London Clay: Journeys into the Deep City

by Tom Chivers

What secrets lie beneath a city?

Tom Chivers follows hidden pathways, explores lost islands and uncovers the geological mysteries that burst up through the pavement and bubble to the surface of our streets. From Roman ruins to a submerged playhouse, from an abandoned Tube station to underground rivers, Chivers leads us on a journey into the depths of the city he loves.

A lyrical interrogation of a capital city, a landscape and our connection to place, London Clay celebrates urban edgelands: in-between spaces where the natural world and the metropolis collide. Through a combination of historical research, vivid reportage and personal memoir, it will transform how you see London, and cities everywhere.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, London, Archaeology, Nature, Cities, Memoir

448 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Tom Chivers is a writer, publisher and arts producer. He was born in 1983 in south London.

He has released two pamphlets of poetry, The Terrors (Nine Arches Press, 2009; shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award) and Flood Drain (Annexe Press, 2012), and two full collections, How To Build A City (Salt Publishing, 2009) and Dark Islands (Test Centre, 2015). His poems have been anthologised in Dear World & Everything In It (Bloodaxe Books, 2013) and London: A History in Verse (Harvard University Press, 2012).

His non-fiction debut London Clay: Journeys in the Deep City will be published by Transworld/Doubleday in September 2021. He is represented by Sophie Scard at United Agents.

‘Chivers’s writing feels refreshing and necessary, a genuine, lyrical appraisal of contemporary life.’
Luke Kennard, Poetry London

Tom won an Eric Gregory Award in 2011 and was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Prize in 2014. He has performed at numerous events and venues including Dasein Poetry Festival, Athens; The Eden Project, Cornwall; Ledbury Poetry Festival; London Literature Festival; Moray Walking Festival; Poetry International; The Sage Gateshead; Soho Theatre and The Thames Festival.

Tom has made perambulatory, site-specific and audio work for organisations including LIFT, Cape Farewell, Humber Mouth Literature Festival, Outpost London and Southbank Centre. He lives in Rotherhithe with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

London has a long history, for the past 2000 thousand years, it has grown to the financial and cultural global city of today whilst surviving several invasions, one major fire, a plague or two. Bronze Age bridges have been found but the people that made it their own were the Romans. They settled there and made their city at the point where it was possible to cross. The river meant they could control the local area and still have access to the resources and might of their empire.

But Chivers wants to start with the real history of the place, seeking the deep history of the landscapes of the lost rivers and secret woodlands. Like with all good adventures it begins with a map, a streetfinder that is being changed with felt tip pens and highlighters. Trafalgar Square turns orange to show the underlying silt and clay, the banks of the Thames are shade yellow to represent the alluvium deposited by the river. Under all of these layers is the clay that has played a big part in the creation of the city as some of the people who have inhabited it. As the maps are coloured in, features that have long been hidden show their ghostly presence once again.

A map is only so useful though. What he needs to do it to start to see if that underlying geology is still visible in the modern concrete jungle. He knows exactly where to start too, Aldgate. It was here that he noticed a trench that was around 15 feet deep and was slowly accumulating junk. He could see the brick lining but also visible was the silt that built London. But it is a reminder that London is a city that is constantly changing, buildings that are not that old are ripped out to make space for the newest glass edifices. His next journey takes him to Dulwich in search of the rivers that once flowed across the city and now only flow through culverts before he traces the Walbrook on the modern streets.

It is clay. Of course it is. London Clay. I cannot help myself. I stretch my hand towards the bank and dig my thumb in. it comes out thick and yellow. The dark, sandy yellow of London stock brick. Clay.

Westminster is now the centre of our government and establishment, but it used to be a river delta in its past. He heads down into a sewer to see the River Fleet and has to shower a long time after that experience. If you know where and how to look there are still echoes of the roads that the Romans first used, Watling Street, Stane Street as well as hints of more recent London, as he searches for the lost island of Bermondsey and sees if the Olympic Park has eradicated the ancient causeway that crossed the marshes.

