London is served by a tangle of rail and iron coming into the city from every direction imaginable, seized by half a dozen rail companies over the last century. The principle lines are:

• Great Eastern
• Great Northern
• Great Western
• South Eastern
• London & Northwestern
• London & Southwestern
• London, Brighton, & South Coast & Isle of Wight
• Ludgate, Chatham, & Dover
• Ludgate, Tilbury, & Southend

The Stations

Arrayed around the center of the city like the spokes on a wheel, the great stations of London are marvels of the industrial age. Great constructions of brick, glass, and steel, most are fully serviced transit hubs where one can find dining, shopping, and even hotel accommodations.

The Underground

The District and Metropolitan Railways are fully underground steam trains that run under the city instead of through it, joining all the major rail stations of the city in a loop.

As well as the Inner Circle, the line extends out to the East, through Whitechapel and Mile End, and to the West, through Knightsbridge, Kensington, and Putney. Even Shepherd's Bush, Hampstead and Swiss Cottage are accessible through the Underground. The lines are mostly diurnal do not run late into the night.

The roads of London during the day are a chaotic, ill-planned network of cobblestone streets ringing with the constant din of iron-shod hooves and wheels on stone and a babble of shouting voices loud enough to make conversation difficult. Though the nicer districts have metropolitan street cleaners, all districts struggle daily to keep up with the level of mud, garbage, and horse dung that clogs the arteries of the metropolis.

At night, the streets become a gas-lit, fog shrouded maze of deserted dead ends, stairs to nowhere, and predators both human and less so.

Cabs, Trams, and the Omnibus

London vehicle traffic is still, first and foremost dominated by horse drawn carts, wagons, carriages, and buses, and the ring of their hooves on cobblestones is only now beginning to be overshadowed by the braying honk of motorized automobiles fighting to get through the press.

Two main carriages can be found for hire found on

London's streets. The Hackney carriage is the longest serving of London's cabs. A comfortable, if slow moving, service, it easily accommodates four people in comfort in the spacious carriage. The cab is horse-drawn and travels on four wheels, quite unlike its more fashionable competitor, the hansom cab. These two-wheeled cabs are seen in increasing numbers on the streets, and are popular with the citizens for their speed in the traffic-clogged streets. Like their horse drawn counterparts, automobile taxis are now appearing in greater numbers, and they still go by the nickname of "hacks".

The larger, 4 and 6 horse drawn omnibuses are used far more often by the lower classes. Often painted red, these 2 deck vehicles are beginning to be replaced by the new, diesel powered variety and often run until midnight.

Finally, the electric tram system installed along the most traveled avenues and byways of the city has risen to rival most other forms of mass transit above ground, carrying more than a million passengers per year.

The Thames is the very life blood of London, and therein has lain its problem. As the British Empire has grown, the number of ships entering the river from all parts of the world has likewise grown. In the recent past, the number of ships moored in the river had numbered so many that navigating the river had become all but impossible. The solution was simple, and achieved with considerable expenditure from both private and public purses. A large number of docks are now found along the river, right up to Greenwich.

Starting at the Tower of London and moving eastwards, you will find the St. Katherine's Dock, followed by the London Docks, a magnificent and busy docklands that remains in demand despite its age. On the south side of the river you then find the Surrey Docks, and just beyond, on the northern bank of the Thames, is the Regent Dock. Then, on the Isle of Dogs, there are the West India, South and Millwall Docks. A little beyond, you may find the East India Dock. All of these deal with the growing trade with the empire, and the Indies in particular, that has brought so much wealth to the country. Out at the very limits of the city, at Woolwich, lie the Victoria and Albert Docks.

Each of the docks has, of course, an accompanying number of warehouses and houses within walking distance for the working men that deal with the loading and unloading of the mighty steamships. Low drinking houses and opium dens often accompany these.

