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.

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Monday, 29 September 2025

Wild corners connected

                        
This guy sets himself the challenge to cross Greater London without using any roads. Some of these Youtuber geo adventures can seem a little gimmicky at times but what is created here is fascinating. 
He maps a route using larger green spaces and in between these he navigates, trespasses an internal network of edges, alleys and water ways through the city and suburbs. 
See him passing through Lewisham in a section of the Ravensbourne. 

   
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Monday, 1 September 2025

The Swamp [Vol 1]


Here is the full length version of my film The Swamp. A poetic documentary about my favourite wild corner, hidden on a secluded train embankment close to my childhood home. It is the place I was first told about the legend of the Lewisham Natureman and shown his scratched crown tag.

The film is made from a collage of footage I filmed there over the last 20 + years. It is the first of a series exploring different aspects of the Swamp. This first episode examines the mysterious pond and the unnamed stream.

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Malcom Appleby's studio


One of many gems from BBC Archive's Youtube account. Lovely footage of Malcom Appleby's home and studio built in a derelict train station on a long discontinued line.  

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