I thought this was a fantastic book. For me, Chivers has got the mix of history, geology and personal memoir spot on. I particularly liked the way that he sees the way that even the modern cityscape reflects the underlying geology, the subtle rises in the modern tarmac reveal the paths of ancient causeways and the traces of the rivers long since buried under the streets. He has a way of bringing to the surface, moments of London’s ancient history in a way that is utterly compelling. He draws deeply from his life as a Londoner and his knack of seeing the tiniest detail in the cityscape he walks is transferred onto the page as he uses his skill as a poet in the wonderful prose. If you want a very different book on London that explores how we have transformed the city as much as it has shaped our nation.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book must have been an incredible undertaking, so much research carried out, maps created for the purpose of knowing what is underneath London and once all that was done Chivers was able to go out and about to investigate what his research had produced. He starts off in Aldgate with an unused underground railway station and fenced in area he has seen many times and is curious as to what is behind the fence. He is not afraid to trespass and even stand in random poop, a great start to this journey. Further investigations find lost theatres, hidden rivers, vanished islands, open sewers and a whole world of forgotten places that nobody ever notices. His last trip was special, a nice conclusion to the book, a walk with his Dad to try and find an island.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, Chivers writing is crisp and invigorating, I feel like I have been on this journey with him and have been left amazed by just how fluid London is. Built on clay and gravel with areas of peat and marshland and the soft edges of the rivers, it's amazing it hasn't sunk, possibly this is down to how often the buildings are replaced. Another aspect of London is it's incredibly vast sewer system, Chivers finds above ground sections, discusses plans for improvements, finds out how quickly waste can travel across London and even ventures down into an actual sewer. Interestingly Chivers's journey becomes more than exploring what's under the ground, it becomes a personal journey as he remembers his childhood and becomes a father and all of this is blended with historical and present day events in the City, this was the perfect balance of personal memoir, history, geography and sewers.

Part of this book was written during lockdown and during Chivers's one walk per day he saw a whole new side to this city he thought he knew so well, if these remote abandoned locations didn't feel like thin places before they certainly did now. My favourite section in the book was about a group of people on a walking tour using audio recordings and a map, the whole time Chivers is taking the reader along on this tour whilst also stalking the group, I've done walking tours before with a guide but never one like this where you are left to your own devices, sounds like fun. This book has given me a new appreciation for London and has left me craving a day out exploring....I'm just not sure I'm brave enough.

Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2023...

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially my heart sank at the thought that I might find myself wading through the reflections on London topography of yet another psycho-geographical (or here psycho-geological) poet with a gloomy world-view (having just had to put up with that aspect of Macfarlane's 'Underland').

However, I soon cheered up. I was in the company of an unpretentious and easy-going personality. Yes, he is a typical liberal Londoner - that type who can often drive us 'country' folk up the wall - but he is likeable and decent. Yes, dear reader, I liked him and he writes well.

Macfarlane's book (though good) sometimes lost its way in the standard issue preachiness of the liberal intellectual. Macfarlane's poetic element can become almost a parody of itself at times, the tone portentous. Chivers has less ambition but achieves it more authentically.

The book weaves the incidents of the life of a thirty-something catholic family man into walks through the debris that is London and with the geology, archaeology and history involved in tracing eight of the (mostly) more neglected underground (mostly) rivers and streams of the capital.

For the record, these are an abandoned waste site near Aldgate, the Ambrook, the Neckinger and 'Lost Island' of Bermondsey in South London, the Walbrook in the City, the Fleet in North London down to the City, the old floodplain near Westminster and the River Lea in East London.

Each ruminative walk covers quite a small area at a time but Chivers evokes atmosphere brilliantly. There is always a sense of 'being there' but in the context of deep time stretching down to the geological formations under the walker.

It is not a book of subterranea in the expected sense but a book that produces gobbets of 'depth' of which the subterranean is necessarily a part. Chivers brings the past to the surface so that the tumbling plastic bag at the highest level is seen as part of a continuum reaching down to bedrock.

