Started January 2010 [by Jack Thurgar]

This is a scrapbook dedicated to the study of London's weeds and the wild places where they grow. Wildcornerz also looks at the languages, cultures and mythologies that develop in these cracks.


What is a Wildcorner?

A Wildcorner is a term referring to a piece of land that has been left to grow wild in a man made landscape. To be a true Wildcorner, the land has to be restricted from public access. Many are hidden from public view altogether. A common type of wildcorner is referred to by govements and local authorities as a 'brownfield site'.

Wildcorners and corridors* are dotted all over the capital and vary in content, depending on their location and history. In this blog we focus particularly on the Wildcorners of south east London.

* Wildcorridors are networks of pathways that run through the city and facilitate the propagation and growth of weeds. Many are restricted from public access such as railway embankments and urban rivers. In the suburbs, footpaths such as the Green Chain connect public green areas by a network of alleyways and passages that skirt between houses and private land. It could be argued that these are also wild corridors.



Urban and Suburban Weeds

By the term 'weeds' we are of course referring to the cities wild plants and flowers. But their are also two other weeds that grow in the city.

'Graf' like its botanical relation, has many families and strains. Both of these weeds can often be found together, sharing many qualities including their adaptive nature and unregulated status. Both in many cases, originally entered and populated the city using the railway network.

Another 'weed' that historically flourishes in London is invisible and uses the tops of tower blocks to propagate. Pirate radio like its weed relatives, grows away from the public eye and is constantly adapting to exploit these same gaps across the cities FM radio spectrum, fighting and flourishing in-between the commercial stations.

© Copyright of Wildcornerz. All rights reserved. For enquiries please contact: wildcornerz1@yahoo.co.uk

Thursday, 12 August 2010

The Oysterhouse Lighthouse, Kings Cross




Here's a page investigating the mysterious old Lighthouse, on top of a derelict fish n chip shop, opposite Kings Cross station. The whole block has been derelict for over 20 years.
What this page doesnt say, is that the site was previous, where a monument to king George 1V was erected in 1830. It was sixty feet high and topped by an eleven-foot-high statue of the king. The upper storey was used as a camera obscura while the base housed a police station and then a pub. The monument was unpopular and was eventually pulled down and the Lighthouse was built in its place. Locally, the building was thought to be an advertisement sign for Nettons oyster bar below. These rumors now are thought to be untrue. The area remains know as kings Cross after this monument.

As it stands this is one of four Lighthouses in London.
Check:
http://www.urban75.org/london/oyster-bar-kings-cross.html
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