Posts Tagged ‘London history’
Some Literary Testimonies on the Strand
Through centuries and countries, the Strand has always inspired awe and exalted writers. Through the different testimonies collected in this short article emerges the feeling that the Strand stands unique in the imagery of London. It exerts a fascination – be it sensory, musical, political, economic – to all visitors; insiders develop memories of it, outsiders…
Read MoreShops on the Strand: women in business in early modern Westminster, 1600-1740
In October I began work in earnest on a new research project, which will illuminate the lives of women in business on the Strand in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. I am particularly looking forward to uncovering all sorts of material on the myriad shops in this location, whether at street level or in…
Read MoreTwo Short Accounts on the Old Waterloo Bridge
Before structural issues led to a redesign (resulting in Giles Gilbert Scott’s concrete bridge built in 1942), Waterloo Bridge was considered the most beautiful of all London’s bridges, whose aura was captured more than once by artists: including Constable and Monet during his stays at the Savoy. The following accounts, one by an English archeologist…
Read MoreEssex street’s Watergate: a threshold to the bourgeois Strand
“He crossed the road and went into the darkness towards the little steps under the archway leading into Essex Street, and I let him go. And that was the last I ever saw of him.” – The Diamond Maker by HG Wells (1894). An “in-between” space, the Essex street’s Watergate closes the street on its…
Read MoreMonet’s Pied-à-terre
“I find London lovelier to paint each day” – Claude Monet. Monet’s link to London Monet fell in love with London in 1870-71, while in exile from France, during the Franco-Prussian war. After his return to France he vowed to revisit London, which he did in 1899, 1900 and 1901. In each of these three…
Read MoreGreening Aldwych: a walking tour of lost and future green spaces of Aldwych
To mark London History Day 2019, Professor Clare Brant, Director of Strandlines, and Assistant Editor Fran Allfrey put together a tour of past, present, and future green space around Aldwych. We’re excited to release highlights from the tour here for anyone to use. All you need is your phone with data, or connected to The…
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