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A Ramble Through Long Forgotten London

October 21, 2022
by the gentle author

Join me on an atmospheric autumn walk through the streets of Spitalfields. Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS

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As the dusk gathers, let us go rambling to explore the sights of long forgotten London in the volumes of Walter Thornbury’s London Old & New. It is a shadowy realm, conjured as if from a dream or nightmare.

This was how Londoners of the late nineteenth century looked back upon the city that had gone within living memory, a London that was already vanishing into reminiscence and anecdote in their time – a lost city, only recalled today in dark and dingy engravings such as these.

Golden Buildings, off the Strand

Boar’s Head Yard, Borough High St

Jacob’s Island, Southwark

Floating Dock, Deptford

Painted Hall, Greenwich

Waterloo Bridge Rd

Balloon Ascent at Vauxhall Gardens, 1840

House in Westminster, believed to have been inhabited by Oliver Cromwell

Old shops in Holborn

Mammalia at the British Museum

Rookery, St Giles 1850

Manor House of Toten Hall, Tottenham Court Rd 1813

Marylebone Gardens, 1780

Turkish Baths, Jermyn St

Old house in Wych St

Butcher’s Row, Strand 1810

The Fox Under The Hill, Strand

Ivy Bridge Lane, Strand

Turner’s House,  Maiden Lane

Covent Garden

Whistling Oyster, Covent Garden

Tothill St, Westminster

Old house on Tothill St

The Manor House at Dalston

Old Rectory, Stoke Newington 1856

Sights of Stoke Newington – 1. Rogers House 1877 2. Fleetwood House, 1750 3. St Mary’s Rectory 4. St Mary’s New Church 5, New River at Stoke Newington 6. Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, 1800 7. Old gateway

Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute

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Long Forgotten London

4 Responses leave one →
  1. Bernie permalink
    October 21, 2022

    Ah me! Sic transit gloria mundi! Rectory Road, Stoke Newington was part of my childhood stamping-ground. Would that I could see it again!

    Wolinski the baker graced the corner with Evering Rd. And in the days of bread rationing it was a rare pleasure to queue along their side-wall and bask in the warmth that seeped through from the ovens. Excellent bread every day and good chollas on Fridays.

  2. Mark permalink
    October 21, 2022

    Fab engravings.
    Who wouldn’t like to invisibly, walk through those streets, ramshackle with no doubt disgusting smells eminating from every surface and probably most people. Topped off with a trip to Vauxhall Gardens to catch the clap from a young lady of ill repute, so I’ve read!

  3. Linda permalink
    October 21, 2022

    I’ve followed your blog for so many years and enjoyed two wonderful weekend classes. You’ve helped me express myself and create a little personal memoir which is helpful as family members diminish or move on with disinterest!! No point in getting upset about things we can’t control….anyway I wanted to ask you if you were aware of The India Club which is on The Strand inside The Hotel Continental! I absolutely love this little hostel which I discovered on early solo trips to London in 2016? The National Trust have adopted it but it feels like the pressure of property prices will mean its days are numbered. It would make a great article? Apologies if you’ve already made this discovery. Best love – thanks for all your daily kindness! It boosts a girl’s day all the way up here in Dundee!!
    Linda

  4. Bill permalink
    October 21, 2022

    If only the ghosts of old buildings could haunt their former precincts, and if only I could discern them…

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