The end of the City, the beginning of the East End, bringer of life and death. What secrets does Aldgate Pump hold? Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jago... Patreon: / jagohazzard
Must of course call out the brilliant Map Men episode "The map that saved the most lives" as an excellent follow up for most unfortunate pumps of olde London.
I’d really like to see Jago in a Foreman/Cooper-Jones vid, much like the Tim traveller... maybe walking in the background just barely in shot Alfred Hitchcock-style.
I used to work near the site of the infamous Broad Street pump in Soho. Dr John Snow, who demonstrated that cholera was waterborne by chaining the pump handle, is commemorated by a pub on the corner where the pump stood.
Thank you for an enjoyable tale from the , uh, hmm, tap? Reminds me of Tom Lehrer's classic "The Irish Ballad": "One morning in a fit of pique She drowned her father in the creek The water tasted bad for a week And we had to make do with gin, with gin We had to make do with gin..."
I must have walked past it 1000 times and never even given it a second glance. Growing up in London is almost a curse - there's so much here that even the interesting becomes mundane. Thanks Jago!
Agreed mate. So many things in this city and we just wander past them. I'm also subbed to John Rogers and he's shown me things about the city I've been waking past, completely oblivious to its history. Like the Hospital Chapel in Ilford... walked past it a 1000 times since I was a kid and never knew how old it was!
I can see the adverts, for the improved pump & water supply: “Now, Skeleton Free” I liked the Wolf’s head on the pump. I noticed it’s hair was perfect…..
I can imagine future historians referring to your channel as a key resource. I don't know anyone as dedicated to documenting London's unique odds and ends, as yourself. Thank you
There’s a 10 mile milestone on the High road, Buckhurst Hill, outside the church, always reminds me of that Oliver! scene when he’s coming into London on that horse and cart and he can looks at the London milestone, just my 2 pence.
One of the many ancient nursery rhymes about the old pump of London influenced a song centuries later went like this : Pump up the jam Pump it up While your feet are stomping And the jam is pumping Look ahead, the crowd is jumpin'
Around 1978 my motorcycle, a Triumph Trident T160V, broke down (clutch - again) right next to the Aldgate Pump. Lucky really, as when from a phone box I rang my mate (“bring tools”), I could direct him to my location with ease. I don’t remember any of the other locations where that bike broke down. Great video, brought back many memories.
Also, I finally figured out that that the brown concrete slab behind at 2:05 with the sign 'Aldgate House' on it, is actually a disgusied ventilation shaft for the Hammersmith & City Line.
The New River itself has a fascinating history. It dates back over 400 years and is still fulfilling its original purpose of supplying London with fresh drinking water. It starts near Ware, Herts.
The New River is neither new, nor a river. It takes its water from the River Lea and starts between Hertford and Ware. I think of it as closer to Hertford than Ware, but I couldn't say for sure.
This is the sort of history I love to run into. And it goes back to the rule of "Always read the Plaque" You find the most interesting things when you do.
4:20 - I did read the plaque, all in all it's pretty vague, no mention of corpses, busses, or the last wolf anywhere, but at least it tells us exactly who donated money to have it restored, thank you Miss Anthea Gray.
Totally agree , wish I was in that position and I could relate familial truthes about many areas of E1 E2 . P.s many of the Muslim families in the area now understand and respect that they are not the first religious group that dominated the area .
@@terrycostin7259 I just sincerely hope - for a sake of future of England and Europe - that what you say about Muslim families is TRUE… Although as far as I know, the accepting or allowing other religions right to exist is completely foreign to Muslim religion of peace…
What a delightfully gruesome story. I was trying to work out what it might be rhyming slang for. "Just been 'avin' a nice Aldgate Pump". I'm sure there's some sort of metaphor about voracious carnivores symbolizing the City.
I suspect the Richard the third rhyming slang indeed was closer as in i am popping out the back for an Aldgate, rather than having some kind of mental health issue.
@High Path. You may already know this. I believe the true Cockney rhyming slang expressions you are looking for are "pony and trap" and /or "tom tit". I am sure a true Cockney would deem the attempt at rhyming slang "Aldgate pump" as "Mockney". Plus the word "slang" is a portmanteau word for "secret language". The idea was that back in the day, the men could converse within earshot of their womenfolk without them (the ladies) knowing what they were talking about. Furthermore, a "Richard the Third" is what a dog or cat leaves on your garden.
That was the broad street pump, the one made famous by the father of epidemiology, Jon Snow, removing the handle to prevent the next Cholera outbreak. Sewage was leaking into the water that fed the pump.
Well done Jago . another barnstormer and very topical too . There is a campaign to get central London drinking fountains going again for their original function and endowments. Rather than big ash and dog end trays and coffee cup bins. The City and Camden not covered themselves in glory so far , the former can't even keep their bollard water taps flowing and the latter have beautifully restored a couple of historical ones and creatively cemented them in rendering (pun) useless. The Gentle Cheapside Green Giant
My favourite (but little-known) piece of Cockney rhyming slang is ‘Chalfonts’, the slang word for hemorroids. (Chalfont St Giles = Piles). Example: ‘Christ almighty me Chalfonts are giving me gyp!’
Thank you, Jago. Having worked at One Aldgate and, long before that, close by in Fenchurch Street, this was very interesting to me. As a youngster I was too busy taking note of pubs for after-work drinks to notice these landmarks. Will take a visit to the City soon and look for myself - the shops and eateries could badly do with some footfall too.
