Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2011 21:50:30 GMT
I am reading a book called Necropolis - London and Its Dead by Catharine Arnold ©2006. In the introduction it states, "...the clay pipes of plague victims discovered during excavations for the Picadilly Line. In fact, the tunnel curves between Knightsbridge and South Kensington stations because it was impossible to drill through the mass of skeletal remains buried in Hyde Park."
There was no reference cited for this comment.
I ask because: a) it looks to me like the route is just following Brompton and then Fulham Roads above. b) the line would not have gone through Hyde Park anyway.
Does anyone know more about this - from either an Underground/Tube perspective or from a London historical perspective?
Thanks in advance for helping me learn more.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2011 21:52:20 GMT
Was this a non fiction or was this a fiction book?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2011 21:56:10 GMT
I would not have asked if it were purported to be fiction.
Anyway - to clarify - it is a non-fiction book about the history of death, dying, and burial in London from ancient times to present.
|
|
|
Post by Bighat on Apr 12, 2011 22:36:21 GMT
I am reading a book called Necropolis - London and Its Dead by Catharine Arnold ©2006. In the introduction it states, "...the clay pipes of plague victims discovered during excavations for the Picadilly Line. In fact, the tunnel curves between Knightsbridge and South Kensington stations because it was impossible to drill through the mass of skeletal remains buried in Hyde Park."There was no reference cited for this comment. I ask because: a) it looks to me like the route is just following Brompton and then Fulham Roads above. b) the line would not have gone through Hyde Park anyway. Does anyone know more about this - from either an Underground/Tube perspective or from a London historical perspective? Thanks in advance for helping me learn more. I used to go to school in the Whitechapel Road in east London. The old St, Marys Station entrance was immediately opposite the school (which is a 'listed' building dating from 1680!). It was built on open fields outside the city walls at Aldgate. One day, a truck from the education stores department was driving across our playground to make a delivery at the rear of the building, when it suddenly disappeared into a massive hole, about 30 feet deep. Whilst they were recovering the vehicle, bones were found, lots of them. The police were called, and after several days of head scratching, it was discovered that this was a burial site for those that died in the great plague of London in 1665, cleansed to some extent by the great fire of 1666, and commemorated to this day by the 'Monument' which gives its name to the District Line Underground Station!
|
|
|
Post by Bighat on Apr 12, 2011 22:37:20 GMT
Was this a non fiction or was this a fiction book? NON-fiction!
|
|
|
Post by railtechnician on Apr 13, 2011 1:50:53 GMT
I am reading a book called Necropolis - London and Its Dead by Catharine Arnold ©2006. In the introduction it states, "...the clay pipes of plague victims discovered during excavations for the Picadilly Line. In fact, the tunnel curves between Knightsbridge and South Kensington stations because it was impossible to drill through the mass of skeletal remains buried in Hyde Park."There was no reference cited for this comment. I ask because: a) it looks to me like the route is just following Brompton and then Fulham Roads above. b) the line would not have gone through Hyde Park anyway. Does anyone know more about this - from either an Underground/Tube perspective or from a London historical perspective? Thanks in advance for helping me learn more. I think the route does follow the roads above but what you have to consider is when the roads were built! I would imagine that Hyde Park was a much bigger space when the bodies were buried in it and the roads built many years later. When the Victoria line was being built the tunnels at Pimlico were bored through a plague pit. To see the area one might wonder about that too because it is an urban landscape but it would probably not have been when the victims were buried.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2011 16:11:00 GMT
BTW - the more I read of this book, the more plague pits are mentioned. Evidently the 1665 plague generated many pits around London. And, of course, a lot less densely built up back in that day.
|
|
mrfs42
71E25683904T 172E6538094T
Big Hair Day
Posts: 5,922
|
Post by mrfs42 on Apr 14, 2011 9:33:32 GMT
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2011 9:33:47 GMT
AFAIK the tunnels curve in that area to miss out the vaults for the museums above.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2011 19:32:09 GMT
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2011 19:34:34 GMT
The tunnels follow the course of the District Line then turn sharply underneath public roads to avoid paying compensation to the landowners above. That's why the pre-Victoria Line tubes all follow major roads or existing surface lines in zones 1 and 2 for the most part. Happy to stand corrected on that one though
|
|
|
Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 24, 2011 23:46:52 GMT
It is my understanding that the tight bends are in part because the Picadilly in that area was originally two quite separate projects cobbled together by Yerkes. The first was the "Deep level District" which was to run under, and use the wayleaves of, the existing District Railway as an express service to Mansion House: the second was the Picadilly & Brompton railway which was to run from Picadilly Circus to a location near the V&A, (the former Brompton Road station) along Piccadilly, Knightsbridge and the Brompton Road. Their east-west alignments were roughly parallel but separated by about 100 yards. When Yerkes sought to cobble these two projects (and the Great Northern & Strand) into one line, he used the existing powers and had a new link built from the intended terminus of the P&B to a junction at South Kensington. In the event, the "main line" was never built, but the junction tunnels at South Kensington were built and can be seen at the exit ends of both deep level platforms, as well as the unused westbound platform tunnel for the main line. The tight curvature of the line east of South Ken is to get trains from the DLD alignment onto the parallel P&B alignment. This saved having to get the powers 1. to not build the already-authorised westernmost section of the P&B, and 2. to build a new, less curvaceous, alignment between Brompton Road and South Ken.
|
|