Layers of London website launches
The online heritage mapping project enables virtual visitors to explore the history of London’s 32 boroughs in a way it has never been told before.
Layers Of London, a unique interactive digital platform that allows users to visually peel back the layers of the city’s history, has launched today. The project uses maps, films and personal memoirs to document how London has changed from Roman times to the present day.
Led by the Centre for Metropolitan History at the Institute of Historical Research, Layers Of London has been developed in partnership with Birkbeck, the British Library, the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), Historic England, London Metropolitan Archives and The National Archives. It also includes contributions from the public, who show how Londoners have responded to events through history and adapted to their changing city. The first site of its kind, Layers Of London combines information about events and places with the memories of the people who experienced them first-hand.
Project director Professor Matthew Davies (Executive Dean of Birkbeck's School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy) explained: “It is an interactive project, and website users can actually get involved in creating new layers of London for others to explore. In this way we can collectively map the story of London’s remarkable, diverse and sometimes turbulent history over 2000 years and its evolution into the city it is today. We’re looking forward to working with many new groups and volunteers across London over the coming months and years.”
It is designed to be a treasure trove of fascinating and quirky information about life through the ages. Among details chronicled are how it was possible to barter a Christmas cake for a chicken in East London in 1954, how painting a white cross by your door would guarantee you would be woken up for work and how 17th century maps would have included ‘the Road to Oxford’ rather than what we now know as Oxford Street in central London.
Since it began as a pilot project in 2016, Layers Of London has engaged all kinds of people through social media, volunteering opportunities and training events to create a collective history of London. From 21 September, local residents and organisations are encouraged to explore their city’s history and add their own contributions via the Layers Of London website.
The project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Stavros Niarchos foundation, the Ford Britain Trust and the Institute of Historical Research Trust.
Further Information
- Layers of London
- Professor Matthew Davies
- School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy
- Centre for Metropolitan History at the Institute of Historical Research