Small remnants of wood block road surface in Shoreditch, EC2

Oooh... I've found +100year-old wood still embedded in our streets.

Well, your honour, I was wandering along Scrutton Street, London EC2, heading in a south-easterly direction, when I happened upon this manhole cover outside No.44, opposite No.51:

Nice. So I retraced my steps and found more wood in another manhole just a few metres away outside No.48-50 – it was hard to make out the how many segments contain wood being as it was filled with rain that day:

I thought about hunting for more, but the weather was miserably cold and I'd been on my feet all day, so I will check next time I am in the vicinity.

To see all the woodblocks I have found so far, click here. A guided walk on this subject should be available by June via janeslondonwalks.

Commemorative plaques and woodblocks in Langley Street, Covent Garden

My first job after leaving school in 1980 was as junior in the design and artwork studio of Lennart Advertsing, 7a Langley Street, Covent Garden, WC2. I was immediately fascinated by the area and most lunchtimes my workmate Debbie and I wandered about looking at how it was all being renovated, changing from a zone of fruit and veg and tradesmen to become the popular shopping and entertainment district we see today. Neal Street back then was a building site. The piazza was almost completely refurbished and we enjoyed seeing some of the entertainments. Actually, enough of that, I'll park all the memories for now and save them for another day, otherwise I will never get to the point.

The tall buildings in Langley Street, Shelton Street and Earlham Street were all built to store fruit and veg. Hence the name of Pineapple Dance Studio and all the other fruity references you might see as you wander about. For such a short road, Langley Street, has a lot to offer. Not only is this street where Yours Truly first worked*, but there are also plaques in the street that commemorate other things. 

For instance, on Saturday 11th May this year, I attended a small ceremony for the unveiling of a red plaque to remember lives lost fighting an awful fire in the same very building back in 1954, a horrible incident that I had no previous knowledge of. 

I'd seen the event listed on the London's Fire Brigade's site (I subscribe for updates) but I was surprised and a little disappointed to see so few people in attendance. It was mostly relatives of the deceased as well as wives and colleagues related to the organisers or people participating. There was a speeches by dignitaries and the local priest blessed the plaque.

The firemen are here standing outside Pineapple Dance Studios in front of their vehicle, looking magnificent but obliterating a couple of things I hadn't noticed before. 

Two days ago, on Saturday 12th August, I was leading one of my walking tours when I noticed that in the middle of this recently resurfaced street, there is a man hole cover which contains woodblocks in one of its segments!

At the risk of sounding like a cracked record, how had I never spotted this before?! 

I wondered if it might have been moved here from elsewhere, but no, Google Streetview shows it in 2008:

There's something else of interest here, and I don't just mean the demolition of those smaller buildings on the right which now form an open space in front of Stamfords that leads through to Mercers Street, I am looking at the scaffolding that is boxed in. Today there is a metal gate that was mostly obscured by the fire truck in my pics above.  

I have often admired it as being a good modern example of well-crafted metalwork – one of those things that I make a mental note to find out about another day. Well, it turnes out that I didn't have to look hard because all the information is there! 

 

A metal panel to the side of the gate is hard to read but it tells us that this was installed in 2021 on behalf of the Mercers Company which owns this swathe of land. The gate is the work of Bex Simon AWCB, artist and blacksmith, and was forged and fabricated by CB-Arts Ltd. Indeed this information can also be found within a tiny panel at the bottom left of the gate itself:

I looked again at the man hole cover and pondered whether I should wander the nearby streets to see if I could find any more remnants of woodblocks, but it was a hot and sticky day and the area was busy with shoppers people out having a good [noisy] time, so I thought better of the idea, for now, and caught a tube home instead. 

For more wood blocks, see my A-Z here. 

Ooh... I've just remembered another thing in Langley Street – I am always delighted to see that Café Pacifico, London's first Mexican restaurant, is still trading. It opened in 1982 and must be one of only a handful of businesses that have stood the test of time. Again, I will return to this idea of then and now in due course.

*there ought to be a plaque for this too!

Cobbles, congestion and woodblocks

They are resurfacing Holloway Road at the moment. Changing junction hierarchies, altering bus lanes, installing temporary traffic lights. It’s tedious to say the least.  

Last year it was tiresome on any bus heading north from Hi&Is as it took aaaages getting from there to Holloway Rd tube station – it was quicker to get out and walk (made even more frustrating by having to suffer that stupid conglomeration of traffic lights around Highbury corner – it's faster to walk from Union Chapel to the next stop outside Highbury Magistrates Court). And now they are slowing up the eastern side of HollowayRoad as they make further changes to the road and junctions, meaning that heading south takes aaaages, especially in the mornings and exacerbated by a stupid bit of replanning opposite Holloway Rd station. Let me elaborate...  

