wildcornerz: January 2012

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.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Classic radio cypher from North London Mc's

These bars come from some of the cream of Londons underground Uk hip hop scene, back at the high tide mark of the movement, know as 'the golden age.'

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Folk sounds from another era of the Blue Borough

Monday, 23 January 2012

.. and disappears the next day

The next day I passed by the corner again, while on the way to St Alfege's in Greenwich. When I peered through the hole in the gate, I couldn't believe what i didn't see.
Not a trace.

Friday, 20 January 2012

The spirit of the wild appears again

In a wildcorner of comercial wasteland on Lee High Road in Lewisham.
I saw it through the hole in the iron gate and had to get in there to take a closer look.
The corner is boarder off from the street but is accessible by our friend the river Quaggy.
It was night time and the pictures came out very dark, so i have tried to bring out the brightness and the colours in photoshop. The Stag appear to be strangely translucent and walking or trotting, in a space inside the wall.

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

The South London Underground

A south London Underground map of black music history.
http://transpont.blogspot.com/2012/01/south-london-black-music-archive.html

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

When a Corridor Connects a Corner - SE13

A wildcorner off Lee High road in Lewisham. Only accessible by a wild corridor that is the River Quaggy. Here are some pictures of a new painting found on a wall there.

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

New Lewisham Natureman sightings

The Lewisham Natureman; Appearing again as the white stag, quietly drinking from the Ravensbourne underneath the train bridge at Lewisham station. It is the point of the river where it meets the river Quaggy and becomes the Creek, further down stream. This spirit is said to walk the wild corridors of the borough and rest and feed in its wild corners. Appearing from the graff and the wildness of this urban river.