Londres bajo tierra

Por Peter Ackroyd

Cuando Peter Ackroyd publicó el impresionante libro Londres, una biografíapareció que ya poco más de interés podría decirse sobre esta fascinante ciudad.Desde sus orígenes hasta nuestros días, de los suburbios a los barrios residenciales, Ackroyd parecía haber agotado el tema por completo y no haber pasado nada por alto. Sin embargo, faltaba una mirada hacia abajo, y si Ackroyd demostró ya conocer Londres de cabo a rabo, en este nuevo libro pone de manifiesto hasta qué asombroso punto lo conoce en profundidad, de arriba abajo, de las chimeneas a las alcantarillas…
¿Qué oculta el subsuelo de Londres al paseante curioso?
Todo un mundo, una asombrosa fauna (animal y humana), todo tipo de olores y hedores, una impresionante retahíla de leyendas urbanas (algunas incluso bien fundamentadas), los más sorprendentes vestigios del pasado.
Este libro constituye una guía perfecta de ese mundo (o submundo) y saca a la luz una ingente cantidad de material gráfico muy curioso. Ya sea el en apariencia inexplicable genio de Shakespeare, la sensibilidad de Dickens o la creación de la imagen pública de Tomás Moro, la sagaz mirada de Peter Ackroyd siempre acaba por iluminar los rincones más ocultos de aquello que analiza para descubrir en ellos inesperados puntos de interés, y su impecable prosa convierte cada uno de sus libros en joyas de la historia cultural.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: EDHASA
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 1 jun 2012
• ISBN: 9788435045872

Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, as well as a broadcaster, biographer, poet and historian. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers, Thames: Sacred River and London: The Biography, as well as the History of England series. He holds a CBE for services to literature and lives in London.

Vista previa del libro

Capítulo 1

La oscuridad hendida

Más vale que abramos bien los ojos antes de poner el pie en cualquier acera de Londres porque, sin darnos cuenta, estamos caminando sobre la piel de la ciudad, un apretado amasijo de piedra que recubre ríos y laberintos, túneles y cámaras subterráneas, arroyos y oquedades, conducciones y cables, manantiales y pasadizos, criptas y albañales enterrados, todo un mundo enmarañado que nunca verá la luz del día. Incalculables son las personas que, sepultadas en las arcillas del período eoceno, se congregan a nuestro paso cuando nos desplazamos en uno de esos trenes subterráneos. Refugios y galerías con capacidad para albergar a millares de seres humanos en caso de desastre. Porque deambulamos por encima de lo que fuera la ciudad en el pasado, allí donde, bajo ocho metros de tierra amontonada y prieta, se guarda toda su historia, desde los tiempos prehistóricos hasta nuestros días. Superpoblado, entrelazado con la ciudad que contemplamos, el pasado se despliega bajo nuestros pies. Disfruta, por otra parte, de un microclima propio. A treinta metros por debajo de la superficie, la temperatura sube hasta los 19 grados Celsius. En tiempos pretéritos, hacía un poco más de fresco, pero el calor que desprenden los trenes eléctricos ha caldeado la arcilla por la que se abren paso las construcciones soterradas.

Vista en perspectiva del Túnel del Támesis, litografía de Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, 1851-1855. [1]

En uno de mis anteriores libros, tracé un esbozo de la ciudad tal como aparece a nuestros ojos. Mi propósito ahora es descender a sus entrañas, no menos atractivas y sugerentes. Como los nervios que recorren el interior de nuestro organismo, un piélago que no vemos ordena el discurrir de la vida en la superficie. Nuestro quehacer diario responde y obedece a estímulos e indicaciones que, como latidos, contracciones, flujos, señales de advertencia o de alarma, o un curso de agua, procedentes del subsuelo, inciden en nuestras vidas. Es una sombra, una copia exacta de la ciudad, que, al igual que Londres, ha ido ampliándose, a tenor de las leyes que rigen su desarrollo, sus estirones, por así decirlo. Si, sumidos como estaban en la niebla y la oscuridad, de los ciudadanos londinenses de la época victoriana se decía que serían incapaces de darse cuenta de si estaban en este mundo o en el otro, no menos puede decirse del mundo subterráneo, sorprendente y caprichoso, salpicado de pasadizos abandonados, de interminables túneles de ladrillo que no conducen a ninguna parte. Por debajo de Piccadilly Circus, se extiende una plaza abandonada y solitaria de enormes dimensiones, y surcada por miles de pasajes. Las calles que convergen en la encrucijada del Ángel, Islington, disponen de sus correspondientes réplicas bajo la superficie.