The Thames itself has become less of a means of transport for London's own residents. The growth of the railways and the new bridges that span the river have allowed easy passage from one side to the other, without the need to pay a row man, join one of the regular services or fight your way across London Bridge. An under-river tunnel allows one to cross the river between the Tower and Southwark, though it has been rendered somewhat redundant with the recent construction of the Tower Bridge, forming a downstream alternative to the London Bridge near Westminster.

The Bridges

For centuries, London has had to make do with a single bridge between Southwark and the east end of the City. In the last century, technical advances have led to the river being spanned by eighteen different bridges, allowing easy passages between the two banks and the unification of the two sides of the river. The city now has thirteen footbridges, four rail bridges and one combined bridges. Their importance to the city, cannot be underestimated.

Starting with the furthest upstream and working

downstream, the bridges are as follows:

Hammersmith

Putney

Wandsworth

Battersea (rail)

Albert (between Battersea Park and Chelsea)

Victoria (between Battersea Park and Pimlico)

Grosvenor (rail)

Vauxhall

Lambeth

Westminster

Charing Cross (both rail and foot)

Waterloo

Blackfriars

Alexandra (rail)

Southwark

Cannon St. (rail)

London Bridge

Tower Bridge

The Far North

London's northern suburbs, situated on the hills overlooking the Thames, are a stark contrast to the image of London as a maze of streets and squares. These northern reaches — Hampstead, Highgate and Muswell Hill for example — are positively rural, nestling among woodlands, fields and heaths. Each is a pseudo-village, tied to the city by a thin strip of houses that follow the main roads north from London (the Finchley Road and Holloway Road respectively) as well as the recently expanded railway networks.

Hampstead is renowned for its heath, a rolling greensward that encompasses ponds, woods and ancient monuments including, so legend has it, Boudicca's Grave. Here, too, lies Parliament Hill, the Vale of Heath and Kenwood House, home to the Earls of Mansfield.

Highgate, with its woods and elegant village life, is best known for its cemetery. Here lie Karl Marx, George Elliot, Michael Farraday, Christina Rossetti and the family of Dickens (Charles lies in Westminster Abbey). Coleridge lies nearby, resting in the vault of St. Michael's Church, while Francis Bacon also died in the "village." The sylvan cemetery's architecture ranges from the Classical to the Romantic; its subterranean Egyptian Avenue features massive obelisks and family vaults, while the Lebanon Circle comprises a number of crypts sunk in a circle around an ancient cedar. Highgate has a reputation, a little exaggerated, as one of London's premier haunted sites, exceeded only by Westminster Palace, Marble Arch (Tyburn as was) and the Tower of London.

Muswell Hill is the third memorable "village" in the north, perched on a hilltop and dominated by two massive edifices. Alexandra Palace — the people's palace — looks out over the Thames valley and is home to numerous soirees and orchestral galas. The grounds here are home to a fun fair, cricket ground and lakes, as well as a popular racetrack, most of which have been added since the first palace burnt down in 1873 scarcely two weeks after its opening. On the lee of the hill, as the land rises toward Barnet, sits Colney Hatch, a massive asylum whose reputation is second only to Bedlam.

The Near North

Closer to the heart of London are the slums and tenements of Camden and Islington, as well as the more affluent Regency Houses of Regent's Park. Camden sits astride the Regent's Canal (which links the Grand Union Canal at Paddington with the Thames at Limehouse) just northeast of Regent's Park and its famous zoo. It is an area of mixed fortunes, the well-to-do houses bordering Regent's Park giving way to the slums of Camden and Somers Town, the latter widely adjudged one of the worst in London. It is here that Dickens set parts of his books such as A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield. Between Camden and Highgate lie the homes of numerous immigrants, particularly Irish, though the Tuffnel Estate at the upper end of Holloway Road en route to Highgate has retained an aura of respectability, despite its proximity to the City House of Correction. The distinctive redbrick gothic Midland Grand Hotel (built in 1874) at St. Pancras Station lies between Somers Town and Bloomsbury, and is a major way station for Kindred heading north from the city, as it features a covered passage leading from the nearby underground station to the basement and another to the station proper.

