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.

Amersham

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...

Amersham

Amersham is a market town 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills, England. It is part of the London commuter belt. Amersham is split into two distinct areas: Old Amersham, set in the valley of the River Misbourne, which contains the 13th century parish church of St. Mary’s and several old pubs and coaching inns; and Amersham-on-the-Hill, which grew rapidly around the railway station in the early part of the 20th century.

Records date back to pre-Anglo-Saxon times, when it was known as Egmondesham.

In 1200 Geoffrey, Earl of Essex obtained a charter for Amersham allowing him to hold a Friday market and a fair on 7 and 8 September. In 1613 a new charter was granted to Edward, Earl of Bedford, changing the market day to Tuesday and establishing a statute fair on 19 September.

The area of the town now known as Amersham on the Hill was referred to as Amersham Common until after the arrival of the Metropolitan Line in 1892. After this date growth of the new area of the town gradually accelerated, with much work being done by the arch...

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NOVEMBER

2023

Yiewsley
Yiewsley is a large suburban village in the London Borough of Hillingdon Yiewsley’s transition from an agrarian community began when the Grand Junction Canal was opened. Construction started in May 1793 and connected the area to the Thames at Brentford, passing through Yiewsley on its way north following the River Colne. An aqueduct was built at Cowley Lock to cross the Fray’s River. In 1794, the canal opened between the Thames and Uxbridge, and in 1795, the aqueduct over the Fray’s River was likely completed.

The following year, in 1796, Colham Wharf, Yiewsley’s first dock, was established near Colham Bridge. In 1801, the Paddington Arm of the canal opened, connecting the area to national trade routes.

The canal played a vital role in transporting Cowley stock bricks, which were made from the abundant brick-earth in Yiewsley. The bricks were transported mainly along the Grand Junction Canal and the Regent’s Canal to supply the demand for building materials in Victorian London.

By t...
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NOVEMBER

2023

South Harrow
South Harrow originally spread south and west from the hamlet of Roxeth as a result of easier access from Central London by rail In the 1890s, the Metropolitan District Railway, which later became the District Line but was operating as an independent company at the time, recognised the inadequate service to Uxbridge and Harrow. To address this, they proposed the construction of a railway line towards both towns, and this led to the formation of the Ealing & South Harrow Railway. The railway line was intended to extend to South Harrow, which was then a rural area located to the south of Roxeth.

Construction of the railway line was completed by 1899, but the District Line faced financial difficulties that delayed its opening until 1903. Consequently, South Harrow became the terminus of a line extending from Park Royal & Twyford Abbey. The location around Northolt Road subsequently developed into South Harrow’s own commercial and residential hub.

The original station building was approximately 170 metres south of the present-day station. This extension marked a significant miles...
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SEPTEMBER

2023

Great Portland Street
Great Portland Street is a London Underground station near Regent’s Park Great Portland Street station was opened on 10 January 1863 as Portland Road, renamed Great Portland Street and Regents Park in 1923 and changed to its present name on 1 March 1917.

The station’s present structure, constructed in 1930, is situated on a traffic island at the intersection of Marylebone Road, Great Portland Street and Albany Street. This building features a steel-framed design with a cream terracotta exterior. The station’s perimeter also houses shops and, in the past, included a car showroom with office spaces above it. Notably, Great Portland Street was a significant sales location for the motor industry. The station’s architectural design, credited to C.W. Fowler, earned it a Grade II listing in January 1987.

The area around Great Portland Street station offers various points of interest. Regent’s Park and the iconic BT Tower are nearby attractions. Additionally, the station’s proximity to Regen...
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SEPTEMBER

2023

Courtfield Gardens, SW5
Courtfield Gardens is named after the field beneath it, cultivated until the 19th century According to 16th-century records, Courtfield Gardens was built on a vast open meadow known as Great Courtfield. This meadow was surrounded by fertile land and small farms and was part of a large area of land that extended from Cromwell Road to The Old Brompton Road in one direction, and from Gloucester Road to Earl’s Court Road in the other direction. Great Courtfield was included in the Earl’s Court ’manor’.

