Some of the people included feel a bit like caricatures and it's a bit too dated now to be of huge interest. My feelings/assessments of it: Although this book lacks the white-knuckled fondness I've come to expect in books about cities, it covers a lot of ground and is pleasantly peppy. It covers power tunnels, the Underground, sunken rivers, sewers, pipes, passages, tunnels, crypts, and cellars. London under London is a tour of some of those tunnels, written around the turn of the Millenium. They bring power and water, they take away waste, they house the dead, they offer a hiding place of last resort. One place this is especially apparent is in the network of tunnels that lie beneath the city. Shrug.Ī summary of the book: London has a tendency to tear up its past and use the pieces to assemble something new, blurring together the ancient and the modern, the natural and the manmade. Richard Trench and Ellis Hillman, London under London (1984) Of all the corporeal functions that underground infrastructures support, the sewers and the removal of waste remain the most ‘invisible’ and unrecognised in the representation of the modern city. Where I heard about it/who suggested it: I found it in the car park at my friend's flat. I also found it entertaining for a Mr Trench to write this book.Ĭontext of reading: Read after new year, hungover and in need of something simple. The reason I read it: After reading Peter Ackroyd's London Under two years ago, I've been fascinated by what lies beneath this city and never turn down a chance to learn more about it. Quality of the content/organisation/research: 4
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