Once a popular spa famed in the 18th century for its tea gardens and medicinal well, Islington has fallen on hard times since the construction of the Regent's Canal. The area has seen a massive population boom and become increasingly urbanized, and now some parts of Islington are little better than Camden. The Sadler's Wells Theatre was once among the most notorious in London but has, in recent years, been "rescued" from disaster by Samuel Phelps and become a respected venue for drama, though still not as well regarded as those of central London. Underneath the southern part of Islington, known colloquially as Angel after the Angel Inn, a recently rebuilt coaching inn, is the 960-yard long tunnel of the Regent's Canal, which opened in 1820. Immediately south of Angel lies Clerkenwell, centered on Clerkenwell "Green" (in fact a paved square). The rookery here is among the worst slums in the city, made famous by Oliver Twist, and is known locally as Little Italy for all the Italian immigrants who have moved into the area.

The houses around Regent's Park, on the Outer Circle or nearby roads such as Baker Street, are within easy reach of the West End and thus seen as prime residences for the well-to-do. Here lies one terminus of the newfangled underground railway, which passes the surgeries of Harley Street and the slums of Tottenham Court Road en route to The City. In 1835, Madame Marie

Tussaud (once tutor to Louis XVI's sister and maker of death masks during the Reign of Terror) set up an exhibition of her waxworks in Baker Street, which has become one of the area's foremost attractions, moving to new premises around the corner on Marylebone Road in 1884. On the far side of Regent's Park, across the canal in St. Johns Wood, lies the Lord's Cricket Ground, home since 1814 to the Marylebone Cricket Club (affectionately known as the MCC) and undisputed birthplace of the game. Harley Street, running south from Regent's Park parallel to Baker Street, features a number of large houses, many of which are doctor's practices.

West London

West London is, as a whole, more affluent than other districts, containing many of the homes of the rich and well-to-do. In common parlance the whole area west of The City to the edge of London is known as the West End. For simplicity, the area is divided into two broad districts: the principally residential and cultural "West London" (encompassing Kensington, Hammersmith, Chelsea and Acton), and the more commercial and governmental "West End" (principally Westminster, Holborn and Soho).

Chelsea is an affluent district on the banks of the Thames, once a riverside village and home to numerous artists and writers. The fine houses are favored residences of the well-heeled but the most notable features of the district are the Physic Garden and the Royal Hospital. The former, established by the Royal Society of Apothecaries in 1673, contains a wide variety of medicinal herbs and a bewildering array of exotic species of plants. Although not as large as the gardens at Kew, it is nonetheless an essential stop for those interested in horticulture or desirous of certain rare herbs. The Royal Hospital is a retirement home for soldiers, designed by Christopher Wren in the years after the civil war. Its residents are notable by their red coats and tricorner hats, which date from its 17th-century founding.

Kensington and Knightsbridge are likewise well-to-do areas, encompassing some of the key cultural and educational institutions in London. Lying south of Hyde Park is the recently constructed Royal Albert Hall. Originally to be called the Hall of Arts and Science — Queen Victoria changed its name in memory of her husband — the cylindrical edifice is surprisingly humble for a Victorian building, though its red-velvet interior, used mostly for classical concerts, is breathtaking. Construction was partly funded by selling seats and boxes on a 999-year lease.

Due south of Albert Hall lies the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines, and the City and Guilds College, which together work to advance the understanding of the natural world. The atmosphere in the schools is rather stuffy, certainly compared to the gothic edifice of the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road. Opened in 1881, this massive structure houses all sorts of exhibits relating to the natural world, though the most impressive are the dinosaur skeletons situated in the massive entrance hall. Lectures and soirees are frequent features of the museum.

