Category: The Rotherhithe Archive

Browse the Rotherhithe Archive here

Portals of London has accumulated a library of material (pages from old books, deleted social media, other odds and ends) which speaks to London’s fractured temporal boundaries. Some are referenced in our blog posts, but there is another, shadow collection of items that don’t have an obvious home, but resonate all the same.

When I mentioned this small but growing haul to scholars and other amateur portologists, I was advised to do two things:

First, share all findings with Maeve Atkins of the Redriff Society.… Read more

Rotherhithe Archive #C762

• Sub-archive: Cache
• Originator: Cormorant
• Cross ref: The Waterloo Arches Rift ; The Headless Statues of Crystal Palace Park

PoL notes:

Taken from a page of the famous online forum. This one is a mystery. It contains uncanny resonances for those in our field.

… Read more

Rotherhithe Archive #P4862

• Sub-archive:  Paper
• Originator:  Egret
• Cross ref:  Dark Parliaments ;  The House of Hidden Things

PoL notes:

Lovers of old books, turn away now.  At some point in the 20th century, a Westminster Abbey gardener took scissors to a rare copy of The Herball, or the Generall Historie of Plantes by John Gerard (published 1597), and stuck the soil-marked cuttings into their dog-eared gardening journal.… Read more

Rotherhithe Archive #C657

• Sub-archive: Cache
• Originator: Peregrine
• Cross ref: The Black House ; The Church of All-Corners-Within-the-Wall

PoL notes:

Peregrine keeps a close eye on this Wikipedia entry, and tells us it is taken down – or edited beyond recognition – as soon as it is put up. He claims ignorance of its provenance, but we can’t help detecting Peregrine’s writing style (and barely concealed editorialising).… Read more