We recently moved to the storied streets of London, and then more recently were able to get off the streets and into a super-nice flat a stumble away from the Earl’s Court tube station. We have it all: international cuisine, hip commerce, super-size grocery stores, 400-year-old pub, easy transit, and lots of pretty neighborhoods to explore. I’ve been reading up on the history of my new home, first through London: The Biography, and then a search for old maps lead me to the fascinating Library Time Machine for our borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

One of the fascinating tidbits from those maps is the history of our area’s major roads. Old Brompton Lane and Earl’s Court Road date back to at least 1822 when our house was a pasture, and a single block of homes grew up between the pub and the Earl’s Court Manor. Here’s a mashup of old and new:

I’m surprised that this area is so recently urbanized, but the flip-side is that this was an independent community long before it was on the border of London’s Zone 1, and still retains some of the features of that tiny village.