London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets

London Under is an atmospheric, imagina­tive, oozing short study of everything that goes on under London, from original springs & streams & Roman amphitheaters to Victorian sewers, gang hideouts & modern tube stations. The depths below are hot, warmer than the surface. This book tunnels down thru the geological layers, meeting the creatures, real & fictional, that dwell in darkness: rats & eels, mon­sters & ghosts. When the Underground’s Metropolitan Line was opened in 1864, guards asked for permission to grow beards to protect themselves from sulfurous fumes, & named their engines after tyrants—Czar, Kaiser, Mogul—even Pluto, god of the underworld. To go under London is to penetrate history, to enter a hid­den world. As Ackroyd writes: “The vastness of the space, a 2nd earth, elicits sensations of wonder & of terror. It partakes of myth & dream in equal measure.”Darkness visibleRising up Holy water Forgotten streamsOld man river The heart of darknessThe pipes of London The mole men The deep lines Far under groundBuried secretsThe war below Deep fantasiesBibliographyList of IllustrationsIndex