisleys, the Jenners and the family of Christopher Gable. Reply
Sandra Field Masons Place, EC1V Added: 15 Apr 2023 16:15 GMT	Removal Order Removal order from Shoreditch to Holborn, Jane Emma Hall, Single, 21 Pregnant. Born about 21 years since in Masons place in the parish of St Lukes. Source: Sign up Reply
Sue Germain Southwood Road, SE9 Added: 10 Apr 2023 08:35 GMT	Southwood Road, SE9 My great great grandfather lived in Time Villa, Southwood Rd around 1901. He owned several coffee houses in Whitechapel and in South London, including New Time Coffee House so either his house was named after the coffee house or vice versa. Reply
David Gleeson Campbell Road, N4 Added: 7 Apr 2023 22:19 GMT	MBE from Campbell Bunk (1897 - 1971) Walter Smith born at 43 Campbell Bunk was awarded the MBE in january honours list in 1971. A local councillor for services to the public. Reply

Click here to explore another London street
We now have 557 completed street histories and 46943 partial histories
Find streets or residential blocks within the M25 by clicking STREETS

DECEMBER

2019

London Road, Isleworth (1907)
A photo of London Road, Isleworth taken when Isleworth was still otherwise rural.
»read full article

DECEMBER

2019

The Ridgeway, NW7
The Ridgeway is a very ancient, perhaps prehistoric, route. Parson Street was the northward continuation of Brent Street in Hendon. This road led via Holders Hill to Bittacy Hill, at the top of which it wase the Ridgeway - already called this by 1471. The Ridgeway followed high ground towards Highwood Hill, where it met a road which ran north-eastward across the parish from a point south of Edgware bridge to Totteridge, passing through the Hale and known in its western portion as Deans Lane, in the centre as Selvage Lane, and in the east as Marsh Lane. Another route established by 1594 left Parson Street and followed Ashley Lane, Dole Street and Milespit Hill, to join the Ridgeway at Mill Hill. A third route ran from the parish church along the present Hall Lane, Page Street, Featherstone Hill and Wise Lane, to join the Ridgeway beside the Three Hammers pub.
»read full article

DECEMBER

2019

Colindeep Lane, NW9
Colindeep Lane is a particularly old route. An important route from London via Hampstead, Colindeep Lane entered the parish of Hendon at Golders Hill and joined the Edgware Road north of the Hyde. The route was said in 1593 to be an ’ancient highway now unaccustomed’. Part of Colindeep Lane was known as late as 1863 as Ancient Street. It may have derived from Anselles Street - from the French word for ’pack horse’ or ’donkey’ - an animal which plied the route.

At Collyn Deep there was a ford across Silk stream and in 1826, a footbridge. A permanent bridge for vehicles was built later.
»read full article

DECEMBER

2019

Avenue Road, NW8
Avenue Road was an important road on the Eyre estate. In 1794, the Eyre family drew up a development plan based on the model of Bath. The Napoleonic wars intervened and the plan was never executed. From 1802, a new development plan for the Eyre estate was directed by John Shaw, a young architect who had been inspired by the town planning ideals of the late 18th century.

In 1819 Colonel Eyre began the first attempt to promote the construction of a public road through the estate. This was finally successful in the 1826 ’Finchley Road Act’. Avenue Road’s southern part existed by 1824 and the Hampstead portion also on the Eyre estate was built by 1829.

Building spread northward in the salient formed by the Finchley Road and Avenue Road. A building agreement was made in 1838 and several houses - called Regent’s Villas - stood in the Hampstead section of Avenue Road by 1842. Most later houses were detached and built by a number of builders: W. Wartnaby, C. C. Cook, E. Thomas & Son and Thomas Clark.
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DECEMBER

2019

All Souls Church
All Souls Church is an evangelical Anglican church situated at the north end of Regent Street. It was designed in regency style by John Nash and consecrated in 1824. It was designed to provide a vista up Regent Street where the road needed to curve to the left to line up with Portland Place.

By 1820, the construction of both Regent Street and Langham Place were well advanced. Nash already had a clear sense of how the new church should stand: "facing the entrance to Langham Place and central to Chandos Street the Portico advancing westward from the East side of the New Street so that it be a central Object from Oxford Street along the New Street". The name All Souls is said to have been chosen in part because it offered a measure of ‘gratuitous accommodation’ for the whole parish, the poor included. "From the nature of the bend of the Street", Nash further wrote, "the portico and Spire will together form an object terminating the vista from the Circus in Oxford Street – the Spire (I submit) as the most beautiful of forms is most peculiarly appropriate to a ...
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DECEMBER

2019

St John’s Wood
St John’s Wood is an affluent district, north west of Regent’s Park. St John’s Wood was once part of the Great Forest of Middlesex with the name deriving from its mediaeval owners, the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitallers), an Augustinian order. The order took over the land from the Knights Templar in 1323.

