Building London – what London is made from and where it came from!

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • February 15, 2022

    30: Old London Bridge: Part 1

    30: Old London Bridge: Part 1

    A two part post on the Old London bridge … This blog has already done a couple of posts on the building stones that was used in the new London Bridge, the abandoned corbels on Dartmoor that were surplus to the widening in the early 1900s and the engraved pillar at Pickets Lock and there […]

  • January 19, 2022

    29: Charnwood Forest ‘granites’ Pt.1. Bardon Hill ‘granite’.

    29: Charnwood Forest ‘granites’ Pt.1. Bardon Hill ‘granite’.

    “The streets are not paved with gold in London, they are paved with Leicestershire granite” From an ancient volcano and one of the most spectacular hills in the Midlands of England comes one of the most common materials used to build London, the ‘granite’ roads chips that we walk, cycle and drive over every day […]

  • January 3, 2022

    28:Three Mills granite

    28:Three Mills granite

    Three Mills is an historic milling, distillery and industrial site on the Lower Lea, technically in Newham but with more links historically to Bromley by Bow in Tower Hamlets. It’s been the site of various tide and wind mills and distilleries since the 11thC and in the 1776, Grade I listed building House Mill, has […]

  • January 1, 2022

    27: The historic road setts of Lamerton and Albury Streets in Deptford aka ‘Lewisham! Leave those setts alone!’

    27: The historic road setts of Lamerton and Albury Streets in Deptford aka ‘Lewisham! Leave those setts alone!’

    This post was originally just about how beautiful are the swirling granite setts of Albury and Lamerton Streets in Deptford. But then I saw they are under threat threat of ‘tidying’! So what was once just going be a homage became an historical investigation and a plea! First some history: Albury Street is one of […]

  • December 30, 2021

    26: Granite setts at the Middlesex and Essex Filter Beds

    26: Granite setts at the Middlesex and Essex Filter Beds

    The Middlesex and Essex Filter Beds are nature reserves either side of the Lea Lea at Leabridge in east London, both built in the 19thC as part of the Lea Bridge Water Works of the East London Waterworks Co. and I’ve blogged about the Middlesex Filter Beds before for it’s magnificent granite Natures Throne at […]

  • December 27, 2021

    25: Kentish Rag Pt2 – Fox’s Quarry and the Loose Valley near Maidstone.

    25: Kentish Rag Pt2 – Fox’s Quarry and the Loose Valley near Maidstone.

    In the previous post I, hopefully, have showed how important Kentish Ragstone is to building London, and, as part of the objective of this blog is to trace London’s building materials to their source, a few months ago I visited a number of abandoned quarries near Maidstone, and I have more visits planned.    The […]

  • December 26, 2021

    24: Kentish Ragstone – an introduction to the most important historical stone in London

    24: Kentish Ragstone – an introduction to the most important historical stone in London

    London is underlain with rock, but it’s not the type of rock that we generally think of as rock. Most of London sits on up to 140m of clay, though a few areas in south-east London sit on chalk. And while technically rock, clay needs to be baked to become a building material, brick, and […]

  • December 20, 2021

    23: The John Watson Building Stones Collection at the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge

    23: The John Watson Building Stones Collection at the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge

    I’ve become quite a fan of the Victorians/Edwardians in the course of this project, their fascination with science, building, innovation and categorisation. Less a fan of course of their racism, imperialism, colonialism, sexism, employment practices and their almost utter disinterest in protecting the environment of course! But you can’t have everything! [ NB it is […]

  • December 17, 2021

    22: Stepney Green Scoria!

    22: Stepney Green Scoria!

    One of my absolute favourite London building material is the shiny blue glazed Scoria Brick of Teeside seen above at Stepney Green. Scoria bricks are a by-product of the Teeside iron industry and are not clay based like most other bricks. Iron makers were looking for a use for the waste scum or slag from […]

  • December 12, 2021

    21: Upper Watergate Street. The oldest street surface in London?

    21: Upper Watergate Street. The oldest street surface in London?

    Upper Watergate Street connected, and still connects Deptford, the High Street and St Pauls Church, down the King’s Stairs, with the River Thames, once it’s key highway into London and out to the rest of the world. And I think it has the oldest paving anywhere in London, or at least the most unique! The […]

←Previous Page
1 2 3 4 5
Next Page→

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Building London - what London is made from and where it came from!
    • Join 36 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Building London - what London is made from and where it came from!
    • Edit Site
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar