London Under (19 page)

Authors: Peter Ackroyd

BOOK: London Under

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“The People of the Future,” a 1931 illustration to H.G. Wells,
The Time Machine
(illustration credit Ill.42)

Francis Bacon once wrote that “the truth of nature lies
hid in certain deep mines and caves.” The mythic journey to the underworld was always undertaken in search of truth or the retrieval of lost beings; its purpose was to reveal what is hidden and to uncover secrets. It is no accident that in the nineteenth century, when the tunnels and subways were first built under the earth, the sciences of palaeontology and archaeology were effectively established. They were concerned with the things beneath. They represented the search for ancient time or what has become known as “deep time.”

Before mines were dug in medieval Germany, a ritual was held to propitiate the spirits of the earth. May this book be considered a votive offering to the gods who lie beneath London. We have completed, under their auspices, a long journey through the bowels of the London earth. We have come upon dreams and desires, fears and longings; there have been moments of wonder and moments of terror; the sacred and the profane have been found in close proximity. Dirt and squalor exist beside mystery and even beauty. It is the home of the devil and of holy water. The underworld moves the imagination to awe and to horror. It is in part a human world, made from the activities of many generations, but it is also primeval and inhuman. It repels clarity and thought. It may offer safety for some, but it does not offer solace. London is built upon darkness.

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——
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——
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——
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Picture sources: Bridgeman Art Library
Ill.3
,
Ill.17
,
Ill.25
,
Ill.26
,
Ill.40
,
Ill.42
; British Museum, Crace Collection
Ill.8
; Capital Transport Publishing
Ill.32
; Nick Catford, “Subterranea Britannica”
Ill.6
;
Gustave Doré,
London: A Pilgrimage
, 1872,
Ill.27
; A.S. Foord,
Springs, Streams and Spas of London
, 1910,
Ill.20
; Getty Images
Ill.39
; Guildhall Library, City of London
Ill.1
; Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, Bedfordshire, UK / © Henry Moore Foundation / Bridgeman
Ill.41
; F. H. Howson,
London’s Underground
, 1951,
Ill.29
;
Illustrated London News
,
Ill.2
,
Ill.16
,
Ill.24
,
Ill.28
; Charles Knight,
London
, 3v., 1841–4,
Ill.4
,
Ill.10
,
Ill.11
,
Ill.19
,
Ill.37
; David Lawrence,
Underground Architecture
, 1994,
Ill.33
;
London Transport Museum Picture Library
Ill.34
,
Ill.35
; Henry Mayhew,
London Labour and the London Poor
, 2v., 1851,
Ill.1
,
Ill.13
,
Ill.14
,
Ill.15
; Museum of London
Ill.5
,
Ill.9
; G.R. Sims,
Living London
, 6v., 1933,
Ill.18
,
Ill.23
,
Ill.30
,
Ill.31
,
Ill.38
; Thames Water
Ill.12
,
Ill.21