 
The Underground Map Added: 20 Sep 2020 13:01 GMT | Pepys starts diary On 1 January 1659, Samuel Pepys started his famous daily diary and maintained it for ten years. The diary has become perhaps the most extensive source of information on this critical period of English history. Pepys never considered that his diary would be read by others. The original diary consisted of six volumes written in Shelton shorthand, which he had learned as an undergraduate on scholarship at Magdalene College, Cambridge. This shorthand was introduced in 1626, and was the same system Isaac Newton used when writing.
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Jeff Owen Added: 20 Mar 2021 16:18 GMT | Owen’s School Owen Street is the site of Owen’s Boys’ School. The last school was built in 1881 and was demolished in the early 1990s to make way for the development which stand there today. It was a “Direct Grant” grammar school and was founded in 1613 by Dame Alice Owen. What is now “Owen’s Fields” was the playground between the old school and the new girls’ school (known then as “Dames Alice Owen’s School” or simply “DAOS”). The boys’ school had the top two floors of that building for their science labs. The school moved to Potters Bar in Hertfordshire in 1971 and is now one of the top State comprehensive schools in the country. The old building remained in use as an accountancy college and taxi-drivers’ “knowledge” school until it was demolished. The new building is now part of City and Islington College. Owen’s was a fine school. I should know because I attended there from 1961 to 1968.
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Bernard Miller Added: 12 Apr 2022 17:36 GMT | My mother and her sister were born at 9 Windsor Terrace My mother, Millie Haring (later Miller) and her sister Yetta Haring (later Freedman) were born here in 1922 and 1923. With their parents and older brother and sister, they lived in two rooms until they moved to Stoke Newington in 1929. She always said there were six rooms, six families, a shared sink on the first floor landing and a toilet in the backyard.
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Steven Shepherd Added: 4 Feb 2021 14:20 GMT | Our House I and my three brothers were born at 178 Pitfield Street. All of my Mothers Family (ADAMS) Lived in the area. There was an area behind the house where the Hoxton Stall holders would keep the barrows. The house was classed as a slum but was a large house with a basement. The basement had 2 rooms that must have been unchanged for many years it contained a ’copper’ used to boil and clean clothes and bedlinen and a large ’range’ a cast iron coal/log fired oven. Coal was delivered through a ’coal hole’ in the street which dropped through to the basement. The front of the house used to be a shop but unused while we lived there. I have many more happy memories of the house too many to put here.
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MCNALLY Added: 17 May 2021 09:42 GMT | Blackfriars (1959 - 1965) I lived in Upper Ground from 1959 to 1964 I was 6 years old my parents Vince and Kitty run the Pub The Angel on the corner of Upper Ground and Bodies Bridge. I remember the ceiling of the cellar was very low and almost stretched the length of Bodies Bridge. The underground trains run directly underneath the pub. If you were down in the cellar when a train was coming it was quite frightening
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Tom Added: 21 May 2021 23:07 GMT | Blackfriars What is, or was, Bodies Bridge?
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Added: 21 Apr 2021 16:21 GMT | Liverpool Street the Bishopsgate station has existed since 1840 as a passenger station, but does not appear in the site’s cartography. Evidently, the 1860 map is in fact much earlier than that date.
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Added: 27 Jul 2021 14:31 GMT | correction Chaucer did not write Pilgrims Progress. His stories were called the Canterbury Tales
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Lena Added: 18 Mar 2021 13:08 GMT | White Conduit Street, N1 My mum, Rosina Wade of the Wade and Hannam family in the area of Chapel Street and Parkfield Street, bought her first “costume” at S Cohen’s in White Conduit Street. Would have probably been about 1936 or thereabouts. She said that he was a small man but an expert tailor. I hope that Islington Council preserve the shop front as it’s a piece of history of the area. Mum used to get her high heel shoes from an Italian shoe shop in Chapel Street. She had size 2 feet and they would let her know when a new consignment of size 2 shoes were in. I think she was a very good customer. She worked at Killingbacks artificial flower maker in Northampton Square and later at the Halifax bombers factory north of Edgware where she was a riveter.
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STEPHEN ARTHUR JACKSON Added: 14 Nov 2021 17:12 GMT | Lynedoch Street, E2 my father Arthur Jackson was born in lynedoch street in 1929 and lived with mm grandparents and siblings, until they were relocated to Pamela house Haggerston rd when the street was to be demolished
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Added: 3 Jun 2021 15:50 GMT | All Bar One The capitalisation is wrong
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Jack Wilson Added: 21 Jun 2022 21:40 GMT | Penfold Printers I am seeking the location of Penfold Printers Offices in Dt Albans place - probably about 1870 or so
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Erin Added: 2 May 2022 01:33 GMT | Windsor Terrace, N1 hello
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Bob Land Added: 29 Jun 2022 13:20 GMT | Map legends Question, I have been looking at quite a few maps dated 1950 and 1900, and there are many abbreviations on the maps, where can I find the lists to unravel these ?