The autobiographical component is not self-indulgent but thoughtful, the walks grounded ruminations and the 'facts' sufficient to inform and entertain. There were moments when I felt truly enlightened about some new detail of a city that I thought I knew fairly well.

Every now and then there are references to contemporary history (Brexit, the Olympics, terror attacks, COVID) and, although Chivers reflects the prejudices of his class (the struggling London creative), he restrains himself from laying it on with a trowel for which this reader was grateful.

The only complaint is that the maps are pretty and schematic but it is not always easy to follow the travels unless you have a street finder at hand. There are also times when the precise course of the journey appears a little unclear and does not seem to match the cast of the map.

Photographs are not necessary because the art of the book lies in the description but better maps would have helped considerably. On the other hand, the typography and illustrations are excellent. The book is a pleasure to read from that perspective.

It may, of course, be a bit cheeky of a thirty-something to offer us a memoir of a rather ordinary life but that is where the charm of the book lies. The ordinary life, the humanity of Chivers, being a Londoner, a sense of place and a sense of the past combine to give a feel for London today.

Chivers becomes Everylondoner. The outsider who thinks he knows London from visits (including commuting) or having lived there in the past gets a subtle sense of both change and permanence, the recognisable place but also its continuing transformation when you cease to be there.

Certainly the departed resident returns periodically and is awed at the amount of change as buildings are pulled down and rise so change is no surprise. The geology underlying London provides constraints on change that remind us that the land if not the city exists in deep time.

London at the beginning of the 2020s is as different from, say, London in the 1990s (my last residence decade) as the latter was from the London of the 1970s (when I first arrived). Its multiculturalism is now embedded, its 'different ideology' established and its detritus piling up.

Exactly what is more or less permanent or transitory is unclear. The course of ancient rivers become shifted into sewers while more recent waste threatens to degrade imperfectly and become lodged in the geology.

Some things from the past are uncovered - a trove of Roman skulls, the basic outline of an Elizabethan theatre - but others will never be found or will be found, studied and then returned to the ground to be lost again. There are fascinating geological anomalies still imperfectly understood.

What emerges from the book with some force is that 'native' London is very much a live community of humans and pets but one struggling at its own incomprehension of why it is no longer in control of events and living in a world of detritus piling up around isolated pockets of class difference.

Time and time again, consciously or not, Chivers shows us streets, wastelands, rivers clogged with waste and pollution and 'nature' present but struggling to survive and break through despite the best efforts of its guardians and its underlying geographical reality.

We all understand that, if the zombie plague did eliminate our species, cities like London would return to nature very quickly but it would do so on a new geological strata made up of what has been left behind by us, from concrete and asphalt to plastic bags and fatbergs.

The relationship between underlying geology, the shreds of the natural to be found at the margins of the city's structures and the human community and its detritus are core to the book even if that relationship is never formally laid out for analysis.

If London appears to be 'dying' or at least 'sick' in this book, it is not because the community of people is dying or 'sick' (on the contrary, this side of London seems stronger than ever) but because the weight of people, the waste from their purchases and unattended pollution are making it sick

Chivers is not gloomy - in fact, he rarely wears his non-family feelings on his sleeve and the general air is one of nostalgia and love for his city - but you sense his own awareness that things are not quite right without his ever actually putting his finger openly on what is wrong.

That is the charm of the book. It shows a poet's sensibility in a way that I found more convincing than the more overt attempt at poetry by Macfarlane. Somewhere between all the facts and ruminations, intangible things are being presented with inexpressible feelings attached.

Of course Chivers presents a lot of tangible facts and expresses feelings (about his family past and present) but there is something else lurking behind all this, an amalgam of 'Sorge' (an appropriate German word), sadnss, love and anxiety. Maybe a dash of fatalism not helped by COVID.

I ended up really liking this man and loving London again despite its politics and the arrogance of its middle class elites because 'London Clay' was able to remind me of another London, still resilient, outside the 'meeja', fully 'belonging' on its constant change and growing pile of refuse.

[LMShare · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed it when the history and geology were discussed. Too lyrical and indulgent on personal life history for me.

