Battersea
Battersea maps (2 available)
Map of London
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Battersea books (17 available)
Battersea memories
Read and share memories of Battersea and London inspired by Frith photos
Lavender Hill
My uncle and aunt had a house in Beaufoy Rd, number 5, tucked into the corner next to the Fish & Chip shop. When I was home on on leave from sea that is where I lived, for about 5 years. Usually up the smoke to the jazz clubs I would often walk down from a late tube at Clapham Common underground across the Common. Ladies of the night would ply their trade there and although I never became a customer (honest) I did get quite friendly with one and we'd have a smoke together. Life seemed simpler then.
Peter Troy
Contributed by peter Troy
My favourite haunt
My memories scan over 50 years, I lived in Anhalt Road and then Ethelburga Street and spent countless hours in the Park. The funfare, with fireworks every Friday night for the end of war celebrations, the tree walk along the riverbank. The smell of the leaves composting in the big bins near the gardeners lodge, the swings down the "posh end" and of course the lake. Having moved to Australia in 1957 it didn't seem likely I would return but, when I was lucky enough to pay a long overdue visit, I walked through the autumn leaves down this avenue and realised you can never truly leave any place you have lived. I felt right at home scuffing the leaves and ...read more here
Contributed by John Godbold
help beatles film
This is where I first went to the pictures with a friend.
We saw The Beatles film 'Help'.
Contributed by julia dickson
London memories
Lavender Hill
My uncle and aunt had a house in Beaufoy Rd, number 5, tucked into the corner next to the Fish & Chip shop. When I was home on on leave from sea that is where I lived, for about 5 years. Usually up the smoke to the jazz clubs I would often walk down from a late tube at Clapham Common underground across the Common. Ladies of the night would ply their trade there and although I never became a customer (honest) I did get quite friendly with one and we'd have a smoke together. Life seemed simpler then.
Peter Troy
A memory of Battersea contributed by peter Troy
Extracts From Battersea & London books
The 1960s
By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.
An extract from from"North London Photographic Memories".
Dated 1923, the neo-Georgian terrace of shops and flats was built to coincide with the arrival of the Northern Line
in that same year. The reassuring style of the architecture, with its Ionic pilasters and solid timber and glass shop
fronts, was designed to attract the young city worker to live in a world somewhere between the town and the country.
Out of shot to the left is a very pretty bank building in the same, but rather more luxurious, style.
An extract from from"North London Photographic Memories".
The Late 19th
to the Early 20th Century
Forget six counties overhung with smoke
Forget the snorting steam and piston stroke,
Forget the spreading of the hideous town;
Think rather of the pack-horse on the down,
And dream of London, small, and white and clean,
The clear Thames bordered by its gardens green.
An extract from from"North London Photographic Memories".
The Palace was built to rival the Crystal Palace on Sydenham Hill in South London. A former International Exhibition Hall, and a ‘Peoples Palace’, the first building was designed by John Johnson and Alfred Meeson, and opened in 1873. Sixteen days later it was burnt down, and was rebuilt by John Johnson to re-open in 1875. It was never a great success; part was leased to the BBC in 1934, and television broadcasts began in 1936. In 1966 the Greater London Council took over the building, and in 1980 it passed on to Haringey Borough Council. Following yet another serious fire, the Palace was restored in 1980-88 by the Alexandra Palace Development Team. Although much of the building is now in regular use, the integral theatre remains desperately in need of restoration.
An extract from from"North London Photographic Memories".
This is a children’s paradise: blend open grass, trees and a pond with a lively imagination, and a never-ending variety of worlds can be created in a single afternoon - and lost forever in later years.
An extract from from"North London Photographic Memories".