Author: Muriel Schmidt

Drinking water is supplied via a network of over 32,000km of water mains. However, in metropolitan London, over half of these pipes are more than 100 years old. How old are UK water pipes? Iron pipes were finally introduced in the early 1800s. This high-pressured, more efficient supply brought water into more London homes than […]

The Thames and Lee provide 90 per cent of London’s water. The industrial uses of water are numerous. Steel mills, breweries, paper makers and many other industrial processes use river water or groundwater for their trade. How does the Thames Barrier protect London? The Thames Barrier spans 520 metres across the River Thames near Woolwich, […]

The Romans settled in London, or Londinium as they called it, back in the 1st Century. London was [built] where it was, because it where the Romans could build a bridge from the south to the north of the River Thames, effectively where London Bridge is today. Why was London set up near River Thames? […]

The Industrial Revolution rapidly gained pace during Victoria’s reign because of the power of steam. Victorian engineers developed bigger, faster and more powerful machines that could run whole factories. This led to a massive increase in the number of factories (particularly in textile factories or mills). How was London affected by the Industrial Revolution? The […]

As the title of the poem suggests, the setting here is “London.” Specifically, it’s the London of Blake’s time—so the late 18th century. As the poem makes clear, this was a time of economic and social hardship. What is the theme of the poem The London? Themes. In ‘London,’ Blake engages with themes of urban […]

Today, pea-soupers are known as sulphurous smog or “London smog”. These result from a high concentration of sulphur oxides (SOx) in the atmosphere from fossil fuels high in sulphur, such as coal. What chemicals were in the London smog? Burning coal releases sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, which interacted in the water droplets common in […]

The London Basin is a wedge-shaped declivity bounded to the south by the chalk of North Downs, running north to south, and to the north by the chalk outcrop of the Chiltern Hills, running up in a northeasterly direction from the Goring Gap. Is London in a valley? The city is built in a gentle […]

Even the name of London might enshrine its wetland beginning as the name may be of Gaelic origin with lunnd meaning “marsh” (Ackroyd, 2001: 10). London was founded famously, and still sits, on the Thames River. When the city was founded the river was for Ackroyd “bordered by swamps and marshes” (9). Did south London […]

What do you call people from West London?A person from London is known as a Londoner.