During the 18th century, Earl’s Court House, a grand manor house, was constructed on the land that is now the western terrace of Barkston Gardens. This building replaced an extensive dwelling that was described in 1705 as having fountains, a marble-tiled dairy, engines for water, and impressive gates at its entrance.

In the 19th century, the area surrounding Courtfield Gardens was developed with rows of terraced houses, as the demand for housing in London grew. Earl’s Court House was demolished in the middle of th...
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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Matthew Proctor Blackheath Grove, SE3 Added: 7 Dec 2023 17:36 GMT	Blackheath Grove, SE3 Road was originally known as The Avenue, then became "The Grove" in 1942. From 1864 there was Blackheath Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on this street until it was destroyed by a V2 in 1944 Reply
Peter Gambia Street, SE1 Added: 4 Dec 2023 07:05 GMT	Gambia Street, SE1 Gambia Street was previously known as William Street. Reply
Eileen Brecknock Road, N7 Added: 10 Nov 2023 09:42 GMT	Brecknock Road Pleating Company My great grandparents ran the Brecknock Road pleating Company around 1910 to 1920 and my Grandmother worked there as a pleater until she was 16. I should like to know more about this. I know they had a beautiful Victorian house in Islington as I have photos of it & of them in their garden. Source: Family history Reply
Squirrel’s Lane, IG9 Added: 6 Nov 2023 16:59 GMT	061123 Why do Thames Water not collect the 15 . Three meter lengths of blue plastic fencing, and old pipes etc. They left here for the last TWO Years, these cause an obstruction,as they halfway lying in the road,as no footpath down this road, and the cars going and exiting the park are getting damaged, also the public are in Grave Danger when trying to avoid your rubbish and the danger of your fences. Source: Squirrels Lane. Buckhurst Hill, Essex. IG9. I want some action ,now, not Excuses.MK. Reply
Christian Cornwall Road, W11 Added: 31 Oct 2023 10:34 GMT	Cornwall Road, W11 Photo shows William Richard Hoare’s chemist shop at 121 Cornwall Road. Reply
Vik Oaks Road, TW6 Added: 30 Oct 2023 18:48 GMT	Old pub sign from the Rising Sun Hi I have no connection to the area except that for the last 30+ years we’ve had an old pub sign hanging on our kitchen wall from the Rising Sun, Stanwell, which I believe was / is on the Oaks Rd. Happy to upload a photo if anyone can tell me how or where to do that! Reply
Phillip Martin Ashburnham Place, SE10 Added: 16 Oct 2023 06:25 GMT	16 Ashburnham Road On 15 October 1874 George Frederick Martin was born in 16 Ashburnham Road Greenwich to George Henry Martin, a painter, and Mary Martin, formerly Southern. Reply
Christine Bithrey Holly Park, N4 Added: 15 Oct 2023 15:20 GMT	The Hollies (1860 - 1900) I lived in Holly Park Estate from 1969 I was 8 years old when we moved in until I left to get married, my mother still lives there now 84. I am wondering if there was ever a cemetery within The Hollies? And if so where? Was it near to the Blythwood Road end or much nearer to the old Methodist Church which is still standing although rather old looking. We spent most of our childhood playing along the old dis-used railway that run directly along Blythwood Road and opposite Holly Park Estate - top end which is where we live/ed. We now walk my mothers dog there twice a day. An elderly gentleman once told me when I was a child that there used to be a cemetery but I am not sure if he was trying to scare us children! I only thought about this recently when walking past the old Methodist Church and seeing the flag stone in the side of the wall with the inscription of when it was built late 1880 If anyone has any answers please email me [email protected] Reply

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We now have 628 completed street histories and 46872 partial histories

