Comments on: A Lost Botanic World In Aldgate

By: Vicky Stewart

Vicky Stewart — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 06:53:00 +0000

A month or two after this bomb site was explored and recorded by Friends of City Gardens the excavators moved in and not long after that this building was appeared, 24 stories of student accommodation

https://architectureplb.com/sectors/residential/middlesexstreet

By: Jane Hill

Jane Hill — Thu, 24 May 2018 09:45:38 +0000

I love this post gentle author; thank you, it’s right up my street. You may be interested to know that ‘cockney weeds’ are to be found on Hampstead Heath.

‘Sandpits had again appeared on the Heath in 1939. One great quarry was at the south end of the Upper Fairground, just above the Vale of Health, and another on the Sandy Road, just below the Spaniards road, at the back of the Paddock. These were wide and about twenty feet deep. They were filled up at the end of the War with rubble from bombed London, which brought a colourful crop of Cockney weeds and are the only place on the Heath where they can be seen today.’ http://www.hampsteadheath.net/hampstead-heath.html

I shall be going in search of them shortly.

By: Phil Maxwell

Phil Maxwell — Sun, 13 May 2018 13:50:00 +0000

I wish I’d climbed down into that hole! A Nazi bomb, followed by seed bombs and graffiti artists. Love it. No doubt the site will be covered with luxury flats that the majority of us won’t be able to afford.

By: Bailey Jones

Bailey Jones — Sun, 13 May 2018 12:05:21 +0000

The drawings are super. I can read the notes and the spelling isn’t a big issue. What a grand project.

By: wendy mukluk

wendy mukluk — Sun, 13 May 2018 02:32:39 +0000

beautiful specimens… they remind me of old blueprint plant specimens, like anna atkins’ seaweed images

By: Christina Mitchell

Christina Mitchell — Sat, 12 May 2018 19:49:27 +0000

Loved this post! Beautifully presented.Thank you.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Fri, 11 May 2018 20:29:44 +0000

What a pity this treasure of plants arising out of destruction is now due to be ‘developed’. A piece of history that perhaps was worth saving as a reminder of what had been. It is amazing how neglected areas revert to nature so easily. I grew up for the first 11 years of my life in Chelsea, and although the area was left relatively unscathed from bombing, there were one or two bombs sites I recall playing around with my older siblings, with big drops into the open cellars. We were forbidden to go near them of course, but that just made them even more of a temptation.

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Fri, 11 May 2018 12:13:49 +0000

So from this terrible destruction arose a place of natural beauty! At least something good. My family was living in Victoria Park Road in 1943 and my father was on leave from the army and he heard the V1 motor cut out and my dad grabbed my sister who was just born and slid under the heavy wooden kitchen table. The rocket hit over the road and took many lives but the roof of the house came down . The table was so solid it saved their lives without a scratch. My dear sister , Ros ,is still alive to tell that tale

By: Richard Smith

Richard Smith — Fri, 11 May 2018 10:03:00 +0000

Wow, a fascinating post. Fascinating because of the plants but also the chance to explore. I think the destruction may not have been caused by a V2 as I believe the first impact of a V2 was 8th September 1944 in Chiswick, West London. Thank you for the post.

By: sarah

sarah — Fri, 11 May 2018 09:57:32 +0000

In the 1970s I was told by a lady who was then in her late 60s that that she and her sister both worked in the City after the end of the war, and in their lunch breaks they used to throw ‘seed bombs’ containing many varieties of hardy annuals into bomb craters. I wonder if there were any traces of their interventions at Aldgate East?