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Fiona Rule

Forfatter af The Worst Street in London

6 Works 179 Members 3 Reviews

Om forfatteren

Fiona Rule is a London historian. After completing a local history diploma at the University of Oxford she began to specialise in historical writing and research. Her previous books include London's Docklands (Ian Allan, 2009) and the The Oldest House in London (The History Press, 2017).

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For some reason, even though I have only visited the city three of four times, I follow various accounts on Instagram about the history of London. 41-42 Cloth Fair, the 'oldest house' which is still lived in, popped up on one post and I was instantly intrigued. Just my luck that Fiona Rule has written all about the past lives of the property, which was built at the turn of the seventeenth century and has survived civil war, the Great Fire, plague, riots and developers!

The land in Farringdon was bought by the original 'Richie Rich', the most powerful and the most obnoxious of the King's ministers', after the Dissolution . Building on Launders Green, part of the former Augustinian priory, began in 1613 and the first tenant, William Chapman, opened an alehouse on the ground floor called the Eagle and Child. Later, when the Cloth Fair from which the building took its name became Bartholomew Fair, 'an anarchic fusion of today's Glastonbury and Edinburgh Festivals', the business was a draper's shop. The house, which was turned into two houses during the eighteenth century, has also been closely associated with Charles and John Wesley, the founders of Methodism, and finally, after a downturn in the economic, social and architectural status of the area, Cloth Fair became the centre of a campaign to save old London.

Although I did enjoy the comprehensive history of London, from Henry VIII to the Gordon Riots to workhouses and the census, the house is little more than the words running through a stick of rock. I think I wanted to read more about the fabric of the building, such as the original staircase and any other treasures which have survived history. I enjoyed the final chapters, about the 'death of old London' and the architects John Seely and Paul Paget, who made Cloth Fair the heart of their restoration partnership. The number of ancient buildings and streets which were swept away in the name of 'sanitary improvements and commercial redevelopments' - read: money - in the twentieth century is galling to read about!

The book - which is probably best read in print format rather than on Kindle - also includes the directions for a walk around Cloth Fair, illustrations and a note from the present 'owner/caretaker'. Fascinating content for anyone interested in the history of the city, whether you live there or not!
… (mere)
 
Markeret
AdonisGuilfoyle | Jul 9, 2022 |
When most people think of London, they know all the famous sights, the Tower, Parliament, the palaces and the new skyscrapers that thrust into the sky. When they consider what is below, almost everybody knows the tube, that arterial network that brings people right into the centre of London. But the streets of London hide many secrets.

In this Rule looks at the most common things that you would find if you were to remove the tarmac. There is the tube of course, but there are rivers that have not seen the light of day for decades, a Post Office railway, unused tunnels under the river, and the ghost stations that are no longer used on the underground. She also covers a fair amount on the of the underground during the war, and the bunkers that were constructed and almost never used, as well as other disasters that has befallen the service. She brings it up to date with an account of the 7/7 atrocities.

It is not a bad book, but it does suffer from being one of many books on this fascinating subject. Rule has done a reasonable job on the book, and coming at it from a more historical slant helps, but it could have really done with some more photos. Worth reading for those aficionados of London, but there are better books out there on this subject, in particular London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd and for a photographic record, Subterranean London: Cracking the Capital by Bradley L. Garrett.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
PDCRead | Apr 6, 2020 |
An excellent overview of Dorset Street, once dubbed 'the worst street in London', and the surrounding Spitalfields area. Rule traces the area's history, from its beginnings as a rural retreat to its acme as a wealthy silk-weaving district and its slow slide into poverty and violence.

This is something of an antidote to most books on Jack the Ripper, which tend to focus almost exclusively on the murders and the suspects. This is an exploration of the lives the people of Spitalfields and Whitechapel actually led, and the misery and squalor that shocked a nation in the wake of the Whitechapel murders.… (mere)
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Markeret
MariBiella | Dec 6, 2015 |

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Associated Authors

Peter Ackroyd Foreword

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Værker
6
Medlemmer
179
Popularitet
#120,383
Vurdering
3.8
Anmeldelser
3
ISBN
23

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