London History – Stanfords Blog

Stanford’s New Two Inch Map of London and its Environs. 1913

We are about to celebrate the 111th birthday of our Stanford’s New Two Inch Map of London and its Environs, 1913.

Published by Edward Stanford Ltd, 12,13 & 14 Long Acre . W.C . 1st July 1913.

This map from our Edward Stanford Cartographic Collection archive shows the capital the year before WW1 broke out at a scale of two inches to one mile.

Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common sitting just outside the thick red line showing the Boundary of the Administrative Country of London

A thick red line shows the Boundary of the Administrative Country of London while a thinner red line shows the Boundary of the City of London.

Edwardian London saw a great deal of new building development which was halted by WW1 so not too many major changes would have occurred to this map for a few years.

Where is Drury Lane? Getting lost in London by Jon Woolcott

I’m not a practical man: simple DIY tasks fox me, I don’t enjoy ladders, electricity makes me jumpy. I’ll call for technical help when my printer runs low on toner. I have a handyman on speed-dial, a capable wife, and a nearby younger brother for whom these tasks hold no terrors. But for all this I find that one science, or sort of science, Geography, is my friend. It’s not all Geography – specifically it’s a sense of place. My sense of direction, if not exactly unerring, is well attuned to the compass points. I know where I am, and mostly, where I’m going. I love Ordnance Survey maps, whatever their scale, not only for their solid reliable practicality, but for the way they situate me so completely in any landscape, and for their often remarked-upon beauty. I can spread a map on the floor and pore over it for hours, bum aloft, tracing footpaths and rivers, marvelling over contour lines marking hills and steep sided valleys, wondering over derivations of village names, imagining the lost settlements marked in that ghostly gothic script. In short, I know my way around, and I am glad of it.

Continue reading Where is Drury Lane? Getting lost in London by Jon Woolcott

5 Reasons why Covent Garden is important in London’s architectural development, by Chris Rogers

To coincide with the release of his new book How to Read London: A crash course in London architecture Chris Rogers has selected some local significant sights near our Long Acre store that all feature in the book. Continue reading 5 Reasons why Covent Garden is important in London’s architectural development, by Chris Rogers