The „London-houses“ got their remarkable name during earlier times when they stood a few miles further north on Blomstrandhalvøya, where the British Northern Exploration Company tried to establish a marble mine under the name „Ny London“. But „New London“ did not survive beyond a couple of years and when it was abandoned, most facilities and materials were removed. Only two houses, some bits and pieces of machinery and various rubbish was left behind. Some of the houses were moved to Ny-Ålesund and put into new and good use there: this is where the Dutch Arctic Station is based now. The Dutch scientists mainly work with terrestrial ecology, with a focus on Barnacle geese and their role in the cycles of matter and energy in the tundra.
Huts are places of longing, dreams and adventure in Spitsbergen’s beautiful landscape. Even if the modern visitor’s eye may mostly be directed towards nature, most will have an open ear every now and then for exciting survival stories about explorers and expeditions, adventurers and trappers.
These huts are silent witnesses and and every one of them tells a little part of the whole story. The little book “Svalbardhytter” and the poster that is part of the same project make these fascinating places accessible for everyone.
From remote ruins, just traces in a few cases, to “famous” trapper huts such as Fredheim in Tempelfjord and Bjørneborg on Halvmåneøya, the war weather station Haudegen, the former scientific base Würzburger Hütte on Barentsøya and Hammerfesthuset, Svalbard’s oldest building.