Es un mundo desconocido, aún no cartografiado por completo, de forma que no nos hacemos una idea muy ajustada ni de sus contornos ni de su alcance. Por supuesto que hay mapas de conducciones de gas, de líneas de telecomunicaciones, de cables de la luz y de la red de saneamiento, pero, por razones de seguridad, y para evitar un más que posible sabotaje, no están a disposición del público en general. El subsuelo de Londres es, pues, un lugar doblemente recóndito, una zona restringida y prohibida. Hay que decir, por otra parte, que tampoco es que se advierta un desaforado interés por saber cómo es ese vasto mundo subterráneo. De modo que, al miedo, viene a sumarse la indiferencia, porque nadie respeta aquello que no se ve. La mayoría de los peatones que deambulan por la ciudad nada saben, ni les importa, de las cavernas que se abren bajo sus pies: se conforman con alzar los ojos y mirar al cielo.

Porque, quién sabe, hasta puede que haya seres monstruosos allí. Desde que el mundo lo habitan seres humanos capaces de hacerse preguntas acerca de aquello que les rodea, y hasta donde sabemos, el tártaro siempre ha sido objeto de supersticiones y leyendas. El minotauro, por ejemplo, mitad hombre, mitad toro, permanecía encerrado en un laberinto enterrado bajo el palacio de Cnosós, en Creta. Precisamente, un perro de tres cabezas, Cerbero, era la criatura que guardaba las puertas del Hades en el mito clásico. La efigie del dios egipcio del mundo de los muertos, Anubis, era la de un hombre con cabeza de chacal: el paso por esa región daba lugar a sorprendentes transformaciones. A Anubis también se lo conocía como «señor del territorio sagrado», porque se pensaba que de ese mundo emanaba una presencia tanto espiritual como material. Los grandes pensadores y poetas de la Antigüedad, tanto Platón como Homero, Plinio o Heródoto, describían el mundo inferior como un lugar de sueños y alucinaciones. La mayoría de las grandes religiones han excavado templos y lugares de culto bajo la superficie de la tierra. Un halo de terror impregna toda caverna o cueva que se precie de serlo. Hace dieciséis mil años, las poblaciones errantes que deambulaban por Europa vivían al lado o a la entrada de cuevas, pero plasmaron sus pinturas en lo más hondo y oscuro de tales grutas: cuanto más abajo se llega, más cerca se está del poder.

En aras de la fascinación y el horror entreverados, el Bien y el Mal van de la mano. Porque si el mundo del subsuelo se nos antoja un lugar espeluznante y peligroso, también puede considerarse como un sitio en el que hallar refugio. Todo espacio subterráneo puede parecernos atractivo y aterrador a un tiempo. Bajo las calles, se esconden pozos de aguas curativas y lugares de culto. No menos cálido que el materno puede resultar el regazo del mundo inferior. Es una ensenada donde tomarse un respiro frente al mundo exterior, un lugar donde cobijarse en caso de zozobra. En la oscuridad, nadie puede vernos. Igual que las catacumbas de Roma sirvieron de escondite a los primeros cristianos, durante las dos guerras mundiales del siglo pasado millares de personas buscaron protección en otros subterráneos. Recordemos lo que le dice el señor Topo al señor Tejón en El viento en los sauces (1908):[2] «Sólo cuando tocamos fondo, sabemos perfectamente el terreno que pisamos. Nada más puede pasarte, nada ya puede acecharte». «Eso mismo pienso yo –repuso el señor Tejón–: sólo bajo tierra encontraremos la tranquilidad, la paz, la quietud». Por debajo del Londres que vemos, siempre ha habido un Londres subterráneo. El autor de Unknown London (Londres desconocido) (1919), Walter George Bell, refería: «He bajado más escalas para escudriñar la ciudad que yace bajo tierra que peldaños haya podido subir en la ciudad que está a la vista». Porque es mucho más lo que se esconde ahí abajo que lo que vemos por arriba. En una guía de Londres, se afirma: «Nadie que conozca esta ciudad a fondo se atrevería a rebatir que es en las profundidades donde hay que buscar sus auténticos tesoros».

