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iya_london_walks

Unearthing London’s overlooked stories - walks & talks
Open City qualified guide
See info, tickets and gift cards ⤵️

2025 marks 60 years since the dissolution of the L

2025 marks 60 years since the dissolution of the London County Council (LCC). Established in 1889, the LCC was the first democratically elected city-wide authority to govern the whole of Inner London.

I just attended an amazing conference about the LCC’s legacy, organized by Dr. Ruth Lang, Dr. Dawn Pereira and Dr. Rosamund Lily West and hosted by the London School of Architecture.

The conference made me think about the extraordinary range of social welfare facilities left behind by the LCC in my neighbourhood, Shepherd’s Bush. There's housing, a college, schools and parks.

Here are some highlights:

1. Hammersmith School of Building and Arts and Crafts, Lime Grove, 1905-6 and 1913. It’s now Grade II-listed.

2. The Old Oak Estate, one of the LCC’s first cottage estates, constructed just before and just after World War I. Its design is strongly influenced by the garden city movement with homes built in the arts and crafts style. It’s now a conservation area.

3. The White City Estate, the LCC’s most ambitious interwar flatted housing estate. It's the biggest estate in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

4. Greenside School, one of only two primary schools designed by the modernist architect, Erno Goldfinger. It contains a mural by the architect and urban designer, Gordon Cullen, and is Grade II*-listed.

5. Hammersmith Park, opened in 1953 and centred around a Japanese garden from the White City exhibition site, dating back to 1910.

6. Malabar Court, a small block designed in the 1960s by Noel Moffett and Alina Zofia Bolesławicz-Moffett for older people. The hexagonal shape became a hallmark of these architects, and was first introduced here. The design is inspired by the Giant’s Causeway.

What did the LCC leave behind in your manor?

Today we celebrated the achievements of Amy Ashwoo

Today we celebrated the achievements of Amy Ashwood Garvey, Pearl Prescod, Pansy Jeffrey, Claudia Jones, and Rhaune Laslett-O'Brien on a walk for Women's History Month in North Kensington.

We also saluted Joan Armatrading who recorded her second album, Back to the Night, at a turning point in her musical career at Basing Street Studios.

What's amazing about these women activists is how they networked and supported each other in their work and how they creatively used arts, culture and food to bring people together, not just to socialize, but to organize!

A big thanks to @instituteracerelations for documenting the life of Pearl Prescod and @nydiaswaby for her brilliant biography of Amy Ashwood Garvey.

📸 Images 1, 2 and 3 @johnryle

📸 Image 4 "Amy Ashwood Garvey (left) with two unidentified women on the steps of the Afro Women's Centre"
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1950 - 1969

#iyalondon #internationalwomensday #mayaangelou #w

#iyalondon #internationalwomensday #mayaangelou #womenshistory #womenshistorymonth

Celebrating Pearl Prescod, African-Caribbean actor

Celebrating Pearl Prescod, African-Caribbean actor, singer and activist and the first Black woman to perform with the National Theatre Company.

Pearl was born into a middle-class family in Trinidad. She came to the UK in 1954, aged 34, to take up a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music.

Despite her training and prodigious talent, she failed to develop a career in classical music. Opportunities were very limited at that time for artists from British colonies. Instead she started to make a living in theatre, television and radio.

Pearl was also a dedicated activist, campaigning against racism and for the liberation of peoples still living under colonial domination. She worked closely with her fellow Black women activists, Amy Ashwood Garvey and Claudia Jones. In 1963 she helped organize a march on the US Embassy in solidarity with Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. Here you see her inspiring the demonstrators with her singing.

Pearl’s big breaks came in 1965. She opened her first West End cabaret show. Later that year she was on stage with the National Theatre Company in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, becoming the first female Black actor to perform with the company. The play received rave reviews.

Just as Pearl’s talents were finally starting to attract recognition from the British cultural establishment, she sustained a brain haemorrhage, dying suddenly in 1966, aged only 46. She is buried in Tobago.

📸 The March on Washington solidarity march in London organised by the Committee of Afro-Asian and Caribbean Organisations (CAACO), led by Claudia Jones (left) and Pearl Prescod (right). 1963

Spring is nearly here. More light and more energy

Spring is nearly here. More light and more energy to explore West London on a walk!

All my spring walks are ready for booking.

Public housing from Old Oak to White City...

South Kensington and the 1851 Great Exhibition...

Imre Kiralfy and the hidden history of White City...

War and renewal on the Askew Road...

👉 FIND the full spring programme at 1st link in my bio.

👉 BOOK at 2nd link in my bio.

👉 FOLLOW me for info on upcoming collaborations with @nova_newopps and @exrdfestival

Why are Scotland and England competing today for a

Why are Scotland and England competing today for a trophy named after a city in India (Kolkata)?

In 1873 British enthusiasts established the Calcutta Rugby Football Club in India, part of a growing enthusiasm by the Raj for imperial sports in the subcontinent.

