Comments on: In Old St

By: gladys Baker

gladys Baker — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 15:54:46 +0000

I lived in flats in old street and attended st lukes school i was evacuated with st lukes schoolwhen the 2nd world war started i remember hoxton and whitecross street very well but it has changed so much .Old street and city road that was a cross road not a rounderbout i could go on and on .

By: Carolyn Badcock - nee Hooper

Carolyn Badcock - nee Hooper — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 05:49:44 +0000

I can see that from now on, gentle author, you’ll be inspired to walk Old Street. It was such a pleasure to do the “walk” through your eyes. Just love the Old St Gothic shot with all that wonderful glass!

By: Caroline Bottomley

Caroline Bottomley — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 07:48:45 +0000

Love your comments from Dr Johnson @Caroline Murray

By: Victoria

Victoria — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 23:19:19 +0000

I too have never been keen on Old Street but have found the streets leading off it fascinating. Bunhill Cemetery on a crisp autumn afternoon just before dusk is quite magical. Love the first photo, the black and white one with the intense sunlight caught between buildings, it conjures up a sense of grandeur rather like those cavernous avenues in New York City!

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 20:31:18 +0000

Ironic that the revival enjoyed by Whitecross St food market was caused in no small part by the regeneration of Spitalfields Market.
Many of the food stall holders moved there temporarily when Spitalfields was closed for rebuilding. This move became permanent when the newly re-opened Spitalfields didn’t want them back.

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 17:47:18 +0000

Thank you for this GA. My great grandparents lived at several addresses in the Old Street area and my grandfather was born in Fosters Buildings just off Whitecross Street in 1874. I so much enjoy your reports on the areas which would have been familiar to them.

By: Gary Arber

Gary Arber — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:41:34 +0000

I hate Old Street for another reason. As a 15 year old boy I had to carry heavy packs of paper to and from Ferguson the machine ruler in Cowper Street, walking to and from the number 8 bus stop in Clerkenwell Road.

By: Caroline Murray

Caroline Murray — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 13:23:04 +0000

I had no idea where St Luke’s asylum was – thanks! Did you know Dr Johnson’s assessment of Smart’s madness? ‘My poor friend Smart shewed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place.’ And, ‘I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no passion for it.’

By: max reeves

max reeves — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:42:36 +0000

Wonderful post, . thanks. I have heard stories that Old Street roundabout was the site of the last suicide burial in London. Can anyone shed any light ?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:30:29 +0000

Thanks for the beautiful evocative photographs. I sometimes stay in Old Street when in town and have found touching little details in the neighbourhood such as the early 19th century houses built of yellow London stock bricks. St Lukes Church was once the centre of a vast sprawling parish outside the City which teemed with people in the early 19th century. It was known as ‘lousy Lukes’ as the curious weathervane (still there) was thought to resemble a louse. A man who may have been (its complicated) my 5 x great grandfather was baptised in St Lukes in 1806; the year after the Battle of Trafalgar.

Andrew M