“The possibilities of what lies beneath our feet as you wander through London connect us to the past.” Comment from a visitor to the Temple of Mithras in 1954.
The Temple of Mithras oral history project, collecting and celebrating the experiences of the people that went to marvel at the Temple of Mithras excavations in the 1950s, produced almost a hundred responses. People contributed not only their stories but the collections, photographs and newspaper clippings. In celebration and by way of a thank you for their unique input in to the history of London, MOLA and Bloomberg invited those who had contacted us throughout the project to a spot of cream tea at Bloomberg’s London offices.
The afternoon was also a chance for young citizen journalists from WORLDWrite, a Hackney-based educational charity dedicated to training young people in film making, to put together a piece chronicling the project.
Over 100 people turned out, coming from as far away as Devon and the USA. Several notable guests were in attendance, including Molly Grimes, the wife of the original site director, W.F. Grimes; Mithra, who was named after the site and 93 year-old Eileen Grey who paid sixpence to a nearby worker for the use of his ladder to peer over the fence surrounding the excavation.
