You cannot borrow books from this library in Hammersmith

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MANY YEARS AGO, I admired some fine framed paintings in my friend’s home. His mother told me that she had borrowed them from a local library that loaned out paintings. The idea that a library loaned out anything apart from books and gramophone records was new to me. I have since discovered that as early as 1894, a library in St Louis (Missouri) loaned out tennis rackets and board games, and from 1904, paintings were available to be borrowed from a library in Newark (New Jersey).

Yesterday, 27 May 2026, while strolling through the relatively new Livat shopping centre in London’s Hammersmith, I saw a series of lockers marked “Library of Things”. It contained a range of household items and garden tools, all of which were available for hire at various costs per day. This library is run by an organisation called “Library of Things” (see: www.libraryofthings.co.uk/ ). To use the Library of Things, you must first register on its website. Then, you choose what you need to borrow, pay for the hire (sometimes it is free), and then get given a code that will open the locker containing what you wish to hire. The organisation’s aim is to reduce wastage and to save the environment from the packaging that accompanies bought items, and then the waste that follows when the item is discarded. Using the service allows people to get equipment that might be too large to store at home, and/or is used infrequently (such as for example carpet steam cleaners and sewing machines). By making the small payments to use equipment when needed, householders can save by not making the larger investments to purchase the items. 

In principle, this set-up seems like a good idea.

Work in progress on a new book about travelling in India

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Adam Yamey derives great enjoyment from his many travels in India. His forthcoming book (now being edited), “ROAD TO HEAVEN: A passage through India” will transport you on a journey that includes his recent adventures in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

On a highway in Tamil Nadu

Adam will not only describe what he saw and experienced on his tour in late 2025 and early 2026, but he also includes accounts and observations of the places he visited made by earlier visitors (for example, the Emperor Jahangir and the author EM Forster). In addition, he will provide the reader with much information about the formerly British colonial (now ‘elite’) clubs of India, institutions which are barely mentioned in most travel books about the country.

As for ‘The Road To Heaven’ mentioned in the title, you can discover much about it and a host of other attractions and places of interest by reading Adam’s book, which will illustrated with his photographs and some maps. Adam is hoping that the book will be published within a few weeks.

An Irish man of great interest: Roger Casement

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WAS SIR ROGER Casement (1864-1916) a hero, or a traitor, or maybe both? At first a faithful servant of the British Empire,  he later conspired against it, promoting the struggle for Irish Independence.  After reading “A Rebel and a Traitor” by Rory Carroll, you might possibly be able to decide whether Sir Roger’s intriguing life was heroic or treacherous.

 

Carroll’s detailed biography of Sir Roger is highly researched and fast-paced. It reads like a thriller, and is an appropriate account  of Casement’s complex, thrilling life. The book explores the revolutionary movements in early twentieth century Ireland as well as Casement’s attempts to assist them.

 

I recommend this book both to those who are interested in the history of Ireland and to those who enjoy exciting tales … in this case a fantastic but true one.

A Scottish architect and a house in north London

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MY NAME IS Adam Robert Yamey. Robert Adam is the name of a famous Scottish-born architect who was born in 1728 (in Kirkaldy, Scotland), and died in 1792 in London. I was brought up within just under two miles of Kenwood House, which lies between Hampstead and Highgate.

Library in Kenwood House

In 1764, Lord Mansfield (1705-1793), then the owner of Kenwood House, commissioned Robert Adam to remodel the place. Adam’s work included adding a library, adding an impressive Ionic portico, and redesigning the interiors of several rooms. Adam’s works, especially the library he designed, made Kenwood House become a remarkable building. Many people visit it today not only to see Adam’s architecture but also to view the magnificent collection of old master paintings housed within the mansion.

In 1780, Kenwood House had a lucky escape. A group of rioters objecting to Lord Mansfield’s espousal of rights for Roman Catholics left London, and headed towards Kenwood. Having already wrecked Mansfield’s central London home, they were aiming to demolish Kenwood House. Luckily for Mansfield, and for us today, the rioters never reached Kenwood House. You can discover how they were stopped by reading my book “Beneath a wide Sky: Hampstead and its Environs”.

My father, an economist, had wanted to name me ‘Adam Smith Yamey’, in honour of the famous pioneer of economics, Adam Smith (1723-1790). However, my mother was not in favour of this choice of names. Instead, my name contains the Scottish architect’s first and family names. Often, I wonder whether this was because my parents, who were both interested in art and architecture, knew and liked Kenwood House.

[My book is available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/BENEATH-WIDE-SKY-HAMPSTEAD-ENVIRONS/dp/B09R2WRK92 ]

An artist from Nigeria at a gallery in London

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BACK IN 2023, we were in Hastings, and saw an exhibition of works by artist Nengi Omuku. She was born in Nigeria in 1987, and received artistic education (BA and MA degrees) at London’s Slade School of Art. She lives and works between London and Lagos (Nigeria). After seeing the exhibition in Hastings, I wrote about it here: https://adam-yamey-writes.com/2023/10/18/wild-silk-beside-the-east-sussex-sea-shore/ .

Today, 23 May 2026, we saw another exhibition of her art, which is being held at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in Heddon Street, London W1 until 30 May 2026. Like the work she exhibited in Hastings, this show is a collection of her paintings on sanyan – a hand spun cloth that has been made by the Yoruba people since long before their lands were colonised by Europeans. Nengi takes a great interest in the production of this traditional textile. The subject matter on the paintings in the London show the artist’s exploration of the “politics of green spaces in urban centres”. She is particularly concerned with the insufficient quantity of green spaces in Lagos. Examination of aerial views of the city confirm her anxiety: large areas of the city are devoid of green spaces. Statistically, as far as this is concerned Lagos has not much less green space than Manhattan, but considerably less than Central London, and far less than Greater London.