NOVEMBER

2021

Bolina Road, SE16
Bolina Road was developed with workers’ terraced housing in the late 19th century. Bolina Road and the similarly exotically named roads around it - Zampa Road and Senegal Road - were developed after replacing market gardens in the 1860s. It was part of an industrial landscape that grew up the local railway lines

Charles Booth visited the area in 1899, writing: "This is a small D-shaped portion known as Hobman’s Estate, and comprises: Zampa Road, Bolina Road, Haydock Road, Erlam Road, Stockholm Road. All 2-storey houses with bows on first floor and ground floor, small iron-railinged fronts, small backs to which the top storey has access by special flight of stairs. All lived in by two families with four rooms to a floor. Let at 7/- each. Rents paid weekly. No bathroom. Quiet and respectable. Fairly broad streets with occasional trees on the pavement. The streets are paved with a special composition of tar and crushed stone made in Hobman’s factory in the Stockholm Road. Hobman makes the playgrounds for the School Board. He is also a manufa...
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NOVEMBER

2021

The Shard
The Shard - formerly London Bridge Tower is a 72-storey skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark. Standing 309 metres tall, the Shard - on completion - became the tallest building in the United Kingdom, and the seventh-tallest building in Europe. It also became the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. It replaced Southwark Towers, a 24-storey block built on the site dating from 1975.

The Shard’s construction began in March 2009 and was topped out on 30 March 2012.

The tower’s 72nd floor observation deck, The View from The Shard, was opened to the public on 1 February 2013.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Astoria houseboat
Astoria is a houseboat built in 1911 for impresario Fred Karno, becoming a recording studio in the 1980s for its new owner, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. Astoria is moored on the River Thames at Hampton. It was built in 1911 for impresario Fred Karno who wanted to have the best houseboat on the river. It was permanently moored alongside his hotel, the Karsino, Tagg’s Island. He designed it to be large enough for a 90-piece orchestra to play on deck.

Dave Gilmour purchased the boat in 1986 after seeing it advertised for sale in a copy of Country Life magazine in his dentist’s waiting room.

Parts of three Pink Floyd studio albums: A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), The Division Bell (1994), and The Endless River (2014), were recorded on the boat.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Jacob’s Island
Jacob’s Island was a notorious slum in Bermondsey during the 19th century. Jacob’s Island was located on the south bank of the Thames to the east of Shad Thames and the mouth of the former River Neckinger (St Savour’s Dock). It developed a reputation as the worst slum in London. It featured in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, published shortly before the area was cleared during the 1860s.

Bermondsey had been a rural parish on the outskirts of London. During the 17th century, the area began to be developed as a wealthy suburb but by the 19th century, Bermondsey had experienced a serious decline as noxious industries such as tanning moved in. It became the site of terrible slums, especially along the river.

Of these, Jacob’s Island was the most notorious. It was described in 1849 by The Morning Chronicle as "the very capital of cholera" and "The Venice of Drains".

The 19th-century social researcher Henry Mayhew described Jacob’s Island as a "pest island" with bridges crossing ti...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Bermondsey
The name Bermondsey first appears in a letter from Pope Constantine during the 8th century. Pope Constantine (708-715), in a letter, granted privileges to a monastery at Vermundesei, then in the hands of the abbot of Medeshamstede (as Peterborough was known at the time).

Though Bermondsey’s name may derive from Beornmund’s island (whoever the Anglo-Saxon Beornmund was, is another matter), but Bermondsey is likely to have been a higher, drier spot in an otherwise marshy area, rather than a real island.

Bermondsey appears in the Domesday Book and it was then held by King William (the Conqueror). A small part of the area was in the hands of Robert, Count of Mortain - William’s half brother.

Bermondsey Abbey was founded in 1082 as a Cluniac priory, with St Saviour as the patron.

The monks from the abbey began to develop the area, cultivating land and embanking the river. They put a dock at the mouth of River Neckinger, an adjacent tidal inlet. Records show this was called St Savior’...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Highams Park
Highams Park is situated between Walthamstow and Chingford. The Highams Park area was previously known as ‘The Sale’ - this name appeared on maps from 1641. Another local name was Hale End, site of the later Halex factory.

