Weekly blog of material from the RBK&C Local Studies Collection
http://rbkclocalstudies.wordpress.com/
History and news of Little Wormwood Scrubs
http://friendsoflittlewormwoodscrubs.weebly.com
Aerial photos – sign up (free) and you can zoom in close to some excellent photos of North Kensington :
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/http:
For photos of London streets from the London Metropolitan Archive.
http://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk/collage/app
Descriptions of streets of London around 1900 and colour coded ‘poverty’ maps – Charles Booth online archive.
For Tom Vague’s Notting Hill histories of counter culture, pop history, Rachman, 1960s, Michael X, punk, film, etc
Tom Vague’s histories of Colville area are online including Rachman, riots etc.
Fascinated by the 1950s Christie murders? For extensive information and photos of Rillington Place:
http://www.10-rillington-place.co.uk
Fascinating information on workhouses, infirmaries etc.
On-line film made with children from Bevington School looking at Golborne area during the 1960s and 1970s. Fascinating interviews with local residents and activists.
http://www.golbornestories.org.uk
Gwen Nelson’s blog on growing up in North Kensington (two chapters are published on our blog), but she keeps adding more.
http://purrpuss1.wordpress.com
For maps, photos, history etc including 1950 OS maps of northwest London
North Kensington Histories 
Hello, love the blog. & historical info. I manage the K&C Ambassadors in Portobello & Golborne every Saturday on behalf of the Volunteer Centre Kens. & Chelsea.
This Saturday 4th June we have a pop up stall in Tavistock Square (opposite Vinyl Cafe) to celebrate National Volunteers Week. Stop by if you can & say hello – we would all love to know more about the history of the area. Best regards Geremy
I was born and bred in North Ken lived in Portobello Rd, Ladbroke Grove. Many good memories – my dad worked for RBKC -great times great friends and memories.
Hi Bev
I am a third year Geography student at Durham University and I am currently researching for my dissertation which is concerned with gentrification in Notting Hill.
I am sorry for the potential inconvenience of this message, but I was wondering if you would be happy to meet to discuss my study.
My dissertation is looking at the emotional impacts of gentrification on those who have lived in Notting Hill since the onset of the process. Whilst the vast majority of research looks at the quantitative effects of gentrification through displacement figures, little work looks at the qualitative impacts on those that remain in a gentrified area, despite the extent of the impacts being no less important.
My work will explore this understudied area and seek to understand what I have coined ‘emotional displacement’ – detachment from an understanding of place by residents that have been present in Notting Hill throughout its gentrification – through interviews with those that have lived in the area throughout said process.
I have chosen Notting Hill as my loci of study because of the importance of multi-culture to the area and its rise, demise and re-rise since its original development back in the mid-19th century. Further, despite the prevalence of gentrification in the suburb, Notting Hill has seemingly evaded academic attention, a factor my study wishes to remedy. (Also, it gives me another excuse to watch the film!)
Again, I am very sorry if this is of inconvenience but I would love to get in contact with you, or any potential residents that would be happy, to talk with me to help me gather the first-hand primary data that will be the main form of data for my study.
I live in an hour from Notting Hill and I am home for the Christmas break this coming Friday (13th), returning back up to Durham on January 12th and thus any potential dates within this timeframe would be absolutely amazing, but if not I am happy to arrange a time after then if this is possible.
Thank you very much in advance and if you (or anyone else reading this comment) would be happy to chat, please email me on: benjamin.kight@durham.ac.uk. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Kind regards
Ben