By 1878, the club was in trouble, losing out to sports like cricket and tennis.

So the remaining members withdrew the club funds and got the silver rupees melted down. They commissioned Indian craftsmen to make a trophy which was donated to the Rugby Football Union (RFU).

The RFU decided to use the trophy for an annual match between England and Scotland. The first game was played in Edinburgh in 1878. It ended in a draw. Today’s match is the 132nd.

Just another example of the intertwined relationship between Britain and India which spills over to today.

You can find this beautiful trophy in the World Rugby Museum in Twickenham.

#IyaLondon #CalcuttaCup #SixNations #CalcuttaCup #Twickenham #BritishEmpire

80 years ago today on Valentine’s Day, a V2 stru

80 years ago today on Valentine’s Day, a V2 struck the Cleverly Estate in Shepherd’s Bush with devastating consequences for the residents.

I am correcting this from V1 which I state in the reel.

My source was the Hammersmith Metropolitan Council records, which even though compiled immediately after the war, turn out to be inaccurate!

#ShepherdsBush #WorldWar2 #SocialHousing #Bombing #PeabodyTrust #IyaLondon

#imperialhistory #britishmuseum #iyalondon #hewloc

#imperialhistory #britishmuseum #iyalondon #hewlocke #sankofa #tainu #magdala

"West London is so boring." If you live under th

"West London is so boring."

If you live under this misapprehension, step out and explore the west this year on one of my walks. I promise you'll be intrigued by what's happened and happening in this part of the world.

I do my own research, digging into the history of a particular neighbourhood, whether that's South Kensington or White City.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"Fascinating and expertly led walks. I have been on two now (White City and East Acton housing estates). Joanna is a first rate guide: thoughtful, knowledgeable and with a real understanding of her subject. Recommended unconditionally!" Max Whitby (Google)

Dates for 2025 walks are out till June. Book via the second link in my bio or message if you'd like me to take you on your very own bespoke walk.

#SouthKensington #ShepherdsBush #WhiteCity #AskewRoad #WestLondon #LondonHistory #LondonWalks #IyaLondon #HammersmithAndFulham #LondonArchitecture #LondonWalkingTour

📸 James Tye/Great Exhibition Road Festival

Happy New Year! #IyaLondon #PaddingtonBear #Padd

Happy New Year!

#IyaLondon #PaddingtonBear #Paddington #Paddington3 #WestLondon #PortobelloRoad

Had enough of being inside over the Christmas peri

Had enough of being inside over the Christmas period? Join me on a Twixtmas walk!

On 29 December, I’ll be leading my Old Oak to White City walk, exploring the history of public housing in London.

The following day, there's something completely different. I’ll be in South Kensington for a walk about the legacy of the 1851 Great Exhibition.

Feel free to message me if you have any question. Book at link in bio.

Image 1: Courtesy of Frédérique Cifuentes
Image 2: Courtesy of Nathaniel Télémaque

#IyaLondon #SouthKensington #WhiteCity #ShepherdsBush #VisitLondon #LondonWalks #ThingsToDoInLondon #LondonArchitecture #CouncilHousing #PublicHousing #HammersmithAndFulham #KensingtonAndChelsea

This mosaic floor at the V&A, London, was assemble

This mosaic floor at the V&A, London, was assembled by women prisoners at Woking Female Prison. It was the first purpose-built prison for women in the UK. It opened in 1869.

They also made mosaic floors for the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral. You can also see their work at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.

But the prison had stopped employing women in mosaic making by 1889, according to The Graphic. There were no job opportunities for released women prisoners who had learnt this trade.

#LondonWalks #iyalondon #londonhistory #westlondon #victorianlondon #womenprisoners #mosaic

Join me on Sunday 17 November for a walk about the

Join me on Sunday 17 November for a walk about the impact of two world wars on the Askew Road area in Shepherd's Bush and amazing new assets created for the community after 1945.

You'll learn about the impact of bombing on the area, assisted by bomb damage maps, and hear about the "Little Blitz".

You'll visit St. Bobola. The remarkable interior to this Polish Roman Catholic church contains stained glass and other memorials to the Polish armed forces who fought alongside the Allies during World War II, including as pilots in the Battle of Britain.

The walk will end at Greenside School. Built on a bombsite, it is one of only two primary schools in the U.K. designed by the famous modernist architect Erno Goldfinger.