The whole area lay within the manor of Hecham - meaning high home - existing already in 1066.

In 1768 Anthony Bacon built Higham House (also known as Highams) to William Newton’s design. It was altered again in the 1780s.

In the 1790s, the grounds, including a summer house built with stones from old London Bridge, were redesigned to include a lake fed by the River Ching. The summer house was demolished in 1831.

In 1849, Highams became the property of Edward Warner. Parcels of the estate started to be sold for development but the real spur to housing was the arrival in 1873 of Highams Park railway station. This was opened to the west of the Highams estate. Immediately around the station, the land was developed.

A few years later, in 18...
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NOVEMBER

2021

London City Airport
London City Airport (LCY) is located within the Royal Docks, London Borough of Newham. London City Airport is situated 9.7 km east of the City of London and was built by the Mowlem engineering company in 1987.

The first proposed was the airport was in 1981 - made by the London Docklands Development Corporation, the organisation then responsible for the regeneration of the area.

The airport has a single 1508 metre runway, and because of its situation, multi-engine, fixed-wing aircraft only up to Airbus A318 size are allowed to conduct operations.

The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) opened its London City Airport station on its Woolwich branch (originally the King George V branch), opening on 2 December 2005.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Knoyle Street, SE14
Knoyle Street is the eastern extension of Cold Blow Lane beyond the East London Railway. The line of Knoyle Street dates back to the early 1800s as simply a muddy footpath extending Cold Blow Lane.

The street has a confusing history of layouts. Originally it ran east-west but in the 1960s it was shortened and most of the street was newer, running in a quarter-circle north from the shortened section. Part of the Woodpecker Estate was built here.

When completed, the Woodpecker Estate consisted of eight tower blocks. In the centre of the estate was the main local shopping centre and a pub named The Spanish Steps. The estate became synonymous with gang culture in Lewisham and in 1992, an Estate Action Plan was drawn up for the regeneration of the estate. This resulted in all but one of its tower blocks being demolished and replaced with three storey blocks of flats.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Brushfield Street, E1
Brushfield Street is a thoroughfare running east-west from Commercial Street to Bishopsgate. Depicted in 1676 as an unnamed road on the south side of the ’Spittlefield’ running between Crispin Street and Red Lion Street. By the beginning of the 18th century it had acquired the name Little Paternoster and later Paternoster Row.

It was extended west to Bishopsgate in the latter half of the 18th century, the new extension cutting through Crispin Street, Gun Street, Steward Street and Duke Street (later Fort Street). This new section was called Union Street.

The north side of the street was (and to some extent still is) dominated by the buildings of Spitalfields Market. It was renamed Brushfield Street on 25 February 1870 in honour of Thomas Brushfield, a Justice of the Peace, trustee of the London Dispensary in Fournier Street and a prominent Vestryman. Thomas Tempany, owner of Mr Tenpenny’s Lodging House in Gun Street, was recorded as residing at 6 Paternoster Row before the name-change.

The Prince Albert pub stood...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Aldermaston Street, W10
Aldermaston Street is a lost street of North Kensington Aldermaston Street was part of an estate of 50 acres that a barrister called James Whitchurch purchased (for £10 an acre) in the nineteenth century. Streets began to be laid out on the estate during 1846. Aldermaston, Bramley, Pamber and Silchester were four neighbouring villages near Basingstoke, where Whitchurch’s daughter - Florence Blechynden Whitchurch -
was living.

Aldermaston Street was one of the streets which disappeared after the Westway was built though it didn’t lie directly on the route. Instead its footprint covers what is now the Westway Sports Centre.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Brook Street, E1
Brook Street was an old name for this section of Cable Street. Until Victorian times, the current Cable Street had different names for each of its sections. From west to east these were Rosemary Lane, Cable Street, Knock Fergus, New Road, Back Lane, Bluegate Field, Sun Tavern Fields and Brook Street.