A yellow box partially restricts access. That’s usually great, as it ought to stop traffic from clogging that junction. But cars come out of Hornsey Rd and turn left (southwards) and subsequently block the way for traffic from the north which cannot move forward because those cars turning left obstruct the access, specifically to the bus lane on the other side. Aaaagh. Often it takes three changes of the traffic lights before an opportunity to move becomes available. And lots of bibbing and parping and sighing and swearing. 

Perhaps the only good thing about this for history nerds like me, is that from the front seat of a southbound bus (this is from a No21 to Lewisham) I  can get a good view of how the modern road surface has been scraped away to reveal the old cobbled street (yeah yeah; setts). A layer of Holloway history uncovered – it must have been an even noisier road in the past. 

I’ve written before how this road must’ve been completely woodblocks as there are a few old man hole covers in the vicinity that still contain woodblock infills (see the A-Z listing at the top of this site).  I’m not sure if the woodblocks predate or follow the cobbles/setts (advice please)

And, further along the route 21, just before Essex Road, I looked down to see a man hole cover on the left side within an accessway that would have led to the rear of the terrace. Two of the outer segments look to have remnants of wood within them. I need to go and poke it with a stick of some kind to be sure before I add it to the list. I will update you soon.

More remnants of wood blocks – Old Street and Woolwich

Here are two more roads where I have seen woodblocks in man hole covers within the street.

First to Old Street. There is one outside No.1 on the north side at the junction with Goswell Road. There's only a teensy tiny bit of wood visible but, if the Islington ones are indicative of hoe today's road surfaces will erode, we'll hopefully see more of this one in due course:

And there's another one east of there. You'll find it on the other side of the road within the bus lane outdide No.134. Tho this one doesn't look like it will be there much longer – the road is in a poor state and the man hole is sunken, so I rather assume that the next re-surfacing may well see this man hole disappear:

My pics are the ones where the wood blocks are wet. Top left pic shows the view looking west past St Lukes (you can just see its spire above the trees). The fourth image, bottom right, was sent to me by Dave Brown who alerted me to this in 2021, and shows the blocks dry. 

Next, across the river to Woolwich. I was strolling along Powis Street, the main shopping thoroughfare, when I spotted this one outside No.29-31:

There are bound to be others in the Woolwich area, so I will be back on a wood blocks hunt there soon. 

Do let me know if you've seen others – my A-Z of London wood blocks can be found here. 

Update on the three wood-filled LCC Tramways access plates in Angel, Islington

Here is an update on the manhole covers in Islington, all a short walk from Angel tube station. 

From the station, heading north, keep to the right hand side and as you pass The York pub you will find the first of the three within in the bend of the road just before the junction with Duncan Street. Two years ago I had reported that this one had been covered in Tarmac and was, therefore, no longer visible as seen here. But, good news, I noticed recently that the modern road surface is gradually eroding and quite a bit of the wood is now again visible. Hurrah!

From there, keep heading north along Islington High Street along keeping the tram station to your left and mid-way along the building there is another one, as shown below in a screenshot from Google streetview adjacent to the offside rear wheel of the Royal Mail van:

Look closely to see that it shows more of the LCC TRAMWAYS mark along the centre bar, as would most of the others of similar design. This one, and the one shown above are less eroded due to being on a back street.  

Finally, here is the third one, found by turning left at the end of the tram shed and then right in the main Road. The impressive circular plate is today set within the modern paving just before Pizza Express. It would have originally been in the road it but when the pavement was widened, the access holes were retained. 

I am here pairing it with its close neighbour, a lovely oblong of striated paving stone, though I very much doubt that this slab will remain here as long as the man hole cover – I suspect it will soon be replaced before it becomes a greater trip hazard.

If you spot any more remnants of outdoor wood surfaces to add to my London A-Z Directory of Woodblocks please leave a comment under this blog post or email me at jane@janeslondon.com

More manholes with woodblock infills, hiding in plain view on London's main roads

This latest collection of manhole covers with remnants of wood blocks within them are specifically grouped together because they are all on streets I know well, so it's surprising it's taken me decades to notice them. 

