My name is Marriah Jennings. I am a senior and an English major with a minor in Histoy. Honestly, I do not know much about modern day London, let alone Victorian London. Before looking at the map of London I really have no concept in my mind of how the city was laid out. I had never really thought about it before. While it probably sounds like I live under a rock, I did not know that the Thames River ran through the middle of it. The reading emphasized what I suspected when I saw the map: there was a immense separation between the north and south. The southern part of the city was “the location for those industries banished from the city proper – tanneries, timber yards and factories making vinegar, dyes, soap and tallow” (Robinson). These were goods that the rich inevitably wanted yet the industries were unfavorable and were pushed across the river. This caused the southern city to be a place for undesirables. This segregation of the south helped widen the distinct gap between classes. The rich inhabited their scrubbed up western land while the poor lived in the southern slums (Robinson).
The south was eventually attached with several bridges but not many people wanted to take a leisurely visit. It had always been a place for the undesirable people and places. When the aristocrats pushed the development of west London into high speed, the Thames became crowded and merchandise started to be damaged in transit, causing the creation of more ports (Robinson). Before Londoners knew it more and more technological innovations were popping up and revolutionizing their lives. The introduction of the railways was surprisingly good for the working class. It allowed them to commute to work, therefore they no longer had to live in the cheap, dangerous areas of London, instead they could move to the suburbs (Robinson). This gave them a safer place to live that wasn’t as expensive as central London.
Marriah, I agree with what you found out about Victorian London. I didn’t know there was a physical barrier between the north and south, which we can agree has a lot to do with the way these locations were developing. I also agree that the physical separation directly correlates with how wealthy or poor the people residing there were. It wasn’t until the train was created that these workers were able to protect themselves and move away from the dangerous places in London. I can’t help but wonder, if the Thamas River wasn’t there, would the south and the north still have a divide between them?
I also didn’t know how much the Thames separated the north and the south parts of London. It’s amazing how much about London changed once the bridges were built and initiated London’s eventual growth into this “Modern Babylon”, but also how it didn’t change in the sense of it’s extreme poverty and the division between social classes.
Welcome to the class, Marriah! Great job on noticing the class divisions that the Thames helped encourage, and good work on describing the role of technology and transportation in changing London!