In the Victorian era, most sections of Cable Street were combined into one name, with the former names abolished. Other terrace names were abolished at the same time, all becoming simply ’Cable Street’.

Brook Street held onto its distinct name until the 1930s. The Post Office was trying to simplify London street names to stop confusing postal workers - there were too many duplicate names. There were several Brook Streets across London and so this name went too.

Brook Street, Limehouse by Joseph Pennell (1857-1926). 1899. Illustration for Walter Besant’s East London (London: Chatto & Windus, 1901), p. 139.

Chapter V of Besant’s book is entitled "The Factory Girl." Her...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Cable Street, E1
Cable Street started as a straight path along which hemp ropes were twisted into ships’ cables. Cable Street originally ran straight for the length of an average ship’s cable, allowing people to lay out the ropes as they made them. However the Cable Street name has absorbed many other streets so it is now much longer. The name first appears on the 1750s Rocque maps but dates from well before this.

Cable Street starts near the edge of the City of London financial district and continues on through to Shadwell and thence to Stepney, finally to the junction between Cable Street and Butcher Row in Limehouse.

It was known by many names in its past - the Cable Street was the westernmost of the streets and existed since the beginning. The next section east was Knock Fergus, followed by New Road, Back Lane, Bluegate Fields, Sun Tavern Fields and Brook Street.

The street runs parallel to (and south of) the Docklands Light Railway and Commercial Road, and is parallel but north of The Highway.

From Victorian times until the...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Trident Studios
Trident Studios was located at 17 St Anne’s Court between 1968 and 1981. Trident Studios had been constructed in 1967 by Norman and Barry Sheffield. The Sheffield brothers had a relaxed working attitude, but also emphasised high standards of audio engineering

"My Name is Jack" by Manfred Mann was recorded at Trident in March 1968 and helped launch the studio’s reputation - its state-of-the-art recording equipment helped attract many major artists to record there.

Later that year, the Beatles recorded their single "Hey Jude" there and part of their "White Album" sessions. Other well-known albums and songs recorded at Trident include Elton John’s "Your Song", David Bowie’s Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust, Lou Reed’s Transformer, Carly Simon’s No Secrets, and three early Queen albums.

As part of the studio set up, Norman Sheffield leased a C. Bechstein grand piano from a company called Jake Samuel Pianos". The piano and hand made and already over 100 years old in 1968.

Com...
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NOVEMBER

2021

St Anne’s Court, W1D
St Anne’s Court is an alleyway that connects Dean Street and Wardour Street. Parts of St Anne’s Court can be dated back to the late seventeenth century. The eastern part was originally built in c. 1690 and the western end was built on the Pulteney estate. A plan of the south side is included in the Portland estate plan, made around 1792.

The buildings fronting the narrow western end have been rebuilt at various times, but several original houses survive in the eastern end.

Sites in St Anne’s Court included the model lodgings designed by William Burges between 1864 and 1866 for the banker and philanthropist Lackland Mackintosh Rate. This resulted in a series of thirty lodging rooms ’to be let to artisans’. The building was subsequently demolished.

Sites also include Trident Studios at number 17 and the 1970s science fiction bookshop Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed. In the 1980s, a basement in St Anne’s Court was home to Shades Records, a store specialising in Death Metal and Thras...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Suffield Road, SE17
Suffield Road was laid out after the demise of the Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens. The Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens grew out of a menagerie started by Edward Cross in 1831 - he had previously exhibited at Exeter Change in the Strand.

The gardens were designed by Henry Phillips and highly praised - they were compared favourably with the Regent’s Park Zoological Gardens. The land of the zoo had previously been the 19-acre Lorrimore Common.

Cages for lions, tigers and other animals were enclosed within a glasshouse, 300 feet in circumference.

The gardens covered roughly the area between Suffield Road on the north, Lorrimore Road to the south, Penrose Street and Borrett Road on the east, and Chapter Road/Delverton Road to the west.