Regards
Bob Land
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Alison Added: 26 Jun 2022 18:20 GMT | On the dole in north London When I worked at the dole office in Medina Road in the 1980s, "Archway" meant the social security offices which were in Archway Tower at the top of the Holloway Road. By all accounts it was a nightmare location for staff and claimants alike. This was when Margaret Thatcher’s government forced unemployment to rise to over 3 million (to keep wages down) and computerised records where still a thing of the future. Our job went from ensuring that unemployed people got the right sort and amount of benefits at the right time, to stopping as many people as possible from getting any sort of benefit at all. Britain changed irrevocably during this period and has never really recovered. We lost the "all in it together" frame of mind that had been born during the second world war and became the dog-eat-dog society where 1% have 95% of the wealth and many people can’t afford to feed their children. For me, the word Archway symbolises the land of lost content.
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Jack Wilson Added: 21 Jun 2022 21:40 GMT | Penfold Printers I am seeking the location of Penfold Printers Offices in Dt Albans place - probably about 1870 or so
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Added: 19 Jun 2022 16:58 GMT | Runcorn Place, W11 Runcorn place
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Added: 30 May 2022 19:03 GMT | The Three Magpies Row of houses (centre) was on Heathrow Rd....Ben’s Cafe shack ( foreground ) and the Three Magpies pub (far right) were on the Bath Rd
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Watts Added: 17 May 2022 20:29 GMT | Baeethoven St School, also an Annex for Paddington College of FE. In the early 70’s I took a two year science course at Paddington CFE. The science classes were held on weekday evenings at Beethoven Street school, overseen by chemistry teacher, Mr Tattershall.
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Added: 25 Apr 2022 22:11 GMT | Southover, N12 Everyone knows Central Woodside is the place to be. Ever since kdog moved from finchtown, Woodside has been thriving.
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Bernard Miller Added: 12 Apr 2022 17:36 GMT | My mother and her sister were born at 9 Windsor Terrace My mother, Millie Haring (later Miller) and her sister Yetta Haring (later Freedman) were born here in 1922 and 1923. With their parents and older brother and sister, they lived in two rooms until they moved to Stoke Newington in 1929. She always said there were six rooms, six families, a shared sink on the first floor landing and a toilet in the backyard.
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Clerkenwell Priory Clerkenwell Priory was a priory of the Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, located in Clerkenwell, London. Hicks Hall Hicks Hall (1611 - 1778) was a building in St John Street, Clerkenwell. Maison Novelli Maison Novelli was a restaurant in Clerkenwell, Central London, located opposite the Old Session House. Marx Memorial Library The Marx Memorial Library in London holds more than 43,000 books, pamphlets and newspapers on Marxism, Scientific Socialism and Working class history. Middlesex Sessions House The Former Middlesex Session(s) House or the Old Sessions House is a large building on Clerkenwell Green. St John Clerkenwell St John Clerkenwell is a former parish church in Clerkenwell, now used as the chapel of the modern Order of St John. St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell St John’s Gate is one of the few tangible remains from Clerkenwell’s monastic past; it was built in 1504 by Prior Thomas Docwra as the south entrance to the inner precinct of Clerkenwell Priory, the priory of the Knights of Saint John - the Knights Hospitallers. Albemarle Way, EC1M Albemarle Way was named after Elizabeth, Dowager Duchess of Albermarle, who lived at Newcastle House nearby in the 18th century. Aylesbury Street, EC1V Aylesbury Street - after the earl of Aylesbury who owned a house near here in the 17th century. Baltic Street East, EC1Y Baltic Street East was built by a timber merchant around 1810 who named local streets after trade-related activities. Bath Street, EC1V Bath Street is one of the streets of London in the EC1V postal area. Berry Place, EC1V Berry Place is one of the streets of London in the EC1V postal area. Brackley Street, EC2Y Brackley Street was named after Viscount Brackley - the title given to the eldest sons of the Earl of Bridgewater who owned a townhouse on Bridgewater Square. Broad Yard, EC1M Broad Yard is one of the streets of London in the EC1M postal area. Charterhouse Square, EC1M Charterhouse Square is the largest courtyard associated with London Charterhouse, mostly formed of Tudor and Stuart architecture restored after the Blitz. Cloth Court, EC1M Cloth Court is one of the streets of London in the EC1A postal area. Fann Street, EC1Y Fann Street is one of the streets of London in the EC1Y postal area. Gee Street, EC1V Gee Street is one of the streets of London in the EC1V postal area. Helmet Row, EC1V Helmet Row is one of the streets of London in the EC1V postal area. Jerusalem Passage, EC1M Jerusalem Passage was named for an old public house, St John of Jerusalem, which stood at the northeast corner until 1760. Lauderdale Tower, EC2Y Lauderdale Tower is the westernmost tower in the Barbican, facing onto Lauderdale Place. Leo Yard, EC1V Leo Yard is one of the streets of London in the EC1V postal area. Long Lane, EC1A Long Lane is one of the streets of London in the EC1A postal area. Long Lane, EC1M Long Lane is one of the streets of London in the EC1M postal area. Northampton Square, EC1V Northampton Square is a square between Finsbury and Clerkenwell, located between Goswell Road and St John Street. Northburgh Street, EC1M Northburgh Street in the EC1V postcode is a western extension of the main part of the street. Pardon Street, EC1V Pardon Street was named after Pardon Chapel, founded in the wake of the Black Death in 1348.
