Two queens, two phoenixes and a couple of castles

Earlier this week I alluded to the re-naming of streets, something that became necessary as London expanded, such that a rendezvous arranged in Church Street could mean one person waiting in Hackney whilst the other was stood checking their fob watch in Soho.

This Georgian map illustrates my point. I had taken a quick snap during a visit to The London Archives merely as reference, hence the shadow coming in from the left. Apologies, but I forgot to note the cartographer and the exact year. 

When I viewed on a larger screen I spotted Phenix Street at the middle left exactly where I'd expect it to be – today we have the Phoenix Theatre there backing on to Phoenix Gardens (Hog Lane later covered by Charing Cross Road): 

But, confusingly, there's another Phenix Street north of St Giles Church and these two streets don't look like they would have ever been connected:

Either side of the northern Phenix Street you'll see Church Street, an extension of Church Lane, and Castle Street which has a twin at the bottom of the map, though I am not sure which castle these alluded to. I then started noticing other doubles.

To make it clearer, I've added some colour-coded rings:

In addition to this, the map shows King Street (today Neal Street) which had a counterpart northeast of this area, near Bloomsbury Square (off the map, today approx Southampton Row). There's another King Street still in existence adjacent to Covent Garden market. 

Many of these streets were less than 5mins walk apart. It suggests to me that the people who lived north of St Giles's church rarely ventured south and vice-versa.

A quick glance at today's A-Z shows we now have only x12 King Streets in Greater London and just x6 Queen Streets. There are x18 Church Streets (a mere x3 Chapel Streets) and only two Castle Streets but neither of those is in the central zone. As for Phenix Street, one one remains and it's the one shown above off CharX Rd, albeit alternatively-spelled.

Ha-ha. Very funny Mr Bridgeman.

Last week, on Londonist Time Machine, Matt wrote about some the wornderful details depicted in the Balloon View illustrative map of 1851. The view is looking from North to South: 

I was surprised that he hadn't made special reference to the delineating wall depicted twixt Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. This is a feature that I have been looking myself as further information when  leading tour groups for The Royal Parks. I had planned to dig out and collate my research and leave a comment, but other things got in the way so I parked the idea.

Well, blow me down if Matt didn't follow up in the next few days with a piece on that very subject here. He gives lots of info, but I'm here adding to the pot and throwing in a few curve balls, questions and comparisons. 

First, let's zoom in on the 1951 map to show exactly what I'm talking about. A wall is depicted on three sides of Kensington Gardens with three semi-circular bastions (North, Middle and South) on the eastern side followed by Google's satellite view today for comparison:

My pic below left show the remains of the ditch at the site of the North Bastion which can be found between the small children's playground and West Carriage Drive. An information board stands near the path, Buck Hill Walk:

When George II became king in 1827 he and his wife Caroline set about making their mark on his father's fusty old palace, in much the same way as Mr Tango Trumpington is currently doing with the East Wing of The White House. These important people simply want to make their mark.   

Caroline was keen to create larger palace gardens by nabbing a huge chunk of Hyde Park. In 1728 she engaged the services of Charles Bridgeman, one of the foremost landscape gardeners of that time, and he created features that still endure and delight us today, such as the formal paths and vistas, the Round Pond (which isn’t round) and the Long Water (which isn’t all that long). 

To delineate open park from formal gardens a wall was needed and, rather than creating one above ground, thereby restricting the view from the palace by drawing a line across the landscape, Bridgeman employed a sunken wall and ditch known as a ha-ha. I think it's fair to assume that the walls along the north and south side of the park would have been above ground. 

1851 vs 2025 Google satellite view. Hints of the North and Middle bastions are still evident today but the southern one has disappeared under the Serpentine Gallery

A close-up of what is now Serpentine North Gallery and out buildings, previously marked as 'Guard House' on the 1851 drawing. Part of the middle bastion's wall and ditch is still visible from West Carriage Drive as shown in the second image (rotated view) at the centre, between the trees. 

No-one has as yet come up with a good reason for where the name ha-ha derives from. It's suggested that it denotes exclamation/surprise. But this is clever, not funny. Or, perhaps, people thought it was funny when their friends accidentally fell down the ditch? Ha ha, you silly idiot!

Charles Bridgeman is often credited as being the first to create this kind of sunken wall. If that is the case, then surely he had some kind of name for it and had labelled it as such when he drew up the plan for the gardens. Or, whilst showing his designs to Queen Caroline, he might have said "here we have a bunkleditch" then, confused, she looked at the drawing and laughed favourably, and the name stuck. 

