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History
www.riverlee.org.uk
Funded by London’s Waterway Partnership, this site offers background on the history, geography and ecology of the Lee, a fascinating and wild patch of London.
Check out The section on water voles. They rock.
www.londonremembers.com
This site aims to document all the memorials in London – from blue plaques to fountains – which, it turns out, is a mammoth task.
Check out The map of Soho, which is littered with memorials to everyone from William Blake to Dr John Snow’s cholera pump on Broadwick Street.
www.classiccafes.co.uk
A chance to pay homage to the capital’s great caffs. You can reminisce over the history of vintage eateries (complete with great archive shots) and check out the reviews of those still going strong. Just don’t offend the author by referring to them as ‘greasy spoons’.
Check out The top ten best ever London cafés, which includes the New Piccadilly (RIP) and the still-kicking East End legend E Pellicci.
Feature continues
www.metroland.org.uk
‘Metro-land’ was a term coined by the Metropolitan Railway company in 1915, and used to describe the areas of north-west London and Middlesex served by the railway. The different stops became the subject of John Betjeman’s famous 1973 BBC documentary (‘Metro-land’), and this site aims to continue the project with a mix of fascinating achive photos, personal memories and historical accounts (including ’70s timetables for the truly interested).
Check out The strangely beautiful 1969 photos taken inside Amersham signal box.
www.portcities.org.uk/london
Put together using local London libraries and archives, as well as the National Maritime Museum, this is a treasure trove of material covering all aspects of the capital’s essential and enduring relationship with the river. The archive photographs are brilliant.
Check out The ‘port facts’ that are littered through the site – like the fact that bird droppings and animal blood were imported and turned into artificial fertiliser at Silvertown.
www.eastlondonhistory.com
An endearingly scrappy collection of stories about the East End, focusing on the people who lived there and influenced the area’s history. The spirit of rebellion runs through all the accounts – with anarchists, suffragettes, trade unionists and criminals all rubbing shoulders.
Check out The story of the fantastically named German anarchist Rudolph Rocker, a Jewish immigrant who led the 1912 garment workers’ strike.
users.bathspa.ac.uk/greenwood
Created by Bath Spa University, this is a simple idea that’s completely engrossing. It’s an interactive map of 1827 London, first drawn up by Christopher and John Greenwood. It covers, in impressive detail, the city from Earl’s Court to the River Lee, and Highgate to Camberwell.
Check out You’ll almost certainly zoom straight into the area you live or work in.
www.history.ac.uk/cmh/cmh.main.html
Unashamedly academic in its approach, the Centre for Metropolitan History was set up with the Museum of London to promote the ‘study and wide appreciation of London’s character and development from its beginnings to the present day’. For the casual browser the site features information on everything from the history of London markets to the city’s epidemics.
Check out The searchable bibliography of London history, which can pull up documents on anything from pimps in interwar London to East End allotment gardening.
www.pepysdiary.com
If blogs had existed in the seventeenth century, Samuel Pepys would have had one – and it probably would have looked a bit like this. It’s a pet project by web consultant Phil Gyford in which Pepys’ diary entries are presented in real time, starting in 2003. It’s an odd approach, but makes the man’s work digestible and rewards daily visits.
Check out Pepys’ posts by subject tag. We’re not sure what Pepys would have thought of such an arrangement, but it’s certainly useful.
www.derelictlondon.com
Paul Talling’s collection of photos of the parts of the city that are falling to bits. With more than 1,000 pictures in the archive, it’s unsurprising that the site’s had nearly 750,000 hits.
Check out The section on disused pubs – surely one of the most depressing portraits of the capital.
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19 comments
just for the record... our website is here...
http://www.hungamunga.co.uk
I think we should all meet under Waterloo Bridge at dawn with sharpened knitting needles.
well you cant say we dont live up to our name can you !
Me thinks there are some lessons to be learned here. Lets all do something positive and go get crafting instead.
ROTFLOL! Thanks ladies, this is one of the funniest things I've read in ages. Who knew knitting could be so cut-throat and, well, bitchy! Knit On!