[Anneloes Teunisse · Rating 2 out of 5]

3% really interesting facts about the geological past of London, 97% a nostalgic writer trying to be interesting and that likes to write poetic about terror attacks and the corona virus.

[Sophy H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Regretfully, this is a hard no from me.

When the book opened with the author talking about a big hole in the ground, the weather, what he was wearing and dogshit for many pages, I thought we might be in trouble. My thought was right.

I feel that this book has no real direction and just meanders aimlessly from one thing to another, with absolutely no structure. That's fine in the hands of some writers who seem to have a skill for random writing. Chivers is not one of those writers. One minute he's talking about the source of an old river, the next about an old flat he lived in when he was younger, then ooh look there's a woman walking down the street eating a packet of crisps!! It's like stepping inside the mind of an excitable dog!

I tried skim reading for a while to sift through the bollocks and picked up a few minor snippets of interesting information, but for a book entitled London Clay which I presumed would be talking some of the time about the archaeological and geological past, there was minimal discussion of this and more just the burblings of whatever entered Chivers's head at the time.

I was disappointed to say the least.

1 star.

[Lynn P · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely fascinating book.

I'm interested in the history of places, what stood before, what happened when and this book has this and more. The title I think is a little misleading, making it sound more like a staid geology book than the absolute joy it is.

Within pages of beginning to read I was off down a rabbit hole of the internet and google maps, my appetite whetted by the history uncovered surrounding Aldgate. This became a pattern throughout the book for me, as I just had to see for myself the places the author visited. At over 400 pages it would have been a weighty tome to fully cover everything about a place. I started to realise I had walked past many of these places but was oblivious to their status. Other areas further out of the City I had no idea even existed.

Although the author sets off in search of covered waterways, to find them he encounters sites and sights along the way. Observed street life now and from centuries ago brought to life by his beautiful writing.
Part way through the book I find out that the author is indeed a poet and this shines through in the writing style of the book. This is social history commentary of significant importance for both now and the future. One minute you are reading about Chaucer and the next minute recent history, with the London bombings of 7/7 and even the current pandemic.

Within the pages the author refers to his Mother who died when he was a teenager. I began to get the sense of a remarkable woman, and this was confirmed at the end of the book when I read of her chosen headstone inscription; and also that she was part of the protests to save the Rose Theatre.

Because of the varied subjects covered by the book, although linked by the strata of London, it is difficult to place it in any one category. It's like accompanying a very knowledgeable friend, who as you walk along knows so much information about everything you pass. I only wish I could retain all the information myself. I will definitely be dipping into the book again, especially as the book contains many footnotes for further research which are collected at the end of the book.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real curate’s egg of a book. There is lots of quite beautiful writing, after all the writer is a poet; a horde of interesting information; and lots of stories. I struggled sometimes to follow his various wandering, but I was always engaged and concentrating. As a born and bred Londoner, I know many of the places he describes, particularly the “lost” rivers north of the Thames. I am sure this familiarity heighten my enjoyment.

[Archie Osmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. And quite unlike anything I’ve read before. An ethereal mix of poetic descriptions, erudite references, geology and history. Makes you appreciate how old London is, and how much of history can’t be seen anymore. Might copy him and walk down an old river at some point, who knows

[Lost_in_Telford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried so hard to like this, but eventually after approx 200 of 300 pages I gave up.

I just found it to be a meandering pretentious load of waffle that failed to grab me.

Took it to the local library and "donated" it to them.

[Quirinus Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

London is my city, the one I was born in and where I grew up. So as a geologist, I was thrilled at the opportunity to read and review London Clay.

Style
London Clay is a very original book, it’s a collection of essays about parts of London beneath the surface. These are the bits you don’t see in guidebooks and on postcards. It’s very real; it includes the graffiti and the dog turds as well as the more attractive and magical parts. There’s a great mix of factual/social and personal history, with the author sharing the city’s history as well as his own reflections. This makes the book very interesting and it will appeal to a broad audience. It’s not just a factual textbook or a personal memoir but a mixture of both. It’s also written in a very poetic style, I love this line about looking out at London from a high vantage point:

This is my city. You cannot see past the edges it doesn’t have.

