Vanishing

A thousand years of butchery pervades the air
Ghosts of livestock slaughtered
Faint reminders of this morning's sales
Before dawn had even stretched her limbs.

Who stalks the tunnels
Which furtively snake
Beneath the glorious Victorian edifice
And offer dark corners for
Evil to lurk?

The vaguely ghost-like man disappearing into the light; the colour of the phone booths, façade and traffic cone; and then the sinister plastic curtain behind which anything could happen came together for me in an odd shot which I've played around with a bit and am quite pleased with. I'm clearly still haunted by the grisly book I finished last night, 'Vanished' by Tim Weaver, which has all sorts of murderous goings on in the disused Tube network ....

The trade in livestock on the site began in the 10th century when horses, swine and oxen were sold in the 'smooth field' on Fridays. The enormous, grand building of Smithfield Market was designed by Victorian architect Sir Horace Jones in 1866, when rail was taking off. It lay above new lines connecting London to the rest of Britain and sits above a warren of tunnels which once saw live animals arriving 'on the hoof' and then by train, before they were slaughtered. It was recently refurbished at a cost of £70 million. The market opens at 3am and does a roaring trade to the meat and restaurant industry but visitors can soak up the blood-stained atmosphere, too, as long as you can stomach the smell of a giant butcher's shop!