Comments on: The Ghosts Of Old London

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 13:20:29 +0000

Photos of the Oxford Arms threaten to interrupt my entire schedule today — I want to sit and stare (and squint) at the details here; and let stories spin and twirl. As someone who loves decrepit, crusty, neglected surfaces……these details are like a check list of Divine Imperfection. Disorderly cobblestones, uneven boards, missing sections of walk-ways that look treacherous and yet well worn. (I imagine making my way across the courtyard after a downpour, mud up to my ankles…….) Every detail out-of- sync, wobbly, frazzled, cobbled-together for the moment, a hulking structure that looks ready to collapse. The laundry! I love those downward-reaching arms of the shirt………”oh, I just give UP”. An upper window slightly open — a futile effort to catch a breeze? Or, more likely, an ill-fitting window that will no longer close. Imagine the efforts that will be needed to keep out the winter cold? Too hot, too cold, nothing ever right in this mean, fascinating structure. The big mysterious burlap bundles, and decaying baskets and hampers. What’s IN there? Stairs that tilt and lean. The turned bannisters and the brass lanterns are the last
remnants of a formerly-dignified structure — but now everything is simply worn out. I watch the man in the courtyard — and the little family above, on the balcony. What were their thoughts, aspirations, woes, and plans on that day?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 12:54:01 +0000

Yes, very Quint like!

By: Mathilde Grange

Mathilde Grange — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 12:42:04 +0000

Incredible “ghostly” pictures. Ghosts everywhere, half-seen or not seen at all, behing closed windows and doors. It is easy to imagine them. Not having saved the Oxford Arms is unforgivable.
I read “The Turn of the Screw” when I was thirteen, and saw the film when I was fifteen. It took me years to get over it. It is the most frightening story I’ve ever read. It was the first thing I read from Henry James.

By: Jo N

Jo N — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 12:24:26 +0000

My first thought, too, that he looks like a policeman.

By: Achim

Achim — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 12:08:29 +0000

Excellent photos from a bygone era. I like the little old London houses better than all these concrete buildings of modern times…

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: Peter Hart

Peter Hart — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 11:21:33 +0000

Wonderful set of old photos thanks GA

By: Christine S

Christine S — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 08:25:41 +0000

Fascinating, what a shame these galleried pubs didn’t’t survive. What I can’t understand is why in what would have been densely populated areas there are so few people in the pictures?

By: Peter Huddart

Peter Huddart — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 06:52:37 +0000

Looking closely at the face of the man in the shop window, I am struck by his height compared to the woman of whom we see only her left side. The chap has a heavy, military type moustache yet doesn’t look that old. There is just a slight hint of a darker something down his jawline, which just could be a strap. Having enlarged the image, the two pinpricks of light that stand out are in positions which, if I am correct, correspond to the shiny collar numbers on a stand up tunic collar and the equally silver shine of the letters VR on a policeman’s helmet.
The local Constable doing his rounds of tea stops perhaps ?