Content
Chivers began his study of London by creating his own geological street map by colouring in a streefinder map. Clay is very significant to London and its outcrops dictate the surface topology, whilst below ground it affects the location of tunnels and other subterranean spaces. A sinkhole near the author’s Aldgate flat revealed tantalising clues about where it might lead. It turns out to be an old tube station which was relocated due to development of the underground line. This turned out to be a well-timed decision as the original station site was bombed by the Germans a short while later. Thus begins his adventure and we readers get to experience it with him. There is a wealth of other locations, including rivers directed as covered waterways, Roman ruins, ancient woodland, a submerged theatre and an array of artefacts spanning the two millenia of London’s historical strata.

There is also a lot of interesting detail so readers can imagine sites or indeed visit themselves. It’s very well researched with a wealth of references for additional reading.

A lyrical homage to subterranean London by a poetic terranaut. Highly recommended!

Originally posted on www.rosegoldreports.com

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unlikely chimaera of nature writing and urban exploration, London Clay is a lyrical book that offers a fresh way of looking at the built environment. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...

[Angharad Elin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has taken me a significantly long time to read this book (1.5 years), but I'm so glad that I've finally got there. The writing is beautiful and the history is wonderful. I love books about London and this has surely got to be up there with the best. Brilliant.

[Richelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the subject matter is the world's greatest city, you know you're in for a treat- and Chivers certainly did not disappoint. I enjoyed this book immensely and struggled to put it down at times. From the depths of the ancient city, to the streets of modern-day London, Chivers takes the reader on an adventure and historical journey, proving himself to be a worthy successor to London literary giant (and often referenced in the book) Iain Sinclair. I highly recommend 'London Clay.'

[Staceywh_17 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything London, so I jumped at the chance to read this, Tom's non-fiction debut & it certainly didn't disappoint.

This was undeniably London, but not as we know it. We went on a journey with Tom unlike no other, making London seem so much more exciting, intriguing & making me want to check out the places mentioned in the book.

Absolutely fascinating, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It was very well written, researched & I'm looking forward to reading whatever city Tom writes about next.

[Margaret McCulloch-Keeble · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I misconstrued what this book was about. I thought it would be all about mudlarking and the history beneath London's streets. There is an element of this but there is a lot of personal memoir I wasn't expecting. I found I enjoyed the earlier parts of the book, tracing the Fleet, etc but I did find it a bit of a slog as time went on, as it became more personal. (At least that's how it felt to me.) I did find plenty in it to make me go looking at maps of London, facts and figures- it was fascinating and I did learn lots.

[Stacey Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seem to have a fascination for the abandoned parts of our towns and cities – just this week I’ve been watching Secrets of the London Underground on Yesterday – so London Clay is right in my wheelhouse.

The idea of secret rivers, enclosed in the sewer system across London, exerting their influence on the city unbeknownst to the residents above has a sense of the mystical about it – helped, no doubt, by my reading Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series!

This book is an interesting animal, as it is not a memoir, it is not a text book or a book of poetry – it is very much all of these things and has elements of social and personal history within it.

Tom Chivers reflects on his own life as he traverses London looking for the source of some of these lost rivers, looking at the geology that forced them into being and the human developments that were shaped by them and, in turn, how the rivers have been shaped by humans. From pre-Roman civilisation, to the demolition and rebuilding of London, each chapter is a fascinating look at a city that is in a constant state of renewal.

It’s easy to see how the book is influenced by the author’s poetry – facts here are communicated clearly but always with an imaginative hook so that none of what could be dry information ever actually is.

At the very start of the book, Tom leads us on one of his walking tours through London, and that’s what the whole book has the feel of – that you’re heading off on a walk with a guide who knows what they’re talking about and whose love of the city shines through. It makes is a very comfortable read, with a real sense of familiarity, after all, we probably know the surface of a lot of these places, even if it’s just from TV, and delving deeper into the ground and the history is really fascinating.