After the Reformation and the Dissolution of monastic orders, St John’s Wood became Crown land, and Henry VIII established Royal Hunting Grounds in what became known as Marylebone Park.

Until the end of the eighteenth century, the area was agricultural.

St John’s Wood was developed from the early 19th century onwards. It was one of the first London suburbs to be developed with a large amount of low density ’villa’ housing, as opposed to the terraced housing which was the norm in London up to the 19th century. Parts of St John’s Wood have been rebuilt at a higher density but it remains one of the most expensive areas of London.

St Jo...
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DECEMBER

2019

Northways Parade, NW3
Northways Parade replaced New College which was mainly located in College Crescent New College and much of College Crescent were pulled down in 1934 and replaced by Northways. This was two concrete blocks of flats and shops built by London and City Real Estate.

The period was notable for rebuilding - the whole of the Swiss Cottage site between Finchley Road and Avenue Road was redeveloped with the building in 1937 of the Odeon cinema and, after 1938, of Regency Lodge flats by R. Atkinson.
»read full article

DECEMBER

2019

All Souls Place, W1B
All Souls Place is a short cul-de-sac in the shadow of All Souls Church, originating in the eighteenth century as a mews off Edward Street. Early in its history it was called Edward Yard or Court and later, until 1879, Edward or Edward’s Place.

The south side of All Souls Place, largely taken up by the backs of buildings in Riding House Street, was mostly redeveloped in the early twentieth century for the Radium Institute.

Riding House Street had run east from a street called Edward Street which disappeared for the creation of Langham Place in the early nineteenth century. All Souls Church took the site of the original junction.
»read full article

DECEMBER

2019

Wildwood Grove, NW3
Wildwood Grove was a terraced row begun in the 1860s. A local builder, T. Clowser, was permitted to build four houses there in 1871 and another six stood there and in Wildwood (probably Wildwood Terrace) by 1882.

Then name ’Wildwood Grove’ was later used for part of the ’Dollywood’ theme park in the United States.
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DECEMBER

2019

Parson Street, NW4
Parson Street was already in existence by 1321. Parson Street was the northward continuation of Brent Street - part of the medieval main route to the north of the parish of Hendon. It road led via Holders Hill to Bittacy Hill, at the top of which it became the Ridgeway, already called that by 1471.

It became the name of a distinct hamlet, still considered part of Hendon.

The oldest remaining building in this part of Hendon is now Hendon Hall, built in 1756 - later a hotel. It is believed that the famous actor David Garrick lived here. A small obelisk in the hotel garden dedicated to William Shakespeare and David Garrick originally stood in Manor Hall Road until 1957. In 1966 the England football team stayed at the hotel during the World Cup.

In the late 19th century nearby Tenterden Grove and Waverley Grove were laid out and several large houses built.
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DECEMBER

2019

Twyford Abbey Road, NW10
The name of Twyford Abbey Road was adopted from the nearby Twyford Abbey. Twyford was listed as ’Tveverde’ in the Domesday book of 1086 and means ’(place beside a) double ford’. In 1474, Sir John Elrington was "lord of the place of Twyford" and his manor house was then probably Lower Place Farm beside Barrett’s Green on Acton Lane.

In 1806 the Twyford manor house was sold to Thomas Willan. Willan engaged the architect William Atkinson to design an extensive ‘Gothick’ mansion around the original house. It was built between 1807-9. Willan gave his house a romantic pseudo-monastic association, calling it ’Twyford Abbey’.

In 1902 the Alexian Brothers bought Twyford Abbey and turned it into a Roman Catholic nursing home. West Twyford Farm remained as part of the grounds.

The road formerly called Twyford Lane was renamed Twyford Abbey Road to avoid confusion with the Acton lane of the same name.

Nearby was the site of the Royal Agricultural Society showgrounds at Park Royal. The Socie...
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DECEMBER

2019

Walnut Tree Walk, SE11
At the beginning of the 18th century Walnut Tree Walk was a lane leading out into the fields from Lambeth. Simon Harding - a gardener - had a cottage there with a small-holding of just over three acres at the beginning of the 1700s. There was no other development until 1755, when Robert Hardcastle, who held land elsewhere in the parish, was granted a 61 years’ building lease of ground on both sides of the road by the St. Olave trustees of the Walcot Estate. Walnut Tree Walk then extended on either side of Kennington Road.

