Limehouse
Limehouse was an area of East London which the Eighth Doctor described as "gothic", "suitably grim", "dank", and "populated by murderers and thieves". (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen [+]Loading...["Mad Dogs and Englishmen (novel)"], The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...{"chaptname":"Brave New World","page":"49","chaptnum":"2","1":"The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"})
History
19th century
During the 1880s, the Limehouse area of London became the city's original Chinatown as large numbers of Chinese immigrants settled there, establishing restaurants and shops, and opening laundry houses where lime was used to clean clothes, giving the area its popular name. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...{"chaptname":"Brave New World","page":"49","chaptnum":"2","1":"The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"})
In 1880, a Rutan ship crashed in Limehouse. (PROSE: Evolution [+]Loading...["Evolution (novel)"])
In the late 19th century, Limehouse had a significant Chinese population, many of whom were addicted to opium. The Tong of the Black Scorpion ran Limehouse Laundry. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang (novelisation)"]) In an incident which Henry Gordon Jago would later recall as "the adventure in Limehouse", (AUDIO: The Mahogany Murderers [+]Loading...["The Mahogany Murderers (audio story)"]) the Fourth Doctor, Leela, George Litefoot, and Jago faced off against Magnus Greel and Mr Sin at the base of the Tong of the Black Scorpion. (TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang [+]Loading...["The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TV story)"])
20th centuyr
In the 20th century, Mumu Manchu operated from Limehouse. (PROSE: The Delightful Bag [+]Loading...["The Delightful Bag (short story)"]) John once described Mumu as "the demented crime lord of Limehouse". (PROSE: Fellowship of Ink [+]Loading...["Fellowship of Ink (novel)"])
This area of London was hit particularly badly during the Blitz, forcing much of the population to relocate to Soho. Limehouse Green station was abandoned and, when the Chula medical transporter landed and buried itself in the ground there, the British Army sealed off the station with barbed wire fences, covered the cylinder with tarpaulin, and posted troops to guard what they believed might have been Adolf Hitler's latest secret weapon. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"])
In 1940, a temporally displaced Cyber-Leader that roamed London's East End became known as the "Limehouse Lurker". (PROSE: Illegal Alien [+]Loading...["Illegal Alien (novel)"])
In 1941, the Chula ambulance planted by Captain Jack Harkness in Limehouse Green station accidentally unleashed a nanogenic plague. With the help of the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler, Harkness dealt with the plague in time for all the Chula technology to be obliterated when Germans bombed the Limehouse Green Station. (TV: The Empty Child [+]Loading...["The Empty Child (TV story)"] / The Doctor Dances [+]Loading...["The Doctor Dances (TV story)"])
Upon following William Freer to London in 1942, the Eighth Doctor was surprised to find that Freer's master was based not in Limehouse, but in Mayfair. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen [+]Loading...["Mad Dogs and Englishmen (novel)"])
