Tunnels, Towers & Temples: London's 100 Strangest Places

by David Long

Filled with fascinating factoids, this distinctive reference uncovers the hidden stories, curious histories, and comic coincidences behinds dozens of locations around the city of London. The sites addressed include the extensive networks of tunnels running beneath high street pavements; secret transport and signalling networks criss-crossing the metropolis; a street where you can legally drive on the right; and a future Russian Tsar working incognito in an English naval dockyard. This is the perfect reference for getting off the beaten path and finding the hidden city beneath the skin of modern London.

Genres: Nonfiction, London, History, Travel, Reference, Architecture

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year 2017, writer and journalist David Long has regularly appeared in The Times and the London Evening Standard, as well as on television and radio. He has written more than 30 books for children and adults and lives in Suffolk.

Reviews

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as much fun as I'd been hoping. It's awfully dry for a book in the "weird stuff" category, and much of the stuff just isn't that weird. There are a handful of quite interesting things here, like the protected gravestone of a Nazi official's beloved dog, but most of them just aren't that fascinating. I can't help but feel that there are at least 100 more interesting and unusual places in London than what Long featured here.

[Tom Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

In two minds about this book. It's very nice but not quite what I was looking for. It has a page on each place and these focus on the history and architecture. I think the title is misleading. Most of the entries are none of the above and more likely to be grand or unusual houses. But the more obscure places are really interesting such as burial places or monuments or secluded parks roads or courts. I've been to about 10 out of the 100 which meant there were a few flashes of recognition and a lengthy list of new places to find. The photos are black and white and often not the best. I feel the author didn't have much special access to get the best views. It could also have done with a map. I've made my own in Google but one in the book would have been nice.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun to read and a good reference for travel knowledge

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

London interesting places

Lot of interesting into on different building and places in London and some good history worth a look ::::::::: ok

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a companion volume to the author’s earlier book, Spectacular Vernacular, London’s most Extraordinary Buildings which I haven’t read, and is designed to introduce the reader to some of the more out of the way and unusual places to visit in London.
It’s divided into 11 chapters with titles such as Death and Monuments with a quotation at the beginning of each one.
There are unfamiliar destinations mixed in with more well- known ones such as Dulwich Picture Gallery mausoleum, the Tyburn convent and its small collection of martyrs relics, and Eric Gill’s determination to put his own stamp on his statues on the BBC’s Portland Place building were among the more unusual ones. There’s also the mysterious Canonbury Tower in N1. Romantic elopements, famous owners, documented Masonic connections,reputed to lie on two dozen ley lines criss-crossing London and, after 500 years, is now apparently easy for the general public to visit. The author also includes one of the most modern and eccentric buildings, the Dirty House, in E1. This is a once derelict furniture factory which was rendered in thickly applied dark brow paint with the texture of fudge hence its name. David Adjaye created it for the artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster and also on my list of to-sees.
Some of the others that I was more familiar with were Kensal Green Cemetery, the Crystal Palace dinosaurs and, Highgate’s Gothic Holly Village. But why is there a statue of Henry VIII over a doorway at St Bart’s? And did you know that near Pall Mall is the last resting place of a Nazi dog? And on 30 January there is a gathering of cavaliers in a small passage to lament the death of Charles I? And that in Giltspur there is a Watch House which was there to stop the dead being pilfered for dissection?
The locations are given with a page of description and tales on each place and a monochrome photo on the facing page. Well researched and it did make me start compiling list of places to visit when next in town. I really want to visit the Chiswick House’s follies. However, I’m not sure if this has been updated from its 2008 reprinting. It also dispels a few myths such as the apparently lost recipe for Code Stone which has been recreated in a British Museum laboratory and the discreet tailoring of the South Bank Lion’s – ahem- appendage -
An entertaining book and of course there were some places on which you would like to have read more about but it’s probably up to the reader to do further research. The author Is a journalist and it shows in huis ability to search out interesting nuggets about these places. Note sure about the £20 price tag though as I felt it would have greatly benefitted from colour photos as the monochrome ones gave it a slightly dated feel.

[Ant Koplowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tunnels, Towers and Temples by David Long seems for have divided opinion among reviewers, with a number commenting on its apparent shallowness and lack of much new to say. For me though, it was a well researched and accessible introduction to the idiosyncratic architecture, industry and open spaces of London.

Told in short, two to three page chapters, Long takes us on an eclectic and fascinating tour of these hidden gems. Although I was born in London, I hadn't heard of most of them and I was pleased to be introduced to this varied assortment. The author seemed to get the balance just right between describing the histories and proving a critique and commentary on their current status. My only real disappointment was that most of the photographs don't appear to do their subjects justice, and I frequently found myself struggling to visualise each of them.

© Koplowitz 2014

[Lawrence O'Connor · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is much about London that is exciting, interesting and yet not widely known. And there are many books that promise to reveal the exciting, interesting & hidden yet only disappoint the reader. Unfortunately, this is another of them. Other than one or two gems in the book, I had to work very hard to try to get anything of value from it.

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

More fantastic facts about London

[Anwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and idiosyncratic guide to some of the strange places to be found in London. A good way to while away a few hours.

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another must- see "Spectacular Vernacular"