London Subterranea , 2012. Beneath our feet in London city, lie many mysteries, secret burials, and hidden treasures. The landmass that it occupies is a document constantly being re-written and each time leaving another layer of evidence behind.
A new piece of the layer-cake is built on top of the old, leaving a piecemeal and multi layered puzzle for us to unravel. In this respect, London is one of the great palimpsests of our time.
Parts of the Roman city lie 30 feet below street level as the surface has risen through time, covered by 2 millennia of development and rubble. Recent excavations go deeper still. Occasionally we dig far below any of our own previous makings and int
London Subterranea , geographically tracks many of the things that exists under the surface of the city. It shines light on a clandestine world of utilitarian tunnels and passageways, and includes some folklore and legends attached to certain place
Some of the things included on this map are as follows. Through extensive research, I have mapped the courses of all of London’s lost rivers from the Fleet to the Neckinger and The Black Ditch to the east. These still exist but most of them are n
The bowels of London are its sewers, and I track the main routes of the Victorian system and its modern additions. Basselgette’s original system contained 318 million hand-laid bricks, probably making it the largest brick made structure in the count
I contacted the Museum of London and interviewed the curator of the Prehistory Department, . I used their research to tract the estimated shoreline of the Thames going back to 420,000 BC.
Many utilitarian tunnels and passageways are often mistaken for secret escape tunnels and ones that service covert operations. They are loaded with mystery. Hydevale tunnels – used for conveyance of Water to the old Royal Hospital is one example. Th
For security reasons, Thames Water would not release any precise details about its Water Ring Main. Opened in 1994, at the time it was the longest tunnel in the country bringing fresh water into the capital at an average depth of 40meters from Ashfo
The map accurately displays the underground train routes and London’s ‘ghost’ Stations (Dead Stations’ as the staff calls them). It also includes some of its disused tunnel routes. There have been numerous reports of strange incidences by the dr
I list past bombings and disasters, and rename some of the stations to rekindle the area’s past, whilst adding emotional epithets to certain sections of the transport network.
Through my contacts at the LTM, I managed to get hold of detailed plans for Cross Rail and the proposed HS2 tunnel system. The most interesting for me was the Post office railway tunnel that runs from Paddington to Whitechapel. Decommissioned in 200
Cemeteries, graveyards and mass burial sites are another subject explored. Under Knightsbridge, there are rumours that the basement of Harvey Nicks penetrated an old plague pit and causing the Piccadilly Line to swerve around it. According to Jelena
I was informed that East Smithfield, an area just north of St Catherine’s Dock just outside the old city wall is the site of the mother of all London plague pits. Concerns were raised here in October, 2011, when a soil-dwelling Plague genome was rec
Also included is Duncan Campbell’s mapping of a ‘secret’ network of governmental tunnels under London, published in 1980. Here at Sclater Street, from an unmarked door, he broke into the network with a fold-up bicycle.
The extent of utility tunnels and governmental infrastructure is vast. The map shows the Kingsway Telephone Exchange, designed to house a community of civil servants that would be able to run the city in the event of a nuclear attack, and The formid
I also wanted to incorporate some of the things that simmer under the surface in culture. At first I assumed that the imaginative side of the project would come from these rumours and perceptions of the ‘underworld’. However, the lengths to which th
Cricklewood is where Denis Nilsen’s is known to have murdered 12 of his victims. The patch of land at the rear of his garden is where he would burn the body parts, crush up the bones and fling the innards out for the foxes. Underfoot, some of these
My father was a London Policemen so I used some of his knowledge on some infamous happenings. He told me that the corpse of Tommy ‘Ginger’ Marks is rumoured to have been buried under the flyover near Brent Cross Shopping Centre (which has itself a q
He also remembered helping to take down Ranking Dread, the Hackney Drug Lord of the 1980’s.
I record known prostitution strips from Met Police Crime figures and known dogging sites such as Clapham Common. The Informed consent website gave me access to forums for spanking parties, BDSM Dungeons and other sexual exchanges.
London’s Pirate radio stations get a mention and are located roughly in the areas they operate.
Also shown is a collection of archaeological discoveries from pre-history to the present. Places of worship are shown alongside well know Ley-Lines, The Pneumatic Dispatch Co. Railway, catacombs, Crossbones Garden and more…
I gathered the data from many sources - books, websites, archives (including TFL), urban explorer sites like Silent UK, Place Hacking and Sewermans’ blogs, Also through contacts, and making occasional journeys below the ground myself. I tip my hat t
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