First, here is an excellent example in Holloway Road, ten minutes' walk from my home. I often lead guided tours here pointing out all the hints of late Victorian history when the street was often referred to as The Oxford Street of the North. Yet, although I often mention trams and old forms of transport, I hadn't actually spotted this fabulous example of wood blocks in the middle of the road. It can be found between The Coronet/Waitrose and Holloway tube station, slap bang in the middle of the road. Basically, I have been walking past it about three times a week for thirty years (doh!):

It's the second Holloway one I have discovered (see first entry in here) and, convinced that there surely must be more in the vicinity, I am now often to be seen scouring the road like a demented idiot who has lost something.  

Next, to Kentish Town. This is a short walk from Holloway and an area I also thought I knew well as regards little details etc, yet, although I'd found one wood-filled manhole cover by a yellow line in the southern end of this street, this one, almost opposite Islip Street, had eluded me until someone messaged me about it:

On Pentonville Road, outside Joseph Grimaldi Park, there is another one. I'd previously glimpsed it from the top deck of a number 73 bus, as this is what I do from buses now; I play a new game I have invented: Manholehunter. On the day I went to photograph this one, the street was extremely trafficated, as a friend used to say (and I like it) so I had to stop the slow-moving cars to be able to stand over it and get a decent shot. The driver of one car looked at me very quizzically then parked round the corner to come back and see what I was so interested in. He chatted for a while, and I told him to look up Jane's London but I haven't heard from him since. Perhaps he's reading this now. I hope so! Due to the traffic that day I am here accompanying my photo with a street view pic from Google (the name of the road isn't actually painted on the Tarmac!):

And so to Clerkenwell Rd. I wrote before about a fine example at the end of Leather Lane. Well, I'm sorry to report that since that stretch of road was resurfaced, it has completely gone. But, on the bright side, I found another one a little further east, almost at the junction of Hatton Garden, by the zebra crossing. At first glance it looks like it's all tarmac-filled. But that's not the case – the tarmac has eroded around the edges, and little glimpses of wood can be seen, though that might not be immediately evident here:

And finally (for this blog post only as there are sure to be more!), this next one is just south of Angel Islington, on the west side of St John Street by the pedestrian crossing, just before the junction with Rosebery Ave and Sadlers Wells:

See you with more of these soon, no doubt.

For the full list of all my sightings thus far, please click here. Do let me know if you find any more. 

More wood blocks – side streets and access roads

Here's the latest update on woodblock sightings. These are all in side streets or back alleys.

Find the current list here.

First, here's one I spotted and photographed years ago but completely forgot abbot until recently. This unusual elliptical shaped man hole cover can be found just inside the side alley to the right of 169 Bermondsey Street, SE1:  

Next, a regular circle-shaped man hole cover, jam-packed with lovely big chunks of wood. This can be found in Crooked Billet Lane, a narrow street under the Overground railway line at the southern end of Kingsland Rd, E1. I read in a 1930's London guidebook that this little street was [then] a wonderful evocation of a bygone Victorian age (or something like that). Not so today – a couple of 1880's buildings do remain on the right/north side but, apart from that, there's not much left except this marvellous example of the old road surface that would have covered the whole street 150 years ago: 

A similar example can be found lurking in the little road parallel to West End Lane, West Hampstead, specifically behind Oddbins with access from Sumatra Road, NW6:

Finally, I mentioned earlier this year that I'd been on a tour of the Holborn Kingsway tram tunnel and I'd noticed that many areas of its woodblock road surfaces were still intact. Here are some more pics: 

St James's Place and Blue Ball Yard– so much to see

I popped in to St James's Hotel and Club yesterday afternoon to have a chat with Graham, the head concierge. We swopped stories and observations about London's quirks and unusual details and he asked me whether the lamp in adjacent Blue Ball Yard was a still powered by gas. Hmm. I didn't know, so I went to check it out.
I'd done a lot of research on gas lamps last year when planning my walking tours on the subject, so it was strange how I'd not previously investigated this particular little enclave of streets between St James's Street and the park. 

Blue Ball Yard* today gives access to the rear of The Stafford Hotel's American Bar and, yes, the wall-mounted lamp at the left side is indeed a functioning gas lantern. There is another one at the far end but it is hard to access so I'm not sure if that one too is also powered by gas. See the google streetview here.

It occurred to me that there surely must be other gas lamps in the vicinity. A logical idea, being as St James's Palace, The Mall, Carlton Terrace and St James's Park were all mostly lit by gas during the reign of George IV, so it follows that the well-to-do streets here would also be similarly illuminated.

