On every corner: the extraordinary story of London

On every corner: the extraordinary story of London

in London you can pass something important every day without noticing it. We list 10 hidden places that illustrate the extraordinary history of London

London lacks many: picnic weather in July, resistance to winter snow, an effective solution to hipster invasion. What she has in abundance - more than almost any other city in the world - is an inexhaustible source of fascinating history. It pours out of couplings and towers, flows in the middle of the flows of the Thames and rushes through the veins of our underground network.

In fact, the history of London is so rich and wide that it could easily be passed every day without being aware of its meaning. Here we list 10 extraordinary historical sites that hide behind a banal facade.

history of London card

1. Royal London hospital

Meaning: the final resting place of Joseph Merrick, also known as "The Elephant Man" subway station: Whitechapel (District Line)

alt = “”> (Image: Read Tom, Creative Commons)

The tragic story of Joseph Merrick ends in the halling corridors of the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. Merrick was born in Leicester in 1862, lost his mother at the age of 10, left school at the age of 13 and left his home after his father and stepmother had rejected him.

he was exhibited as a human curiosity in London and all over Europe before it was robbed by his street manager and suspended in Brussels. When he returned to London, he became the care of Dr. Frederick Treves brought, a surgeon that had examined him a few years earlier.

alt = "History of the London elephant man"> (Image: Public Domain)

Despite his incurable condition, Merrick was allowed to stay in the hospital for an indefinite period. Four years later, on April 11, 1890, Merrick died at the age of 27. The official cause of death was asphyxia, but Treves, who dissected the body, said Merrick died of a sophisticated neck when he tried to sleep in order to be "like other people".

Merrick's skeleton is locked up in a small museum in the Medical Faculty of the Royal London and is usually not exhibited publicly.

2. The water pump by John Snow

meaning: has helped to prove that cholera is transmitted by contaminated water. Pipe station: Oxford Circus (Central Line)

alt = "History of the London water pump"> (Image: Justinc, Creative Commons)

In the Broadwick Street on the western edge of Soho there is a disused water pump. It seems harmless, but this pump, a replica of the original, indicates the outbreak of cholera in 1854 in Soho and the events that prompted the British doctor John Snow to prove that the disease is transferred by contaminated water, not by inhaling dampers or a "miasm in the atmosphere", as was generally assumed.

Back then Dr. Snow: "In a radius of 250 yards from the point where the Cambridge Street flows into Broad Street, there were more than 500 deadly chola attacks in 10 days. When the Situation became known, I suspected contamination of the water of the busy street pump in the Broad Street."

using a geographical grid to record cholera deaths, Dr. Snow in any case to determine access to the pump, and finally proved that it was actually the source of the epidemic. His work was groundbreaking and was seen by many as the birth of epidemiology.

3. Aldgate station

Meaning: built on a massive plague pit. U-railway station: Aldgate (circle and metropolitan lines)

Alt = “”> (Image: Sunil060902, Creative Commons)

Recently Aldgate East was one of the locations of the London bomb attacks on 7./7. However, his macabre story goes back much further. To the foundations.

When the large plague of 1665 100,000 London - almost a quarter of the residents - killed, the communities had trouble bury the corpses in suitable graves. Therefore, large mass graves or "plague pits" were excavated to absorb large amounts of corpses. It is said that the Aldgate station was built on such a grave, under whose tracks 1,000 bodies are buried.

4. London wall

Meaning: In Roman times to defend the city of Londinium, the subway station: Tower Hill (District Line for the Wall, St. Pauls, Central Line for the fort)

alt = “>

originally built around 200 AD, this old wall stretched over three miles and defended the then Roman city of Londinium. In the following centuries, a large part of the wall was destroyed or hidden by the development, but parts of it can still be seen.

There is a well -preserved section at the Tower Hill and the Roman Fort London in the Noble Street and some of his remains in a nearby underground car park. Visits can be arranged via the Museum of London.

5. The Ulmen, Smithfield

Meaning: Place of execution of William Wallace from "Braveheart" subway station: Barbican (Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines)

alt = “”> (Image: Colin Smith, Creative Commons)

Smithfield in East London was the scene of several famous executions, including that by William Wallace von Braveheart, who was executed there in 1305. After his arrest, Wallace reported reportedly to the allegation of the Hochbraat: "I couldn't be a traitor of Edward, because I was never subject."

