At reference 1, we went to stay at the Wellington Hotel at Waterloo. This (Sunday) afternoon, after posting reference 1, I thought I would try and find out something about the building, about which we had heard various stories from various people.
In sum, I didn't do terribly well at this - but what I did do was hiding, in plain site, in the snap above, taken from the hotel's website. I suppose to get a good story one would need to go to the local records office, something like our Bourne Hall Museum, if there is such a place covering Waterloo.
To start with, neither Bing nor Google were very helpful, but they did turn up references 2 thru 4. Reference 2 was a hotel in nearby Vincent Square, but the wrong one. reference 3 was a bad review of the hotel and reference 4 was a good review of the hotel.
Next stop was Gemini. His first effort turned up various interesting facts with some bearing on the matter. I quote:
The current building is a quintessential Victorian public house. One of its most notorious historical "claims to fame" dates back to 1891. The pub was a known haunt of the serial killer Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, also known as the "Lambeth Poisoner."
Historically, there was a physical rail link that crossed the road right next to the pub, connecting the main [South Western] line to the South Eastern Railway. While that track was removed long ago, the structural "squeeze" it created gives the Wellington its narrow, towering character.
WWI/WWII Usage: During the World Wars, many large buildings in the Waterloo "buffer zone" were requisitioned. It is highly probable that the upper floors or the large cellar were used as an emergency casualty clearing station (infirmary) for soldiers arriving at Waterloo Station from the front, given its location literally feet away from the platforms.
The 1950s "Reset": The 1950s date likely refers to a significant re-opening or renovation following the Blitz. The area around Waterloo was heavily bombed, and many buildings stood derelict or were repurposed for emergency services before being restored to their original use in the post-war "Festival of Britain" era (1951).
The mural of the Battle of Waterloo on the ceiling, while appearing "historic," was actually commissioned much more recently (around the time the Eurostar began running from Waterloo in the 90s) to lean into the building's name and heritage.
Next stop was the map department of the Scottish National Library. Presented in what follows in date order, rather than in the order I turned them up.
1842. Waterloo station (south west) present, but not as large as it is now. The line from London Bridge to Charing Cross (south east) is missing altogether. South is away to the west at Victoria, all this being the private sector confusion which gave us Clapham Junction.
1870 or so. The line from London Bridge to Charing Cross has arrived, and there is a connecting line from what is now the low platform numbers at Waterloo, the ones from which, as it happens, one gets trains to Epsom. The new station on the other side of Waterloo Road was called Waterloo Junction, now Waterloo East. A connecting line which appears to go right through what is now the Wellington Hotel.
1895. Waterloo Station shown in three divisions: north station, central station and south station. With more platforms off to the left, possibly the Windsor connection. Connection from the central station to the southeastern line all present and correct, eating up a large chunk of what is now the concourse area in front of the platforms.
We also appear to have two public houses where the Wellington Hotel now stands, one on each side of the connection. Gemini suggests that the one to the north was probably the original 'Wellington' while the one the south was probably the 'Lord Hill'. He suggests that this Lord Hill was the Waterloo one to be found at reference 6, very much in keeping with the naming of public houses for national heroes.
1944. Connection now gone, in part because of the arrival of the Waterloo & City Line which did something of the same job. The black strips to the right of Waterloo show the Waterloo East platforms and the (foot) connections.
During the course of all of which, I had further discussions with Gemini. This included a further diversion concerning the famous platform on wheels:
The line you see on the 1870 map was a single-track link built in 1864. It connected the London & South Western Railway (Waterloo) to the South Eastern Railway (Waterloo Junction, now Waterloo East).
The Movable Platform: This was one of the most eccentric pieces of Victorian engineering. Because the track cut across the pedestrian route, they used a "movable platform" on wheels to let people walk between stations when no train was passing.
Some confirmation of all this is to be found at reference 5. And another diversion about another criminal called Buster Edwards, who at one time kept a flower stall opposite the Wellington, now a fast food stall. Very high counter to deter other kinds of criminal activity.
Eventually it occurs to me that I ought to take a proper look at the present building in Street View. With the result that I tell Gemini that:
'I have now taken a look at the hotel in Street View. Starting from the north, the river side, we have Alaska Street, under the viaduct taking the lines from London Bridge to Charing Cross. Then an older red brick building with stone trim, the northern half of what is now the Wellington Hotel. Then the link part of the Wellington Hotel, under what was the rail link between the two stations, itself under what is now the footbridge from Waterloo Station to Waterloo East Station (formerly Waterloo Junction). Then a newer, rather different building, but also red brick with stone trim, the southern half of what is now the Wellington hotel. The bar at ground level runs across both parts, but I think the two parts of the hotel upstairs are served by separate stairs'.
To which he responds with his summary of all this.
Oddments
Gemini was quite relaxed about the missing word in the first sentence, which should have read 'were the platforms at Waterloo Station renumbered at some point after 1900 or so'. There was enough redundancy in my language for him to work out what I was on about.
I suppose the lesson here is that one does not need to take too much trouble with crafting one's questions and comments, as one might with a human interlocutor. He does not (yet) pay any attention to that kind of thing.
The hospital/infirmary story I had picked up was probably not right. The cellars of public houses were often used for the storage of corpses and there was a substantial first aid station built under the part of Waterloo Station opposite the two public houses, but neither of these last were ever designated as a medical facility. However, they might well have been damaged and then used for various other purposes at the time of the Second World War, going back into combined alcoholic service as part of the 1950's Festival of Britain.
Gemini closes by telling me all about the considerable local history resources available for this part of London, some of which are online. Plenty of places to go digging, should I be so minded! Perhaps I really will find myself at Brixton Hill - reference 7 - before too long. A road which I once used to know quite well - usually from a bus, sometimes on a bicycle and less often on foot.
Conclusions
Gemini remains a bit shaky on geometry, but does pretty well considering, even if I did not get to quite where I wanted to be. Not to be taken neat, but a fine study aid.
And I would have got there a lot faster if I had started by looking at the buildings as they now are, rather than grubbing about in old maps, fascinating though these last are. I have always been rather keen on maps and atlases and still own quite a few of both, OS online and gmaps notwithstanding.
The monolithic appearance of the Wellington in the opening snap does give me some excuse, blotting out, as it did, any thought of it having once been two buildings rather than one.
An interesting grey area is the boundary between the stuff that Gemini knows about and the stuff that he can actually get at. So he knows about the National Archive at Kew, but I don't think that he can see the catalogue, never mind the records. A probably fast developing area is his aforementioned grip on geometry and images generally, rather than the written word. From where I associate to the early days, perhaps those of his ancestor Bard, when his arithmetic was pretty shaky - not something I have tested recently.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/03/little-case-first-day.html.
Reference 2: https://www.buildington.co.uk/buildings/3138/england/london-sw1p/71-vincent-square/the-wellington-hotel.
Reference 3: https://beerahoy.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/wellington/.
Reference 4: https://www.theunfinishedcity.co.uk/2019/11/wellington-hotel.html?m=0.
Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_East_railway_station.
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