Very exciting news on the book emerging over the last week, which I hope to be able to divulge shortly… In the meantime, I have joined Twitter @dustshoveller…tweet you there!
Blog
The Parish of St John’s Smith Square
More strolling round Westminster of a lunchtime, on the way back from Pret (mine’s a Hoisin Duck wrap, a mango pot and diet coke, since you’re asking). I like finding pockets of the borough which are pretty much as they would have been in 1834 (except for the cars) … First up, Lord North […]
Kerb Crawling for History
Despite some strange looks, I’ve been studying the pavement outside the east end of Westminster Abbey recently. We know that in 1834 there was a street plug (ie access to underground fire mains) in “Speaker’s Corner”, which was the name for the outside area between the apse of Henry VII’s chapel and the Chapter House (as well […]
Slumming it in Westminster
At lunchtime today, I walked down Old Pye Street, once one of the worst ‘rookeries’ in London. Both Joshua Cross and Patrick Furlong, the labourers who started the 1834 fire, lived nearby. Today the street is lined with Peabody Trust mansion blocks, built there in the late 19th century, when the “The Devil’s Acre”, as it was called, […]
A New Book Begins
Yes, today marked the start of research on book number two, with some initial online investigations into likely archive sources, tracking down some Amazon purchases and trawling through some library catalogues. More soon on Operation Pork Pie…
Stage Five: Agent Secured!
All has gone quiet for a few weeks on this blog, but behind the screen, a veritable ferment of activity has been taking place which I am only now able to reveal. Within two days of sending out the six submissions on 21/22 February I had received three requests from agents to send through the full […]