También en el pasado se encerraba a los malhechores bajo tierra. En la Edad Media, a modo de cárcel, o mazmorra, bastaba con excavar un pozo o una hoya. En la Torre de Londres, cuanto más abajo llevaban a un prisionero, más lúgubre era el calabozo, y más difícil era salir de él. Uno de los lugares más siniestros de Londres es la prisión subterránea de Clerkenwell Green,[3] más conocida como «La Cárcel»: una serie de túneles húmedos y fríos dan paso a angostos calabozos y otras dependencias según el trazado cruciforme de lo que en su día fueran los sótanos de un edificio de mayores dimensiones. La mayor parte de los muros de ladrillo, en los que aún rezuma el sufrimiento de muchas generaciones, son de finales del siglo XVIII. Los arcos que conducen a las salas abovedadas son de la misma época. Hasta que cerró sus puertas, allá en 1877, sirvió como cárcel durante más de doscientos cincuenta años. Mucha gente piensa que se trata de un lugar poblado por fantasmas sobre el que pesa una maldición. Quizá no sea tan descabellado pensar que los espectros de los muertos deambulan errantes por el subsuelo. Por lo visto, siempre subterráneo, el río Estigia sigue su curso entre ambos mundos, el de los vivos y el de los muertos.

El mundo de las profundidades puede considerarse, pues, como un lugar imaginario donde se han trastocado las circunstancias normales en que se desarrolla nuestra vida diaria. En el siglo XIX, se pensaba que era el santuario al que se acogían delincuentes, contrabandistas y aquellos a quienes entonces se conocía como «maleantes»; de los sótanos y túneles que discurrían bajo la superficie, se decía que eran «las guaridas del vicio», donde encontraban refugio «la escoria de Londres, los desechos de la ciudad». Se pensaba entonces que albergaban unos «bajos fondos» de delincuencia que, sólo de noche, asomaban la nariz. Al decir de John Hollingshead, autor de Underground London (Londres subterráneo) (1862), aquellos túneles eran otros tantos «laberintos siniestros y peligrosos para los incautos que por ellos se aventuraban».

«El galopín», según Henry Mayhew, ilustración procedente de Trabajadores y pobres de Londres, 1851.

Pero el mundo subterráneo puede verse también como un lugar para soñar, un sitio para dar rienda suelta, por ejemplo, a esa querencia por esconderse tan propia de todos los niños del mundo. La idea de pasadizos secretos, de entradas y salidas disimuladas, de sitios donde agazaparse y ocultarse para que no nos descubran, como en el juego del escondite, posee un encanto imperecedero. Pero, ¿y si nadie da con nosotros? ¿Y si nos quedamos allí solos, mientras nuestros compañeros de juego salen al exterior?

* * *

Siglos han tenido que pasar para que se formasen y, andando el tiempo, saliesen a la luz cámaras y túneles subterráneos. Así, hay enormes catacumbas en Camden Town, por debajo de Camden Market, igual que sabemos de pasajes prehistóricos que discurren por debajo de Greenwich Park. Un viajero alemán del siglo XVIII apuntaba: «La tercera parte de los habitantes de Londres vive bajo tierra», es decir, que los más desfavorecidos vivían en aquellos sótanos o «carboneras» que tanto abundaban entonces en la ciudad, a los que se accedía por unos escalones que, desde la calle, bajaban hasta un pozo que «al caer la noche, se cerraba con una trampilla», de forma que los pobres permanecían recluidos en las profundidades. Remedando las condiciones de la vida bajo tierra, los vagabundos de Londres solían vivir debajo de puentes y soportales.

Hubo un momento, durante su construcción en la década de 1770, en que las arcadas de los edificios Adelphi, al sur del Strand, sacaron a la luz un destello del mundo antiguo sobre el que se alzaban: una serie de bóvedas y arcos que, en su día, fueron identificados como «vestigios de la cloaca etrusca de la antigua Roma». En el siglo XIX, devinieron en refugio de delincuentes y mendigos. En los periódicos de la época, se aseguraba que «al abrigo de aquellos arcos tenebrosos», como los que daban a Lower Robert Street, se escondían asesinos de todo pelaje que se habían hecho dueños de pasadizos, túneles, peldaños de vértigo, vueltas, revueltas y altos soportales, por donde los caballos se negaban a aventurarse. Del techo, colgaban estalactitas. Incluso disponían de establos para vacas que jamás llegaban a ver la luz.

Lower Robert Street sigue siendo un lugar poco recomendable. Es una de las pocas calles subterráneas que aún quedan en Londres y, por supuesto, se dice que por allí se pavonea el fantasma de una prostituta asesinada. En sus Picturesque sketches of London (Esbozos pintorescos de Londres) (1852), Thomas Miller nos ofrece su versión de esa zona espectral que va del Strand al Támesis: «Por delante y por detrás, unos arcos ceñudos se extienden a derecha e izquierda, cubriendo muchas fanegas de un terreno donde nunca repiquetea la lluvia ni llegan los rayos del sol, donde el viento, remansado, aúlla y gime a la entrada, como si no se atreviese a soplar en aquella oscuridad». Otra estampa de los bajos fondos de Londres.