Edward Cross retired in 1844 and, under the new management of William Tyler, fell under hard times. He sold the animals in 1855 in order to keep the enterprise afloat but in 1856 seven people were killed in a stampede during a sermon by a local Baptist minister. The resulti...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Bow Locks
Bow Locks is a set of bi-directional locks in Bromley-by-Bow Bow Locks link the tidal Bow Creek to the River Lee Navigation.

The first recorded mention of water control at the site was during the reign of Edward I. Henry de Bedyk of Halliwell Priory and owner of the nearby tide mills erected a structure some time before 1307. A description of its operation in 1416 indicates that it consisted of a dam with a navigable 18 feet wide channel through it. The owners of the mills rebuilt the structure - now referred to as a lock - in 1573.

With the river was important for trade, an engineer called John Smeaton was asked to recommend improvements in 1765. He suggested a cut from Bow Locks to Limehouse. The Limehouse Cut was opened in 1777, but the lock was not altered.

A pound lock was constructed between 1851 and 1852, to accommodate barges up to 108 by 20 feet. The trustees imposed a toll for using the lock but this was unpopular with the bargees. A compromise was reached, where use of the lock required t...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Highams Park Estate, IG8
The Highams Park Estate was an estate of 176 prefabs which existed between 1947 and 1961. In 1947 Walthamstow Council erected prefab homes in Highams Park - some of the layout of the roads is still visible in the park. These were erected in order to address the local post-war shortage of homes after bombing.

Three years earlier, the Churchill coalition government introduced the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act to provide temporary houses - there was an anticipated shortfall of 200 000 homes. The proposal was to address the shortfall by building 500 000 pre-fabricated houses with a planned lifetime of ten years within a five year period. These became popularly known as ’prefabs’.

At the end of the war, the Labour government of Clement Attlee, agreed to deliver 300 000 units within a decade, within a budget of ÃƒÆ’Ã†’Ãƒâ€ ’ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Â ’ÃƒÆ’Ã†’Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¢ÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¬ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ãƒâ€...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Folgate Street, E1
Folgate Street, formerly White Lion Yard and White Lion Street, has 17th century origins. The development of Folgate Street by the St John and Tillard Estate did not involve building a new street but repurposing an existing one - this older street ran from Wheler Street to Norton Folgate and had probably been developed from a yard, perhaps at about the same time that Wheler Street was built. In the late seventeenth century, Folgate Street was known as White Lion Yard.

The western end of the street is shown in the Hollar map dating after the Great Fire. In the 1675 tax returns, sixty houses were listed as being in White Lion Yard. The street was most likely completely rebuilt by the mid-eighteenth century.

One of more building leases were granted in 1697 and in 1704 White Lion Yard was "a certain place - commonly called White Lyon Yard intended to be rebuilt and called White Lyon Street". On plans of 1711-12, the lower part of Blossom Street, shown as Sote’s Hole, is in existence. Some of the buildings on the north side of White L...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Turnpike Lane
Turnpike Lane station was opened on 19 September 1932 as part of the Cockfosters extension of the Piccadilly line. Turnpike Lane station was designed by Charles Holden and is an example of the modernist house style of London Transport in the 1930s. Like the other stations on the Cockfosters extension, Turnpike Lane set new aesthetic standards for the Underground. It was the first Underground station to be built in the Borough of Tottenham and was located at the meeting point of the then boroughs of Tottenham, Hornsey and Wood Green. It was listed at Grade II in 1994.

Two of the street entrances originally gave access to tram routes to and from Alexandra Palace. The trams were withdrawn in 1938 and replaced by buses - these continued to use the tram islands until 1968. By the 1990s the bus station was deemed too small and a new bus station was built which involved demolishing an adjacent cinema.