Just up the road from the Natural History Museum is the Museum of Manufactures, containing exhibits from all over the British Empire. Opened in 1857, it serves as the permanent home of the decorative items displayed in the Crystal Palace during the Great Exhibition. The trustees feel that the present buildings are too small and plans are afoot to construct a new museum on a nearby site. The expanded premises will be called, no great surprise, the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Hyde Park, directly north of Kensington, is the largest open space in central London, covering 340 acres but completely surrounded by buildings. Once the lands of Westminster Abbey, the park contains a boating and bathing lake (the Serpentine), woodland and gallops. It was the site of the Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition, and continues to be the favored place for duels, though the practice has largely disappeared since the British Army banned dueling in 1844. Speaker's Corner, in the northeastern reaches of the park opposite Marble Arch, is the favored haunt of radicals who seek to voice their opinions. It was established by an Act of Parliament in 1872, and anyone with an opinion can express it here, traditionally on a Sunday morning.

Marble Arch, located just outside the park at the head of Oxford Street, is a massive stone edifice, originally intended as the main entrance to Buckingham Palace. It soon proved too small, however, and was relocated to its present site in the year of the Great Exhibition. The site formerly housed the Tyburn Gallows, London's principal place of execution until 1783 (when it was superceded by Newgate).

The West End

The core of London is the West End, a series of interlocking "villages" that serve as the brain (Westminster), heart (Soho) and soul (Royal Palaces) of the city — with some claiming St. Giles would be the bowels.

Westminster centers on the Houses of Parliament (also referred to as the Palace of Westminster since it incorporates the last relics of the old Royal Palace). Parliament has sat here since 1612, but the present building is mostly less than a century old. A major fire in 1834 gutted all but Westminster Hall and the Jewel Tower, and the new building wasn't completed until 1860.

Across the square from Parliament stands Westminster Abbey, an impressive edifice begun in the reign of Edward the Confessor before the Norman invasion. Most of the construction dates from the reign of Henry III in the 13th century, but the building was not fully completed until shortly before the Reformation (with additions made by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1745). The gothic building, originally a Benedictine Abbey, incorporated a school and cloisters for study and contemplation though this function was replaced by political machination (the Commons used to meet here after the Reformation). The abbey has remained a major religious structure, as the site of almost every state coronation since William I and the burial place of many kings and queens.

Up Whitehall toward Trafalgar Square lies Downing Street, the residence of Prime Ministers since 1732. Also in Westminster is New Scotland Yard, and the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, having moved from Great Scotland Yard in 1890.

Trafalgar Square stands at the head of Whitehall, established in the 1830s and home to the 165-ft. tall Nelson's Column. On the north side of the square is the National Gallery, a Neo-Classical building opened in 1838 that houses a superlative collection of state-owned art. The National Gallery and the neighboring National Portrait Gallery are part of the artistic lifeblood of the city. The new Tate Gallery, opened on Millbank in 1897, has yet to be formally recognized as part of the classical circle but most London citizens behave as if it were.

West of Trafalgar Square lies St. James Park, and beyond that is Buckingham Palace, the king's London Residence.

Due north of Green Park is Picadilly, home to many of the city's gentlemen's clubs, and beyond that Mayfair, where lie the most sought-after residences in the city. At the eastern end of Picadilly is Picadilly Circus, a gaudy melange of shops and music halls, at the center of which is a newly erected winged statue. Even further east, the music halls of Leicester Square — notably the Empire and Alhambra — have recently taken over what was once a prime residential area. Both the square and Picadilly are popular rendezvous points.

Heading further north and east from Leicester Square, the West End's character changes markedly. To the north lies Soho, a fashionable area in the 17th and 18th centuries but shunned more recently. Some parts of Soho attempt to cling to respectability but much of the area is home to impoverished immigrants. The "night houses" of Soho are home to prostitutes of both sexes, exploiting the more liberal attitude of the immigrant-dominated area. Drinking and opium dens are also rife in the area, managed by mortal and supernatural crime bosses. Although seedy, Soho pales in significance compared to the area to the northeast, St. Giles Rookery in Holborn. Without doubt, this is the most rundown part of the city; the mazelike slums of the rookery are home to numerous vagrants, cutthroats and prostitutes. The squalid conditions of the houses — some rooms house more than twenty people — are worse than those of animal lairs, and are a breeding ground for disease, particularly cholera and consumption, making the area less appealing than some distant exotic slums.

