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Posted: 11-11-2009 19:07 Post subject:

It was very weird - one of the joys of a psychogeographical derive is the fact when you find cool stuff, it's totally unexpected and you find yourself building your own personal links between different encountered elements; e.g. in my head, the Guildhall will always be a London extension of Hogwarts.

Posted: 17-11-2009 16:14 Post subject:

Here's a story about Gloucester Drive in Hackney/Finsbury Park;

http://paranormal.about.com/od/timeanddimensiontravel/a/tales_09_07_14t.htm

Posted: 23-11-2009 09:55 Post subject:

I spent a couple of years living in East London, for my sins (as close in as Bethnal Green and as far out as Walthamstow) and it IS a strange place, although the twin factors of urban decay and hipsterness rub uncomfortably against each other a bit too much and take the edge off any real psychogeographical air, IMO. Shame, really. Anyway, one of the more interesting things to do is walk the length of the road that goes from Aldgate East to, well, Romford or something - not the whole way, obviously. You can stroll down from Hackney to Whitechapel (maybe taking in Spitalfields, although the air has been sucked out of that place), turn left up the road towards Mile End - and then walk to Stratford. This takes in all sorts of really interesting sights - you go past some interesting and historical pubs (The Blind Beggar, The Grave Maurice), some interesting squares and gardens (the area around Mile End and Queen Mary's, with the landscaped nature garden and the lovely housing squares), some interesting developments, (that arts trust up in Bow, near the church) and end up at the Olypmic developments. Doing this you get a real sense for the way that one road can connect a lot of parts of the city: the area by Bow Church in particular makes you feel as if you're stuck in between two very distinct zones, the really noisy and busy parts of Whitechapel, Mile End, Stepney Green and the developing sections of Stratford and Newham. It's also really interesting to see how they're adapting the waterways (the Bow canals, Fish Island and so on) for the Games.

Little pockets of Hackney are good to explore - like the village near Victoria Park, which is now quite swanky, and the park itself - with the pavilion and lurking pubs. There's also a completely barmy pub in a park next to Grove Road (just about where it joins with the Roman Road) which isn't weird in itself, it just sticks out of the landscape like a rotten tooth. It's always full of interesting characters with a couple of stories to tell too, and it's called the Palm Tree. It's fitting that pubs shape a lot of the landscape of this part of London, I reckon, given that they play such a huge part in the community and have done for centuries.

The liberal scattering of tabernacles, Orthodox churches, candle factories, playhouses, steam baths, music halls, crime scenes, listed public toilets and mosques also gives the area a very unusual and fascinating character.

There's a pub on Bow Road called the Bow Bells (I think) which has a sign above the gents reading "Beware of the ghost" but I never found out what that was about.

And on yet another pub theme, try The Ten Bells down near Brick Lane, if you haven't already: a couple of Jack The Ripper's victims used to drink in there. In fact, if you feel like exploring Whitechapel and Aldgate a bit more, have a read of Donald Rumbelow's Jack The Ripper book, and Slow Chocolate Autopsy by Ian Sinclair. Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd also fictionalises the supposedly Satanic influence on a lot of the area's churches.

Posted: 29-11-2009 16:14 Post subject:

Thanks, throw

There's a lot of interesting replies here; here's another thing to throw in - has anyone read Rodinsky's Room by Rachel Lichstenstein (with a few bits by Iain Sinclair)? It's a very interesting investigation into an old 'Disappeared' guy, whose 1960s room was found intact in the the 1980s above a synagogue off Brick Lane.

It's a bit of an odd book, but touches on many fascinating things - the eastern European Jewish history of the area, fast disappearing as the book was being written, the mystery of the disappearance itself (not so much a mystery, in the end - just a very lonely and forgotten man being sectioned and no one really noticing), the personal, sometimes rather occult 'quest' of the author to get to the bottom of her own identity through an outside medium (with the de rigeur magical coincidences) and of course the psychogeography of the area, which she goes to Poland to fully understand...

Posted: 29-11-2009 16:29 Post subject:

Posted: 29-11-2009 17:35 Post subject:

An old tutor of mine is the biggest name-dropper in the world (she knows everyone famous, I believe she even used to go out with the current PM), and lives round the corner in Broadway Market - anyway, when I mentioned the book she said 'oh yes, I know Rachel' - hopefully I can get a lend of the book you've mentioned.

Posted: 29-11-2009 22:24 Post subject:

I don't know anything about Eerie East London (I was a West London boy, me Wink

), but any city as old and complex as London must have certain 'vibes'.

My last visit to the area was in March, 1984, when I took a sail training vessel into the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs. All around was derelict dockland - I don't recall any buildings over two storeys, although there may have been a few old silos or the like around. (I wish now I'd had a camera with me, but in those years photos were mostly of family...)

This is the area now known to the world as Canary Wharf. All this has sprung up in the last 25 years. From the world's busiest docklands to a major financial centre, which itself has undergone recent ructions in the Credit Crunch.

So much history, packed into what was mostly marshland, a few centuries ago.

Posted: 01-12-2009 21:39 Post subject:

Posted: 04-02-2011 10:57 Post subject:

Posted: 04-02-2011 12:10 Post subject:

Posted: 04-02-2011 14:49 Post subject:

Posted: 07-02-2011 22:26 Post subject:

A few years ago, some friends and I took a winter-time night walk starting in the East and crossing the city, attempting to take in the spookiest places. It left me feeling that there was definitely something in this lark, even it was 'only' a way of inducing gnosis type states.

Halfway along, crossing a small grassy square in the midst of tall, rather ancient looking apartments, we came across a climbing frame that had been customised into a kind of scarecrow. It had a very 'Baron Samedi' sort of appearance to it, cross beams had had gloves added, a hat rammed on top and so forth.

About an hour later, in one of the labyrinthian passages behind Threadneedle Street, we turned a corner and a rat ran out in front of us. And refused to move. Sat on its haunches in the middle of our path, daring us to get nearer. We had to edge around it to get by. As soon as we'd left, it buggered off again. Not a Rat King, possibly a Rat Earl or Duke...

Posted: 08-02-2011 03:29 Post subject:

May have posted this elsewhere, but back when Canary Wharf was freshly built, a friend of a friend who lived on the Isle of Dogs claimed that there were large masonic symbols built into the foundations. IIRC it was specifically in One Canada Square. Evidence when demanded? There was none - except the claim that his mate Ali had worked on the construction team.

To which I can add these links:
http://www.squaremile.com/features/7570/Sects-amp-The-City.html
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/2350/city_of_symbols.html

Posted: 08-02-2011 14:12 Post subject:

try....

http://www.shadyoldlady.com/

Posted: 08-02-2011 16:01 Post subject: