The London Daily Newsletter Tuesday 1 August

On 1 August 1831, New London Bridge opened to traffic. Building commenced under John Rennie in 1825, and was completed in 1831, at the expense of the City. The bridge was composed of five arches, and built of Dartmoor granite. It was opened with great splendour by King William IV, accompanied by Queen Adelaide, and many of the members of the royal family. In the 1960s it was auctioned and sold for $2,460,000 to Robert McCulloch who moved it to Havasu City, Arizona. The rebuilt London Bridge was completed and dedicated on 10 October 1971.

Alsatia
Alsatia was the name given to an area lying north of the River Thames covered by the Whitefriars monastery.

Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries it had the privilege of a sanctuary and as a result it was the refuge of the perpetrators of every grade of crime, debauchery, and offence against the laws. The execution of a warrant there, if at any time practicable, was attended with great danger, as all united in a maintenance in common of the immunity of the place. It was one of the last places of sanctuary used in England, abolished by Act of Parliament named The Escape from Prison Act in 1697 and a further Act in 1723. Eleven other places in London were named in the Acts (The Minories, The Mint, Salisbury Court, Whitefriars[disambiguation needed], Fulwoods Rents, Mitre Court, Baldwins Gardens, The Savoy, The Clink, Deadmans Place, Montague Close, and Stepney). Alsatia was named after the ancient name for Alsace, Europe, which was itself outside legislative and juridical lines, and, therefore, they were literally places without law. The name is thought to be a cant term for the area and is first known in print in the title of The Squire of Alsatia, a 1688 play written by Thomas Shadwell. The name was used into the 20th century as a term for a ramshackle marketplace, protected by ancient custom and the independence of their patrons.

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.

Orleston Rd, N7 (1933)

Elwin Hawthorne

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