The paintings, which depict different urban scenes, are delicately painted in slightly muted colours. Close examination of the pictures reveals the details of the cloth upon which paint has been applied. It was a small exhibition, but well worth seeing.

A viaduct in Hampstead and an abandoned building project

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WHEN STROLLING ON Hampstead Heath, you might come across a series of ponds. These are known as the Hampstead Ponds. An elegant brick viaduct crosses one of these ponds quite picturesquely. It seems to be a connection between two points of no special significance. In my book “Beneath a Wide Sky: Hampstead and its Environs”, I mention the history of the viaduct as follows:

“The Hampstead Ponds, now three in number, are fed by streams that rise near the Vale of Health, which is northwest of the uppermost pond, the Mixed Bathing Pond. The latter flows into the second pond and then down into the first, the lowest. These streams, along with those that flow into the Highgate Ponds, are sources of the water that flows in the now subterranean River Fleet, which empties into the Thames under Blackfriars Bridge.  Northeast of the upper pond, that which is used by swimmers, is Viaduct Pond. This is so named because it is traversed by a brick viaduct, built between 1844 and 1847. This structure was to have been the grand entrance to an estate of residential villas that Sir Thomas Maryon-Wilson had hoped to build on the Heath but was prevented by local opposition.”

Luckily, Sir Thomas was prevented from constructing homes on Hampstead Heath, because if he had done so, a valuable outdoor amenity, part of the Heath, would have disappeared. Equally luckily, his viaduct has remained, making it a surprisingly beautiful feature within a largely wooded area.

If you wish to know more about Hampstead past and present, please see: https://www.amazon.co.uk/BENEATH-WIDE-SKY-HAMPSTEAD-ENVIRONS/dp/B09R2WRK92/

The barons or Barrons buried in a village in Cambridgeshire

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COMBERTON IS A DELIGHTFUL small village not far from Cambridge. A graveyard surrounds its parish church of St Mary, which stands south of the village. While looking around the graves in the churchyard, I came across a stone with the following inscription carved in it:

“In memory of the Barrons of the Manor of Birdlines 1400 – 1805, over 60 of whom lie buried here. Six within the church. R.I.P.”

I wondered about the Manor of Birdlines, and resorted to the Internet. After the Norman Conquest, Comberton was divided into three manors. One of these was Birdlines (also spelled as ‘Berdlines’, ‘Birdling’, and ‘Burdelins’). By 1300, the manor became owned by the Chambers family of Epping, following a marriage, Then, in 1514, the manor was sold to the Bishop of Winchester. Thus, it became part of the Savoy Hospital Estates, which were established by King Edward VI’s charter. The manor’s lands were allotted to London’s St Thomas Hospital, and its governors became titular Lords of the Manor. They continued in this role until 1974. All this information and much more can be found at https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol5/pp175-189 .

The memorial to the Barrons of Birdline

There is a Birdline manor house in Comberton. It was built in the eighteenth century on the site of an earlier one. What puzzled me was why the “Barrons of Birdline” continued to be buried in Comberton’s churchyard and church until 1805. I cannot explain that yet,  but I wondered if, after that date, the “Barrons” no longer lived in the village. Or was the word ‘Barron’ on the memorial a family name, rather than a misspelling of the word ‘Baron’, which I had assumed when seeing it? A little more research revealed that there was a Barron family in Comberton. A website (https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/G3LT-KYN/richard-barron-1560-1618) gives the following information:

“When Richard Barron was born about 1560, in Comberton, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom, his father, Thomas Barron Snr, was 21 and his mother, Jeane Bonner, was 21. He had at least 1 son with Margaret Meads Feato BRUMSTED. He died in April 1618, in Comberton, Cambridgeshire, England, at the age of 59.”

Having discovered this, I now favour the idea that the monument commemorates not the barons of Birdline but members of the Barron family, who lived in the manor.

A club in Bangalore (India) and a long memory

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AT PRESENT I am editing my latest book about India. It will be called “ROAD TO HEAVEN -A Passage through India ” The book, a travelogue, will include something about the ‘elite’ clubs of India.

Here is a short excerpt from a chapter that will describe the Bangalore Club, where we stay often.:

“My wife and I find that we are respected by the staff, many of whom have known us for many years. Some of the older staff, who have long since retired remembered Lopa from when she was a child in the 1960s. One such old retainer, whom I never met was Mr Santabarbara. One afternoon in the 1970s, Lopa and her family were entertaining Jonathan Grey, a visitor from England, at the Club. Jonathan’s father, Mr Peter Grey, had been a colleague of my father-in-law in India, and had been a corporate member of the Club in the early 1950s. When Santabarbara saw Jonathan, he looked at him, and with tears in his eyes, slowly said:

“Grey Sahib’s son.”

He had never met Jonathan, and had not seen his father for at least 20 years. We visit the Club regularly, but get the similarly warm recognition from the older members of staff. Our daughter who has been going to the Club since she was about 8 months old is still known as ‘baby’ by the long-established members of the Club’s staff. As far as the Club’s staff are concerned, whether they be humble gardeners of senior stewards, decency pays dividends, and costs nothing.”