I have also heard that that sunken walls of this kind were already in were in place in France before Bridgman installed this one for Caroline, which would make his the first of its type in England, "and here we have a ha-ha". But again we have woolly hearsay evidence – where in France are/were those other examples? Why has nobody identified those locations

If it is indeed a french concoction, 'ha-ha' doesn't sound very French when you say out loud. Do French people really (also) say that when they are surprised?  I suggest it might be of French origin but the name was original name sounded similar to ha-ha we have ended up with a mis-pronounced and then mis-spelled name that over time has been poorly conveyed, as per many other mis-heard foreign words that we use today.

Having noticed that modern maps make no reference of this old wall, I've dug out some older maps to see how they change over time. It's interesting to also see how many of the other features within the park come and go and how names or uses of buildings have changed. Until the Victoria era, many maps of London do not show anything West of Knightsbridge, so the earliest depiction of the ha-ha is on Bacon's map published in 1888, shown below, left:

Bacon's map shows the ha-ha as almost as an intact feature, although I cannot prove that it actually was as the time. The entrance by the fountains (strangely not annotated) is marked as Buck Hill Gate and was later changed to Marlborough/Westbourne Gate. Note also the lack of other features within both parks apart from the statue of Jenner, moved here from Trafalgar Square after Prince Albert died. The second map is Philips colourful 1892 folding map showing that the Speke memorial has been installed. The path following the edge of the ha-ha is no longer shown. West Carriage Drive was then known as The Ring, part of the circular horse riding and carriage route within Hyde Park which includes North Ride, Broad Walk, Rotten Row, etc.

On both maps, the building that was the 'Guard House' on the 1851 drawing is now marked 'Magazine' which denotes a storage facility. This could allude to a shed for garden implements but it might well be ammunition, hence a magazine of bullets, or a box or container used for anything containing lots of stuff, whether items, words or information as in a printed pamphlet. Any information about what was kept here is welcome. Today the building is a gallery and restaurant.

The next two snaps are from Ward Lock's 1935 guidebook, left, and Bartholomew's Town Plan c1945, right.  

Ward Lock's 1935 map on the left shows the fountains as Water Works, yet Bartholomew labels them as The Fountains. It's interesting how similar these two maps are considering a war separates them, suggesting the two companies employed the same cartographer and Bartholomew simply rehashed the pre-war map. In both instances, a Refreshment House is shown where the South Bastion used to be (now the site of the Serpentine Gallery and seasonal pavilion). Also of interest is that Ward Lock, despite being a guide book, clearly didn't think that its readers would be interested in many well-known and long-established features within the parks such as the Peter Pan statue, the Dog Cemetery or the Bandstand. 

Moving on to the 1950s...

The map on the left is from the 1951 Baedeker guidebook. It's a delightful design, attempting to mark every tree and landmark. Note that the ha-ha is shown as if it's a distinct feature on the landscape and, whilst the southern bastion is no longer visible, the wall is depicted continuing southwards past the 'Tea Rooms' to Alexandra Gate at Kensington Gore.  However, there looks to be an error regarding the annotation of 'The Ring' which is placed west of the ha-ha along the footpath rather than on the road at the other side. I'm also confused by the label of Bennie's Bridge which needs further investigation. The 1953 Geographers' A-Z version on the right makes less off the ha-ha, enhances Peter Pan but omits Jenner. I wonder who they decided these omissions and inclusions.

The last two maps are also Geographers' A-Zs – the one on the left is from my hardback version, purchased in 1979 shortly after I first passed my driving test, here married with the 2001 large spiral bound cabbies' map book that sits adjacent to my desk.

The 1979 map looks friendlier in design and it shows more to see and do than the later version. It also includes the line of the ha-ha, disappeared/omitted from these maps by 2001.

That's it. I'm done.  

Mapping the Tube 1863-2023 – A chronology of Harry Beck's (and others') London Underground maps at The Map House, 54 Beauchamp Place

One for fellow map nerds and London Transport fans. There is an excellent exhibition at The Map House showing the evolution of the tube map, the like of which I am not sure has been seen before. 

In the gallery room at the rear of the shop there is an arrangement of framed pocket maps that clearly shows how the tube map has been adapted as new routes and stations have been added to comply with Harry Beck's original design.  

