Description

Newly opened by Queen Elizabeth II herself, discover the history and secret stories of the people who’ve lived above London’s newest trainline.

Crossrail, or the ‘Elizabeth’ line, is just the latest way of traversing the very old east-west route through the former countryside, into the capital, and out again. Throughout The Tunnel Through Time, renowned historian Gillian Tindall uncovers the lives of those who walked this ancient path.

These people spoke the names of ancient farms, manors and slums that now belong to our squares and tube stations. Visiting Stepney, Liverpool Street, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street, Tindall traces the course of many of these historical journeys across time as well as space.

‘Enchanting’ Sunday Telegraph

‘Deftly weaves together archaeology, social history, politics, myth, religion and philosophy’ The Times

‘Fully of lively vignettes’ Spectator

Publisher Review

Tindall has an eye for a good line. Her sources are eclectic and illuminating...The Tunnel Through Time is a book to savour. It is subtle, considered and powerfully evocative of London's "changeful" landscape. * Daily Telegraph * Tindall is a sure-footed, even revelatory guide to the treasures of London that Crossrail has unintentionally brought to our notice. -- Jerry White * Guardian * In this engaging book Gillian Tindall ... a veteran historian with an eye for the macabre, the quirky and the absurd ... deftly weaves together archaeology, social history, politics, myth, religion and philosophy -- Richard Morrison * The Times * Ms Tindall skilfully blends ancient histories, archaeological findings and contemporary context * The Economist * These underground stories remind us that buried spaces are places of protection as well as of the fearfully unknown, of hope and of political resistance, of science as well as of persistently chthonic mythology. There's always a quirky and sometimes a grisly journey to be had beneath our streets * Evening Standard *