by Tomisin Delano During July, I worked with the IHR’s Digital Office, with a main task of researching a collection detailing the Olympics in London. Layers of London is an exciting project as the website aids in visualising London’s history. The web...

Sounds of Summer: London 2020    In March 2020 as life start...

“Bifil that in that seson on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay” “We met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B, Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting.”

Add your lockdown photos to Layers of London There are ...

The University of London’s Institute of Historical Research (IHR), in collaboratio...

Layers of London Freelance GIS and Data Management Work Required:  A freelancer who can work on the GIS technical aspects of the Layers of London website (

Layers of London Research Volunteer Role Description   We are looking for Layers of London Research Volunteers to support our work at Boston Manor House. Layers of London is a map-based history website developed by the Institute of Histori...

Corner Shop Stories: A National Trust & Layers of London Volunteering Workshop

Click here to help us trace Booth's London  or read on to find out more about the Booth map project...

Layers of London sits within the University of London’s Institute of Historical Research as does...

To celebrate Christmas we are running the first ever Layers of London competition. To be in with the chance of winning the new fantast...

The Blind Beggar, Whitechapel. Image (c)  Kevan Wilding, pubwiki.co.uk In Nove...

When was my school built? What did my school look like in the past? Did anyon...

The 25th December, aka Christmas Day, is spent in many different ways depending on who you are, where you are and who you...

What are the Booth maps? LSE Library houses the incredible Charles Booth inquiry, a monumental survey of London which was carried ou...

Being Human 2019 For the Being Human Festival this year we will be in Feltham, walking, talking, taking over libraries, examining buildings, and more! Click below to book for each event. More information on the Being Human Festival is here.

We are looking for volunteers to help source information and images relating to London’s pubs. The role will involve researching websites and publications to gather data,  taking new photos of pubs as appropriate, conducting interviews and creating records on the Layers of London website which...

by Harry Taylor Reaching the end of my placement with Layers of London it is time to reflect on the experience. My brief was to use the Old Bailey Online database to map historic crime in the capital. For ease of use and to stop the project get...

The Bloomsbury Festival is getting underway this month, with a programme packed with events exploring all aspects of the neighbourhood that Layers of London calls home. We are in the programme too, with a pop up during on Cromer ...

Layers of London is, amongst other things, a project about maps – and for the vast majority of maps, including those on our website, objective geographical correctness is valued above all else. But there also exists a subset of maps which abandon this aim altogether, instead targeting anything...

Is there a listed building down your street? Using the new ‘London Listed Buildings’ layer, you can now find out! Simply activate the new layer here (click on ‘Use this Layer’ then ‘I’m done’) to explore all the li...

Ah fair Brent, the Ireland of Northwest London and the 2020 London Borough of Culture. We have had a big increase in records in the borough in the past few months, tha...

Layers of London Black History Month Project Brief The University of London’s Institute of Historical Research (IHR), in collaboration with the National Archives, Historic England, the British Library, Museum of London Archaeology, London Metropolitan Archives, Birkbeck...

We are looking for anyone who has something to share on Bloomsbury's fascinating history that fits the theme of 'Small steps, Big ideas'. Guests might want to share their research, interest, work or experience on hidden histories, change or development in the Bloomsbury area, democratising the...

As of today, users on the website will be able to comment on records. Once signed in, you can add a comment on to any...

This month let's look up north to the history of Haringey, a beautiful part of town twinned with Koblenz in Germany and Clarendon in Jamaica! The Haringey First World War Peace Forum have mapped more than 200 r...

During my time here at the Institute of Historical Research I have used the interactive maps, my favourite of which is the bomb damage map, which was published after the war and shows through the use of colour and a key, the amount of damage done to areas of London during the Blitz.  The way t...

Last month we looked at some of the wonderful contributions to Layers of London from users in Croydon. This month we are travelling up (or is it down?) the river Wandle to another of our favourite London boroughs... Sutton! Some highlights from the place that was in 2014 described by a senio...

Can you help add layers to the Strand? Compared to other parts of London, the Strand is somewhat under-populated with stories and photographs from across the ages. So Strandlines have teamed up with Layers of London to encourage you – yes, you reading this! – to ad...

We have an amazing student placement up for grabs Summer 2019 with Layers of London in collaboration with Bexley archives to document stories, research and histories from ...

The History of Croydon on Layers of London Layers of London is very lucky to have some very dedicated users in Croydon, some of whom we have had the pleasure of meeting at our community hub events. They have provided many fascinating and possibly unique insights into the history of Cr...

We have a new opportunity to research and explore the history of mental health and its provisions in London. This role will help to map this important historical research through oral histories, photographs, digitised texts and many more sources to bring this history to life on our digi...

