Bibliography
These are some of the books I read while researching The Groundwater Diaries.
I've also included some other influential texts which I've enjoyed over the
years as well as recent relevant books I've picked up since I finished my
research.
The
Lost Rivers of London - Nicholas Barton
(Historical Publications - revised edition 1993)
Originally written as a Phd thesis in the early 1960s, it's been updated and
reprinted a few times in book form since then. Up there with the 1972 Topical
Times Football Book as one of the great texts of the 20th Century. Concentrates
more on the bigger streams. Particularly good on industrial uses for the rivers.
Some great old illustrations. At the back is a lovely sketch map with the
routes of many of the rivers drawn in.
London
Under London - Richard Trench and Ellis Hillman (John Murray
Publishers - 1984)
Similar
book to the above but takes a wider view of underground London - sewers, tube
lines etc - so far less detail about the rivers. Still worth getting hold
of, though.
'Some Lost Rivers of London' - Alan Ivimey (Fleetway House - 1926)
A Chapter in the Wonderful London series of books. Short (but
to the point) romantic view of the lost rivers, with some nice digrams. Probbaly
hard to find - I;d lend you my copy but I;m always lending
my favourite books to people and not getting them back. So get your own.
Springs, Streams and Spas of London - AS Foord (Unwin - 1910)
Wide-ranging survey and history of London's wells. It's an early twentieth-century
volume so long out of print, although most history libraries seem to have
a copy. Would be worth updating or someone writing a more contemporary version.
But not me.
The
Growth of Stoke Newington -
Jack
Whitehead (Jack Whitehead - 1985)
Mostly of interest to locals, nevertheless an interesting way of approaching
local history (ie. bung in loads of old maps and charts).
The Fleet - It's River, Prison and Marriages - JE Ashton (Unwin
- 1890)
Victorian era study of the Fleet's history. Lots of stuff about conditions
in the prisons. Beautiful old map in the front.
'Address to the Auctioneers Auctioneers Institute of the United Kingdom'
- JG Head (Guildhall Library - 1907)
A short pamphlet from 1907 - a time of peace and prosperity when lots of people
were interested in mad stuff like underground streams. It concentrates on
the problems of building above lost rivers.
Glimpses
Of Ancient Hackney And Stoke Newington
- Benjamin Clarke (Hackney Society - 1986. First published 1894)
Mid nineteenth-century East End bloke talks about how great London was in
the good old days.
The Romance of the New River - Metropolitan Water Board (Metropolitan
Water Board - 1926)
Big book with lots of black and white pictures of water. Probably only of
interested to obsessive types, except for mention of The New River:
A Romance of the Time of Hugh Myddleton by Edmund Fitzgerald. When
I saw this I nearly fell off my chair. Shit, I thought, there's nothing new
to say is there. So much for my great film ideas.
The Water Supply of the County of London from Underground Sources
- Stephenson Buchan (HM Stationary Office - 1938)
Well, I must have looked at this because I took some notes but I don't really
remember it. It's in Haringey History Library, if you're interested.
The
Modern Antiquarian
- Julian Cope (Harper Collins)
For some reason I neglected to mention this classic in my bibliographical
notes for the book. I didn't really use it to 
research
The Groundwater Diaries, but Cope's attitude and ideas have had some
influence, particularly the interview he did for Q magazine in the
mid-90s. This led me off on a long walk along the Ridgeway to Avebury and
got me out walking the streets of London, making notes and drawings.
Lights
Out for the Territory
- Iain Sinclair (Granta Publications - 1997)
After
you've read this book, walking around the capital will never be the same again.
Sinclair's dense prose sometimes brings each slow step to life, as he and
photgrapher Marc Atkins chart London's psychogeography. One of the best books
of the 90s, Lights Out will probably turn out to be one of the most influential.
History
of Muswell Hill - Ken Gray (Hornsey Historical Society 1999)
People
and Places: Lost Estates of Highgate, Hornsey and Wood Green Joan Schwitzer
(Editor) (Hornsey Historical Society 1996)
Notes ahd Queries
Effra: Lambeth's Underground River - Ken Dixon (Brixton Society - 1993)
A
History of Brixton - Alan Piper (Brixton Society - 1996)
Oxford Dictionary of London Placenames - AD Mills (Oxford Univesity Press
- 2000)
The Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens The London
Encyclopaedia - Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (MacMillan - 1983)
The London Scene - Lewis Melville and Aubrey Hammond (Faber and Gwyer Ltd
- 1926)
Ley Lines: A Comprehensive Guide to Alignments - Danny Sullivan (Judy Piatkus
Ltd - 1999)
Prehistoric London: It's Mounds and Circles - EO Gordon (The Covenant Publishing
Company Ltf - 1925)
Silly Verse for Kids - Spike Milligan