Click the first link in the bio for info and tickets.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ""I recently attended the ‘War and Renewal on the Askew Road’ walk with Joanna and WOW! did it exceed my expectations!! In every way. I live locally so knew a bit about the destruction caused by the war but was so facinated by the photos and the stories that brought the mini blitz to life. Loved the visit to the church. This walk was so well researched and all the content was so interesting. It’s really encouraged me to dig deeper into my local history." Shannon Rodgers - Google

Image 1: Stained glass window memorialising Polish airmen who fought in the Battle of Britain. Designed by Janina Baranowska. Image courtesy of @fredcifuentesmorgan

#ShepherdsBush #AskewRoad #IyaLondon #LondonWalks #LondonArchitecture #Blitz #LondonBlitz #LondonChurches

#blackhistorymonth #blackhistorymonth2024 #londonw

#blackhistorymonth #blackhistorymonth2024 #londonwalks #IyaLondon

Have you ever really explored South Kensington? Di

Have you ever really explored South Kensington? Did you know this area is a legacy of the Great Exhibition?

Discover how South Kensington developed into London’s first dedicated arts and science district as the British Empire reached its peak.

You’ll also hear about a dramatic, but almost forgotten, act of anti-imperial resistance by an Indian student.

Dates are now available till November. Click the first link in the bio for more info and tickets. The next walk is on Monday 30 December at 11am.

Pic 2 📸 @fredcifuentesmorgan

#IyaLondon #SouthKensington #BritishEmpire #LondonWalks #Architecture #VisitLondon #ThingsToDoInLondon #LondonArchitecture

What’s behind the name Iya London? Apologies f

What’s behind the name Iya London?

Apologies for the bad Yoruba pronunciation. Sadly I didn’t grow up exposed to my father’s first language…

#IyaLondon #LondonWalks

Kudos to everyone who braved today’s weather for

Kudos to everyone who braved today’s weather for my new walk “War and Renewal on the Askew Road”.

As well as marking the lives lost and property destroyed by war, we celebrated new assets created for the community after 1945.

These include the Polish Roman Catholic Church, St Bobola. Behind a standard neo-Gothic exterior lies a startling interior designed by Aleksander Prus-Klecki.

This includes an abstract altar screen in bronze cast concrete; stained glass dedicated to Polish armed forces who fought in World War II; and a memorial to the thousands of Polish victims of the 1940 Katyn massacres.

We ended at Greenside School whose tower rises out of a former bombsite. It’s one of only two primary schools in the U.K. designed by the modernist architect Erno Goldfinger.

The Askew Road Arts Festival continues till 25 September. There’s still time to check it out at @askewroad_w12. Thanks for letting Iya London participate! I’m grateful to Fr Marek for welcoming us to the church and to Fred Cifuentes Morgan, photographer, for these photos.

All proceeds from the walk are going to @hcga_gardens

📸 @fredcifuentesmorgan

#AskewRoadArtsFestival #IyaLondon #ShepherdsBush #LondonWalks #WorldWar2 #AskewRoad #W12 #W6

I’m delighted to lead a walk about the impact of

I’m delighted to lead a walk about the impact of two world wars on Askew village at the Askew Road Arts Festival on 22 September at 10.45am.

As well as marking the lives lost and property destroyed by war, the walk will celebrate new assets created for the community after 1945. You'll see the remarkable interior of St. Bobola, a Polish Roman Catholic church set up after World War II. It contains stained glass and other memorials to the Polish armed forces who fought as part of the Allies during World War II.

The walk will end at Greenside School. Built on a bombsite, it is one of only two primary schools in the U.K. designed by the modernist architect Erno Goldfinger.

The school's opening its doors for the Open House Festival. So immediately after the walk you'll have the chance to look inside and see a beautiful 1950s mural designed by Gordon Cullen.

And you can also explore the Bouncing Off the Wall! C20th Graphic Arts Fair in the school hall. There'll even be a vintage tea room!

The walk is part of the Askew Road Arts Festival which takes place between 18 and 25 September. I'll donate all proceeds from the walk to Hammersmith Community Gardens Association. If you can donate £5 or more that's great. If you can't just book a free ticket and come anyway!.

#ShepherdsBush #AskewRoadArtsFestival #IyaLondon #LondonHistory #LondonWalks #LondonArchitecture #AskewRoad #HammersmithAndFulham #WestLondonEvents #WestLondonLife
#askewroad_w12
#AllThingsAskew #AskewRoad_w12

Where's this? East Acton! Learn how public housing

Where's this? East Acton! Learn how public housing developed in London in the 20th century on a thought-provoking walk. See an early Arts and Crafts cottage estate; the LCC's most ambitious flatted estate of the interwar years; a modernist block inspired by the Giants' Causeway and a little-known Darbourne & Darke development.

We'll discuss many of the dilemmas still plaguing public housing today - the role of the public and private sectors, finance, affordability and quality.

Dates are now available till November. Click the first link in the bio for more info and tickets. The next walk is on 29 December at 11am. #WhiteCity #OldOak #ShepherdsBush #LondonHistory #IyaLondon #CouncilHomes #walks #tours

#WhiteCity #IyaLondon #ShepherdsBush #WorldWar2 #C

#WhiteCity #IyaLondon #ShepherdsBush #WorldWar2 #CouncilHousing #Bombing

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