During the planning period for the extension to Cockfosters, two alternate names for this station, North Harringay and Ducketts Green were considered.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Widegate Street, E1
Widegate Street is now a short street connecting Middlesex Street and Sandy’s Row. The Widegate name comes from the former ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“white gate’ entrance into the Old Artillery Ground, which was established in the 16th century. Areas of the Artillery Ground were sold off for development in subsequent centuries, with its legacy living on today in names such as Fort Street, Gun Street, Artillery Passage and Artillery Lane.

Widegate Street used to be longer - its western section was absorbed by Middlesex Street in the 1890s.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Purves Road, NW10
Purves Road is named after the solicitor of the United Land Company who were developers in this area. After 1888, when the surrender of a farm lease allowed construction north of the railway line, All Souls’ College began to exploit its lands. It built Chamberlayne Road, which connected Kensal with Willesden Green and eventually boasted a pleasant little shopping centre, as well as some light industry. This new area of development was given the name of Kensal Rise. Kensal Green station was renamed Kensal Rise in 1890.

The land for Purves Road was sold by All Souls College and the builders were Vigers. The All Souls’ estate now stretches from Kensal Green to Harlesden.

The road was the site of the Princess Frederica School.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Tweeddale Road, SM5
Tweeddale Road is part of the 1930s St Helier Estate. The St Helier Estate is the second largest (825 acres) of the London County Council (LCC) cottage estates.

The architect was G. Topham Forrest who included natural aspects - existing trees, hedges, shrubberies and greens - in the plan. The design incorporates varying gables, porches and door canopies to reduce the design monotony found in many interwar estates.

The estate was constructed by C.J. Wills and Sons and was named after Lady St Helier, who had served on the London County Council and was noted for her good works with the poor.

As Morden was once in the possession of the Abbey of Westminster, many roads were named after monasteries in England and Wales, and five in Scotland.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Barnehurst Road, DA7
Barnehurst Road was previously called Hills and Holes Road. The road may date from the 1850s or before as a lane through Conduit Wood.

It was the 1926 electrification of the Bexleyheath line that signalled the start of the large interwar housing developments.

The first builder in the area was J.W. Ellingham and who chose the site next to the station on which to build the ’Barnehurst Estate’. This consisted of 578 semi-detached houses which sold for Â£600 each with building starting along Barnehurst Road in 1926.

The Midfield shopping parade of shops was finished in 1928. The Barnehurst Estate was completed in the early 1930s.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Pinehurst Court, W11
Pinehurst Court is a mansion block at 1-9 Colville Gardens. The terrace was built in the 1870s by George Frederick Tippett, who also developed much of the rest of the neighbourhood.

The block was intended as single family homes for richer people.

It proved difficult to attract wealthy buyers to the area and in 1885 Tippett was declared bankrupt. As early as 1888 the buildings began to be subdivided into flats and the character changed as wealthier tenants left the area. In 1928, it was described as "rapidly becoming poorer" and in 1935 "largely a slum area".

One of the buildings at the end of the terrace was destroyed during the Second World War - it has since been rebuilt in the modern style. The same raid severely damaged other buildings in the area, including All Saints Church.

In 1953 the terrace was bought by Fernbank Investments Ltd for Â£8000. Conditions did not improve and in 1966 some of the residents began to approach the Borough in an attempt to improve living conditions...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Hatton Cross
Hatton Cross is a London Underground station on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly Line. Hatton Cross station is located close to Heathrow airport in Hatton adjacent to the Great South West Road (A30) on the airport’s Southern Perimeter Road.

It opened on 19 July 1975 in the first phase of the extension of the Piccadilly line from Hounslow West to Heathrow Airport and it remained the terminus until Heathrow Central opened on 16 December 1977.

The station serves a large area including Feltham to the south and Bedfont to the west and was named after the crossroads of the Great South West Road and Hatton Road.

On its opening in 1975, Hatton Cross was one of 279 active stations on the London Underground, the highest ever total; the number of stations in the network has since decreased.

