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Thursday 24 October 2013

Jacob's Island


Once known as "the Venice of drains" or "capital of cholera", Jacob's Island an area of Bermondsey on the southbank of the Thames separated by two man made tidal ditches that were created in the 17th century.  So notorious was the area with its dirty factories and poor residents that it became the stuff of legends and wicked tales.  Dickens folly ditch where Bill Sikes met his nasty end in his tale of Oliver Twist, is believed to be based on Jacob's Island.
The area was nearly completely destroyed during the bombing of WWII.  In the 21st century it is trendy  housing with lovely parks and views of the river.

8 comments:

Andy said...

Not the best of history but it sounds like things have dramatically changed for the better.

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Another little bit of history I did not know about.

Ercotravels said...

Good brief history!!
Nice photo, Mo..

Luis Gomez said...

Great post Mo. Thank you.

John said...

Amazing how these old spots get regenerated. Would make a good b&w shot directly on to that curved front of the building with a wide-angle. Just a thought.

Sharon said...

It's amazing how these areas change themselves.

Duncan D. Horne - the Kuantan blogger said...

Great history lesson (I wish history was this interesting in school!). Good to see a positive change in the place.

Duncan In Kuantan

Mandy said...

Oh, I didn't fully appreciate how far the bombing extended. I think I need to do a walking Blitz your because I often struggle to navigate the online maps.

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