And finally, there are many, many pages full of footnotes and further reading – enough to keep anyone busy for a while, but pick out any element of the book you like and there will be something that will further your knowledge there.

This is just a brilliant book in all ways – from the beautiful cover design and endpapers, to the personal and social history within – I highly recommend it.

[Will Henshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up to "get back into London" about six months ago. After a month of sporadic reading, I dropped it, then recently picked it back up, only to give up again. I found it a bit boring at times (I can't relate to The Times calling it "action-packed").

My favourite parts were when Chivers gave ostensibly unremarkable urban scenes a primordial feel—he managed this very often. Here's one such passage:

In a little clearing no more than a metre wide, the ground gives way to quagmire of black mud. A belt of light, orange-brown material can clearly be discerned moving across it, before vanishing beneath a fallen tree. I see now what Nick is looking at. My stomach lurches. There are objects impaled in the bog: a large wooden stake, fragments of a metal crowbar and three twig crosses bound together with grass. The atmosphere feels suddenly oppressive, as if the river is pulling me in. Who has made this makeshift shrine? And why? I crouch at the edge of the mud, careful to stabilise myself with one hand, and crane my neck. 'Be careful,' says Nick. The ground is wet through and chalybeate red. In the dark crevice under the fallen tree, something is bubbling through the mud, taking form as a gobbet of white foam. It could be mistaken for frogspawn or cappuccino froth. There is something malign about this place. It feels like a secret we should not have discovered, a doorway to the Underland.

[Steph De Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I certainly have a strong fondness for books about my home city, this genre of non-fiction (a sort of memoir-geology-nature writing hybrid) represents fairly untrodden ground for me. Nonetheless, I've been expanding my reading horizons in recent years and trying more books in genres outside my "comfort categories", so "London Clay" quickly caught my attention.

I like many features of this book. Following Chivers on his travels through familiar streets (and unfamiliar substrata beneath them) is extremely enjoyable; he's a knowledgeable and contemplative guide, and his narrative is peppered with sharp observations and interesting literary references. Further, his descriptions of various London neighbourhoods are vibrant and immersive, and he reveals just enough personal detail to make his presence in the text eccentric, engaging, and recognisably human.

Ultimately, however, I think this book is far too long and a little repetitive. Consequently, I felt my interest beginning to wane, as I struggled to recall which of the many underground rivers we were currently pursuing. An interesting read, certainly, but I think I would have enjoyed it more had it been about a hundred pages shorter than its published form.

[Niamh · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were bits of this book that were quite beautiful, written with the flair of a poet, and I made a note of a few interesting facts. But frankly, nobody except Iain Sinclair can get away with writing a book about going on a big walk around London, and this book is a pale imitation of his work without any of Sinclair's distinctive paranoiac charm. Not to mention the fact it was published nearly 20 years later than London Orbital, when Sinclair and other psychogeographers have largely declared the style dead and done, makes it feel extremely out of date. (There is one brief moment of introspection when the author talks to a disable artist and recognises the relative freedom an able bodied white man has to walk around and ponder the city.) The street scenes were often boring and decontextualised and the constant references to Brexit were clichéd and unbearably twee. I found the research on geology and topography really interesting, and I think if an editor had made the author stick more tightly to that theme, it would have been a much better book.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel churlish only rating this impressive work with only 3*. Parts of it are excellent, parts of it rather dull; most of it of limited interest to those who do not know (or are not interested in) London. What does stand out is that this is an intensely personal and impassioned work backed up by a great deal of research into history, geology, folklore and literature. It does occassionally drift into obsessive territory not least when trapped in the author's own vortex of The Rockingham anomaly; from which he seems unable to escape. Perhaps the next edition might employ a synonym for palimpsest too. But these minor criticisms are pehaps a little harsh.

[dantelk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much sentimental for my taste. Chivers had to write about her mother, who passed away early, and I am ok with that. It's just I wanted to read something else, if I am not being offensive here. The writing is not great, or not my cup of tea let's say.