Hatton Cross is also the nearest underground station to the popular plane spotting location of Myrtle Avenue, and for this reason is commonly used by plane spotters travelling to the area.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Little Dorrit Court, SE1
Little Dorrit’s Court, North of Marshalsea Road, is named after the Dickens character. Charles Dickens had lodgings in Lant Street to the south of Marsalsea Road as a child when his father was in the nearby Marshalsea debtors’ prison in 1824. This had a profound effect on the young Dickens.

His novel Little Dorrit (1855) is based around the area and the prison. The character Little Dorrit was baptised and married in the local church, St George the Martyr, at the southeast end of Marshalsea Road. The book is a commentary on the treatment of the poor.

Much of the area became derelict as a result of air raid damage during World War II until redevelopment just after the new millennium. The Little Dorrit Court name precedes the later street and dates from immediately after the Second World War.

Little Dorrit Court is one of a number of Southwark streets and alleys named after characters from the works of Charles Dickens, including Copperfield Street, Clennam Street, Doyce Street and Quilp Street.

Little Dorrit...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Highgate Hill, N19
Highgate Hill formed part of the old highway from Islington to Highgate which was opened in the 14th century. Highgate Hill dates from circa 1380 when a new road from the City via Holloway had come into use as the main road going north. Holloway Road and Highgate Hill became linked with the new North Road past the Ã¢â‚¬Ëœhighgate’. At the summit, Highgate sits atop a 426-foot hill.

Highgate Hill remains one of the steepest roads in London with its steepest gradient being the point where changes name to Highgate High Street. Dick Whittington is said to have sat upon a milestone on Highgate Hill on his way back to the family home in Gloucestershire. Inspired by the distant sound of Bow Bells, he turned again to find fame and fortune in London.

From the 16th century, houses began to form along Highgate Hill.

Until 1808, when Archway Road was built - providing a bypass - Highgate Hill was the main road up to Highgate village. The hill was particularly problematic for carts bearing heavy loads.

There were four other ways...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Coppock Close, SW11
Coppock Close is part of the Kambala Estate. The Kambala Estate was named after a former road that the estate covered - Kamballa Road. It is part of a scheme of low-rise brick-built houses and flats, built between 1976 and 1979.
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NOVEMBER

2021

Connaught Square, W2
Connaught Square was the first square of city houses to be built in the Bayswater area. It is named after the Earl of Connaught who had a house nearby. The current appearance of the square dates from the 1820s. The square is just north of Hyde Park, and to the west of Edgware Road. It is also within 300 m of Marble Arch, and the western end of Oxford Street.

Connaught Square’s architecture is primarily Georgian. Redevelopment was initially planned in the early 18th century and the first of its 45 brick houses was built in 1828 as part of the Hyde Park estate by Thomas Allason.

Residents of Connaught Square hold an exclusive summer party in the central communal garden every year. The garden square is maintained by the owners of the adjoining properties who contribute to its upkeep, and in return are issued keys to the garden. Such gated gardens are a particular feature of this area of London. The horses of the Royal Artillery regularly do their early morning rides down Connaught Street.

In October 2004, the then Prime Min...
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NOVEMBER

2021

Cheshire Street, E1
Cheshire Street is a street in the East End linking Brick Lane with Bethnal Green and Whitechapel. It has had various names in its history, such as Hare Street, and today forms part of Brick Lane Market on Sundays. The Cheshire Street part of the market is home to various Bric A Brac stalls; prior to the area become popular with artists, the market was a source of basic items (clothes, toys etc.) for working people from the East End.

The street runs parallel to the former Bishopsgate Goods Yard and the main railway track into Liverpool Street and the railway viaduct that used to carry trains into the good yard is one of the oldest brick rail viaducts in the world, the listed Braithwaite Viaduct. It is possible to see the original brick work of this viaduct from Grimsby Street, a tributary of Cheshire Street.

The old Carpenters Arms pub is also located on Cheshire Street. The notorious Kray twins bought the pub for their mother, who used to hold court in it at weekends. According to the last proprietors of the pub, the Krays installed a bespoke bar surf...
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