I ventured into St James's Place, the next street down, and immediately found another wall-mounted lamp on the left of the street at No.44 and two more opposite at No2 and No8 (the green plaque commemorates Sir Francis Chichester) with a similar lantern down the turning to the left that leads to the Duke Hotel and a tall standard lamp at the end of the yard. On the left side there's also a row of low level lanterns that appear to have been completely disconnected.

More tall standard lamps can be found at the western end of the main street. most of which marked GeorgeV 1910. I'm surprised they aren't older being as others in the St James's area date from the reign of George IV.  

I counted eleven gas-powered street lamps in St James's Place and this doesn't include those on privately-owned buildings such as the impressive pair outside Spencer House or the one above the door of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, shown below centre. 

I also found some other interesting oddities along the road. For instance, there are only a few coal hole cover plates. All of them sport geometric patterns rather than overt branding although some bear the name Mason, see below left .

There is a bizarre circular cover plate near the lamp at No.45 with brass letters bearing the name of F. Devereux, silversmith, who, I am assuming lived/worked there. These discs usually show the name of the foundry/ironmonger who made/sold the plate. I've looked in old directories but I can't see anyone by the name of Devereux here. Instead, the address is listed as a lodging house in 1882 through to at least 1915 when it's shown as apartments. Any ideas?  

At the far corner, at No 26 there is a twentieth century building that you could say looks out of place with the rest of the street. It's not an office block but a Grade II* luxury apartment building designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and constructed 1959-60. It sports a RIBA architecture award plaque (that I forgot to photograph) but what I particularly like about it is the zeitgeist 1950s typeface used on some of the signage – it's very Univers Condensed Bold Italic. 

Back to the street furniture and metalwork...  just before the entrance to The Stafford Hotel, almost underneath one of the wall-mounted gas lanterns, is a rectangular man hole cover. If you've read my previous posts about this kind of thing you are probably ahead of me here in guessing that this contains twelve little squares of wood block paving, see above right which I'll add with better photos to my next group of wood block findings in another post soon (ooh the excitement!).

Finally, at the far end of the street, there is a little alley off to the right that leads to the rear gate of the St James's Hotel, the building in which I had started this mini-journey. The sunlight on the buildings yesterday afternoon was amazing, making it look more like somewhere in Italy. 

*Blue Ball Yard – I'd been mis-calling it Blue Bell Yard ever since yesterday. I originally thought it was ref to a flower or a hanging bell that with a clapper that was coloured blue. But no, it's a ball. But what blue ball? Is it a game? Was it a sign for something?  There are other Blue Ball pubs in the UK, but I have yet to find out the significance of the name. And Cabbie Blog in this link also gets his bells and balls confused. Incidentally, if you haven't already read his book about his life and observations doing The Knowledge and driving customers around London, I wholeheartedly recommend it. 

More wood black paving – Kentish Town, Brixton and Clerkenwell (Part 5 in a series)

I'm returning to wood block paving again, because I've found a few more patches that I'd like to share with you and add to the list. 

This bygone type of street surface was used on some roads, mainly busy streets, but also in areas of high use as per in a courtyards or private access ways where the noise from horses' hooves could be kept to a minimum. But horses leave evidence wherever they go in the form of wet and gloopy stuff and these deposits made the streets of old rather stinky. The wood blocks were also often stolen for use as firewood ( though consider the aroma!). 

Other forms of street surfaces superseded the wood blocks but it's still possible to find evidence here and there, mostly within man hole covers and just like finding an unusual shell on a beach, you then 'get your eye in' and start finding more – see my A-Z of London woodblocks here.

Here are two more new finds and an update...

This first one is a manhole cover I had spotted a few years ago and completely forgot about until recently. Having not made any note of it or taken any photos back then, I had to wander the streets to rediscover it. It sits in outside 111 Kentish Town Road. The wood within it is here clearly enhanced by the recent wet weather:

Similarly, in South London, near the entrance to Brixton Village covered market on Coldharbour Lane, there is another manhole cover where some of the old wood blocks are still visible. I'm sure there must be more examples of this type in the vicinity and I will look out for them when I am back in SW9 later this month.

And, finally, here are some better pics of an unusual off-road example in Clerkenwell that I mentioned in an earlier post. 

Leo Yard is a narrow alley on the north side of Clerkenwell Road, just wide enough for a small horse and cart, that leads to what would have been workshops and distribution hubs at the rear. This particular patch of wood blocks set within a maintenance access plate forms a pleasing grid pattern. The blocks are barely worn and most have have slightly domed tops. Also, the wood here appears to be a very dense type, more so than within the circular plates like the two shown above. I wonder if the wood used here was offcuts from the furniture making industry. 

