Londons Lost Rivers

Paul Talling

ISBN 10: 184794597X / ISBN 13: 9781847945976

Editore: Random House, 2011

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London?s Lost Rivers (2011) Paul Talling | Random House ISBN: 9781847945976 | Condition: Fine Secret waterways division: Crappy Old Books Once upon a time, London had rivers. Quite a lot of them, in fact. Then London did the most London thing imaginable and built on top of them . ?London?s Lost Rivers? is Paul Talling?s guided tour of the capital?s buried, diverted, culverted and generally messed-about-with waterways, the ones that now lurk under main roads, shopping centres and suspiciously curvy property boundaries. If you?ve ever looked at a random dip in a street and thought, ?I bet there?s something weird under there,? this book is your vindication. What?s this all about then? Talling goes hunting for the vanished watery veins of the city: The Fleet, the Tyburn, the Westbourne, the Effra, and their lesser-known cousins ? rivers that once flowed in daylight and are now shunted through pipes like guilty secrets. Odd clues in the modern landscape ? grilles in pavements, strange humps in backstreets, pubs called ?The Something & Something Brook? miles from anything resembling a stream. Before-and-after contrasts that explain why your favourite high street sometimes smells faintly of damp history. You get maps , photos , and lovingly obsessive notes about where each river once ran, where it is now, and where you can still hear or glimpse it if you loiter suspiciously enough. A love letter to buried London This is not a glossy tourist guide that tells you to ?visit Covent Garden? and ?try a cupcake.? This is a book that says: ?Stand in this slightly shabby side street, next to a chain supermarket bin store, and understand that beneath your feet is a river that shaped a thousand years of London life.? It?s for people who: Prefer drains to landmarks Think a Victorian culvert is a perfectly good reason for a day out Feel real emotional attachment to the words ?outfall? and ?sewer pipe? Talling treats these lost rivers like old friends who were invited to the city?s expansion party and then quietly bricked over. Condition report (because we?re Crappy Old Books) Despite our name, this copy is in Fine condition, which feels slightly off-brand but there we are: Clean, crisp pages ? as if no-one has yet used it to plan a very niche weekend walk. A tidy, sharp cover ? no tragic coffee rings; no mysterious grey thumbprints. Binding tight ? like the pipework the book lovingly describes. It?s the sort of copy that suggests its previous owner fully intended to go out and trace the Effra, then got distracted by life, weather, or Netflix. Their loss, your gain. Why is this book funnier than it has any right to be? Because once you start seeing lost rivers , you can?t unsee them. The book quietly rewires your perception of London, so that: A busy road becomes ?that one with the submerged tributary underneath.? A retail park becomes ?that place where the river used to curve.? A weirdly soggy patch of park becomes ?compelling hydrological evidence.? It?s unintentionally comic how often the story goes: ?Here was once a pleasant valley with a babbling stream. Then the Victorians arrived. There is now a main road, a row of bins, and a Tesco.? There?s a certain bleak joy in realising that so much of London has been constructed by repeatedly saying: ?What if we just covered it?? Who is this for? Urban explorers who like their adventures more ?sensible boots and OS map? than ?trespassing and tetanus.? History nerds who already know about plague pits and old city walls and now want to graduate to hydro-archaeology . Londoners who secretly suspect their flat is damp because it was built on a former riverbed, and want written confirmation. Anyone who has ever muttered, ?I wish I could see what this bit looked like before it was ?redeveloped?.? Pure Crappy Old Books energy Here at Crappy Old Books , we specialise in volumes that let you: See familiar things differently Develop overly specific niche obsessions And bore your friends with excellent facts Thi.

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Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Londons Lost Rivers
• Editore: Random House
• Data di pubblicazione: 2011
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 184794597X
• ISBN 13: 9781847945976
• Rilegatura: Paperback
• Condizione: Fine

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Riassunto

Londons Lost Rivers, 9781847945976

Informazioni sull?autore

Paul Talling first became interested in derelict buildings in 2003, after witnessing the demolition of an old candle factory in Battersea. Later that year, he set up derelictlondon.com, a website that collects photos and stories of the capital’s abandoned spots. Since then, the website has received 2 million views, won numerous awards, and been described by the Daily Telegraph as Britain’s ‘shabby Pevsner’. In 2008, Paul published the bestselling first edition of DERELICT LONDON to widespread acclaim.