Emily Organ Writer

1 day 52 minutes ago

What can Penny Green possibly have to do with a Kent oasthouse? There's actually a strong link with London. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many poor London families went 'hopping' - a working holiday every September to pick the hop harvest in Kent. Hop flowers are used for brewing beer. These breaks provided families with a much needed break from the cramped, polluted slums and offered fresh air and plenty of beer. Extra trains were even laid on - the 'hopping special' - to take the Londoners down to Kent. These hordes of Londoners weren't always welcome - their arrival sometimes raised tensions with the locals. But before mechanisation it was the only way to get all the hops harvested. George Orwell took a keen interest in writing about London's poor and he immersed himself with their ways of life - including hop picking in Kent in 1931. He kept a diary of his time there. You'll notice the unusually shaped buildings in this picture - the conical roofed oast kilns dried the hops after they were picked. A number of these buildings survive and they're desirable homes these days. In PG10, Penny is trying to find a…

Emily Organ Writer

1 week 1 day ago

Scotland Yard - the original headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police occupied a house in Whitehall after the founding of the force in 1829. The house backed onto a street called Great Scotland Yard which the headquarters took its name from. As the force grew, it occupied neighbouring buildings and then moved to a new building close by in 1890. Scotland Yard moved to a building in Victoria in the 1960s and then relocated to Westminster – not too far from its original location – in 2016. There seems to be some debate about where the street Great Scotland Yard got its name from, I'm going with the Encyclopaedia Brittanica's explanation which is: the street stood on the site of a medieval palace which had housed Scottish royalty when visiting London.

Emily Organ Writer

2 weeks 4 days ago

Emily Organ Writer updated their cover photo.

Emily Organ Writer

2 weeks 6 days ago

In Penny Green 10, Penny pays a visit to Hampstead in north London. The area became popular in the 18th century when people came here to take the waters - ‘chalybeate’ waters to be precise (the name means the water has iron in it). This is a picture of one of the wells, although I don’t think it produces any water now. The area’s popularity as a spa declined by the end of the 19th century as people began to favour more fashionable locations such as Tunbridge Wells in Kent. This didn’t bother Hampstead though which, by then, had lots of large, fancy houses from a Victorian building spree; the area has been attracting the famous and wealthy ever since. Well-known past residents include John Keats, John Constable, Daphne du Maurier and Sigmund Freud among many others. Hampstead Heath is close by and well worth a visit. The earliest mention of it is in the 10th century when King Ethelred the Unready gifted one of his servants some land there. There’s a lot more information on one of my favourite blogs about historical London: alondoninheritance.com/under-london/chalybeate-well-hampstead/

Emily Organ Writer

1 month 1 week ago

A location from PG10 - the Ratcliffe Highway in Shadwell / Wapping, east London, is an ancient road which gained notoriety in 1811 for the Ratcliffe Highway Murders when seven people were killed in attacks on two families twelve days apart. The supposed suspect took his own life before standing trial and he was buried with a stake through his heart at the crossroads of Commercial Road and New Cannon Street. Ratcliffe Highway's location close to the London docks made it a popular spot for sailors seeking entertainment with alcohol, opium and sex workers in plentiful supply. The street was also home to the famous Jamrach's exotic wildlife store which supplied animals to fairs, circuses and wealthy clients. In 1857, a tiger escaped from Jamrach's and snatched up a passing boy. Fortunately the boy was rescued unharmed and the tiger was sold to Wombell's circus. A statue was made to commemorate the event. Attempts to clean up the highway's reputation in the later 19th century were partially successful and the street's colourful character vanished forever when the area was badly bombed in the Blitz. Today's highway follows the same route that it always did, but most of it has been…

Emily Organ Writer

2 months 3 days ago

Which omnibus should Penny get? I’m currently comparing an omnibus timetable from 1880 with a map from roughly the same time and trying to plan her route. These omnibuses were horse-drawn and had two storeys. The upper storey was open to the elements. If the omnibus was busy, the men would traditionally occupy the upstairs seats allowing women and children to sit in the cosier section downstairs.

Emily Organ Writer

2 months 1 week ago

London has its fair share of disused train stations, so I thought it was about time that one featured in Penny Green! In book 10, she visits the disused Tower of London station which was only open from 1882 - 1884. It was built by the Metropolitan Railway and closed because a new station, built by the Metropolitan District Railway (there’s a subtle difference), opened very close by. This second station was called Mark Lane station and became known as Tower Hill station in the 1940s. However, with not enough room for expansion, Tower Hill station was closed in 1967 (attached photo is of its ticket hall) and a new one built on the location of… the original Tower of London station. When you get the tube to the Tower of London today, you’re on the site of the first station which was built in 1882. And it has some of London’s Roman wall incorporated into its structure. There is a section of the Roman wall visible outside Tower Hill station too.

Emily Organ Writer

2 months 2 weeks ago

For those who have been waiting, Trouble in the Churchyard is out now in paperback! Luckily your copy won’t have a grey line across it 😉 hyperurl.co/55ugf6