The first pic above shows the earliest folding pocket map printed in 1911. I found the wall of maps totally absorbing and for quite some time I played a kind of spot the difference comparing one map to the next, particularly interested in a period when both the Bakerloo and Northern lines were shown as parallel verticals.

Another thing that interested me was the inclusion of the Victoria line in the 1960s – first designed as a complete diagonal. On the opposite wall there are some of Beck's original pencil sketches which include this idea. 

There are also other unique pieces here as well as large format posters and folding maps. 

The exhibition was due to finish this month but they tell me it will now extend to mid-December

If you can't get to the exhibition before it closes, all the maps will continue to be available at the shop and online, as well as many other maps and globes and prints on various subjects etc. 

London Transport Museum, Acton Depot

Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon wandering around the London Transport Museum's second site at Acton.
The first time I went there was almost ten years ago when I took part in a scavenger hunt thing.
And last month, I went there for a specialist tour about the posters, art and advertising – on that occasion I was so engrossed in the poster room that I was hoping I might be able to get accidentally locked in there because there is too much to take in – it's jam-packed with marvellous stuff. I really thought I had written about that last visit on here. But no. Suffice to say the LT posters are similar to the tram ones here.
Here are some snaps from yesterday:

I just love a bit of rusty paint and a clever bit of textile design and a palimpsest of posters and, oh look, there's those funny faces on the switch board again.

Map-tastic. These are all from full sized versions that would have been fixed up on ticket hall walls or on the platforms. A couple of them are enamel. Note how these are pre- Harry Beck – they are not the stylised graphic we have become used to. Also note how the colours for thine tube lines changed over time – see especially the Central and Piccadilly lines. Sorry, but I forgot to make a note of the dates.  

These are models and they're looking good.
Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, a strange training model (that they are keen to find more info about) and the Waterloo to City line at Bank (Queen Victoria Street)

I joined a tour led by Eric, one of the volunteers, in fact the very same fab chap who I met when he was leading the 'hidden' tube tunnels tour underneath Euston Station*. He gave us a short taster-tour that included some really interesting work by Edward Johnston when he was designing LT's iconic typeface. Ooh, I'd love to spend more in those rooms.
If you are into tubes, trains, buses and trains or just have fondness for the fab old vehicles or an interest in the signage then it's well worth a visit – check here for details.

*I really thought I'd written about that tour too, but no, having checked I find the photos are lurking in my 'to do' folder. In a nutshell: fascinating but overpriced. 

Puzzled by a London Puzzle at Christmas

Last week, on Christmas Day afternoon, I cleared the table, poured the wine, and got to work on a PuzzleMap jigsaw of London that I'd found whilst rummaging at a charity sale last summer.
I am happy to report that all the pieces were in the box but, oh boy did I find some other things amiss.

The completed puzzle – 1000 pieces, 19"x27"

Having looked online at reviews for this item people say they really enjoyed doing the puzzle but found the image on the box lid hard to follow because it shows additional map at the left and right sides.
Well, never mind that, dear WordSearchers, you should be more concerned with the inaccuracy of the place- and road-names and the confusion as to why so many insignificant streets, parks and locations have been identified as worthy for inclusion yet other, more important places, have been omitted, and where are the tube station signs for Oxford Circus, Bond Street, Chancery Lane and Hyde Park Corner? Ditto Marylebone and Fenchurch Street rail stations? Did they just fall off the map?!

A crash (one of many) at the junction of Lyall Street and Chester Row.  South Kensington tube stain has been renamed (who knew?) and there optional spellings for the Jameses. In the fourth pic four street names include extra/repeated letters: Roseberry St (+r), Skinnner St (+n), Centrral St (+r) and St. Johns St (+s).

Barnard Park is depicted as a very important district in North London, almost as big as Islington, and Barnsbury Rd has been mis-named Barnsbury St, a silly error because there is a Barnsbury Street further north which runs east-west. In central London alternative spellings are given for the gallery and the body of water that separates the parks, and South Carriage Drive has been mis-named as Carriage Rd. The third pic shows Leather St and Halton Gdn which everyone knows should be Leather Lane and Hatton Garden. Note also in that pic that Stanland Street, a quiet back street, has been selected for inclusion. Ditto Jockey's Fields (which needs no possessive). The last pic shows examples of names without Rd/St/Av endings; Marshalsea (Rd) and Tabard (St) – I could have included plenty more pics of those; Bressenden (Gdns), Grt Percy (St), Appold (St), Wood (St), Vauxhall (St), Lombard (St)...

