Stories
- Article
Building a dream in the garden suburbs
In the late 19th century a ‘garden suburb’ promised a retreat from London’s dirt and crowds. See how this new concept was developed to appeal to the health concerns of the literary classes.
- Article
Doctors and the English seaside
Fashionable seaside towns in England owe much of their popularity to 18th-century doctors, who advised them to take the 'sea cure'.
- Article
Tragic artists and their all-consuming passions
Does having a debilitating disease help or hinder creative genius?
- Article
How slums make people sick
A newly gentrified corner of Bermondsey leaves little clue to its less salubrious history. But a few intrepid writers recorded the details of existence in one of London’s most squalid slums.
Catalogue
- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
Gardens on the west side of the Retreat, near West Villa and the Nurses’ Home including views of terraces and herbaceous borders
Date: Late 19th century - early 20th centuryReference: RET 1/8/2/8/14Part of: The Retreat Archive- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
Garden at the front of the Retreat and ‘Park Field’
Date: Late 19th century - 1967Reference: RET 1/8/2/8/17Part of: The Retreat Archive- Archives and manuscripts
Stone, Thomas Madden (fl. 1838-1882), Librarian of Royal College of Surgeons of England and autograph collector
Stone, Thomas Madden, fl. 1838-1882Date: 18th century - 19th centuryReference: MS.7074- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
Retreat farm and garden
Date: Late 19th century - mid 20th centuryReference: RET 1/8/2/8/22Part of: The Retreat Archive- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
Animals at Retreat farm
Date: Late 19th century - mid 20th centuryReference: RET 1/8/2/8/11Part of: The Retreat Archive