Surprisingly, not far from the St. Giles' Rookery is the British Museum, London's preeminent center for history and learning. Private evening soirees allow London's citizens to enjoy the museum's exhibits and to mingle with the upper echelons of London society. At the heart of the museum complex is the reading room, which houses tens of thousands of books.

Turning south from Holborn takes us to Covent Garden, an area of stark contrasts. The covered central piazza houses a fruit and vegetable market, while the surrounding arcades house shops and chambers as well as numerous street entertainers. In the northeast corner of the piazza stands the Royal Opera House, a melange of Victorian and preexisting structures that has seen numerous classical performers and shows.

Running parallel to the Thames is the Strand, the principal thoroughfare linking The City and Westminster, as well as the site of many prestigious residences and newly opened Savoy Hotel. The massive Somerset House marks the eastern limit of the Strand, built in the late 18th century to house various government offices.

The eastern extension of the Strand toward The City is the heart of the legal system in London, Britain and the empire. Completed in 1882, the Royal Courts of Justice on Fleet Street (also renowned for its newspaper offices) are the nation's principal courts, and the surrounding buildings are geared to supporting them. The so-called Inns of Court, a combination of legal school and chambers for lawyers and barristers, stand north and south of the court. Middle and Inner Temple lie situated south of the Strand toward the Thames, and Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn to the north around High Holborn. The first two trace their origins to the Knights Templar, who had premises on the site, though most of the buildings in the four Inns of Court are of Elizabethan or more recent origin.

Name	Description
Bloomsbury	Green, intellectual Bloomsbury, located in Camden just north of Covent Garden, is famous for its many garden squares, it's literary heritage (Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, and their Bloomsbury Group took their name from the district), and for the many cultural and educational landmarks of the area. The British Museum is to be found here, one of largest and most comprehensive museums in the world is here, with a collection of over eight million objects including the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, the Lewis Chessmen, ancient Assyrian bas-reliefs, the Sutton Hoo treasure, and much, much more. The British Library contains about 150 million books (including two copies of the Magna Carta, the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus, the 8th century Diamond Sutra, and the manuscript of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland). The central bodies and departments of the University of London are also in Bloomsbury, as is the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
~British Museum	The museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on 15 January, 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following century and a half was largely a result of an expanding British colonial footprint and has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington in 1881. It is also the headquarters of the Ordo Mysterium accessible through rents in the fabric of reality allowing one access to the Twilight version of the original Montagu House.

The lands south of the Thames have long been derided by many of those who dwell north of that mighty river as being inferior to the other shore. Despite that, this is the very place where Shakespeare first performed his notable plays, and it is home to some of the greatest scientific ideas of our age, not least the Meridian Line at Greenwich.

The southern banks of the Thames remain as busy and prosperous as ever, although the arrival of the railways has had its impact on these boroughs as well.

Battersea, Wandsworth & Lambeth

This region of the city, especially the area around Putney, was a fashionable place to reside a century ago. However, the railways have done their work, and the once-open fields have been filled with those depressing terraces that make up much of the area now. Notable buildings include the Surrey House of Correction, the Royal Victoria Patriotic Asylum and the Friendless Boys Home, which make plain the current tone of the area.

More pleasing to the eye is the new park, which opened a scant thirty years ago. Battersea Park is therefore one of the most recent of the city's parks and one of the prettiest as well. The sub-tropical gardens bring back pleasant memories for many serving His Majesty in the far-flung parts of the empire. Battersea Park also features splendid paths for walks, rides and other activities, and even a lake, if the mood should take one. Battersea itself was a pleasant area of market gardening before the arrival of the iron roads. Now it is a tangle of rails surrounded by industry of various sorts, from candle factories to glucose works. The Albert Palace, an impressive structure of glass and iron dominates the remains of Battersea Fields, which should proves an added reason to visit the area for many.