»read full article

DECEMBER

2019

Mobile phone images
We try to make the process and rules involving the uploading of photos to The Underground Map straightforward. You remain the copyright owner of each photo that you take and upload to The Underground Map.

We encourage you to contribute to locations - whether a photo, information, history, trivia or simply a tip to share with other users.

Photos you upload should reflect the location at which you have arrived. We understand that mobile phones are quite clever these days and that you may wish to upload instead an image sourced from elsewhere rather than a snapshot. So, please ensure that any third-party copyright and ownership are respected when you upload, and also that the image is relevant to the location.

You are encouraged to add a caption and attribution during the upload process and to confirm finally the Creative Commons licence that you are happy to issue (sharing, copying and other uses of your photo).

Then the photo becomes part of the project.

The catch

TUM Photos can be ephemeral. You m...
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DECEMBER

2019

Plaistow Road (1901)
Looking south towards Plaistow station, railway works on the right. The road on the left is Grafton Road North which has now disappeared.

Tram tracks were laid down in 1903.
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DECEMBER

2019

The Angel Inn
The Angel Inn was a favourite watering hole of Graham Chapman and the Monty Python team - some sketches were written here. A brewery is known to have stood on the site of The Angel Inn before the end of the 15th century.
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DECEMBER

2019

Kennington Road, SE11
Kennington Road was a turnpike road created in 1751. The building of Westminster Bridge caused a large increase of traffic on the Surrey bank. Once outside the immediate vicinity of the bridge, the roads became poor. The ’Turnpike Trustees of Surrey, Sussex and Kent’ were supported by a parliamentary act passed in 1750–1. The Act allowed the Trustees to repair or widen some existing roads and to lay out new ones.

One of the new roads was Kennington Road - at first known as New Road or Walcot Place. It linked Westminster Bridge Road with Kennington Common and was laid out as a straight road across open fields and gardens. It crossed the estates belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Walcot Charity and the Duchy of Cornwall. Most of the road frontage was built up in the early years of the 19th century.

The artist Vincent van Gogh lived at Ivy Cottage, 395 Kennington Road in 1874-5.

As a child, Charlie Chaplin lived at 287 Kennington Road and at various other locations on the road ...
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DECEMBER

2019

North End Avenue, NW3
North End Avenue runs south from North End. On the east side, a second North End House was built by 1913. In 1923 Brandon House and Wyldeways were built north of it.

Myrtle Lodge, still further north was renamed Byron Cottage after Fanny Lucy, Lady Byron and later Lady Houston (1857-1936), who went to live there in 1908.

Pitt House was enlarged by the addition of a billiard room. in 1899 Sir Harold Harmsworth, later Viscount Rothermere, bought it and added a storey. He sold it in 1908 and it was occupied during the First World War by Valentine Fleming MP, and his sons the writers Ian and Peter.
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DECEMBER

2019

Abbey College London
Abbey College is part of a group of independent sixth form colleges which are based in London, Manchester and Cambridge. The oldest of the colleges - DLD - was established in 1931. After ten years located in Marylebone, the College merged with its younger sister Abbey College. It moved in 2015 to brand new, purpose-built facilities in the centre of London, overlooking the River Thames, opposite the Houses of Parliament.
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DECEMBER

2019

Plevna Street, E14
Plevna Street forms part of the St John’s Estate. Building lots on the new streets of Atworth Street, Galbraith Street, Launch Street, Castalia Street and Plevna Street were auctioned in 1881–2 by the British Land Company.

The brochure for the estate claimed that the estate was "within a few minutes ride of the city" - quite an exaggeration!

After Second World War bombing, the St John’s Estate - including a rebuilt Plevna Street - was built by Poplar Borough Council in the the triangle formed by Manchester Road, East Ferry Road and Glengall Grove.
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DECEMBER

2019

Britannia Street, WC1X
Britannia Street, King’s Cross, dates from the 1770s. The patriotic fervour which led builders to name their streets ’Albion’ and ’Britannia’ seems to have been a phenomenon of the Georgian era; since the Hanoverian kings were personally unpopular, loyalty to the motherland was expressed by these vague but loaded names (except when victories occurred, to engender a profusion of Nelsons, Trafalgars Waterloos).

After Victoria’s accession in 1837 the incidence of Albions and Britannias in London shows a marked decrease accompanied by an outburst of Victoria Terraces, followed within the decade by dozens of Alberts.
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DECEMBER

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

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 ...
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DECEMBER

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...
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DECEMBER

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

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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