Independently London
Our blog on London, its curiosities and its history, for independently-minded Londoners, and anyone else who might be independently interested in London.
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Barnes
Posted on 13 October, 2021
A peninsula in a bend in the River, Barnes was apparently once part of Mortlake, but Mortlake eventually became part of Barnes.
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Barking
Posted on 03 September, 2021
An ancient settlement, once famous for its Abbey and its fishing fleet, Barking has produced codbangers, singers, footballers and even a few actual saints in its time.
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Acton
Posted on 13 August, 2021
Once known for its oak trees, Acton was two villages, and a staging post and a spa resort, before becoming the west London neighbourhood we know and love today.
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The Making of Greater London
Posted on 08 July, 2021
Greater London only came into existence in 1965, but it had been some centuries in the making, and to an extent it still is.
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Middlesex
Posted on 18 June, 2021
Most of London was originally part of the county of Middlesex, but London gradually gobbled it up, and and nearly all of what was once Middlesex is now in London.
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The City
Posted on 27 May, 2021
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Woolwich
Posted on 07 April, 2021
Woolwich is very old. It’s been settled since the Iron Age, before the Romans built Londinium. Its name suggests that in Anglo-Saxon times it was a trading place for wool.
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Westminster
Posted on 28 March, 2021
Westminster was once an island at an important ford across the River, but the name originally referred only to the Abbey.
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Wandsworth
Posted on 22 March, 2021
Wandsworth is the only metropolitan borough to have lost bits when it was transformed into a larger London borough of the same name in 1965.
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Great Cockney traditions
Posted on 18 March, 2021
From Bow bells to jellied eels, you can’t beat a good old bit of Cockney tradition, the heart and soul of London’s culture and identity.