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The decline and fall of an early modern slum: London's St Giles ‘Rookery’, c. 1550–1850

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2021

Adam Crymble Open the ORCID record for Adam Crymble [Opens in a new window]
Adam Crymble*
Affiliation:
Department of Information Studes, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Rookery of London's St Giles-in-the-Fields became the city's most notorious slum by the eighteenth century. This article asks why? Why there, why then and why for so long? Building on existing research about urban development and the failure of local government, by considering the geography, economics and legal influences acting upon the space and the people who interacted with it over the long durée, it becomes clear that the Rookery of St Giles-in-the-Fields was always high risk because of happenstance of geography, but that a lack of leadership from its owners and a system of urban upkeep that distributed responsibility too widely led to its longevity and the depth of its misfortune.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , May 2022 , pp. 310 - 334
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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Footnotes

†

The author would like to thank the ‘British History in the Long Eighteenth Century’ seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, Louise Falcini, Katrina Navickas, Sarah Lloyd, Esther Brot, Tim Hitchcock, Joe Cozens, Gillian Williamson and Jim Clifford who commented on drafts or provided resources.

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