London is blessed with so many bizarre but brilliant street names. Street names are also often a great window into the history of the area. Here are 10 of my favourites… 1. Bleeding Heart Yard Bleeding Heart Yard in Holborn has two stories behind the name. One of which is likely to be the truth […]
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The Charterhouse is one of London’s best historical hidden gems. The site has an astonishingly rich story, going back to the area’s usage as a plague pit, then monastery, Tudor mansion, school and finally the almshouse that still occupies part of the site today. All of this fascinating, layered and also living history can be
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Hidden away in Lambeth, just over the river from Westminster, is a 465 year old fig tree. For context, the year it was planted in 1556, Mary I, daughter of King Henry VIII was on the throne, the population of London was roughly 100,000 and Lambeth was predominantly marshland and fields. So where is this
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London has many ‘lost’ rivers, that have played a huge role in defining the landscape of the city: the hills, the valleys, the shapes of roads. They are now predominantly buried in pipes under the streets of modern London. The city’s most famous lost river is the River Fleet. The name Fleet comes from the
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Tucked away behind the grand Victorian terraces of Thornhill Crescent in Barnsbury, North London, you will find a tiny hidden woodland. At 0.35 hectares, Barnsbury wood is London’s smallest nature reserve. The wood Just off Thornhill Crescent, on Crescent Street, look out for a small black gate. This will take you down a stone pathway
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