More errors include (with the correct spelling in brackets), Townshed Rd (Townshend), Edgeware Station (Edgware), Stanland St (Sandland) Plender Rd should be St and, probably my favourite, Long Acre St (delete St).
You probably think I have studied the whole thing like a pedantic sub-editor with a fine-tooth comb – Nope! – I just noticed these things as I was doing it. It wasn't until I'd spotted about ten, when I had barely completed half of the puzzle, that I started jotting them down and then taking photos – this explains the changes in picture quality depending on available light at the time. I have spotted errors mainly in the central and north-east areas because I am not so knowledgeable about the south and south-west, so there must be lots more I don't know about.
I wonder, how did all these silly errors slip though the net? It is fairly evident to me that it wasn't checked before it was printed. Existing maps such as the A-Z can't just be scanned and copied; there are copyright issues and so this had to be redrawn from scratch and, I suggest, in a hurry. Perhaps some of the mis-spellings might actually be mis-hearings with one person shouting the street names to another who typed them onto the map. Or, perhaps it was created as a task on The Apprentice?!!

The blurb on the box, and online, reads: 

• Learn the layouts of famous cities piece by piece as you assemble our PuzzleMaps with friends and family. 
• Perhaps you are planning a trip and want to orient yourself before you go, or perhaps you want to remind yourself of favorite corners and neighborhoods you have explored on foot.  
• The perfect gift for the person planning a first trip or the world traveler who knows a world class city from the ground up. 
• Made from high quality laminated paper board
• PuzzleMaps will challenge the best puzzlers, inspire curious minds interested in far off places and delight world travelers.
• PuzzleMaps are made from post-consumer recycled material

Is it me, or does last bullet seem to contradict the fourth?
You may have noticed the American spellings here and on the map itself such as Av as the abbreviation for Avenue – we Brits prefer to use Ave. Design Ideas Limited, the company that produced this puzzle, is indeed American and, according to the box, is based in Springfield*, Illinois. But they must have internet access over there and they must have access to maps of London. It's inexcusable. Though quite amusing too.
I am going to leave the finished puzzle on my table for a while yet – it sort of pleases me in a supercilious "I know better" way. Perhaps I'll write to Design Ideas and suggest that it could form the basis if another type of puzzle all on its own; a sort of cartographic spot-the-diffence as part of a range called MapMistakes or StreetSearch...?!

*Incidentally, Springfield is not just home of the Simpsons, it's [something like] one of the most common town names in the U.S. – probably why Matt Groening chose to use it. 

Grayson Perry: Who are You? at the National Portrait Gallery

There is still plenty of time to follow the free trail around the NPG where you can see fourteen works created by the multi-talented Mr Perry in conjunction with his Channel 4 TV programmes aired last year.

Detailed ceramics, intricate sewn and beaded tapestries, maps, diagrams, portraits and prints – all packed full of ideas and observations. And Grayson's explanations on the info cards next to each piece are so refreshingly informal, caring and well-written.
The man is an inspiration.
Until 15th March 2015.

Previous Grayson Perry posts...

The Walthamstow Tapestry (May 2010)

The Tomb of The Unknown Craftsman (Feb 2012)

The Vanity of Small Differences (July 2012)

This image shows a few things on my mantlepiece including the lovely flyer from Grayson's excellent 2006 show The Charms of Lincolnshire, a bone that looks like a little begging beast, an eroded fragment of crackle-glazed pottery, a twisty shell innard and, just out of view, a postcard of Ulysses and the Sirens by Herbert James Draper.

A London Country Diary by Tim Bradford

I just got this great book containing the musings, observations and illustrations of Tim Harding.
Subtitled Mundane Happenings from the Secret Streets of the Capital, each one- or two-page entry concerns something Tim has spotted in the area of North London where he lives, bounded by Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington, Highbury and Holloway.

Read about pubs, parrots, charity shops, dogs, frogs, football, prams, and plants he doesn't know the name of.
It's amusing, heart-warming and thought-provoking and, living within the same area, I can identify with a lot he writes.

More info here
See Tim's website here.