* * *

Las características geológicas del terreno en el que se asienta la ciudad son la mejor forma de conocer un poco más a fondo el laberinto que discurre bajo nuestros pies. La cuenca donde se alza la ciudad de Londres se sustenta en un lecho de arena, grava, arcilla y creta que se apoya en rocas del período paleozoico asentadas hace cientos de millones de años, y que nadie ha llegado a ver nunca. En ellas reposan capas de materiales de origen remoto, lo que hemos dado en llamar suelo arcilloso muy compacto, coronado por unas arenas de color verde oliva que, a su vez, soportan enormes capas de creta que se depositaron cuando los terrenos sobre los que se alza la ciudad aún estaban cubiertos por el mar. Por encima de todo, la arcilla, una arcilla densa, viscosa y maleable, de color azul verdoso, que, en las capas superiores, vira a un rojo parduzco. Se formó hace más de cincuenta millones de años. Tal es la morfología del suelo en que se asienta la ciudad de Londres. No es otra la tierra que horadan los túneles por los que discurren las vías enterradas del tren. Es una arcilla tan compacta que ya no guarda ni rastro de humedad. Pero, si algún día desapareciese la presión que la mantiene en tales condiciones, se dilataría y, como gustan de decir los geólogos, «despertaría», lo que bien podemos interpretar como que «se nos echaría encima».

En última instancia, Londres se asienta sobre la mezcla de arena y grava que recubre esa capa de arcilla. No es otro el medio arenoso en el que se mueven los ascensores y las escaleras mecánicas que utilizan los pasajeros que acceden desde la calle. En los glaciares de la edad de hielo hay que buscar el origen de los ríos que todavía fluyen por debajo y que, desde las partes más altas de la cuenca de Londres, van a desembocar al Támesis. Vivimos, pues, en una región mucho más antigua de lo que nos imaginamos. Si Londres reposa sobre una capa de arcilla, Manhattan se alza sobre unas capas de roca dura, conocida como «esquisto de mica», lo que explica la profusión de rascacielos en esa última ciudad. ¿No habría que buscar ahí, por otra parte, las razones de las marcadas diferencias que se observan entre los habitantes de ambas metrópolis en cuanto a las pautas de comportamiento y la forma de ver la vida se refiere?

Mientras Londres se hunde lentamente en esa capa de arcilla, Manhattan no hace sino subir y trepar hasta el empíreo. De modo que los londinenses nos hundimos de forma paulatina en la arcilla y el agua, los viejos componentes más elementales de la ciudad. Ellos son el principio, y quién sabe si no habrán de ser también el fin. Porque el volumen de agua subterránea va en aumento, de forma que, a diario, hay que bombear más de cincuenta mil metros cúbicos para mantener la estructura en condiciones.

* * *

No son pocas las criaturas que pueblan ese mundo subterráneo, entre las que abundan las ratas, las anguilas, los ratones y las ranas. La rata parda de Rusia es la especie más común. En los últimos años, se suponía que aún quedaban ejemplares de la rata de pelaje negro oriunda del país en algunas partes del subsuelo que se extiende a lo largo

Comentarios para Londres bajo tierra

[lpg3d · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

This is a very good book about all of the incredible tunnels, drains, rivers, etc. underneath London. The final chapter about all the various secret government tunnels was my favorite. I would have given this book four stars if it contained maps. The old illustrations were very nice, but maps would have really helped visualize the complex systems underground in London.

[kevincannon1968 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

An enjoyable read in places especially the chapters detailing the history of the Tube but overall a little disappointing due to the writing style.A lot of interesting material but could've been packaged better. This was one I had to put down at times and read something else before returning to it as it was a bit dry

[pdcread · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The London skyline is famous all round the world, but apart from the tube, beneath the streets very few people know what is there.

Ackroyd's book really only scratches the surface, as it is fairly short, but he uncovers litte gems of information on the 2000 year old history of London. Every time anyone digs a hole there another nugget of history is revealed. There are chapters on the tube, the hidden rivers of London, and the Fleet, which was 60 feet wide at certain points has a whole chapter to itself. There are sketchy details on the government tunnels, so of which are open to the public, and others that are still not.

Some of the archeological details are fascinating, in particular the finds, and in some case still operational Roman water courses.

Really enjoyed reading it, looking forward to some of his other books now.

