Customer Reviews

London Under London: A Subterranean Guide

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Except for Anglophiles and London Buffs most people's knowledge of the London Underground is limited to its use as a bomb shelter during the World War II Blitz. However, the Underground existed for centuries before WWII. Chapter 1 succinctly narrates the Underground during the Blitz, and concludes stating "....to understand the full complexity of what lies under London, we must begin with her subterranean rivers."

Chapter 2 notes "There are over a hundred miles of rivers in London, fed by over a hundred springs and wells....Hidden from view, recalled only in street names...." As early as 1463 a Royal Act ordered "The covering-in of the Walbook's middle and lower reaches" vaulting and paving it over. These rivers were covered over or diverted into tunnels. Many of the rivers underground became more sewers than rivers. The text also notes "There are several lost rivers under London referred to by London's chroniclers but impossible to trace."

The text devotes several chapters to the development of underground sewers, water systems, gas pipes, trains, and later telegraph, telephone and electricity systems. The text gives captivating accounts of several engineering problems that were confronted, how they were resolved together with thumbnail sketches of the engineers and managers involved. . Tunneling under the Thames River was a major venture taking fifteen years to complete. Most intriguing is the account of The London Hydraulic Power Company founded in 1871where "Raw water (untreated) water was pumped at a pressure of 400 pounds per square inch through the miles of pipes running beneath London, and was used to raise and lower cranes, operated lifts.... theatre safety curtains, wagon hoists, even hat hat-blocking presses...." Amazingly the company survived until the mid-1970s.

As telegraph lines were developed underground, the Post Office gained control of the telegraph system and later gained control of the telephone system which they tried to suppress. As electricity developed around a national grid, distribution moved underground and by WWII was operating as a national industry. After the dropping of the first atomic bomb, the British government considered operating from the underground but by the 1960s gave up plans to fighting and surviving a nuclear war from under London. The text notes that new water and electricity tunnels characterized the 1980s and early 1990s with "The biggest capital project under London in the last ten years has been the completion of the London Ring Water Main"

This is a fascinating book and the reader will be amazed by the extensive underground systems under London that are still in use today.

London Under London is a concise and highly interesting look at the subterranean world beneath Englands capital. From the middle ages to the present day, Richard Trench provides a detailed history of the various constructions built by London's city planners to deal with the problems of transport, sanitation and overcrowding. Rivers dissappear, tube stations become secret bunkers, tunnels collapse and construction workers uncover 16th century plague pits. A fascinating read for both the student of history as well as the casual observer, London Under London will forever make your journey on the tube a very different experience.

That London is an interesting city is not in doubt. However, this detailed revelation of what secrets lie beneath this great city are quite amazing. This really is a book that you will constantly want to pick up time after time, always finding something new.

Having spent some time in London, and being a card-carrying historian, I was already aware of the hidden Fleet River, and the government bunkers from World War II, and (of course) the Underground itself. But I'd never heard of the Little Conduit beside St. Paul's, or the pneumatic postal railway, and the 1,500-mile network of 19th-century sewers (on which the metropolitan area still depends) never entered my mind. And I don't know how safe the pedestrian tunnels under the Thames would be these days, in any case. But the authors have done an amazing job tracing a number of "lost" rivers, and scores of independent water company pipelines, and assorted arsenals and crypts and tramways. And now I have a list for my next visit to London!

It's a great book if you're interested in this sort of thing. From the early beginnings of London's sewers to the modern day tube and postal networks, this book covers it all in a remarkably easy to read fashion. Of particular interest to me were the sections on Londons 'lost' rivers as well as the Underground, both covered in this book. Highly recommended.

As a London Underground enthusiast, I just couldn't resist what this book had to offer. The sections on the history of the Underground were very informative and easy to read.
But there's more to the book than that. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. The author's conversational (and often amusing) tone lend a lightness to a subject that could otherwise be very dull. The book runs the gamut of subjects--from the underground and now mostly mysterious Fleet to the high-speed cables of British Telecom. It's all there.
This book is an excellent resource for anyone doing research, and a great read if you're fascinated by things beneath the surface.

This is a fantastic history of what's underneath the ground of today's London. Blending history, geography, and engineering, this book describes the smothered streams and covered rivers, the water pipes and sewers, and the tunnels under the Thames.

A major section is devoted to the London Underground - the "Tube" - and its history. The Post Office's automated mail-handling railway is briefly touched on as well.

The role of London's underground spaces during wartime is reviewed including the underground factories and the Cabinet War Rooms of the Second World War.

The book is profusely illustrated with a heavy emphasis on contemporary cut-away and explanatory drawings. The pictures make the text come alive.

A really great book for the Anglophile or London-buff.