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It was Dr Johnson who advised his companion Boswell, ‘Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey its innumerable little lanes and courts’ – and it is here, hidden away among the historic little nooks and crannies, that so many of the most fascinating places are to be found.
A companion to last year’s popular Spectacular Vernacular: London’s 100 Most Extraordinary Buildings, this new volume lifts the lid on many of the very best examples. Examining the rich diversity of London’s more obscure architectural heritage, it shines a light on some of its most curious corners whilst examining the history and happenings which brought them into being.
From the truth about Nelson’s Column to the complex tangle of top secret tunnels which still criss-cross the capital, it reveals the stories behind some genuine London oddities. Streetlamps powered by sewer gas. The one place in London where one is legally required to drive on the wrong side of the road. The strange tale of a Russian Tsar living and working incognito in a vanished royal dockyard. There’s even an authentic Nazi memorial, standing just a stone’s throw from St James’s Palace amidst the heroes and adventurers of the British Empire….
Describing everything from Roman remains to vanished medieval gaols, from ducal palaces to sinister cold war installations, from relics of the plague and the Great Exhibition to some of the most singular and distinctive examples of new building anywhere in Europe, Tunnels, Towers & Temples has been painstakingly researched and written by an acknowledged expert. Conceived as much for the inquisitive armchair explorer as for the well-informed Londoner, it will delight both those who are new to London and those who think they know all there is to know.
Illustrated using around a hundred and fifty new images specially commissioned for this book, the fact that a majority of the places described in its pages are accessible to the public – and often at no charge – means Tunnels, Towers & Temples provides the best possible start for anyone wishing to get off the tourist trail and under the skin of the hidden city that is modern-day London.