Pan Over London - Horniman Nature Writing Workshop

Last month (September 12th 2026) I took part in a Folk Tales Nature Writing Workshop at the Horniman Gardens in Forest Hill. The setting was the nature trail at the bottom of the sloping park next to the museum's gardens, near where a new children's playground and cafe have opened recently. I've been going to the museum for years but never knew about the nature trail, a long stretch following the route of the disused railway line. The Crystal Palace and South London Junction line - which had a Lordship Lane station opposite the Horniman grounds -  closed in 1954 and has been managed as a nature reserve by the museum since 1972.

The Workshop was led by two poets from Wild Thing Collective  -William Wyld and Jess Grynfel - along with Christopher Collier, folklorist and storyteller. After hearing some tales about the trees around us, we were encouraged to write our own piece responding to something in the natural world at the Horniman. There was a magical moment when a sparrowhawk flew calmly right in the front of where we sat, but I chose to write a poem inspired by one of the goats living in the Horniman's Animal Walk. For what it's worth, here's my effort:

Pan over London

Once you treated our kind as gods.

Standing on two hooves, 

playing on pipes to make all the creatures dance, 

the seen and the unseen.

Now our sanctuary is hidden

behind the bandstand, the ice cream and the coffee shop.

You look at us still but your gaze soon moves on

to chickens, rabbit, sheep,

alpacas we never saw in Greece.

Cute enough, 

but hardly up there with goat gods are they?

We were your horned ones of the mountains and pastures.

So we wait and watch from our heights over your city.

Pan over London.

Out Now: 'New Cross, New Cross: a cultural history of London SE14'

'This new book from the man behind the indispensable Transpontine blog is a deep cultural history which ripples far beyond SE14' (Emma Warren)

New out in Summer 2026:  300+ pages covering music, radical politics, sports, spirituality, pubs and much more. Price £15.

You can now buy the book from the following: 

The Word Bookshop, New Cross Road SE14 

Crofton Books, Brockley Road SE4 

Books Peckham, Maxted Road SE15

56a Info Shop, 56a Crampton Street SE17

Past Tense (stalls and online)

You can also order online here: https://transpontine.sumupstore.com/ or use QR code below:

[At the moment there is free delivery if ordered online for people living in the following postcode areas:  SE1, SE4, SE5, SE6, SE8, SE13, SE14, SE15, SE16, SE22. If this applies to you, at the checkout under 'shipping method' there will be an option to select 'local delivery'. If you select this it will ask for your postcode to check and if you are in one of these areas you should be eligible for free delivery] 

Some of the people and things mentioned in the book:

 Geoffrey Chaucer – Executions at the Foul Oak – Peasant revolts –  James Bond -  Noel Coward – the abandoned Ringway motorway-  cycle and road protests - New Cross psychogeography –  London Clay- Great North Wood - Romans in New Cross – Robert Browning – is the area named after a pub or vice versa? –  Welsh and Irish workers in market gardens – Octavia Hill and the campaign for Telegraph Hill Park – slavery beneficiaries and anti-slavery campaigners – New Cross in books and films – Joyce Cary – Kae Tempest – Gary Oldman –  Nil by Mouth – Shaun of the Dead – Tales of a Vampire – the first Indian nationalist to stand for parliament – a prisoner in Irish jail is nearly elected as MP – Charles Parnell – the Irish War of Independence comes to New Cross – Canals – Train factories – Chartists – the First International and a New Cross basket makers strike – tram and bus unions – the 1926 General Strike – Stone’s Engineering – Lady Flo’s squat – lost sounds and smells – 19th century vegetarians – the first Indian and Chinese restaurants – Nouvelle Quiche – Uncle Wrinkle -New Cross Hospital – New Cross Fire Station – Libraries – Spiral Tribe -Hatcham Liberal Club – labour, socialist and anarchist clubs – an anarchist bomb in New Cross Road – unemployed protests – Sylvia Pankhurst – Spanish civil war – The Field – Avalon Café – Haberdashers schools – Suffragettes – the burning of St Catherine’s church – feminism – music hall – Louis Armstrong – Fats Waller – cinema – Spike Milligan – the Harp Club – the Venue – Blur – Placebo - Oasis – a horse racing course – swimming pools – athletics – first cycling clubs – the roller skating boom – the founding of the Football Association – Gaelic Athletics – Millwall not scabs – wrestling – boxing – speedway – greyhounds – war damage – peace protests – CND – Montague Arms – New Cross Inn – Bonzos - New Cross House/Goldsmiths Tavern – Vic Reeves – Julian Clary - Paul O'Grady - Denton Welch -  Gil Scott Heron - Deptford Urban Free Festival – Skehans – Shirkers Rest - Royal Albert – Kate Bush - Nubia Garcia – Paradise Bar – New Cross Scene – Angular records – No Pain in Pop - Deadly Rhythm – Five Bells – Charles Dickens – Marquis of Granby – the first Great Train Robbery  - Wellards Record Shop – Eddy Grant – Saxon Studio International – Dennis Bovell – Mad Professor – Jah Shaka – Lovers Rock- the Richardsons –  Underhill Studios - Chocolate Factory – Band of Holy Joy – Test Dept - Hagar the Womb – pirate radio – Double Trouble – Rebel MC - Digital Holdings – UK Funky – Drill – Jamz Supernova -  Music Room -Danger Mouse – Ultramarine – Planet Wax – Victor Le Lubez – secularists – churches - New Cross Synagogue – kindertransport -Harry Price, ghosthunter – Conan Doyle and spiritualists –  Chaos Magic – Did a New Cross Golden Dawn member invent peroxide for hair?  - the Anglo-Caribbean Association – New Cross Fascists and Anti-Fascists -Fasimbas -  The Battle of Lewisham 1977 – the New Cross Fire -  Linton Kwesi Johnson - David Rocastle – Ian Wright - 2011 riots - Fred D'Aguiar -  Queer New Cross - Venue MOT - Deptford Ravens FC - Corner  – Gentrification? - 'The New Shoreditch'– Edith Nesbit - Milton Court Estate- 'Crack City' - Squats and Housing Co-ops – Sanford – Nettleton Road –  Venue MOT – Paul Gilroy - New Cross Commoners