We have an amazing opportunity to map historic criminal records in London with the research available on oldbaileyonline.org

As I am sure you know, February is LGBT History Month in the UK, a month long annual observance aiming to combat prejudice against the LGBT community, increase the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and celebrate their contribution to our society. We at Layers ...

Layers of London brings you free teacher

My Name is Nathaniel Telemaque. I’m the new Senate House Library Intern/ Archival Researcher appointed to the Layers of London team. Usually, you’ll find me in the Senate House Library, tucked away in the special collections, in-between never-ending bookshelves or perhaps at a humble desk with...

Calling groups, individuals and organisations in South London interested in their local heritage. Come to our #getmapping event to meet other groups in the area, learn about the Layers of London project and our free resources, training, volunteer management. We work with many groups all...

My name is Sarah Jones, and I head up the geomatics team at MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology). On a daily basis I deal with all kinds of high-quality survey, spatial, and location data recording the many historic buildings and archaeological sites we wo...

Haringey First World War Peace Forum https://hfwwpf.wordpress.com/ have worked on the project since its inception and have helped shape and develop the website and Layers of London programme. They use Layers of London to publish and map their f...

We have a fantastic volunteer opportunity in collaboration with Havering Museum; applications open now! Help us to add fascinating stories, histories and memories about Havering borough onto the Layers of London map-based...

We have an exciting Student placement available between October-December 2018 in collaboration with the IHR Wohl library! You will be expl...

Inspired by the recent unveiling of the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square and want to explore this topic with your learners? Download o...

Hello, my name is Jessica, I am one of two students who have been doing research into “Feminist History in the East End - A Walk”.

Hi!  I’m Mia, a student volunteer for the project ‘The History of the High Street’ run by Bexley Archives. This project actively engages research into the past of the High Street in Bexleyheath Broadway and Sidcup. When starting this project, I was interested in seeing how the High Street has ...

Hi I’m Lara and I’m currently working on a student placement with Layers of London! Since moving to the East End to study history two years ago I have become smitten with the wonderfully diverse, history, culture and individuals of the area (and, of course, the 24hour bagel shops). Ther...

Helping with Layers of London proved to be such an exciting experience. I’ve spent the last 20 years of my life sitting behind a desk being told what to do. Fortunately, I managed to develop strong academic background knowledge but – except a very few short-term volunteering experiences – it w...

This pamphlet is part of the Ron Heisler collection in Senate House and has been digitised by their special collections team, copyright of the pamphlet is held by its original creators Clare Manifold for the Rights of Women group and was originally created in 1979. One of the research l...

Thamesmead's Tumps I signed up to start georeferencing the RAF 1940s photographs of the Barking and Dagenham area with great glee. Comparing old and present-day maps is something I’ve always found fascinating (check out maps.nls.uk), so I jumped at the chance to be inv...

The website is being re-launched in June with extra map overlays, more user-friendly features, a new aesthetic and taking into account all of the comments, suggestions and feedback from users so far! Come and learn how the website has changed.

We have 3 student volunteer placements this June at Layers of London: Our first placement documents

This year marks the 150th anniversary of women being admitted to the University of London, the first time in Britain that women had gained access to university education. Throughout 2018 the University is celebrating this with a range of events and activities, through their

We have 2 amazing  Student placements up for grabs over the month of June 2018 this year with Layers of London in collaboration with Senate House Lib...

Need help conquering GIS in the curriculum? Want an innovative and engaging way to explore local history in the your classroom? Do your learners need to refine their mapping skills?   Our free 

Calling primary and secondary schools in Barking and Dagenham! Learn about how your school can achieve the Heritage Schools Award and how you can use

We are looking for help in Barking and Dagenham; do you want to help preserve memories and stories of Barking and Dagenham? Do you want to learn how to use scanning and photography equipment to digitise objects/photographs/documents/stories? Would you enjoy meeting people and hearing their...

Each year, at IES Abroad London, I teach a history of London course. My students are first-year undergraduates from Skidmore College, a liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York State. The course is designed so that students learn to...

This week we welcomed our new Public Engagement Officer to the team. Amy will be working with schools, community groups and volunteers to promote the project alongside the Volunteer Co-ordinator who will be starting work on the project shortly...

A series of p...

One of the current activities of the Layers of London project is to explore the local partnerships that can be created to bring together a community of people who can test the Layers website as it develops and then start adding content in the form of images, film- and sound-c...

Detai...

One of the rewarding parts of working on the Layers of London project so far has been having the opportunity to visit archives and libraries around London particularly those that may not be so well known. Arup is the internationally renowned architecture and civil engineering firm respo...