Londonist: Time Machine

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine’s Friday edition for paying subscribers, with a right royal teaser for everyone else. I’m not sure if anyone else has covered this story but… psssst… the Bayeux Tapestry is currently in London for a once-in-a-millennium show at the British Museum. Actually, everyone has covered it. So I’m going to take a step or twelve back and look at the Anglo-Saxon royal family, and from the perspective of the queens. That’s for the main section. First the History Radar.

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine, the newsletter that takes a playful look at London history. I am delighted, nay cock-a-hoop, to introduce a guest article today from Madeleine Worrall. Madeleine was the winner of our first annual History Writing Competition with the article you see below. It’s often said that history is all around us in London. Madeleine takes that thought to the extreme by analysing the potsherds, glassware and other detritus found in her own garden (and under the floorboards).

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine, the newsletter of London history. Image by The Dog Collar Museum This edition’s a guest post from Laura Reynolds — editor at londonist.com and niche-museum-evangelist — with a handful of places taking one thing extremely seriously, all less than 1.5 hours’ travel from London. That’s canine neckwear, not canonical uniform, by the way. Within the grounds of Leeds Castle, The Dog Collar Museum is home to the largest collection of...

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine’s Friday edition for paying subscribers, with a mammoth teaser for everyone else. A floor mosaic of a mammoth in Palmers Green. Image: Matt Brown Fun fact: mammoths still roamed the Earth while Stonehenge and the Pyramids were under construction. Sadly not in England, which they departed some 14,000 years ago. They didn’t completely pack their trunks, however. Hundreds of tusks and bones have been discovered over the centuries, sometimes in the very centre of town.

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine, the newsletter that takes a playful look at London history. Today, we’re crossing maps and place-name origins, which I would dub ‘Carto-toponymy’ if only I were a few grams more pretentious. I’ve put together a map of Soho and, beside each street name, I’ve appended its probable etymology. So if you’ve ever wondered where Wardour Street, Carnaby Street and Foubert’s Place come from, then read on… That’s for the main section.

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine’s Friday newsletter for paying subscribers, with a chunky teaser for everyone else. I’m guessing that many readers will not have been to the City of London Cemetery. It’s nowhere near the City of London, lying over towards Ilford in east London. Yet this Grade-I-listed cemetery is a must-visit for anyone interested in London history… and foxes. That’s for the main section. First the History Radar. Upcoming events for fans of London history.

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine, the newsletter of London history. Ever been to Earl’s Court Tube station? Its main entrance stands beside a very distracting oddity: Yes, it’s Doctor Who’s TARDIS or, more prosaically, a police telephone box. I think I’m right in saying that it’s the only one still standing on the streets of London (though a few can be glimpsed on private property).

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine, the newsletter of London history. Today’s edition is a guest post from Amy Freeborn, originally published on her newsletter Free-Range History — a diverse collection of stories from and about the past, driven by curiosity and wonder. Amy is a writer and public historian whose interests include exploring the past and present of the London streets and locations she encounters in her day-to-day life in the capital.

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine’s Friday edition for paying subscribers, with a wholesome teaser for everyone else. In London, a plot of land no bigger than a parking space can be dense with history. One such patch can be found a few metres from Trafalgar Square. This is its story. Well, once we’ve monitored the History Radar, anyway… Upcoming events for those into their London history.

Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine, the newsletter of London history. Of all the statues in all of London I think this is my favourite: It shows three dockers going about their business, unloading sacks from a hoist. The group sculpture is by Les Johnson, and it was installed beside Victoria Dock in 2009 as “a tribute to the history of the communities of the Royal Docks and the men and women who worked there from 1855-1983”.