Comments on: The Dark Nights Of Old London https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Wed, 14 Nov 2018 18:59:44 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Marcia Howard https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1238009 Wed, 14 Nov 2018 18:59:44 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1238009 Wonderful images, and not so different from the early 1950s when I was growing up there

]]> By: lyn wills https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237765 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 19:42:33 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237765 a beautifully written introduction to some stunning photos. makes me miss london in the dark

]]> By: Gary Arber https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237752 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 16:50:48 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237752 These were the days of my childhood in the 1930’s, the night sky seemed heavy with starlight,with the Milky Way right overhead. I sat tracing the signs of the zodiac that were illustrated in my Children’s Encyclopedia. We had a gaslight lamp post outside which had a bar at the top for the lamplighter to rest his ladder on when he came each week to wind up the clock. Then the war started and they switched them all off and it was really dark.
Gary

]]> By: Deborah https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237738 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:38:24 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237738 Thank you so much for these. Especially the ones along the embankment. I was, however, really hoping for one of the Billingsgate porters on St Mary-at-Hill. Does that shot exist—or only in your beautiful imaginings? (I found your reflections every bit as evocative as the photos themselves.)

]]> By: Sonia Murray https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237736 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:32:00 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237736 Lovely! Thank you, Gentle Author! This is the London my grandparents knew. I’ll be there for a week next month, walking in the rain on the Embankment, my Christmas present to myself.

]]> By: David https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237735 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:25:48 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237735 Would be fascinating to re-photograph these scenes today from the same vantage points, to see what has changed –and what has not.

]]> By: Jill Wilson https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237733 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:19:02 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237733 Yes – all very atmospheric… It just needs the added sounds of Big Ben and boats on the river to really take you back into Old London. Great stuff!

]]> By: Lynne Perrella https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237729 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 14:12:31 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237729 You had me at: “the presses are rolling in Fleet Street”. These images are so cinematic and atmospheric, I felt like I was right there. Collar up, wishing I’d remembered to bring my umbrella, fumbling for gloves, wisking raindrops off my glasses, a bounce in my step. One of those moments of falling in love with the nocturnal version of a beloved city, regardless of rain-down-my-neck, be damned.
Thanks for taking us along on your wanderings, as ever.

]]> By: Helen Breen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237728 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 13:59:09 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237728 Greetings from Boston,

GA, what a fabulous collection of old London pics, and kudos to the Bishopgate Institution for preserving them for posterity. Great writing…

“…[these photos] set my imagination racing with nocturnal visions of the gloom and the glamour of our city in darkness, where mist hangs in the air eternally, casting an aura round each lamp, where the full moon is always breaking through the clouds and where the recent downpour glistens upon every pavement – where old London has become an apparition that coalesced out of the fog.”

While I always choose June as the month to visit London, with its long summer nights, these photos show me the side of London I am missing…

]]> By: Ruth Fleming https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/13/the-dark-nights-of-old-london/#comment-1237726 Tue, 13 Nov 2018 13:26:06 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170439#comment-1237726 Just loved this blog and the wonderful photos. Like a portal to a past world. If you find the actual entrance door let me know.

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