Lambeth is home to much heavy industry. It is also home to Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for centuries, and considered by many to be the home of the Church of England. Thus, the place has an aura of faith around it that makes approaching it agonizing for those of the supernatural persuasion. While the publication of Mr. Darwin's Origin of the Species has without doubt undermined belief in the Christian faith, it has made not a jot of difference to Lambeth Palace, the adjacent St. Mary's Church, and the grounds of both. The bridge that links the vicinity of Lambeth Palace and Westminster is amongst the ugliest on the river. The Oval cricket ground is a popular destination for many.

Bedlam, or as it more properly known, the Bethlehem Royal Hospital is an infamous mental hospital has existed since the 13th century, but has stood on these grounds only since 1815. For many years it housed both the criminally insane and those who were merely mad. Since the criminals departed for Broadmoor in the West Country in 1864, it has catered only to those whose minds are damaged in legal ways, as it were. The place is renowned for the terrible noise its inhabitants make upon occasions.

Soulhwark & Deptford

The eastern part of Southwark has seen the normal development, as a result of the construction of Waterloo Station and Blackfriars Goods Yard. By day, the nearby Borough Market is one of the busiest in the city, and the remaining public houses in the area still do good trade. However, it has not lost the bad reputation it earned a century ago. By contrast, the bankside region of Southwark remains one of the most notorious in the city. It is little more than one large drinking house, interspersed with the working places of ladies of easy virtue and an inordinate number of prisons of various sorts. Even the influence of St. Saviour's, a large church near the river, seems to have done little to improve public morality in the area. Indeed, a goodly number of churches have been built in Southwark, but the piety is sadly lacking.

The inevitable consequence of such moral laxity is injury and sickness, and the arrival of Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospital have done something to allow the continued survival of the residents.

The London Bridge station on the edge of Southwark was the first to be built in the city, but has had perhaps less impact its surroundings than the other stations. But then, Southwark has been disreputable since days nearly three centuries ago, when Shakespeare staged his plays in the Globe Theatre by the river. A modern contrivance like the railway will have little impact on such debauchery.

Bermondsey is a center of tanning, as it has been since the days when Queen Anne, granted the leatherworking industry a charter in 1703, despite the offensive vapors the process creates. The Bermondsey Leather Market is detectable by the nose long before you lay eyes upon it. The market has been open barely a year, yet already it has enhanced the reputation of the area for evil odors and has reduced the streets around it to slums.

Moving westward, we encounter the Surrey Docks. Around twenty acres of land have been given over to the docks here.

Beyond the docks is Deptford, once the home to the Royal Naval Dockyards, but fallen in stature to the Foreign Cattle Yard. The dockyards can now be found further down river at Woolwich. Deptford has become rife with the Irish; and with the recent wave of Fenian bombings, the police keep a particular watch out for those who sympathize with the cause of Irish independence. Given the Irish penchant for religion, it should be no surprise that the area is one of the few strongholds of the Catholic faith in this Protestant city.

Greenwich

In the last century Greenwich has gone from a distinct town to part of London itself. Yet, it has always been part of the city by virtue of its position just downstream of London proper. Greenwich Palace, built in 1426, and the nearby Queen's House, built in 1635, have long been popular locations for celebrations, banqueting and balls for the aristocracy. Indeed, at least three mortal monarchs of the realm were born here: Henry VIII, Mary and Elizabeth. The palace itself is long gone, but the Queen's House remains a favorite with the aristocracy. Citizens once used the expansive Greenwich Park for hunting

Deep in the park, atop a hill, the Royal Observatory still stands as it has since the 1680s. In addition to its role in advancing science by cataloguing the heavenly bodies that populate our skies, it has become a crucial part of Britain's naval prowess. Its Nautical Almanac, published annually, is the standard work by which most ship captains navigate. A time-ball in the northeastern turret is a signal that the shipmasters in London's docks use to set their chronometers precisely. Greenwich Mean Time was recently accepted as the national time. In a conference held in 1884 in Washington in the former colonies, the Greenwich Meridian, devised in the observatory, officially became the prime meridian from which all others are measured (as is already the case in practice, as it has long been a boon to timekeepers and sailors worldwide). It has done nothing but bring more glory to London.

