Book #2 for 2024: London Under by Peter Ackroyd
London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
London is a fascinating place, but one thing that is arguably most intriguing is what lies underneath it. As author Peter Ackroyd concludes: "London is built upon darkness".
I read this book many years ago, mostly because of my interest in the London Underground, which is mentioned later in the book. The underground system has lasted since the 1800s, and as the author notes, may have been used by Jack the Ripper to travel to Whitechapel. It seems from this book that perceptions of it haven't changed much, as it was seen many years ago as some sort of hell-hole. What many people may not know is the number of disused stations, or the fact that parts of the underground were used as bomb shelters during World War II.
There are many more things under London that many people may not know about. For example, there are several underground rivers; an entire chapter of this book is dedicated to the most famous: the River Fleet. London also has an enormous amount of underground utility infrastructure, and some houses have been built up to four storeys underground (at the time when this book was written, just over ten years ago).
There were a few minor issues that stopped me giving this book 5 stars. I noticed that the book incorrectly said Strange Station on the Northern Line is disused, when in fact it now forms part of Charing Cross Station. I was surprised at the omission of the underground railway at Mount Pleasant, once used for delivering mail. Also, the final section of the book, which analyses how many authors have imagined the world below London, makes no mention of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, either the book or TV series. Otherwise, my only gripe was that at times, this felt like a text book, listing facts one after the other.
I was glad to have re-read this book, howver, as I could tell that it was painstakingly researched. At times, the level of detail Peter Ackroyd gives makes it feel as though he witnessed things first hand, particularly accounts of the deep level wartime shelters. My favourite story was about a man who managed to access a disused network of underground passages unchallenged, where he cycled around (the passages were subsequently locked).
Definitely a good book to read if you have an interest in London.
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