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

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

A Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution; Sir James Dewar on Liquid Hydrogen (1904)

Henry Jamyn Brooks

Video: Co-ordinate near to Gardner Close, Wanstead
Jago Hazzard went to the far reaches of the Central Line

On this day in London history

2022:

Vauxhall Station (early 1900s)
Vauxhall at the turn of the twentieth century.

Vauxhall bus station, in the twenty first century, is a centralised area where all of the local buses serving Vauxhall may be boarded. And these days it has a photovoltaic roof supplying much of its electricity and is the second busiest London bus station, after that at Victoria. At the turn of the twentieth century, Vauxhall was a gloomier affair. This photo, taken from roughly where the number 2 and 36 stop on their way to Victoria, shows the modern top of Bondway at its junction with South Lambeth Place. The modern road system has transformed Vauxhall. The late nineteenth century road layout contains unfamiliar names: Bond Street, Archer Street. South Lambeth Road no longer curves up to the Vauxhall Tavern. The landscape abounds in breweries and pubs.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

The Limehouse Barge-Builders (Narrow Street from the river). This painting can be seen in the South Shields Museum and Art Gallery.

Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917)

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On this day in London history

2022:

The Horse Hospital
Built as stabling for the sick horses of cabbies, The Horse Hospital is now a unique Grade II listed arts venue in Bloomsbury.

The Horse Hospital is the only existing unspoilt example of a two-floor, purpose-built stable remaining for public access in London. It is situated at the corner of Herbrand Street and Colonnade – a working mews immediately behind the Hotel Russell, midway between London’s West End and Spitalfields arts district. Built originally in 1797 by James Burton, the building may have been redeveloped sometime after 1860. The shell is constructed with London Stocks and red brick detail, whilst the interior features a mock cobbled herringbone pattern re-enforced concrete floor. Access to the both floors is by concrete moulded ramps. The upper floor ramp retains hardwood slats preventing the horses from slipping. Each floor has five cast iron pillars and several original iron tethering rings.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

Palace of Westminster (1859) Henry Pether’s view follows the River Thames from Millbank (slightly above Lambeth Palace on the opposite side of the river) and looks towards the Palace of Westminster, which was completed in 1859, the same year he made this work

Henry Pether

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.

Kennington Tollgate
The Kennington toll gate stood at the intersection of Kennington Park and Camberwell New Road/Brixton Road.

The Kennington Turnpike was one of a number of ’turnpike’ roads that sprang up. Roads were improved and then charges levied, following the General Turnpike Act of 1773. Turnpike trusts were created as a result. However, the act that created this turnpike was passed in 1751. The Kennington Turnpike lay on the main route for coaches and omnibuses to and from the south. The toll gate stood on the junction where the two old Roman roads out of London diverged. The toll was abolished on 18 November 1865.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

’Under London Bridge’ (1920) Dora Meeson is best known for her many fine pictures of the River Thames. As a student at the Slade under Henry Tonks she studied with a number of well-known names including Ursula Tyrwhitt, Ida Nettleship and Gwen Salmond.

Dora Meeson

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An Omnibus Ride to Piccadilly Circus
An Omnibus Ride to Piccadilly Circus, Mr Gladstone Travelling with Ordinary Passengers, 1885

This painting shows Mr Gladstone, the British Prime Minister, travelling with ordinary passengers. The description of the painting also says that it includes a self portrait. Thus we can assume that the artist, Alfred Morgan, is seated next to the Window on the left-hand side.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

’The Thames at Westminster’ Colin Burns grew up in a Norfolk seaside town. From the age of seven, he began to paint landscapes and sunsets and, as a nine year old, started winning art prizes at school. At the age of sixteen he left school and qualified as an accountant, painting in his spare time.

Colin W Burns (born 1944)

Video: Co-ordinate near to Gardner Close, Wanstead
Jago Hazzard went to the far reaches of the Central Line

Blackfriars
Blackfriars station was opened on 30 May 1870, by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR), now the District line.

Blackfriars served as the new eastern terminus of the Metropolitan District Railway when their line was extended from Westminster. The construction of this MDR section was coordinated with the development of the Victoria Embankment, employing the cut and cover method to roof over a shallow trench. Now the station spans the River Thames, occupying the entirety of the Blackfriars Railway Bridge. Since December 2011, there have been station buildings with passenger entrances on both sides of the river. Previously, only the north side had buildings and entrances. Adjacent to the rail bridge runs Blackfriars Bridge, a road bridge that runs parallel to it. Blackfriars is named after a central London area in the southwest corner of the City of London. Its name dates back to 1317 and originates from the black capes (cappas) worn by the Dominican Friars. These friars relocated their priory from Holborn to the area between the River Thames and Ludgate Hill in 1276.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

An Omnibus Ride to Piccadilly Circus, Mr Gladstone Travelling with Ordinary Passengers (1885) Credit: Alfred Morgan (1862-1904) This painting shows Mr Gladstone, the British Prime Minister, travelling with ordinary passengers. The description of the painting also says that it includes a self portrait. Thus we can perhaps assume that the artist, Alfred Morgan, is seated next to the window on the left-hand side.

Alfred Morgan (1862-1904)

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Blackbird Hill (1906)
Blackbird Hill was pictured here in 1906 and was then part of Neasden.

Blackbird Hill was named after Blackbird Farm. We don’t know when there was first a farm here. There were at least five “villagers” cultivating small areas of land in this part of Kingsbury at the time of the Domesday Book in 1085. The large field behind it is shown as being leased to John Page, gentleman, by St Paul’s Cathedral (‘The Deane of Powles’), while the land on the opposite side of the main track was held by Eyan Chalkhill, who also had a watermill on the River Brent. By the time of John Rocque’s map of 1745, there were farm buildings and orchards on both sides of Old Church Lane. These would come to be known as the upper and lower yards of Blackbird (or Blackbird Hill) Farm. Whereas the original farm, or smallholding, was probably growing a mixture of crops, mainly to support the farmer’s own family, by the mid-18th century the map shows most of the fields as pasture land. This was probably for raising livestock, some of which would be driven to London to help provide meat for the capital’s fast-growing population. At the start of the First World War in 1914, Blackbird Hill Farm was still rural, as was much of Kingsbury, even though it was classed as an Urban District for local government purposes. When foot and mouth disease broke out at Blackbird Farm in 1923, and all of the cows had to be shot, that was the end of it as a working farm. Although the Noad family continued to live in the farmhouse, the rest of the land was sold off for housing.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

Battersea Power Station

Robert Lowry/Wandsworth Museum

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.

Kensal Rise (1907)
Motor buses at Kensal Rise station.

This is an old postcard showing Kensal Rise. It is postmarked 30 August 1907. In those days, the urban area stretched only as far as the railway at Kensal Rise – beyond it lay fields. You can see the spread of development by switching between the 1900 and 1910 mapping.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

Hampstead Garden Suburb from Willifield Way (1914) Golders Green crematorium can be seen in the background

William Whitehead Ratcliffe/Tate

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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 original building, designed by T. P. Figgis, was similar to – but larger than – the existing surface building at Kennington with a domed roof to the original lift shaft. The two lifts each carried 50 people to and from the platforms until their replacement by escalators in the mid-1920s. The station was modernised in advance of the 1926 extension from Clapham Common to Morden (Morden Extension). A new surface building was constructed on the original site. The original station platforms were closed on 29 November 1923 and platforms sited to the north of the original were opened on 1 December 1924. At the same time the platforms were rebuilt to a larger diameter – and with a single platform in each tunnel – south of the original station tunnel.

TUM Book Club: Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

London from Greenwich Park (1720) From the Dutch school of painting in vogue at the time, notable features of this painting are the palace in central Greenwich (later demolished), St Paul’s as the tallest London building on the horizon and a very green Isle of Dogs

Peter Tillemans (Bank of England Museum)

Video: Co-ordinate near to Gardner Close, Wanstead
Jago Hazzard went to the far reaches of the Central Line

Queen’s Cinema
This cinema was situated at the top of Queensway, on the corner of Bishop’s Bridge Road.

The Queens Cinema opened on 3 October 1932 and was designed in the contemporary style by architects Stanley Beard and Clare. It was built for and operated by W.C Dawes’ Modern Cinemas, a small independent circuit which had cinemas in the west of London. It was taken over by the ABC chain on 19 February 1935 and remained under their ownership for the following fifty years. In 1975 it was converted into a three screen cinema. Cannon Cinemas ran it between 1986 and 1988 but closed that year. “Coming to America” was the final movie. It was a restaurant between 1995 and 2007. When that in turn closed, the auditorium was demolished but the facade kept once converted into flats.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

View of a House and its Estate in Belsize, Middlesex (1696) London and its smoke is visible on the left horizon

Jan Siberechts/Tate Britain

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Getting around London with Oyster