After his trial in August 1305, Wallace was hung, pulled and quartered. Only in the event that they are not sure what this means: Wallace was pulled out naked, drottled by a horse through the city, strangled by hanging, but released in lively body, refused, with a fan, withdrawn with the gimmonds burned in front of it, and then cut into four parts (ie quartered).

his preserved head was placed on a thorn on the London Bridge and his limbs were exhibited separately in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Stirling and Perth. Sip.

6. Lamp on the kart track

Meaning: London's last remaining Kanallace-Bahn station: Charing Cross (Bakerloo and Northern Lines, accessible from Trafalgar Square on foot)

alt = “”> (Image: Mike T, Creative Commons)

On the Carting Lane right on the beach is a single building that is supposedly the last of London's "Canall Lamps". The Webb Patent Sewer Gas Lamp was invented in the late 19th century and had a double purpose: firstly, the smells of burning London's channel system and secondly to keep London illuminated in a cost -effective way.

The lamp shines 24 hours a day and is to be supplied with electricity by guests of the nearby Savoy Hotel, which brought her nickname "Furzgasse". It must be mentioned that the original lamp was accidentally knocked out by a truck moving backwards a few years ago and then restored. It is now protected by the Westminster Council.

7. Sloane Square station

Meaning: bears part of the lost West Bourne Rivertube station: Sloane Square (Circle and District lines)

alt = “”> (Image: Oxyman, Creative Commons)

The Westbourne River, a small tributary on the Thames, is one of London's “lost rivers” that was driven underground to make room for the development. In the early 1800s, when the areas of Belgravia, Chelsea and Paddington began to expand, it became necessary to lay the Westbourne River underground to overbid him.

The expansion work was completed in the 1850s and the river has been lost since then. The original tube that leads the river can still be seen above the platform of the Sloane Square subway station. The station was bombed during the air battle for England in November 1940, but the old iron tube remained intact.

8. White’s Row Gasse

Meaning: The hunting ground by Jack the Ripper, once referred to as the "worst street of Londons" underground station: Aldgate East (District and Hammersmith & City Lines)

alt = “Dorset Street“> Back then Dorset Street (Image: Public Domain)

The Dorset Street has experienced many changes over the years, which is understandable when you consider that it was once known as the “worst street of London” and was occupied by criminals and bad guys. The notorious murderer Jack the Ripper demanded a victim there and prepared the scene for several other cruel murders.

1904 she was renamed "Duval Street" to get rid of her dark past, and later leveled and expanded into a parking space. Today it is said to be an unnamed private alley that runs between a parking lot and some warehouses north of White’s Row.

alt = "History of the London Duval Street"> (Image: Matt Hucke, Creative Commons)

9. Trafalgar Square "Tardis"

Meaning: London's smallest police station: Charing Cross (Bakerloo and Northern Lines)

alt = "History of the London Tardis"> (Image: Kim Fyson, Creative Commons)

This tiny box on the corner of the Trafalgar Square is (or War) London's smallest police station. The area set up in 1926 served as a guard post from which the police were able to keep an eye on demonstrators and rioters who gathered on the Trafalgar Square.

The station, big enough for only one person, had a direct connection to Scotland Yard and "slots" on the side, supposedly to shoot rioters. If you look through the windows today, you don't see a bobby, but an impressive collection of Wischmopps. It serves as a warehouse for the cleaning staff of the city. At least that's how it will tell us.

10. The animal cemetery of Hyde Park

Meaning: Home of over 300 deceased pets on the subway station: Marble Arch, Lancaster Gate or Queensway (Central Line), Hyde Park Corner (Piccadilly Line)

alt = "History of the London pet cemetery"> (Image: Caroline et Louis Volant, Creative Commons)

hidden in the thick undergrowth behind the Victoria Gate Lodge in Hyde Park is an animal cemetery with over 300 deceased pets, including dogs, cats, birds and even a monkey.

This Victorian jewel, founded in 1880, reported by chance when the gatekeeper Mr. Winbridge allowed a local couple to bury the dog of his children there. Next year he came up with another request and another ... The site is closed to the public, but curious visitors can book a visit to the Hyde Park Police.

very British problem of Rob Temple is a hilarious insight into the British psyche.

Additional photography: Dreamstime

 .