Category: Uncategorized
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Building London 1-50 index
[1] Visit to Swelltor granite quarry in Devon – abandoned corbels for 1901 London bridge widening[2] Visit to Foggintor granite quarry in Devon – used for Nelson’s Column and more[3] Devon granite from 1830s London Bridge at Pickets Lock Sports/Leisure Centre[4] Visit to Lamorna quarries and port – granite used in County Hall and The […]
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Building London hits 50 posts!
Well! There’s a thing! 50 posts on the Building London Blog in the past year or so!! Not something I originally expected thinking back to the spring of last year! So, very pleased! The original plan, aim, for this project was to produce a book, guidebook, to the materials, to their sites and buildings in […]
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50: The Pulhamite Cascades at Battersea Park
Following on from the Building London introduction to Pulhamite, https://buildinglondon.blog/2022/09/01/49pulhamite-pt1-an-introduction/ the best place to go and see Pulhamite artificial rock in London is in Battersea Park. [1] There is an amazing area of ‘rock’ faces and a waterfall called The Cascades though currently, sadly, dry, and a smaller ‘rock face’ nearby called The Owlery! Battersea […]
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49: Pulhamite Pt1, an introduction.
Pulhamite [1] is a great Victorian invention! ( or two actually … read on! ) James and Obadiah Pulham in the 1840s pioneered the creation of landscape features using “… stone-modelling skills to form artificial rocks from heaps of old bricks and rubble covered in cement, and ‘sculpted’ the surfaces to simulate the colour and […]
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48: More of the 1832 London Bridge, at Waltham Abbey
As noted and covered before in other posts, there quite a few remains of the various incarnations of London Bridge doted around. https://buildinglondon.blog/2022/02/22/31-old-london-bridge-part-2/ 2 pieces of the granite 1832 bridge are now sited near Waltham Abbey, marking the Meridian Line, and called Travel and Discovery. The Greenwich Meridian website states they were in place in […]
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47: London Bridge balustrade in Gilwell Park?
The Building London Blog has covered London Bridge, and where bits of it ended up, in a number of posts: https://buildinglondon.blog/2022/02/15/30-old-london-bridge-part-1/https://buildinglondon.blog/2022/02/22/31-old-london-bridge-part-2/ and e.g. https://buildinglondon.blog/2022/05/06/38-the-alcoves-of-old-london-bridge/ And, someday Building London WILL go to Lake Havasu, but for now, recently, a visit was paid to Gilwell Park, Sewardstone, up the road from Chingford, on the edge of Epping […]
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46: Ancaster stone Pt3! The Hackney Central Library.
Another great example of turn of the century Ancaster use is in the old Hackney Central Library, shut in the later 1990s and now mainly used by the Hackney Picturehouse cinema but also the Rising Tide music studios. The new Hackney Central Library opened across the road in the Town Hall Square in 1999. “After […]
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45: Ancaster Pt2. The Clapton Round Chapel.
As noted in Part 1 on Ancaster stone and it’s quarries, this Lincolnshire limestone, while used occasionally in London in Roman and Mediaeval periods, became more regularly used in the late 19thC as ashlar building and facing blocks. https://buildinglondon.blog/2022/08/06/44-ancaster-and-its-streaky-bacon-stone-pt1/ It was used for the glorious Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station in 1873 [1] […]
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44: Ancaster and it’s streaky bacon stone! Pt1
Building London has covered a number of limestones used in London before and Ancaster is another one that was much used in the 19thC. It’s a beautiful stone with rich honey and buff and sometimes blueish streaks that has earned it the nickname ‘streaky bacon’. Ancaster is one of the Lincolnshire Limestones, and, as the […]
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43: Unusual wall in Homerton.
Building London loves an old wall with re-used bricks and stones! 😀 See https://buildinglondon.blog/2021/08/19/10-mile-end-lock-wall/ And there are many old buildings in London, particularly mediaeval churches, that have re-used Roman bricks/tiles and various old stones from older buildings. The mediaeval parts of London Wall are a great example and see see photo here of a re-used […]
Building London - what London is made from and where it came from! 