Snow In London Looks A Little More Serious In These Historic Images

There has been much talk of snow around London after this week’s light dusting.

Snow fell on Thursday evening and Friday morning but very few flakes settled, leaving many Londoners poking fun at the ‘Snowmageddon’.

**Falling snow on Tower Bridge in London on Thursday**

But the snow wasn’t always so pathetic in the capital.

In the past London has been brought to a standstill by snow - with the Thames even occasionally freezing over.

We’ve rounded up some of the best historic pictures of London and its residents battling against the elements in the winter.

London hasn’t looked like this for a while...

Freezing Thames

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A view of Tower Bridge on the River Thames in London, when the river actually froze over in December of 1895.

Snowly does it

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A busy street scene in Knighstbridge in the 1890s.

Snow balls

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Guards play football in the snow at the Tower of London in 1910.

Snowball fight!

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Uniformed men enjoying a snowball fight in London in January 1917.

Snow, ski & smoke

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The Misses Debenham stopping for a smoke before going skiing in Hyde Parkin 1926.

Slush puppies

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A tramway point man clearing slush from the points on the Embankment, c.1927.

Sister sledge

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The businessman Sir Samuel Instone, pulls his daughter on her sledge through Regent's Park in the snow, 1929.

Snow dome

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St Paul's Cathedral rising above the snow covered roofs of the city of London, c.1930.

Snow joke

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It's slow going for snow-bound traffic in London's Oxford Street in March 1931.

Snow dome II

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London deep in winter snow as seen from St Pauls Cathedral in 1933.

The cold arm of the law.

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A lone policeman walks along the snow covered Embankment in London in February 1933.

Barely recognisable

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A group of swimmers having a snowball fight in swimming costumes at Kenwood in London, c1935.

Hampstead heap

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Two men sitting ride a toboggan in the Hampstead Heath Park in January 1935.

Snow square

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The statue of Lord Beaconsfield in front of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Parliament Square, on Christmas Eve 1938.

Snow-go area

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Children enjoy a snowball fight in Trafalgar Square in 1938.

Slushy Strand

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People walking down the Strand in London during a snow fall in February 1938.

Snow sports

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A heavy fall of snow attracted winter sports lovers to Hampstead Heath on Boxing Day, 1938.

Snow and steady

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Two cyclists take a tumble on a snowy road in London in 1938.

White out

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A lone pedestrian walking through the snowfall in a London park in 1939.

Spring snow

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A photograph of a snowstorm on Oxford Street in February, 1941. An atmospheric and almost deserted scene during a bitterly cold winter. The spring of 1941 was the second coldest of the century.

Snow shovelling

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Women labourers employed by Kensington Borough Council, clearing away snow in Kensington streets in 1942.

Pride in his work

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A policeman looks at one of the lions of Nelson's Column covered in a layer of snow, after a heavy snowfall in London in 1947.

Snow-go zone

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It looked rather like motoring chaos in Trafalgar Square when heavy snow fell on the city in 1947.

A bridge not far

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Cyclist David Joel as he took to the frozen river near Windsor Bridge in 1947. At Windsor the Thames was frozen from bank-to-bank for a considerable distance.

Saddle snow

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A column of Household Cavalry crosses the snow-covered Horse Guards Parade to take up guard duties in 1947.

Monumental dump

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Three children are enjoying a snowball fight in near The Victoria Monument in central London in 1957.

Skater boys (and girls)

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In the shadow of Buckingham palace, skaters and sliders take to the ice of the frozen St. James' Park lake in 1963.

Frozen in time

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Figures on the fountain in Hyde Park are festooned with ice in the early hours of the morning in 1966.

Stamford snow

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A snowman at Stamford Bridge after matches were cancelled following heavy snow across London during snow in 1969.

Snow strike

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Rush-hour at London's Cannon Street station and not a train in sight thanks to a rail strike and Arctic conditions caused by a blizzard throughout southern Britain in 1979.

The white stuff