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, 8 November 2012

Field Trip Down River.


Last week i cycled with two friends down our great river to visit the Margaret Ness Lighthouse. It is the first of the nine beacons along the Thames from the City. 
[ pictured in my previous entry; Nine Beacons of the Great River.
 http://wildcornerz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/nine-lighthouses-of-great-river.html ]

 Notice the stencil over the warning sign and the flotsam and jetsam washed up along the banks.




  ... and further down river near Crossness, we passed two old dubs; 'EGOR' and 'EWOK'.
 This was the name of the incomplete dub in the wild corner in Lee, SE12.
 Though the lettering is different. Is this the same Tagger? Was still a surprise to spot in another wild place, but so far away.
 http://wildcornerz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/among-ashes-se12.html




 This picture of the river and its first settlers, was in the middle of a long, blank concrete wall opposite Crossness Pumping Station, also know as 'The Cathedral on the Thames'.





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