No doubt I'll find some more of these on my travels and I'll be writing 'Part 6' sometime soon... do let me know if you can add to the collection.

Wood block paving in Camden (Part 4 in a series)

You might have already seen my posts about remnants of wood block paving still in situ in today's roads. See here. This kind of surface was implemented to minimise the clippity-clop noise of horses' hooves back in the days before the motor car, yet here and there on today's Tarmac'd streets you'll see small patches of this old surface type, though mostly within man hole covers or on private forecourts.

I'd been told there are some examples hiding in plain sight in Camden, and so last week, on a walk from Hampstead to Mornington Crescent, I kept an eye open for them. 

Heading down Chalk Farm Road, the first cover plate I found with rectangular blocks within it was between the railway bridge and Regents Canal adjacent to Camden Lock Market, shown above looking north. 

I then found a second one on the other side of the canal, this next pic is also looking northwards:

There are more cover plates along that western side of the road, almost evenly spaced, between the canal and the tube station. 

Another woodblocked example can be found on the corner of Inverness Street, viewed here from outside Offspring shoe shop:

I thought I'd found four examples, but when I got home and looked at my photos it seems I only took pics of three of them. Camden is always so busy, it's hard to see where you are going, let alone go on a woodblock hunt. 

The man hole at the end of the road, opposite the tube station, almost at the junction with Parkway, is infilled with Tarmac. I did a quick search around the junction in the hope I might find some others but, no.  

I'm sure there are more to find in this busy zone. After all, with the amount of distribtuition going on in this vicinity, plus Gilbey’s stabling and tunnels linking the various buildings, today converted into subterranean market spaces, there surely must be many more pockets of wood paving here are there. Woodblocks would have been prevalent here to assuage the noise of all those horses’ hooves. In due course, I’ll go for a wander around the market areas as I am bound to find something. I'll update you if and when I find more evidence.

………

Update August 2023: I have set up a London A-Z Directory of Woodblocks. If you can add to the list, please leave a comment under this blog post or email me at jane@janeslondon.com

More wood blocks street paving in London and further afield (part 3)

In April 2021 I wrote piece about areas of wood block paving still visible in London. These I'd found mostly in the Clerkenwell, Islington, old Finsbury and Shoreditch areas, plus the large remnant at the south side of County Hall. I followed that up six months later with an update, adding other sightings in Southwark and Islington along with a panel in an alley off Clerkenwell Rd that I did indeed go to look at in person, and I did take more pics, but what have I done with them?!  

Well, since then I have spotted some more, and one of them was just a couple of days ago, a few minutes' walk from my home in Holloway N7. I was crossing the junction of Holloway Rd heading west and standing on the central reservation directly in front of Barclays, now closed and empty, and looked down to see this wood-filled manhole:

How, had I not seen it before?!  In my defence, I rarely ever cross the road at that point. Here's the Google Streetview of that location, looking back from Barclays to where I was standing. As you would expect, I then made a search of the whole junction to see if there were any others in the vicinity, but no. 

So I came home and added my photos of my new find to my 'Wood Blocks More' folder which contains, in no particular order... 

Within the covered entrance to Bermondsey Leather Market on Weston Street:

A couple in Hampstead, NW3:

Further afield, outside London, I found a lovely example in Waltham Abbey: 

And in Whitstable there is a paved floor within the gatehouse entrance to the castle gardens:

Someone told me they saw a filled manhole cover in Chalk Farm Road, Camden, but whoever that was didn't take photos or provide me with any more info. I've just been up and down that road onscreen via Google Streetview but I can't find it. I'll have a proper look next time I am visiting the markets.

I'll leave you with a pic of one of the first examples I ever spotted – I cannot believe that I omitted to include this one, as well as the other two that are very near here, when I compiled my initial post on this subject back in April last year. Unusually, this is not in the road but instead it's set within the pedestrian pavement outside Pizza Express, Upper Street, Islington, hinting perhaps that the road used to wider. Here it's looking lovely after the rain and I think the outer shape resembles the London Underground roundel: 

Re the other two nearby, they are actually in Islington High Street, behind the old tram electricity station, today an Amazon outlet. One is still intact see here, but the other one a few metres south on the No Entry sign near The York pub, was infilled about two years ago. I do have some pics before they slapped it full of tarmac and when I find them, and the photos in the Clerkenwell alley, and the Camden example, I will compose Part4. Ooh the excitement, ha ha!

………

Update August 2023: I have set up a London A-Z Directory of Woodblocks. If you can add to the list, please leave a comment under this blog post or email me at jane@janeslondon.com