Another of Mr. Hawksmoor's churches stands in the town center and goes by the name of St. Alphege's. The Trafalgar Tavern that sits on the riverfront itself.

The Royal Naval College has now opened in what was the naval hospital by the river (which in turn stood on the ruins of Greenwich Palace), although some medical use remains within the building. The Naval College moved here from Portsmouth; it focuses on the training of Naval officers and specialized members of His Imperial Majesty's armed forces.

As we move further south of the river, the number of places of interest declines sharply.

Clapham

While few buildings merit note in Clapham, which lies to the south of Battersea, it houses more influential people than anywhere but the center of the city itself. Over recent centuries it has been the home of a major Christian revival, which lead to the construction of the Holy Trinity Church on Clapham Common. Its residents have included the poet Shelley, the architect of the Houses of Parliament, and the founder of the Thunderer: the Times newspaper. The town has become part of London as houses have sprung up along the railway route through south London to the town. It is based around the Clapham Common, a body of ground best know for its famous trees. Around it are clustered a number of expensive villas that house the wealthy of the city.

Lewisham & Blackheath

Lewisham, like Clapham, was fashionable a century ago. Unlike Clapham, it has not maintained its appeal to the fashionable, successful and rich. The arrival of the railway has transformed the mansions on Lewisham High Road into shops, and the residents into the solid middle classes. It is expanding rapidly southward into the parishes of Catford and Hither Green, and is a main residential area for The City, yet it is within walking distance of Greenwich.

Brixton, which lies right at the south of London, shows the same signs of rapid growth. What was once a residence for city businessmen now accommodates ever-growing numbers of clerks and skilled workmen.

Sydenham & the Crystal Palace

Sydenham technically lies outside London's borders, at least for the time being, but is notable for one reason: It is the final home of the Crystal Palace. It lies some seven miles south of the city, and can be reached by train from London Bridge and Victoria stations.

Until 1854, Sydenham was a small rural town, divided into fashionable Upper Sydenham, were the wealthy lived, and mean Lower Sydenham, home of the laboring classes. Following the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, its centerpiece, a vast palace of iron and glass, was taken down and re-erected in Sydenham at the cost of £1,500,00. There, it was enlarged and divided into courts to form the center of an amusement and leisure park for the city. It is used as a theatre, menagerie and exhibition hall. The surrounding two hundred acres is known as Crystal Palace Park, and houses gardens, boating lakes, a zoo and the largest maze in London.

The Palace has made Sydenham fashionable, and it grows rapidly. Many wealthy and influential citizens who have no good reason to reside in London proper have chosen to make their home here.

The hundreds of clubs and societies in London are as diverse as their members. Some are gatherings of like-minded individuals to discuss social events or listen to music, while others are dining clubs where members may wax eloquently on various matters of science, the arts or society. Indeed, many societies exist because of a common theme but their members use them principally as social gatherings.

New members join the clubs by invitation of an existing member, a process usually subject to ratification by the existing membership. Usually this is by secret majority vote (often using colored balls, with white for yes, black for no, the latter of which giving rise to the term "blackballing"), but some of the most prestigious and exclusive societies require a unanimous decision before an applicant will be inducted into the society.

Most clubs admit only gentlemen, though ladies may enter some of them as guests of members, though usually only in select rooms. Instead, ladies frequently meet in afternoon soirees to take high tea and discuss social affairs in a genteel manner.

There are too many clubs and societies to name in such a brief treaties, but some of the most notable include: