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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Spotted in a school display for reading in London- @gailsimone.bsky.social you made Deptford Green's hall of fame!

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Yep, never forget. Of course, there is a home grown alternative right there for the taking...

A Palace home jersey sponsored by Morley's, South London's premier cheap fast food chain.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

...where the Bridewell Service takes place, and the Old Library in Guildhall where the City celebrates it's connection to King Edward's (though not, sigh, to Bethlem).

A view looking up at the ceiling of the Old Library in Guildhall

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

These days, King Edward's, like many other London schools, is mainly a private school, though with a generous set of bursaries maintained by the school's charitable body. Noone remembers the connection with Bethlem. Except me, who remembers professionally. But still, good to see St Brides...

The spire of St Brides Church, viewed from the street by the St Brides Institute.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Over the years the vast Palace (you can see the size of it in this print) fell into disrepair, and the Governors started to separate out it's functions. The prison element closed in 1855, and the school moved down to Witley in 1867.

A print showing the two quadrangles of Bridewell Hospital

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Our boardroom in Bethlem mainly celebrates the governors of the joint body. The vast majority of the Committee books are taken up with Bridewell business rather than Bethlem. It was much more important, until Bethlem moved into it's fancy new building in Moorfields in 1676

Shields of Presidents in the Bethlem Boardroom

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

It was huuuuuge, extending from the river almost as far north as St Brides church. Today it's floorplan is occupied by this rather magnificent, if bland, chain hotel. And when Edward VI succeeded his dad, he wasn't that fond of it.

A photo of the world's largest Premier Inn

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Bridewell was a palace built by Henry VIII on the Thames in the early 1500s. It was on the other side of the road from where Blackfriars station is today. You can see the Fleet on the eastern side of the building on this print here...

Illustration of Bridewell Palace looking north from the Thames

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

So... How did you celebrate Bridewell Day this week? As is customary, I was at a moderately incomprehensible City Service with the top brass of the City of London Corporation, a couple of hundred private school kids and some bemused parents. What's a Bridewell Day? Well then...

An eighteenth century print of Bridewell Hospital showing the clock tower and the interior of one of quadrangles

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Cricinfo have just rendered their live scores unreadable with ads for gambling. Really depressing, don't quite know what to say other than 'bye'.

A screenshot of cricinfo's live page with the ball by ball tracking obscured by a large betting advert.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Now, the Bethlem book is bland. But her work on Willowbank is utterly anonymous. She could be talking about any institution here...

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Evelyn Cross has written a number of history books, all about institutional scandals. Here's a sample of some of her Amazon list...

An Amazon listing showing the books 'Ed Gain: A Chronological Case Record', 'Jonestown: The Cult That Ended in Mass Death's; and 'After the Trains: Life, Death and Survival at Auschwitz'

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

There's a lot wrong here. A lot. Part of the problem is that the first history by Geoffrey O'Donoghue has also got a lot wrong, and it's undoubtedly been LLM ingested. But what records are they talking about here? Nothing exists pre 1557!

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

So, part of my job is to see what people are making of the history of our Hospital. Bethlem partly exists in the gothic, horror-adjacent end of history, and so attracts a certain kind of presentation. Restraints, gore, electrodes, I thought I'd seen it all. Until... ...I stumbled onto this book.

Front cover of 'Bethlem Hospital: A History of Care and Control' by Evelyn Cross. The image shows a Victorian (?) institution viewed through open gates. Two statues stand on the gate posts

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Well, Matt certainly graduated from 'oh, who's he? The other Irish one?' in this episode.

Matt from Traitors in a chapel looking up with a surprised look on his face, an unfortunate still taken from a TV screen.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Barbican all-dayer for One Battle After Another and now the Divine Comedy. We did have time to pop out for a quick drink at sunset though...

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Scaffolding up at what is simultaneously South East London's best and worst building, the mini-Crystal Palace Homebase on the Bellingham-Beckenham border. I fear we will not see the like again.

The Beckenham homebase with scaffolding across the front of it taken from the other side of the road

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Took the boy to his first gig to see his favourite band- The Pogues! The only downside is that he's going to have to learn that not all gigs are going to be as great as this one was. (Blurry image as he was bouncing around so much)

A back of a child's head in a dark venue with a brightly lit stage in the distance behind it.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

In 'Irish history is a complicated place' news, we had a service station coffee supervised by a life size Michael Collins a couple of miles away from where he was ambushed. A little unsure what to make of it tbh.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

My first gig- Frank Black at the Forum. My last gig (for the moment)- Frank Black at the Palladium.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Oooooooooh! (From Leisure Link magazine)

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Men's toilet at Whitstable Town FC, nailed up and closed, presumably after acts too horrendous to contemplate occurred.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

As a hospital archivist I certainly am- there's not many of us around! You can get some idea here, all furniture rescued by my boss, the former Archivist.

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David Luck @dluckarchivist.bsky.social · 07/10/2024

Archives House spotted in Deptford. I can't see any reason why it's called that though...

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