Peter’s Lane, EC1M Peter’s Lane is named after the church which once stood close to the Cross Keys tavern. Pickax Street, EC2Y Pickax Street once ran from Long Lane to Goswell Road (which before 1864 was called Goswell Street). Saffron Hill, EC1N Saffron Hill’s name derives the time that it was part of an estate on which saffron grew. Sans Walk, EC1R Sans Walk was named after Edward Sans in 1893, who was then the oldest member of the local parish vestry. Silk Street, EC2Y Silk Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area. St John Street, EC1V The northern section of St John Street was confusingly, before the 20th century, named Saint John Street Road. Sutton Road, EC1M Sutton Road is one of the streets of London in the EC1M postal area. BarSmith This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Be At One This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Charterhouse Bar This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Circle Bar, Level 0 This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. City Pride This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Clerkenwell & Social This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Crown Tavern This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Lazybones This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Nomad Club This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Piano Smithfield This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Sabor Iberico This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Sir John Oldcastle This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Sutton Arms This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Sutton Arms This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Artisan This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Castle The Castle is the only pub in England that, alongside its pub sign, is permitted to display the three balls of a pawnbroker. The Fence This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Fox and Anchor This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Green This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Horseshoe This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Old Ivy House This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The One Tun This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Peasant This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Shakespeare This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Slaughtered Lamb This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Trader This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. The Well This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. Three Kings This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so. White Bear This pub existed immediately prior to the 2020 global pandemic and may still do so.
Clerkenwell was once known as London’s Little Italy because of the large number of Italians living in the area from the 1850s until the 1960s.
Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks’ Well in Farringdon Lane. In the Middle Ages, the London Parish clerks performed annual mystery plays there, based on biblical themes. Part of the well remains visible, incorporated into a 1980s building called Well Court.
In the 17th century South Clerkenwell became a fashionable place of residence. Oliver Cromwell owned a house on Clerkenwell Close, just off the Green. Several aristocrats had houses there, most notably the Duke of Northumberland, as did people such as Erasmus Smith.
Before Clerkenwell became a built-up area, it had a reputation as a resort a short walk out of the city, where Londoners could disport themselves at its spas, of which there were several, based on natural chalybeate springs, tea gardens and theatres. The present day Sadler’s Wells has survived as heir to this tradition.
Clerkenwell was also the location of three prisons: the Clerkenwell Bridewell, Coldbath Fields Prison (later Clerkenwell Gaol) and the New Prison, later the Clerkenwell House of Detention, notorious as the scene of the Clerkenwell Outrage in 1867, an attempted prison break by Fenians who killed many in the tenement houses on Corporation Row in trying to blow a hole in the prison wall.
The Industrial Revolution changed the area greatly. It became a centre for breweries, distilleries and the printing industry. It gained a special reputation for the making of clocks and watches, which activity once employed many people from around the area. Flourishing craft workshops still carry on some of the traditional trades, such as jewellery-making. Clerkenwell is home to Witherby’s, Europe’s oldest printing company.
After the Second World War, Clerkenwell suffered from industrial decline and many of the premises occupied by the engineering, printing publishing and meat and food trades (the last mostly around Smithfield) fell empty. Several acclaimed council housing estates were commissioned by Finsbury Borough Council. Modernist architect and Russian émigré Berthold Lubetkin’s listed Spa Green Estate, constructed 1943–1950, has recently been restored. The Finsbury Estate, constructed in 1968 to the designs of Joseph Emberton includes flats, since altered and re-clad.
A general revival and gentrification process began in the 1980s, and the area is now known for loft-living in some of the former industrial buildings. It also has young professionals, nightclubs and restaurants and is home to many professional offices as an overspill for the nearby City of London and West End.
Amongst other sectors, there is a notable concentration of design professions around Clerkenwell, and supporting industries such as high-end designer furniture showrooms.