[setnahkt · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Idiosyncratic; seems intended more for evocative prose than actual description of London’s infrastructure. Author Peter Ackroyd is a biographer rather than (say) a civil engineer. Therefore there are a lot of words like “chthonian” and “troglodytic” and various speculations on the effects of being underground on the human psyche. Perhaps, however, this does give a different insight than a straight engineering description; I doubt an engineer would have researched the files of The Society for Psychical Research to find that London hauntings tend to be associated with the long-culverted courses of ancient rivers and streams. Chapters include of archaeological sites, graveyards, long-lost wells and springs, the aforementioned buried rivers, the sewers, utilities, the Underground, and various rumored and actual tunnels used by the Government. Ackroyd gives directions to some of the remnants such that a reasonably astute tourist could find them, but this isn’t a guidebook. Three stars, I guess; found in the remainder bin at a considerable discount.

[jonfaith · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Likely closer to 3.5 stars. Mr. Ackroyd collects a disquieting bushel of facts and weaves the disparate strands into something reverent. The haze surrounding the tube construction was especially effective.

[paulbaldowski-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Ackroyd displays his dependable writing style, engaging the reader with tales of London below, from Roman remains through to the delving of World War II. It feels a little like something that might have been extracted from Ackroyd's previous works on London, like a lost chapter, but that's no bad thing. Short and informative, the book breaks down into thirteen chapters covering slightly different subjects - such as the sewers, subterranean rivers, tunnel construction and the Tube.

A fine read - recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of London, or the business of underground exploration.

[amymyoung_1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I really wanted to like this book. However I could not get into the author's style and felt like I was reading a very long high school essay on the subject. Better books are to be found in his references section at the end of the book.

[zdarlight-1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Not just factually accurate and interesting but beautifully written; a rarity.

[jphamilton-1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Doesn't everyone find tunnels, sewers, rats, explosions, bomb shelters, and the London Underground all enough to make a good little book out of? Well, maybe not every one of you, but it sure kept me entertained and educated for several hours. This small book offered a little bit about many topics concerning subterranean London—of the present day, and more intriguingly, in the city's long past.Here’s just some of what I learned:— the Underground was used by Londoners seeking safety from Germany's Zeppelins during World War I, and hundreds of thousands again found themselves sleeping there to escape the many nights of bombing in WW II— at times the sewer rats were called "bunnies" by the workers that worked beside them— in the past, pollution of the Thames River caused the drinking water drawn from it to be "of a brownish colour" - you've got to love the understated British— the early springs of the city's spas (or "spaws") promised everything, even "strengthens the Stomach, makes gross and fat bodies lean, and lean bodies fleshy" — some sewer walls are now coated with 30 to 40 inches of fat, since the advent of modern fast food— there was a huge group of people ("toshers") who made a meager and illegal income from scavenging the sewers for anything of value — when someone (a "jumper") attempts suicide in the Underground there will be an announcement, throughout the system, for "Inspector Sands" to investigate the "incident"— the Underground's one fare for all caused quite a stir among the classes of London ... "Yet as a reading of Dante would have suggested, all are equal in the underworld."— because of concern for people's reaction to seeing the tunnels walls flying by so closely to the train's windows, the carriages were quilted and became nicknamed "padded cells"London Under was always interesting, but after looking at Ackroyd's massive book on London, which was focused above ground, I found myself wanting more text here for below. But, to be entertained and educated is a good gift from any book.

[sriemann_2 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I am interested enough in the writing style to look at his London:Biography, but I felt some chapters could have been shorter while others (esp. the one about the men who worked underground) should have been a lot longer.

[devenish_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Peter Ackroyd is one of that select number of authors who has never produced a dull or uninteresting book. Having written what must be considered the definitive history of London in 'London : The Biography',he now presents us with an alternative history,a history of the City beneath the surface. This is not a salubrious tale for it is the story of darkness,sewerage,rats and disease. Ackroyd's book is a fascinating story of the many secret and little-known places and spaces hidden below the streets of this great city.From the Underground (known and unknown) to the bunkers built in case of nuclear war. From the London Sewerage system to the miles of pipes and wires that lay beneath. Not forgetting the underground rivers,of which The Fleet is perhaps the best known,but far from being the only example. 'London Under' is a most readable book, and one which should make an invaluable addition to anyone's library,who is at all interested in the literature of London.

[edwinbcn · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Peter Ackroyd is the undisputed chronicler of the history of London in his London: The Biography. This splendid volume of the zenith of London now has a slim companion volume, which focusses on the dark recesses below the pavement on the city. London under describes the history and variety of sub-terrean London.London under is a tantalizing in that it is both profoundly interesting but seemingly too ephemeral. No less than 13 short chapters produce less than 180 pages, each describing a different system of canals, pipes, tubes, tunnels hidden in the dark under the city. Besides descriptions of the respective systems, several chapters are devoted to describing people whose profession led to to live underground, as diggers or dwellers, historical or fictional, as in the last chapter some science fiction of H.G Wells in The Sleeper Awakes.London under is a very light and entertaining read, packed with facts, spanning almost all of London's history, bringing many gems of information and anecdotes about the London underworld to light.A delighting read.

