Wortley Village:
The Vanished Village of London South
What is a vanished village?
In the 2002 Vanished Villages of Middlesex, Jennifer Grainger defines “vanished villages,” as “a community which either has disappeared entirely or is merely a shadow of its former self” (Grainger, 2002, p. xv). I discovered through Grainger’s extensive research, that I live in the “vanished village” of London South (Grainger, 2002). I came to the realization that I had lived in Wortley Village for over ten years and I knew nothing of its history. I felt an obligation to correct this by learning some of the history of London South by researching the area and “appease those ghosts out there in the ruins” through urban exploration of the remnants left behind (WG, 2011).
And so the exploration began...
About.
Figure 16: Intersection
Located at the intersection of Wortley and Craig/Askin is Tuckey’s Home Hardware (see Figure 15 below). I have always considered this area the “hub” of Wortley Village. Coffee shops, restaurants, and a hardware store – what else could you need? How about a post office? In 1876 the Askin Post office was established (Figure 14) operated by the postmaster George Shaw (Grainger, 2002). It was both a post office and Shaw’s Grocery, known as “Shaw’s Corners” (Eqbal, 2021).
My father told me about growing up in the small community of Claremont, Ontario. Similarly, Claremont had a post office that was the local hangout where everyone would gather and converse, waiting for the announcement that the mail had arrived. As my father put it, “it was a coffee shop without the coffee” (D. Goden, personal communication, November 28, 2021). It seems every village had one of these multi-functional buildings.
I could never comprehend why such a short street (3 blocks) was called Craig on one side of this intersection and Askin on the other. Through my exploration and research, I discovered all the streets in the area were named after prominent individuals in the area: Colonel Askin, Thomas Craig, and Stewart Wortley (Simner, 2012).
Figure 14: Shaw's Corners - historic
Figure 15: Tuckey's Home Hardware, 2021
Figure 18: Wortley sign, 2021
ABOUT ME
I am a proud Wortley "Villager" and part-time urban explorer.
Thank you for visiting :)
- Patricia