It is clear that you don't like that the group got chosen. You think the girls "got their mates" to attack (I personally am a group member, but hardly know the girls, though I do have a great amount of respect for what they do). You accuse their events of being "all part of other people's events" which is utter rubbish since they solely organised the Knit Crawl and the Lion Scarf. Also the girls have worked with other groups and organisations such as IKnit and Twisted Thread in harmony with them, rather than jumping on their coattails as you seem to imply (and again all in their spare time for no pay!)
You can't like everything all the time, but it seems to me you should just let the girls have their moment, and leave it at that. You have told the world you think their website isn't good enough for the top 50. The rest of your put downs they could have done without, I think.
You tell them to take it on the chin, but you are basically putting down five very hardworking girls who go out of their way to organise events and write newsletters that benefit you. This seems rather ungrateful to me.
I think the girls who have replied have been remarkably restrained in their comments. And I love the website. It makes me laugh. Well done girls.
I think this all may have spiraled a little out of control! Charley, you are more than welcome back to the group and are completely entitled to your opinion on the site and the group itself. There was no move to gang up and we are sorry if you feel that way - those that have posted obviously feel very protective of the group and I'm sure they meant no offense to you. Perhaps we can all do a few stiches and cast off this matter now!
Charley, I am not picking on you but it seems to me that you're missing the point of of Time Out's article and being needlessly brash about it. The introduction to the article says: "here we present 50 other corkers, all of them useful and entertaining, all of them devoted entirely to the Big Smoke."
Stitch and Bitch London may not have the slickest website but their website has lead to a community being formed centred around knitting and being in London.
Fair enough, Hungamunga also do crafts but they don't necessarily have a London-specific theme. Also, iKnit is a yarn and knitting shop/cafe so it is primarily a business.
Flipin heck, there's nothing like a stitch n bitch scorned. I do get the newsletter, I have been to the group...all I wanted to say is I don't think, of all the craft sites in London, it deserved to be the only one in the top 50 BEST WEBSITES IN LONDON. I take it very personally that Amy says I'm slagging off a charity event - the link says 'check the progress of it' and I'm just saying that the progress has finished - Time Out's fault not yours. It was a brilliant idea and it looked fabulous. Maybe my beef is with Timeout for choosing the site and I realise you've probably got all your mates here to attack any kind of criticism and I'm feeling a bit ganged up on. Take it on the chin - it's just my opinion! You are all mighty and powerful and the best knitting group in the world, your sacrifices 'to spread the pure love of the knit' are truly astonishing and your projects (all part of other people's events - although I loved the knit-crawl too) are worthy of the highest praise - I just didn't like your website's all. Will I be allowed to come back?
sounds like sour grapes to me. thanks for the extra publicity though
Charley, Stitch and Bitch London meet every week. I would think that is fairly regular. How much more regularly would you like them to hold events?
Also they arrange events all the time. They did the Knit Crawl in the summer (which I loved), the Champagne bar at Ally Pally's Knit Show, and the UK Blanket for all the knitting groups. And they have stuff coming up all year.
Both sites you mentioned have had their Time Out glory in the past. Why not let Stitch and Bitch have theirs?
Charley, luckily most people in the craft community are more supportive of each other. You're wrong about the lion scarf event too - I just checked, it was less than a year ago. Pretty bad form to slag off a charity event.
I think it's awfully sad that a Londoner interested in crafts, is so critical of the stitch and bitch group being given a little credit. Shame on you Charley.
Charley, I think it is a terrible shame that you can't just be happy that craft is getting a nod, since you seem to support it so much.
It is also very sad that you can't let a non-profit group, who do so much for charity and have an passionate love of London, get a bit of praise.
If you have a website of your own, run a knitting group of your own, write a fortnightly newsletter, teach people to knit for free weekly, pay out of your own pocket to spread the pure love of the knit, then I would be very interested to see it, to see how we can improve.
OK, point taken. I'm an avid crafter and I just thought, IMO, that there were better craft websites available - afterall this was the best 50 websites in London article, not the biggest group or community, or non-commercial organisation list.
I've been to a SNB London meeting before, I've also been to a couple of other knitting groups who also meet weekly, run by people who work and they are free too. Funny thing is...your comment is almost an ad in itself! Happy stitching.
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