Welcome to Bloomsbury

I am a London novice.

Before last week, I’d probably spent less than twenty days in London in my whole life. Now, I know this is probably more than the international students have under their belts, but nonetheless London is a big deal for me. I am a country girl, after all. Look at a map of the U.K. – see that bit right down at the bottom there, the toe? That’s where I’m from: the most southerly point. A blustery, exposed, salty piece of land that could not be more different to the traffic-filled, people-filled, noise-filled streets of our capital city.

I basically know how to get from Waterloo station to UCL, and… Yeah, that’s about it. Say to me: Chelsea, Camden, Westminster, and I’m likely to give you a blank look. I know the names and associations, but I couldn’t tell you the boundaries or locations. So when we’re given the task of exploring literary Bloomsbury, my brain goes: eek!

Where is Bloomsbury exactly? And how am I going to find these legendary literary spots?

Answer one: I’m standing in it. Yup, UCL is in the heart of Bloomsbury. Kind of perfect for a publishing student.

Answer two: Befriend someone understands London better than I do.

Answer two point one: Discover the beauty of accretionary knowledge, the network effect. I may have only uncovered a few literary spots on my own walk around Bloomsbury, but group together the varying adventures of my whole class and – voila! – a detailed picture emerges, peopled with famous names and literary landmarks.

Welcome to Bloomsbury.
Here are twelve things I learnt:

1. The whole area is peppered with bookshops, both new and second hand, from The London Review Bookshop to Judd Books to Waterstones to specialist antiquarian booksellers.

2. Virginia Woolf liked to stroll through Tavistock Square Garden, where today there is a commemorative statue and plaque (found by Antonia Carr @carrskid and Delia Caroline @delia_bennett).

3. J. M. Barrie lived on Grenville Street (found by Sydney Butler @sdbutler15).

4. George Orwell drank at The Fitzroy Tavern (found by Delia Caroline @delia_bennett), and used Senate House on Malet Street as his inspiration for the towering and terrifying Ministry of Truth in his novel Nineteen Eighty Four (thanks Emma Wray @Emma_Wray).

5. Randolph Caldecott, in whose honor the Caldecott Medal is named, lived on Great Russell Street (found by Philippo @philippo92).

6. Bloomsbury may be most closely associated with The Bloomsbury Group, but it’s literary history pre-dates them by quite a way: Charles Dickens drank in a local pub, The Lamb (found by Courtney Librizzi @courtlibrizzi), and Percy and Mary Shelley lived on Marchmont Street. Dickens fans can also visit The Charles Dickens museum (found by Sherry Cheng @chengyuj371) and the wander over for cake at the Wot the Dickens? Café.

7. Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath also drank in The Lamb.

8. Persephone Books has its own bookshop here! (visited by Karina Maduro @KarinaMaduro22).

9. Circular blue plaques have been erected all over London, including Bloomsbury, to highlight the residences of significant people. Begun way back in 1866, the original purpose behind the scheme was to create link between between people and architecture, and it's continued today by English Heritage. Randolph Caldecott, for instance, has a blue plaque, as does Oscar Wilde, although not all of the plaques have literary associations.

10. The British Library, on Euston Road, is the world's largest library (by number of items catalogued). Inside my little literary group and I found 'Sitting on History', a bronze sculpture depicting a book with ball and chain, created Bill Woodrow. "All of history is filtered through millions of pages of writing, making the book the major vehicle for years of study," explains the handout on the sculpture.

11. The Publisher’s Association resides quietly hidden by overhanging foliage - easy to miss!

12. Much like the bookshops, lots of publishers have made their home here too, from Faber and Faber to the eponymously named Bloomsbury themselves.

And what better way to sum things up than with Naomi Burt’s (@naomijoy10) sentiment, “Every place is a literary place.” Just sit down, pull out your book, stretch your toes out, and dive in to the world of your choice (or follow our literary trail on twitter with #literaryme).