[enidav-1 · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

I thought this was a serious history book. It's not. It's this weird mish-mash of little bits of vague history floating in a great big murky sea of spiritual, mystical, ooh-isn't-this-spooky silliness. At first I thought he was just introducing the book with a bit of atmosphere and flipped through the pages looking for the real meat of the book. But the flakiness never stops. He can't stop using the word "Underworld", describes mythical monsters and ghosts with quivering solemnity, talks about his dreams and keeps saying how going underground causes "madness" and is like "a vision of hell". Total waste of time!

[ma_washigeri · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Plus another half star. As I read it I felt as if it were an unstructured elegant list of facts (and I was glad it was so short) but by the chapter on the underground I was enthralled. Skimming back through the book after finishing it was much more satisfying than the first read through - the structure became clear and it has left me with the thirst to go off and look at maps and search out more detail and find out much more.

[passion4reading_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

In this shortish volume Peter Ackroyd goes beneath the surface of Britain’s bustling capital to discover what lies underground. In a conversational, chatty style – though occasionally slipping into a more academic tone – he guides the reader through 2,000 years of London’s invisible history, from Roman artefacts to the modern Tube. There is no real overarching narrative and some of the chapters read more like an enumeration of topics that he had to cross off his list, though you can still find some fascinating snippets of information (a species of mosquito unique to the London Underground tunnels, for example). This is especially true for the early chapters dealing with London’s archaeology and geology; once stories centring on actual human beings can be told, his writing becomes more fluent and engaging, as can be seen in the chapters on London’s underground rivers and the construction of the tunnels and sewers, and at times his prose becomes almost lyrical. London’s forgotten past is captured beautifully and to great effect by the inclusion of reproductions of contemporary lithographs, drawings, photographs, reports and eyewitness accounts. Ackroyd uses multiple examples from literature and film to explore the effect subterranean spaces have had on the human mind, and reminds us that they present humans with a long-standing sociocultural oxymoron: underground passages and tunnels have since prehistory been seen as places of safety, with water, for example, connected to ritual and the sacred; yet at the same time anything underground is often regarded as dangerous and dirty, not to mention unsavoury and distasteful. This book changes the reader’s perception of the city, leaving them with the impression that there is almost as much history and activity beneath the ground as there is on the bustling surface, though of course the activity below the ground is for entirely different reasons. At times Ackroyd falls back on conjecture, speculation and fancy to tell his story, but for the most part this is a well-researched, fascinating and well-told exploration of London Under.At times this reads almost like a guide book to the hidden features of the city, and I would love to take it with me next time I visit the capital to help me look out for the clues to its secret history. Occasionally I felt slightly frustrated when the author presented an interesting historical fact in a statement but then failed to follow it up; a recommended reading list is included in the appendix, but as this extends to nearly three full pages it is impossible to determine which book a particular fact came from, if at all. Still, a worthwhile read, I find, especially for readers with a personal connection to London, or those interested in social history.

[krazykiwi-1 · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

Other reviewers have said it all. It's rambly, and would have made a cracking good essay, but it feels padded, which is odd when it's such a short book.

Interesting topic, treated poorly.

The layout is rather nice though, typography and chapter title pages. (Damning with faint praise much?)

[nataliesw · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

In the first half of the book, the author talks about London's numerous rivers and how successive populations of inhabitants used them and interacted with them, including the results of such use, such as pollution, spread of disease, shortage of drinking water. He also talks about the Brunels and tunneling under the Thames, and about the underground train system and how pumps are necessary to keep the water out of the tunnels. I found this part of the book interesting and informative as an introduction to the subject, and the author's style is engaging.

I didn't enjoy so much the second half of the book, in which Mr. Ackroyd talks mostly about underground structures and the use of the tunnels in the twentieth century, for example during WWII. He expands on people's feelings, offers conjectures about aspects of the tunnels ("In Furnival Street are two black double doors that might lead to a warehouse...), and in general offers less factual material, with a final chapter on "Deep Fantasies" ("The underground world also invites images of the sublime. The vastness of the space, a second earth, elicits sensations of wonder and of terror. ..."). More style than substance in this latter part of the book did less for me than the first part but, by and large, an enjoyable quick read.

[thebookjunky · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I wish I knew London -- this book was enjoyable, a fascinating mix of snippets of info about all kinds of things under ground in London, not just the Tube. The book really came alive when it mentioned areas I was a bit familiar with. Just another good reason to go back for more exploring. Thanks Susan!

