Explore the real-world places that appear in Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include The Folly, Crawley, Skygarden House (Heygate Estate inspiration), Elephant and Castle, Tyburn (Marble Arch) and 3 more.
Russell Square, Bloomsbury — Home of Britain's last wizards
The Folly is the base of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale and apprentice wizard PC Peter Grant, the Metropolitan Police's tiny magical branch. From here Peter juggles the Crawley murder, the stolen grimoire and the strange goings-on at the estate south of the river, while Toby the dog sniffs out magic. The house's library and workshops are where the team pieces together the Faceless Man's possible involvement.
The Folly in the series is a fictional institution, set in a grand townhouse in the Bloomsbury area near Russell Square. The real square was laid out around 1800 on the Bedford estate and is surrounded by university and hotel buildings.
Russell Square is a popular public garden with a cafe and fountains, surrounded by Georgian and Victorian buildings. The Folly itself does not exist, but the square is a common stop for fans of the series.
Visit: Russell Square Gardens (park)
West Sussex — Where the mutilated body is found
The novel begins with a mutilated body discovered in Crawley, drawing Peter Grant out of London. The prime suspect is Robert Weil, who may be an associate of the Faceless Man, or simply a serial killer. The case sets the book's central mystery in motion.
Crawley grew from a small market town into a designated New Town in 1947, planned to house people moved out of postwar London. It sits close to Gatwick Airport.
Crawley is a busy commuter town with a large town centre, retail areas and a major employment base around Gatwick Airport. It is not a typical tourist destination.
Elephant and Castle — The nutter-designed, charlatan-built estate
Skygarden House is the brutalist housing estate at the heart of the novel, designed by an eccentric architect, built by charlatans and filled with desperate residents. Peter Grant is drawn in after hearing of odd happenings there, and the estate's strange geometry and secrets link back to the Faceless Man and the stolen grimoire. It is fictional, modeled on the real Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle.
The Heygate Estate was a large council housing estate built in the early 1970s in Walworth, near Elephant and Castle. It became notorious for decay and was gradually emptied from the mid-2000s, then demolished between 2011 and 2014.
The site has been redeveloped as Elephant Park, a mixed-use neighborhood of new apartments, shops and landscaped green spaces. Little of the original estate remains.
Visit: Elephant Park (park)
Newington, Southwark — Gateway to the south London case
Elephant and Castle is the transport hub through which Peter Grant's investigation moves into the territory of south London. The area surrounds the estate at the center of the plot and ties together the town planner's death under a tube train and the hunt for the grimoire.
The name comes from a historic coaching inn, and the area was heavily bombed in World War II before being redeveloped in a postwar modernist style. It has been a major junction of roads and Underground lines for over a century.
Elephant and Castle is a busy transport interchange with Northern and Bakerloo line stations and national rail services. The surrounding area is being extensively regenerated with new housing and shops.
Oxford Street end of Hyde Park — Lady Tyburn's domain
The hidden River Tyburn, ruled by Lady Ty, is one of the north-of-the-river spirits in Peter Grant's world. In the series Peter must show respect for the rivers' demands and boundaries, and Broken Homes emphasizes how the river spirits' territories shape where he can operate when the case crosses to the south.
Tyburn was a famous place of public execution until 1783, near the site of today's Marble Arch. The Tyburn stream itself was long ago covered over and now runs through underground culverts.
Marble Arch is a major traffic junction at the northeast corner of Hyde Park. The white marble arch stands on an island, and a plaque marks the site of the Tyburn gallows.
Visit: Marble Arch (landmark)
Barnes and Putney — Beverley Brook's mouth on the Thames
The Beverley Brook is the home of Beverley Brook, the river goddess and Peter Grant's friend, who helps him navigate relations with other river spirits. With the case taking him south of the river, Peter needs her guidance on the etiquette and politics of the local river spirits.
Beverley Brook rises near Worcester Park and flows about 14 km north through Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park before meeting the Thames near Barn Elms. Its name is thought to refer to a beaver stream.
The brook's mouth lies by the Barnes riverside, and the nearby Barn Elms area offers playing fields and sports facilities. A riverside walk follows the Thames here.
Visit: Barn Elms Park (park)
Near Vauxhall Bridge — Mouth of the lost River Effra
South of the river, Peter Grant must deal with prickly local river spirits, among them those of the lost southern rivers. The Effra's outfall near Vauxhall represents the south London waterways whose territories Peter must respect while pursuing the Faceless Man's trail.
The River Effra rose in Norwood and flowed north through Brixton and Kennington into the Thames near Vauxhall. It was gradually built over in the 19th century and now survives mainly as a sewer.
The outfall is hidden by the Thames embankment near Vauxhall Bridge. The surrounding area is a busy mix of riverside apartments and transport links.
Victoria Embankment, Westminster — The wider Met
Peter Grant is a Metropolitan Police constable, and the Met's headquarters represents the official world he must report to. Colleagues like DCI Alexander Seawoll and Sahra Guleed work the more routine side of the investigations that cross over with Peter's magical cases.
The Metropolitan Police's headquarters has used the name Scotland Yard since 1829. The Victoria Embankment site was occupied from 1967, and the force moved to its present building in 2016.
The current headquarters is the Curtis Green Building on the Victoria Embankment. It is a working police facility, though its famous rotating sign is a popular photo spot.
More by Ben Aaronovitch: Whispers Underground locations map · Rivers of London locations map · Moon Over Soho locations map · All Ben Aaronovitch books
More novels set in London: Browse all London books on Map A Story
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