Notes:
Just like the Turkish post earthquake news, rumors of thieves breaking into peoples houses after a flood.
Tabligihi Jamaat.
USA Embassy with its own moat.
Carlislie Lane
Waterloo gallery...

Ok, not a bad book. I learned stuff, I confess. And I would recommend reading it. But strangely, I didn't enjoy it as much as I wished for.

[Lis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expected geology nerdiness, got poetic mysticism instead and, frankly, was not disappointed.

[Samuel Peck · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Too meandering and full of mundane details.

[Cheryl M-M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chivers, perhaps inadvertently, hits on something that is sliding into mythical status - childhood curiosity and exploration of surroundings. The children of the 21st century are so captivated by the world of gadgetry and online presence, that they do not venture outside with the same recklessness and hunger for geo knowledge as previous generations. Go boldly where no person has gone before or you think no one has gone before.

I think it's hard for many to imagine historical footprints in real time, especially under own foot. The concept of others existing, breathing and surviving in the same place or area, whereas when faced in real time with a cultural and historical relic or area of significance you can actually behold, wander around and see - it's an entirely different experience.

This book brings back those feelings of excitement at discovering forgotten buildings, ruins, tunnels, bunkers and just in general the thought of people treading the same path during different centuries. It is very much a book of echoes of energy, shadows of experiences, memories and knowledge gained through oral and written historical narratives.

The prose is an interesting balance between experience and lyrical description. The combination results in a visual journey as you walk along beside him, feel his energy - as if you are the silent observer. The voyeur of time, travel, space and presence.

I wonder if decades or centuries from now others will experience the same hunger for pyscho-geology and the energies that have gone before them and perhaps still linger in an attempt to connect.
*I received a courtesy copy*

[Dillon Patel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although called London clay, I think londons lost rivers might be slightly better name as that’s what the author makes his quests for.

I loved the little small details of information and history, almost throw away comments that will never make a history book but are utterly fascinating. Did you know the Eurostar used to go to waterloo? The rose theatre is also a nice gem to know about.

At times the author navigated directly from street level which was difficult to imagine if you didn’t know where that was (which was me most of the time!) but I enjoyed darting across London and gave me a new appreciation for the east. I particularly liked the elephant and castle chapter where the author went through the famous social housing estate

[Trevor P. Kwain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chivers's take on London history is more of a subjective, semi-autobiographic journey through the hidden, underground layers that make up London topography but also affected its geopolitical development since Roman times up to the Thatcher era. Following lost rivers, buried archaeological sites, and anomalies in the London clay-ish terrain, Chivers reflects on his life and the life of London as a city with a convoluted past. There are elements of mysticism and sacred, historical evidence, personal anecdotes, and they are blended together in a semi-fictional retelling of London facts. It is not a reference text but there is a lot to learn in this psychogeographic narrative, which echoes Blake and Sinclair. Not all chapters are enticing but the first ones are really good.

[Tabish Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Categorising this book is a hard one, the central thread is about discovering what's under the ground in London. But that's underselling it as it's written by a poet as you can tell as the use of language is beautiful.

It's also part autobiography as the author discusses his relationships with family members, living through lockdown and the persons he meets along the way.

The downside is that as expected it's rather meandering so the interesting tidbits about London history are often lost within the pages so what I want from a non-fiction read isn't really achieved and yet I still enjoyed reading it.

[Virginprune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully idiosyncratic.
If you were expecting another MacFarlane masterpiece, if you expected a thorough, logically structured analysis of life in London now and through the ages, based on a methodical exploration of the underlying geology ... well, you'd be half-right.
Somehow, the author goes on a detective jaunt around London's (mostly) hidden waterways without apparently checking in with any of the scientific, technical, legal or governmental institutions that you'd think might be able to lend a helpful hand - and then turns the tale into one about himself, and his family.
And it's great.

[Carole Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book, delves into the history of London from thousands of years to now, hidden rivers, if you have read any of the Rivers of London books these will be more familiar! But these are factual stories, well researched book sometimes a little dry, but mostly I found it very interesting, he goes to places I would never have though about. Well worth a read .