[miaculpa-1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I read and enjoyed "London: The Biography" by Peter Ackroyd so I was looking forward to this companian piece. Sadly, it did not meet my expections; it seems Ackroyd had done a lot of research on underground London for "London: The Biography" but didn't use there for whatever reason and instead threw it together for a new book.While "London Under" is an interesting, if wandering book, and if you want a quick dip into London's subterranean domain, this could be the book for you but if you want to immerse yourself in London's sewers, then perhaps look through the exhaustive bibliography at the back of "London Under" for other, more comprehensive titles to sate your thirst.

[turrean_1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Since I just finished reading Pratchett's "Dodger," featuring a young man who knows the tunnels of London like the back of his hand, this was a great find. Ackroyd's book is a collection of the weird and wonderful facts on the "underworld" below London: its train tunnels, crypts, water and waste pipes. The tale is fascinating, full of visionary thinkers who built a dark twin to the London above ground.

It's a Londoner's book, though. Ackroyd talks about all the subway stations and London neighborhoods with an insider's knowledge. But with not a map to be seen, to the non-resident reader, it's just a list of places. The author doesn't spend a lot of time explaining distances or locations. It makes me a little wistful, because I've read a million books set in London. Every now and then, a place-name from a Dickens or Sayers or Streatfield novel leaps out at me, tantalizingly familiar. The rest is a mystery. At one point, Ackroyd quotes the man who designed the iconic map of the Underground: "If you're going underground, why bother with geography?" Ackroyd seems to have taken this to heart.

[lostinavalonor · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This really was a fascinating book---though I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much had I not just recently toured London and seen the Underground and how it all works. I just read today that the Tube strikes began this evening and will last for 48 hours. I'll have to look into that and see what it's all about.Some chapters I liked more than others. The first 50 pages or so seemed to be filled with more tidbits and less full-on discussion of a particular topic. Once I reached the chapter on the Fleet River, it started to get more specific and I found I enjoyed it more. I also really enjoyed the chapter on sheltering during the war. Incredible!The description of the "mole man" got me thinking... If a man was doing this tunneling thing in secret and were to die inside a tunnel, how long would it take for someone to find the tunnel, let alone realize he was there?!Another part I loved was the Dickens quote on pg. 29: "What enormous hosts of dead belong to one old great city, and how, if they were raised while the living slept, there would not be the space of a pinpoint in all the streets and ways for the living to come out into. Not only that, but the vast armies of the dead would overflow the hills and valleys beyond the city, and would stretch away all round it, God knows how far." That is such an amazing thought. It truly is a most ancient city!

[samsattler · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

For several years during the nineties, I spent a minimum of two hours every workday using London’s Metro to make my way from Richmond to Uxbridge. Although there was almost no underground travel on that route, I did use the underground portions of the system on weekends to explore the city – and always found it hard to believe that the earliest portion of the Underground (the Metropolitan Line) opened in 1863, just as America’s Civil War reached its mid-point. All those travel-hours left me passively curious about the history of the Underground and the visionaries who dared build it. Recently, that curiosity was reawakened by Peter Ackroyd’s London Under: The Secret History beneath the Streets. Although the book is not entirely devoted to the underground train system, the two or three chapters dedicated to the Underground will serve as a good primer for anyone interested in its history. Ackroyd also offers a three-page bibliography that will be helpful to those readers wanting a more detailed understanding of the underground rail system.There is a hidden world, one with a long history, beneath the streets of London. Amongst all the cables carrying gas, water, telephone, and electricity are natural springs and rivers that still flow as they always have. Catacombs beneath cemeteries and church graveyards house the ancient, and not so ancient, remains of London citizens. The remnants of Roman amphitheaters and gang hideouts are as out of sight down there as the massive sewer system that carries the waste products of London’s millions. Most fascinating to me, the London Underground still includes a number of “dead stations” that have been closed down over the decades – many of which still display the same posters and signs that were current on the day the stations were first bypassed. The tunnels beneath London are home to a small animal kingdom, as well. Most prominent, as regular Tube passengers can attest, are countless Russian brown rats and mice, but there are also large populations of frogs, eels, mosquitoes, and cockroaches in the wetter portions of this vast underworld. I also remember seeing a stray dog or two and numerous pigeons that appeared to be hopping rides from one station to the next in search of their next meals. Because of the catastrophic damage that would result if the tunnels were sabotaged, the London underworld is a “forbidden zone” to which entrance is limited strictly to those with legitimate need of access. As a result, it is almost impossible for any one individual to study the whole of what lies beneath London’s streets. Ackroyd does, however, manage to explain in concise terms the magnitude of what is buried here beneath one of the world’s greatest cities. The book includes chapters on the London Underground, rivers beneath the surface, the sewer system, animals and insects, pipes and cables, and how the underworld can affect the psyche of people. There is much of interest in this little book of 228 pages (a page count that includes the bibliography and index) but Ackroyd’s style can make for tedious reading at times. This is particularly the case in those chapters devoted to the underground waterways, chapters in which the author traces, almost block by block, the paths of the rivers and streams. Patient readers, however, will come away with a solid, if basic, understanding of just how amazing the London underworld is – and will be left wishing that someone would further explore it to learn what more it can tell us about the city’s past.Rated at: 3.5

