Rosemary Collins talks to the researcher behind a website celebrating lost streets
London traces its origins back to Roman times; indeed it was the capital of Roman Britain. The city’s geography has shifted over the centuries as it expanded to accommodate a dramatically growing population. Streets and buildings have been built, demolished and rebuilt, not least as a result of the Blitz. Because of this, many streets have changed their names and locations over the years.
In 2011, Londoner Scott Hatton started The Underground Map (theundergroundmap.com), a website aiming to map every street that has ever existed in the city. He also has a YouTube channel where he shares footage from his quest to walk between all of the London Underground stations to raise money for the charity Prostate Cancer UK (youtube.com/theundergroundmap).
Scott says, “I have always wanted to revisit the areas I knew in previous years – how they developed, and how names changed over time. For example, the house I spent the first six months of my life in was not only demolished, but the land where it stood was converted into a park. I know from the comments I receive via the online form on my website, and from my social-media accounts, that others want to see the place where they grew up years ago, and where their parents and grandparents grew up. Often, after the Second World War, those streets no longer exist.”
Scott’s website enables visitors to compare maps of London’s streets from 1750 to the 1950s. He is also sharing information about the streets’ history, together with public-domain photographs of the city over the years. Visitors can contribute their own information, and request streets for Scott to locate. He writes about his charity walks on the site’s blog, which provides more information about the history of the urban environment. In the course of the half-mile walk from Moorgate to Liverpool Street, for example, he points out sites such as Finsbury Circus Gardens, a park dating from 1812, and the Grade II-listed Britannic House, which was designed by influential architect Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944) for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company – the future BP.
“One interesting find,” Scott reveals, “is that the boundaries between modern London boroughs can often seem
