Forgotten Urban Histories: The extraordinary secrets of ordinary cities.

Mark Kerrigan
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Forgotten Urban HistoriesForgotten Urban Histories is a sharp, atmospheric, and beautifully immersive journey through the magnificent architectural layers hidden right beneath our feet. The premise is simple: while modern cities must constantly build, modernise, and push forward, we are incredibly fortunate that they rarely erase where they have been. Instead of demolishing their history, they preserve it in layers—sealing obsolete infrastructure beneath the tarmac, padlocking the gates to frozen time capsules, and creating a parallel, subterranean world where the past continues to exist directly alongside the present. This podcast is a detail-driven exploration of those incredible spatial anomalies. We bypass the polished tourist landmarks to uncover the spectacular omissions that most people walk straight past every day: abandoned subway networks untouched for decades, secret wartime headquarters, buried waterways, and hidden structures waiting silently in the dark just out of view. Combining rigorous historical research with a lightly witty, observational eye, Forgotten Urban Histories treats the world’s great metropolises as living, breathing archaeological marvels. From the deep blue clay of London to the restricted, silent ruins of the Venetian Lagoon, we pull back the curtain on the everyday landscape to find the awe and amazement buried just out of sight. This isn't a lecture on where a city has been; it's a celebration of the extraordinary, forgotten spaces we are lucky enough to still be able to rediscover and explore. About the Host  Mark Kerrigan holds a Bachelor of Education and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies. With over twenty years of experience as an educator, Mark excels at breaking down complex, rigorous academic research into engaging, accessible, and fascinating narratives. He is a multi-disciplinary creator under the Narranimate Studios banner, hosting both The B-Side Bible and the Forgotten Urban Histories podcast. Mark is also a versatile author, having written two speculative fiction novels as well as two children's novels. Across all his projects, he combines his background in education, narrative world-building, and historical criticism to strip the varnish off the past—delivering it exactly as it was: loud, accurate, and completely off the record.

Episodes

  1. May 26

    London’s Hidden Tube Tunnels: Ghost Stations, War Rooms, and Plague Pits

    London is exceptionally good at appearances. From the surface, it presents as an entirely orderly, predictable metropolis that queues with mathematical precision and insists on calling things "temporary closures" even when the gates have been padlocked since the Second World War. But just fifty feet below the pavements—under the heavy thrum of the red double-deckers and the hurried rush of takeaway coffee cups—there is another version of the city entirely. One that does not rush, does not receive software updates, and does not particularly care whether anyone remembers it or not. In this episode of Forgotten Urban Histories, Mark Kerrigan takes us on a fascinating, brisk journey through London’s parallel metropolis of hollow spaces. We’ll break past the "Staff Only" doors to explore the beautifully suspended Edwardian time capsule of Aldwych station, and discover why the British Museum station quietly lost the transport argument to its neighbours. We’ll then reveal how the subterranean network was thoroughly colonised during the Blitz, tracing the remarkable domestic routines of the 150,000 civilians who slept on the platforms, and slipping into "the burrow"—the top-secret, deep-level Mayfair headquarters where Winston Churchill ran the war effort over fine silver and brandy. Finally, we’ll dig past the clay and into London's oldest logistical crisis: the seventeenth-century plague pits hidden right beneath the immaculate lawns of the city's finest public parks. It is a story of a city that never throws anything away, but simply builds its present right on top of its past. Listen now, and discover why the surface is never the whole story. Website: www.narranimatestudios.com.auHost: Mark KerriganCategory: Society & Culture / History / Urban Exploration

    39 min

  2. 12/02/2025

    The Bourbon Tunnel

    The Bourbon Tunnel: The King Who Dug Himself an Escape Beneath the lively streets of Naples lies a tunnel built out of royal nerves and Neapolitan stone. In this episode, we follow the curious story of King Ferdinand II, who ordered a secret escape route carved straight through centuries of underground history — Roman aqueducts, Renaissance quarries, and everything in between. The plan was simple: if the people revolted (again), he’d slip out of the palace and vanish into a private subterranean highway. The tunnel was dug, the engineering was impressive… and Ferdinand never used it once. Instead, the Bourbon Tunnel went on to have a far more interesting life — as a wartime shelter, an underground garage, an air-raid hospital, and eventually a hidden archive of rusted cars, abandoned statues, and stories left behind by the people who relied on it. Join us as we explore the layers, the legends, and the sheer Neapolitan character of a tunnel that began as one man’s escape plan and ended up becoming part of the city’s soul.

    34 min

  3. 11/03/2025

    The Catacombs of Paris: The Unnamed Dead.

    Beneath the bright boulevards of Paris lies another city — silent, cold, and built entirely of human bone. In this episode, we explore how overflowing cemeteries, disease, revolution, and empire all led to the creation of a vast ossuary beneath the French capital — a labyrinth that holds the remains of over six million people. We walk through the history that placed them there, and then shine a light on four of the countless unnamed Parisians whose lives and deaths now form the foundations of the modern city. From plague in the Middle Ages, to a washerwoman in the Enlightenment, to a young clerk caught in the Revolution, to a Napoleonic soldier who never made it home — their stories are still present in the stone. This is the forgotten Paris: not the monuments above, but the silent world below.

    32 min

  4. 10/29/2025

    The Mole of Edge Hill: Liverpool's Mysterious Tunnels

    Beneath the quiet streets of Liverpool lies a labyrinth carved by hand over two centuries ago — a network of tunnels with no clear purpose and no surviving plans.  In this debut episode, Mark Kerrigan explores the mystery of Joseph Williamson, the eccentric visionary known as The Mole of Edge Hill. From vast underground chambers to the strange relics left behind, discover the story of one man’s hidden world — and the secrets still buried beneath the city.

    29 min
  • 4 Episodes

About

Forgotten Urban HistoriesForgotten Urban Histories is a sharp, atmospheric, and beautifully immersive journey through the magnificent architectural layers hidden right beneath our feet. The premise is simple: while modern cities must constantly build, modernise, and push forward, we are incredibly fortunate that they rarely erase where they have been. Instead of demolishing their history, they preserve it in layers—sealing obsolete infrastructure beneath the tarmac, padlocking the gates to frozen time capsules, and creating a parallel, subterranean world where the past continues to exist directly alongside the present. This podcast is a detail-driven exploration of those incredible spatial anomalies. We bypass the polished tourist landmarks to uncover the spectacular omissions that most people walk straight past every day: abandoned subway networks untouched for decades, secret wartime headquarters, buried waterways, and hidden structures waiting silently in the dark just out of view. Combining rigorous historical research with a lightly witty, observational eye, Forgotten Urban Histories treats the world’s great metropolises as living, breathing archaeological marvels. From the deep blue clay of London to the restricted, silent ruins of the Venetian Lagoon, we pull back the curtain on the everyday landscape to find the awe and amazement buried just out of sight. This isn't a lecture on where a city has been; it's a celebration of the extraordinary, forgotten spaces we are lucky enough to still be able to rediscover and explore. About the Host  Mark Kerrigan holds a Bachelor of Education and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies. With over twenty years of experience as an educator, Mark excels at breaking down complex, rigorous academic research into engaging, accessible, and fascinating narratives. He is a multi-disciplinary creator under the Narranimate Studios banner, hosting both The B-Side Bible and the Forgotten Urban Histories podcast. Mark is also a versatile author, having written two speculative fiction novels as well as two children's novels. Across all his projects, he combines his background in education, narrative world-building, and historical criticism to strip the varnish off the past—delivering it exactly as it was: loud, accurate, and completely off the record.

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