I was determined to get to the LAMAS Local History Conference this year, after dropping out at the last minute a year ago due to being unwell. Today's trip presented it's own challenges, being the first day of the line closure which will dog the next month (and which I seem to mention in every post here lately!). Up early and onto the replacement bus which actually arrived as planned and got us to Taunton station quickly and on time. I suspect it all worked well because it was 06:01 and there wasn't much that can go wrong with the first bus of the day on relatively quiet roads. Onto the 07:10 to Paddington which was surprisingly busy. Had a sleepy journey up to London, and amazingly my fairly tight schedule once I'd arrived all worked out. I was in my chosen spot in the Museum of London lecture theatre a little before 10am, ready for the day's events.
As ever I was one of the younger audience members, and chatting to a few of the very active local historians it became clear that this was very much an interest which grew after retirement. They tend to have very specific interests in their own immediate environs, and seem to view any discussion of space and our relationship with it as 'post-modern bollocks' as one spirited old chap told me! After the introductions Jeremy Ashbee from English Heritage gave an interesting insight into the daily life of a Royal palace, in particular The Tower of London. His research indicates that many monarchs spent incredibly short periods at the palace, with Henry III managing only 38 weeks in 52 years. Outside these periods (for which the accounts indicate the household were often embarrassingly unprepared) the Tower enjoyed a multitude of uses and records indicate that even the King's own chambers were subject to alteration to confine a particularly slippery prisoner. Detailed, and sympathetically presented research is always a pleasure to listen to, and Jeremy clearly knew his topic.
From the sphere of Royalty we moved to the Ecclesiastical with Dr Vanessa Harding's quick sweep across the lost landscape of religious houses in London. In order to set the scene she gave a quick and useful run-down of the orders and sects operating in the City and their lineage. I confess a degree of bewilderment at the range of twists and turns Christianity appears to have taken during the Middle Ages, but suffice to say it appears you couldn't move for monks! Dr Harding linked her discussion of lost places back the the modern city which brought to life a complex and informative paper. I was amused by the 'Da Vinci Code' inspired gasps when the Knights Templar entered the discussion!
Next up was Hermione Hobhouse standing in at short notice for a speaker who couldn't attend. I'm not familiar with her Lost London (1971) but via a wide variety of slides, some much missed buildings and scenes were revisited. A quick reappraisal of the literature of lost London also failed to take into account William Kent's post-war catalogue 'The Lost Treasures of London' and the London Topographical Society's major publication of the LCC Bomb Damage Maps. Overall, I was disappointed by the conservative vision of a London lost because of immigration or diversification. It is a grave error to omit the huge influence this has had on London's growth and development from any account of the city. Looking backwards doesn't need to mean thinking backwards.
A swift lunch break in surprising sunshine, then back to see Nicholas Barton, author of Lost Rivers of London which is perhaps the book which turned my interest in the city from one purely relating to transport history into something rather more all-encompassing. A fascinating work which even nods towards the modern exploration of the 'sick city' in its brief acknowledgment of the epidemiology of the buried rivers. The talk ran through the book as published, with a few updated anecdotes - but it remained as fresh and engaging as the first read.
So, a hard act to follow - and for me another winner with Jim Connor on Disused Underground Stations. I had the feeling that Jim could have continued for hours, with engaging discussion and some informative pictorial evidence of the former stations. Jim ran out of time purely because of his encyclopaedic knowledge of the folklore and urban mythology of the Underground, which he delighted in sharing. Again, amazed at the fairly low level of awareness as evidenced by some of the gasps of surprise emitted by the audience. To finish things off, a brave choice - Kelvin MacDonald of the Royal Town Planning Institute on the Abercrombie Plan for London. As local historians and planners are almost always at odds, this was an interesting occasion. Kelvin's talk was intriguing. His take on Abercrombie's work was critical but he clearly admired the vision and bravery of the plan. His time ran out just around the point he was discussing the plan's legacy. I'd like to have seen him speak more on the remains of the halfhearted attempt to construct the Motorway Box, and it's effect on communities - particularly around the M11 interchange in Hackney for example. Kelvin's paper reminded us all that London moves onward - and you can either sit with the disgruntled country dwellers up for the weekend to hear some talks, or engage in the movement. The key is never to act surprised if you end up somewhere unexpected.
Once again, left partly inspired and partly dejected by the LAMAS experience. A swift dash across the city to Paddington, and an oddly convoluted route back to Taunton.
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
