Product Description

Just across the River Thames from St Paul's Cathedral stands an old house. It is the last genuine survivor of what was once a long ribbon of elegant houses overlooking the water. Built in the days of Queen Anne, it stands in the footprint of a far older habitation. Once, on this spot, was the Cardinal's Cap, a timbered Tudor inn; its vaulted cellars are still there, beneath the bricks and plaster and panelling of later centuries. Over the course of almost 450 years the dwelling on this site has seen changes on the river and in the city on the opposite bank. From its windows, people have watched the ferrymen ferry Londoners to Shakespeare's Globe; they have gazed on the Great Fire, and seen goods from all corners of the world transported from the Pool below London Bridge. They have watched new bridges rise, and the ships change from sail to steam. They have also seen the countrified lanes of London's marshy south bank give way to a network of wharves, workshops and tenements - and then seen these, too, become dust and empty air. Rich with anecdote and colour, empathetic, scholarly and textured, "The House by the Thames" is social history at its most enjoyable. Gillian Tindall excels at description and at picking out the most fascinating details. Some of the people who have lived in the house have been skilled; some were prosperous traders in the coal and iron on which Britain's industrial revolution ran. Some were rich and flamboyant; one was an early film star. Others have been among London's numberless poor. All these real people, from the most famous to the most obscure, Gillian Tindall has researched through multiple archives, old newspapers, contemporary accounts and the memories of their descendants. She breathes life into the forgotten names of individuals who were as passionate in their time as we ourselves - and in so doing makes them stand for legions of others and for whole worlds that we have lost through hundreds of years of London's history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61826 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Observer
Consistently engaging and meticulously researched

Mail on Sunday
`through painstaking historical research has built up an enchanting
portrait...'

The Good Book Guide
"colourful"

Customer Reviews

Family and Social History
I recommend this book highly for anyone interested in family history and the social history of London. Ms Tindall has undertaken immense research and the book is well worth reading if you are a family historian, for the many tips she drops onto the pages. This book is an absolute gem and I am going to keep it on my bookshelf for ever because of its lavish historical description of London as well as the wonderful story of the families and people who lived on Bankside - the two are woven together most amazingly. I am longing to read Ms Tindall other books now.
Definitely buy this book if you are a family historian or interested in old London town.

A pleasant overview
This book is a pleasant enough read - certainly no more. I picked it up because my wife and I have walked past the house and are generally interested in London history. The house itself is used as a peg on which to hang some social history of the area from the early 1700s and none the worse for that. You get a flavour of the development of industry,education, the sewage system etc. Anyone expecting a good deal about the house itself and housing generally will be disappointed.

A work of Fiction....?
From the surprisingly numerous reviews I saw in the national press for this book, I understood that one of the main claims to fame of the author was the quality of her research. I am at a loss to understand why. From a cursory perusal of the latter chapters - with the subject matter of which I was personally very familiar - the most striking feature for me was the multitude of errors of both omission and commission which tumbled out; I was left with no confidence that the book in general could be the result of detailed and comprehensive research. Perhaps it should be understood as loosely 'anecdotal' and read in that light, rather than as an attempt at serious social history?