Architecture in the City

I have just been made aware of what looks to be a wonderful exhibition in the City of London.
Maps, models, photos and more... ooh!
This is only running until 9th September so be sure to check it out if you are in the Cannon Street area as it's open at weekends too.
Here's Ian Visits' review.
And here are some of my pictures which illustrate the ever-changing architectural landscape of that immediate area:

Maria Nepomuceno and Grayson Perry at the Victoria Miro Gallery

Last week I went a private view at The Victoria Miro Gallery in Wharf Road, N1.

This gallery is always worth popping in to as I think over the years it has had some fabulous shows. This is where, amongst other shows, Grayson Perry's showed 'The Walthamstow Tapestry' and his some of his wonderfully detailed maps based on the Mappa Mundi. His atmospheric and thought-provoking 'Charms of Lincolnshire' show was also there in 2006. Check past exhibitions in theie site for more.

But to the point... Mr Perry was there on the night in one of his colourful outfits, but even he must have felt quite pale and insignificant against Maria's wonderful, almost organic, creations made of rope, straw and beads. I found her use and understanding of colour and fluid shapes to be mesmerising and uplifting.

If you are in any way of a crafty leaning, as I am, then I urge you to go and see her show and be further inspired. It's on until 12th June.

The pics below are of the last show that inspired me in this way; Hyperbolic Crochet at the Hayward Gallery, August 2008, where whole coral reefs had been created using little metal hooks.

London Bloggers Meetup, May 2010

Last night I went to a Meetup. (Thinks: that would be a good pun title for a collection of butcher shop related images...!). For those of you who haven't heard of Meetups, they are a great way to meet up with like-minded people and make new friends.

So Joanna and I pitched up at the Theodore Bullfrog pub in John Adam Street expecting a social get together. To be honest, we hadn't really read up on what it was about in advance and expected a bit of networking (ech, I hate that word) and chats over a few beers. We'd just about bought our drinks when a lovely woman called Tamara started giving a talk about blogging and how to get the best out of it, illustrating it all with her top 10 of dos and don'ts.

I must admit at first I thought, oh gawd no, please get me out of here! But listening to her explain how her site has become massive, and I mean massive, in nine short months, I was really impressed. Tamara puts an awful lot of time and effort into her site and posts more than once a day. The woman is truly obsessed. Or as she puts it, 'addicted'.

She had lots of great tips about tagging and links and keeping up with trends and the news and knowing who your readers are and following up on things. Some of it was relevant to me, a lot of it wasn't. But it got me thinking.

So when I got in last night I checked my stats for this site (and Jane Made This). It's something I don't do that often because it's like entering a vortex and hours can fly by.

It's fascinating; it's absorbing. For instance, the map above shows the countries coloured in different shades of green indicating where my traffic comes from. A lot of the paler green countries are deceiving because it turns out on closer inspection that only one person may have accidentally clicked in and immediately hit the back button (as in the case of individuals in Madagasgar and Peru, and 5 people in Thailand who probably put words like 'cock' or 'body parts' into Google!).

But it's heartening to know that 1,638 people in the UK have looked at this in the past month, 1,143 of them in London alone, spending an average of 2.47 minutes on here each time.

And then there are people from further afield; someone in Moscow was on here for an impressive 10 mins.

Jane's London was 2 years old last week, so it's really nice to know that you are all out there and I am not sitting here writing to myself.

A big thanks to those of you who keep coming back, and hello to all my new readers...

;-) xxxxxx!

The Beauty of Maps

I love looking at maps; especially old ones. I have various maps of London pinned to the wall behind me as I write this and along the hallway walls.

One of the first books of London I ever bought was 'The History of London in Maps' and I lost myself for hours comparing the old with the new. Booth's poverty map, in particular, is fascinating.

So, this week I have really been enjoying BBC2's programmes 'The Beauty of Maps', which ties in beautifully with the British Library's free exhibition 'Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art' due to open on April 30th.

I am also pleased to see that Stephen Walter's contemporary personal maps of London are also included in the exhibition. I love his work and if I had a few spare £1000s (and more walls) I would have love to be able to buy his complete London map, but I have had to make do with just the 'Islington' section.

Clockwise from top left:

Piccadilly Station ticket hall; information board in Berkeley Square; Chris Marshall's 'Circumsphere', Deptford; pre-1920 tube map (LRT Acton depot); Streetmap of Holloway N7; Stephen Walter's 'Islington'; Cockspur Street, which was once lined with travel companies; Highbury Vale (thanks to Bikertect for this pic)