Available now from Past Tense: ‘Stand Up Now Diggers All’ The 1649 ‘True Levellers’ Commune at St George’s Hill Buy online here: pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com

Wander one of West London’s finest areas with: ‘A Shabby London Suburb’ A Combined map / pamphlet/walking guide to some of the radical & working class history of Hammersmith pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/a-sh...

Now available from Past Tense: Killing of the Elephant & The Destruction of the Castle By Christopher Jones Thoughts on the ‘re-development’ of the Elephant & Castle Buy online: pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/the-...

#OnThisDay in London repressive history, 1829: The first Metropolitan Police go on patrol; generally reviled by the working class population as ‘Blue Lobsters’.

#spycops go back further than you think: See ‘State Snooping
Spooks, Cops & Double Agents’
for a short history of British state spying on us, from Elizabethan times to the CHIS Bill. Published by Bristol Radical History Group Available from past tense pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/stat...

Available from Past Tense: LAST ORDERS FOR THE LOCAL:
Working Class Space v. the Marketplace; Theme Pubs and other disasters.
 Available to buy online: pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/last...

Back in print from Past Tense: BRIXTON: THROUGH A RIOT SHIELD
The 1985 Brixton Riot

Firsthand account of the September 1985 riot in Brixton, in response to police shooting & crippling of Cherry Groce, mother of 6, in a dawn raid. Available online: pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/thro...

It was 30 years ago (next week!) - when we squatted a motorway. 1996: Reclaim the Streets Re-Wild the M41 motorway, Shepherds Bush, occupying the road for a huge rave and planting trees in the tarmac wp.me/p74yfw-LH

Available from Past Tense: Some copies of A WANDER IN THE HILLS A short A4 guide to just some of the radical - and otherwise - history of the ridge of hills that span South London, the slopes that once housed the Great North Wood. pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/a-wa...

Available from Past Tense: ‘The Roaring Girl’ The Lives of Moll Cutpurse An account of the many lives of Mary Frith, aka Moll Cutpurse: 17th Century thief, fence, performer, cross-dresser, transgressor, smoker, drinker, & allegedly, highwaywoman… pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/the-...

#OnThisDay in lesbian herstory: the first Lesbian Strength march took place in London, 1981.

Wanstead Flats Walk 3 The Flats at War This walk includes many acres of common land, now used for recreation & sport. During World War 2, Wanstead Flats were extensively used for defensive purposes and looked quite different to what they are today. pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/wans...

Wanstead Flats Walk 2 Aldersbrook Flats This is the largest single area of Wanstead Flats… the scene, on a number of occasions in the past two centuries, of struggles against attempts to change the nature of the Flats by enclosure and building… pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/wans...

Wanstead Flats Walk 1 - The Bushwood Side The Bushwood section of Wanstead Flats, now characterised by playing fields & woodland, once formed a section of Wanstead House, the stately home / gardens that dominated this area until the 19th century. pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/wans...

A Capital Ground for Sports A History of Sports and Recreation on Wanstead Flats 1879-1914 Wanstead Flats hosted prize-fights, and later organised cricket & football, transforming the landscape, jostling for space, pulling in the crowds... pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/a-ca...

‘Changing the Face of the Forest’ How the unemployed transformed the Wanstead Flats area How today's landscape of woods, lakes and playing fields is a recent phenomenon, largely the result of the work of local unemployed labourers over 100 years ago. pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/chan...

‘Behind The Wire’ Prisoners of War Camps on Wanstead Flats An account of the camps holding Germans and Italians on Wanstead Flats during (& after) the war, conditions & their relations with the local communities. pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/behi...

Roll Up, Roll Up A History of the Wanstead Flats Funfair "There is no other fair like Whit Monday's on Wanstead Flats…shows, shies, swings, merry-go-rounds, fried fish stalls, donkeys… you may be drunk and disorderly without being locked up… “ pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/roll...

Unruly & Predatory Cattle The Cows of Wanstead Flats Cattle grazing, droving, battles over common rights, the menace of wandering cows and theft - a fantastic 1000-year bovine social history on an East London open space. pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/unru...

#JuneMonthOfRevolt ‬ #OnThisDay in London rebellious history, 1780: Gordon Rioters looting a house battle it out with troops in Broad Street.

Join Past Tense & Lewisham Libraries to mark May Day, the struggles for green space; help create a collective zine! May Day & the Rights of Common Sat 16 May 2026 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Sydenham Library, Sydenham Rd, London SE26 5SE Free, but please book a place: www.tickettailor.com/events/calic...

“Green Beneath the Skies” Little did we know, when we gave that title to our account of the 1875 riot that helped preserve Hackney Downs as public open space, how prophetic we were… Whole borough’s gone Green Beneath the Skies…

100 years on from the 1926 General Strike: How did trade unionists organise the Strike on the ground in some areas of London? How did the state, local councils & the police respond? Join Past Tense/Mayday Rooms tomorrow for The General Strike in Southwark FREE radical history walk

#OnThisDay, 5th May 1926: scabs who volunteered to drive strikebreaking trams during the General Strike spent the day besieged by strikers in the Hackney Tram Depot; a few who escaped were chased by pickets, caught, & dunked in the drinking trough at the Mare Street Triangle…

Join Past Tense, associated with the Mayday Rooms for The 1926 General Strike in Southwark A FREE radical history walk around the Elephant & Castle Sunday 10th May 2026 Meet 2pm: the Obelisk, St George's Circus, SE1 More info, email: pasttense@riseup.net

The 1926 General Strike in Southwark A FREE radical history walk around the Elephant & Castle from Past Tense, associated with the Mayday Rooms Sunday 10th May 2026 Meet 2pm: the Obelisk, St George's Circus, SE1 More info, email: pasttense@riseup.net

The Past Tense stall at the always fabulous Bristol Radical History Festival. Talks, walks, stalls and exhibitions & more All day today at M Shed, Princes Wharf, Bristol BS1 4RN Tomorrow: The Cube BS2 8JD

With May Day fast approaching Celebrate 1st May with a bit of history: MAYDAYS IN SOUTH LONDON.
By Neil Transpontine.
 Buy online here: pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/mayd...

As the Centenary of the 1926 General Strike approaches: How did trade unionists organise the Strike on the ground in one area of London? Now back in print: ‘Nine Days In May’ The 1926 General Strike in Southwark Buy online here: pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/nine...

Available from Past Tense: BURNING WOMEN:
The European Witch hunts, enclosure and the Rise of Capitalism. 
by Lady Stardust Buy online here: pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/burn...