Modern Notoriety · Twickenham, Greater London
Eel Pie Island
The Thames island whose crumbling hotel ballroom hosted the Stones, the Yardbirds and a generation discovering what the sixties were for — reached by footbridge, remembered for sprung dance floors, spilled bitter and midsummer entanglements on the towpath. Free love with an R&B soundtrack.
More stories at this spot
- The 'Eelpiland' jazz-club passports
- The 1967 hippie commune era
Sources
Nearby on the map
Henry VIII's pleasure palace, where he honeymooned with Anne Boleyn, married Jane Seymour's successor rites and learned — at Mass, by letter — of Catherine Howard's alleged adultery. Her ghost is said to run shrieking down the Haunted Gallery towards the chapel where her husband prayed.
Documented historyHot spotScandal & SocietyMerton Place (Nelson & Emma Hamilton)London, Greater London · EnglandThe villa Nelson bought so he could live openly with Emma Hamilton — while her husband Sir William completed the most famous ménage à trois of the age under the same roof. England's hero left Merton for Trafalgar in 1805; Emma, ruined by his death, lost the house within four years.
Documented historyHot spotNotable LandmarksThe Gateways ClubLondon, Greater London · EnglandBehind a green door on Bramerton Street, generations of London lesbians found their first taste of an out life; now an English Heritage blue plaque site.
Documented historyHot spotSpotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.