The Underground Map is creating street histories for the areas of London and surrounding counties lying within 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.
The aim of the project is to find the location every street in London, whether past or present. You are able to see each street on a present day map and also spot its location on older maps.
There's a control which looks like a 'pile of paper' at the top right of the map above. You can use it to see how an area has changed on a series of historic maps.
St Mary’s Church, Vincent Square
St Mary’s was established in 1837 and closed in 1923. He was born in Derby, and was trained by his father, Thomas, who was an antiquarian and a topographer. Edward became skilled at drawing accurate and detailed architectural illustrations. His commissions included drawings of Peterborough, Durham, and Winchester Cathedrals. His drawings of Althorp brought him to the attention of Earl Spencer, who was influential in introducing him to other wealthy and influential patrons. After his father died in 1818, Blore started to prepare architectural designs for new buildings. The first of these was for the enlargement of Sir Walter Scott�s Abbotsford House. Although this was not accepted, it led to the acceptance of his design for Corehouse, a large country house in Lanarkshire, Scotland, for the judge George Cranstoun. More commissions for country houses followed. Blore then became involved with the Church Commissioners, designing, with others, a series of churches that have become to be known as Commissioners� churches, the first of these...
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St Mary Somerset
St Mary Somerset was a church in the City of London first recorded in the twelfth century. Destroyed in the Great Fire, St Mary Somerset was one of the 51 churches rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren.
Pre-Fire London had 14 churches named after the Virgin Mary, six of which were rebuilt after the Fire. The derivation of ’Somerset’ is uncertain. It has been linked to Ralph de Somery, who is mentioned in records at the same time. It is also linked to Summer’s Hithe, a small haven on the Thames, the banks of which would have been closer in medieval times. The church was first mentioned in a deed during the reign of Richard I.
According to John Stow, in 1370, the Brabant weaver community was ordered by the Mayor to meet in the churchyard of St Mary Somerset for the purpose of hiring serving men, following disputes with the Flemish weavers. The latter were ordered to meet a safe distance away in the churchyard of St Laurence Pountney.
After the Fire, the parish was combined with that of St Mary Mounthaw, w...
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Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove is named after James Weller Ladbroke, who developed the Ladbroke Estate in the mid nineteenth century, until then a largely rural area on the western edges of London. Ladbroke Grove station is located on the road. It originally opened as part of the Metropolitan Railway on 13 June 1864 as Notting Hill with the extension of that line from Paddington to Hammersmith. It was renamed Notting Hill & Ladbroke Grove in 1880 and Ladbroke Grove (North Kensington) on 1 June 1919 before acquiring the present name in 1938.
The adjacent bridge and nearby section of the Westway (London) was regenerated in 2007 in a partnership including Urban Eye, Transport for London and London Underground. It is the nearest tube station to Portobello Road Market and on the route of the annual Notting Hill Carnival in August.
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Deans Yard, SW1P
Dean’s Yard comprises most of the precincts of the former monastery of Westminster, not occupied by the Abbey buildings. Dean’s Yard is a large quadrangle, closed to public traffic, surrounding a green upon which Westminster School pupils (who know is as ’Green’) have legal rights to play football.
The Yard is entered through a grand archway situated amid a row eight Gothic style houses, built in 1854 as part of the Westminster Improvement Act. Before that time, the area to the west of the Abbey was littered with several narrow streets and alleys.
Until the seventeenth century the Green was just a third of its current size. Before this to its south was the Queen’s Scholars’ Dormitory.
There is evidence that the Benedictine monks had their own school here as early as the 12th century; it functioned until Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in 1533, ousted the community and, with no masters, the school was abandoned.
The east and west sides now have buildings of Westminster School. On the south side is Church House, the headquarters of...
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Between Streets, KT11
Between Streets started its life as a lane which crossed Church Field. The road from Leatherhead is older than the Portsmouth Road and caused a bend in the main road as the two alignments met. A market here at the junction with Portsmouth Road, granted by King Stephen, funded the settlement of Church Cobham. It was closed at the end of the 16th century.
A 1879 plan for a railway was made for a line from Kingston with a station proposed on what is now Oakdene Parade.
Between Streets got its very odd name by being the road which connected the two communities of Church Cobham and Street Cobham. It was called Street Cobham Road at the end of the nineteenth century rather than its modern name.
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Cannon Street, EC4N
Cannon Street runs nearly parallel with the River Thames, about 250 metres north of it, in the south of the City of London. The London Stone, from which distances were measured in Roman times, was originally situated in the middle of Cannon Street.
The area around Cannon Street was initially the place of residence of the candle-makers. The name first appears as Candelwrichstrete (i.e. "Candlewright Street") in 1190. The name was shortened over 60 times as a result of the local dialect and settled on Cannon Street in the 17th century. It is not related to firearms.
In the late Victorian period, Cannon Street was occupied by large warehouses - especially of cotton goods.
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Aldermanbury Square, EC2V
At the centre of Saxon London, the aldermen (elder statesmen of City wards) met in a ’bury’ (house) in a time before the Guildhall was built. Aldermanbury Square was laid out in 1962 following significant war damage in the area as part of the London Wall Plan of 1955.
Originally more a traffic island rather than a square, re-landscaping took place in time for the Millennium enabled by the Brewers’ Company. In 2006 it was again reconfigured as part of the Street Scene Challenge initiative run by the City of London.
It is now a traffic-free public space with tree planting, lighting, seating and a water feature.
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Tobago Street, E14
Tobago Street was formerly called both Cross Street and Marsh Street. Cross Street, built in the 1810s, linked Robert Street (now Cuba Street) and Alfred Street (now Manilla Street).
Cross Street was extended before the 1860s across Alfred Street to meet George Street - the latter street probably named after a member of the Batson family who built it. In 1870 it was renamed Tobago Street.
By the 1890s Tobago Street north of Manilla Street had lost most of its residential character. The west side of the street was occupied by industrial and commercial buildings. In the twentieth century industry continued to make inroads into the housing throughout the former estate. By the 1900s, most of the remaining houses were let to weekly tenants and were in poor condition.
During the 1960s, the southern half of Tobago Street was closed to be replaced by an extension of an adjacent firm and by 1970, the only houses left in the area were those in Cuba Street.
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