[seschend · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Interesting and useful research resource, but not as engaging as some of Ackroyd's other works. Still, if you need info on what facts lurk beneath London's streets, this is a good book.

[dinadansfriend · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Mr. Ackroyd's competent prose informs us of various details of his London researches unsuitable for inclusion in "London the Biography" and "The Thames" Some of the details are sensational, and a good book if you are a fan of the City.

[clifforddorset · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

I freely admit to being a fan of Ackroyd. And 'London Under' does not disappoint, even though is rather lacks the more leisurely pace of his many other works. This is entirely forgiveable, given the welter of complex information he presents on all aspects of the fully three-dimensional world that lies beneath the present superficial city. He muses on mankind's attraction to the literal underworld, and details the full scope of its significance for the population it supports in so many ways. The complex, busy city is underpinned by a spiritual world, partly based on the primal mystery of the several streams, now forced into covered darkness until they reach the Thames. This is a short book, and I sensed that its summary style was an indication of its role as a source book, invaluable for anyone aspiring to approach the incomparable knowledge and fascination of Ackroyd himself. An excellent book, even for one simply open to a brief revelation of the complexity of modern London.

[jwm24 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

At merely 205 pages (small ones, at that), London Under is essentially an appendix to Ackroyd's earlier London: The Biography. Taken together, these two books provide a poetic, almost dream-like history of the city. London Under covers archaeological discoveries, underground rivers, sewage, burial practices, the tube (and other underground railroads), WWII bomb shelters, and secret underground government installations, but with no attempt to be comprehensive (a bibliography of more specialized scholarly works is included for those who wish to go into more, um, depth on these subjects). It is this impressionistic method, and the desire not to repeat too much of London: The Biography (whose chapter on London's buried rivers is, if anything, even more detailed than what is found in the later book), and not a rush to publication, that led to the book being so short. Ackroyd tells us just enough about the experiences of 18th-century sewer-workers, Victorian tunnelers, and those who used Underground stations as bomb shelters during the two World Wars (against the government's wishes--I did not know that) to create a strong sense of the danger and the attraction of underground spaces for Londoners past and present (especially past; the often accidental preservation of the past, from Roman streets to disused tube stations, is very important to Ackroyd). As for the absence of maps (another bone of contention for readers on this site and elsewhere), I think that is intentional also, for Time and Space are different underground, and maps would add a false sense of coherence to the experience. As Henry Beck, designer of the iconic, and abstract, map of the London Underground ("the most original work of avant-garde art in Britain between the wars," according to Eric Hobsbawn) said, "if you're going underground, why bother with geography?" (quoted on p. 150). If there is one section I would have liked to have been longer, it would be the reports of ghosts seen haunting tube stations and tunnels (pp. 163-165), but that's just me.

[heyjude_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I found London Under to be both fascinating and disappointing at the same time. On the one hand I was totally engrossed in learning about the many waterways under the city and how they led to the naming of the city streets. Archaeological remnants of the Romans (and older residents of the area) are still being found. I also found the brief history of the Underground rail system interesting. But "brief" is the key word here. The author attempts to cover all of these subjects in barely 200 small pages (the hardcover book is only slightly larger than a mass market paperback) but essentially turns the waterways and wells sections into lists. Maps of the waterways would have been much more interesting than some of the illustrations that were included. Even a map of the current Underground would have added to the section on its history for those who have never been to London. In addition, the author's continuing comparisons to the mythological underworld and on-going descriptions of the fetid atmospheres (what else would one expect in the sewers?) tended to detract from my pleasure in the book. I would rather less of the flowery descriptions and more of the nitty-gritty. He does include a nice bibliography from which I hope to find other books that go more in depth than this work.

[sullywriter_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A vivid, pungent tour.

[coolmama_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

What a brilliant little book that talks about the history up to current day about what goes on beneath one feet while walking London.I found the bit about the underground WWII tunnel and how Duncan Campbell rode his bike through them to be priceless!I would have loved a detailed map, as I had to go to my A-Z constantly to see where he was talking about.