I never knew about it being the central milestone marker for London! This makes total sense, given it always seemed weird to think of the Charing Cross marker, used today, as historic: because the cross itself had been moved from the top of Whitehall, where it stood for centuries, to outside the station.
Most know that on the ground by the statue of Charles the first in Trafalgar Square is a plaque on the ground saying you are in the centre of London. But then there may have been a time when the City of London was the centre of London then it move when Westmister became a city. The history of this maybe an idea for another video Jago
@@hublanderuk The conurbation grew up around two cities: London and Westminster; with the latter the centre of royal, and ecclesiastical, power, which nevertheless had the Tower to keep a close eye on the former, just in case. It’s just a guess to say that, the use of Charing Cross as the central mile marker, maybe originates from the County of London days; whose subsuming into Greater London, in the mid-1960s, has been so brilliantly covered by Jay Foreman. Even still, the Aldgate pump makes sense. That county’s formation itself only dates from the late eighteen hundreds. As an Eleanor Cross, in the then hamlet of Charing, the cross would have been there from around 1290, I think... long, long before there being a Trafalgar let alone a square! Even so, the municipal building of the county of Middlesex was just off parliament square (now being the UK Supreme Court’s home). _What I’m saying is, what would be the purpose of such mile markers in the first place, in a country for centuries without the rail it would later invent let alone reliable roads?_ My reasoning is simply such markers would quite obviously be City-focused: for use by the drovers weekly taking their flocks into Smithfield, for sale and slaughter. Jago makes a hint of this in speaking of the origins of the well’s waters. The banks of the Ken/Fleet tributary and the natural springs once feeding it, was indeed where those taking their beasts to market would water the livestock, on their way South. So placing the central marker, therefore, at what was probably the last such public watering-hole before reaching market, to me at least becomes self-evident.
The pump is also commemorated in a largely-defunct East End phrase directed at rent collectors believed to be pressing tenants unreasonably hard - "There's a pump up Aldgate, mate. Pump that!"
There's a certain brand of bottled water from Derbyshire where the water is filtered naturally by the rocks in the hills: it's a good job judging by the no. of of sheep on said hills.
Love watching these vids - I have lived around London for years and thought I hadn't seen much, but then I watch these vids and go, "hey, I know that place"... all the time.
I must have walked past that pump thousands of times during my 22 years working in the city and sitting 400ft from it and learnt more in this video than all of those 22 years
That is another piece of decorative street furniture for me to be on the look out for in my continued roamings around the relatively quiet City. Thanks Mr Hazzard.
Has Mr.Hazzard used a dating app? I ask this question because he said looks can be deceiving if you have ever used one. Of course nobody knows, or at least relatively few people actually know what Jago looks like. Happy dating Mr.Hazzard !!
I note the high quality of your images which I enjoy very much ... beautiful lighting, steadiness, sharpness etc ... great voice and commentary as well.
A very enjoyable story, thanks a lot boss. I like that kind of small common day history/story. And it's a pleasure being in London again, at least for the minutes of your videos.
The first pub you showed is the East India. In the large space outside city boys drink in the sun in happy times, at least used to. It also used to have an underground lavatory, now covered.
There once used to be - many decades ago - a programme on the black and white television box of such oddities around the country. As much as the palaces and battle sites, these memories of past times give a richness to our national story. So many thanks for a trip down memory lane.
It seems a shame that it couldn't run with water again - likewise the many Victorian drinking fountains dotted around the city. Although having said that, the Portland Estate restored the one on Baker Street alongside Portland Square - given a lottery win, I'd get a few more running again as well ... ..
Thank you for this - I've been down in London following in your footsteps somewhat. Visiting a few of the places you have covered in your fascinating videos. Which includes the Aldgate pump.
At Wework opposite, it still has part of the roman wall inside the building. It also had an office in Mitre Street attached and when digging out the basement was a plague pit.
The Broad Street pump in Soho is also infamous for causing Cholera outbreaks. Many people died before the source of illness was discovered. The pump is still there. The pump handle has been removed.
@They called her Fred I think I've always been in a bit of a rush heading somewhere so never really had the time to stop and read the backplate. I'll be sure to look next time!
They could convert it to dispense hand sanitiser. I love to see a reference to the New River though. That's one of my favourite 'little known' things in London (and of course out of London. thats kinda how it works)
Most interesting. The Aldgate pump is mentioned in R Austin Freeman's 'The Magic Casket' (one of the Dr Thorndyke short stories) along with the one at the top of Brownlow St, and the one in Queen Square. Freeman must have been a twin soul of Jago Hazzard, as he often comments about intriguing minutiae of London geography and history: at least two of Thorndyke's cases involve Queen Square (in Bloomsbury), and he mentions the lead statute in the park area (he calls it 'Good Queen Anne', though I believe it is in now identified as Queen Charlotte - the wife of George III).
I like these quirky little topics. Perhaps you could have a side channel covering stuff you find on your holidays. Interesting places like Rome, Paris, Lisbon and Milton Keynes.
My first job after leaving school was in Lime Street and it always was an adventure, as a south Londoner, to stray east of Aldgate Pump. Even the pub dartboards were different.
went to the primary school in aldgate for a couple of years, live close to the area and been there countless times, and never noticed it. thank you jago!
Jago, The story of old time London pumps with dubious water sources shows up in a number of histories regarding sanitation. I've read several similar accounts.
Just to add that the headquarters of the Metropolitan Water Board (absorbed into Thames Water in 1974) was at New River Head, just by Mount Pleasant sorting office.
