Camden Town and Somers Town
This post has not been finished, it is not edited or checked
Post to the north North London Railway Camden Road (quarter square only done)
Post to the east Canonbury Kings Cross
Post to the south not done
Post to the west Camden Townn (quarter square only done)
Aldenham Street
Estate was given to the public school in Hertfordshire
called Aldenham by Richard Platt. Native of the town and Brewer under Elizabeth
he had it as a grammar school. Three fields in the area and Medburn Farm to the
school under the control of the Brewers Company.
Ampthill Square
Site of the Duke of Bedford’s Figs Mead Estate laid out
with terraces in the 1830s and called Bedford New Town.Bombed and demolished.
St
Pancras's Estate by Eric Lyons & Partners.
mixed development with three tower blocks of c. 1960, reclad in
1988 with trimmings in primary colours. Three twenty-storey tower blocks, north of the expanded railway-reclad in
primary colours in the 1980s. It occupies a lot of ground, most of which was
once Ampthill Square, actually a segment of a circle.
Baxter Street
Bessemer bronze powder manufacture bought factory premises
Bayham Street
19th artisan street called after Bayham
Abbey, the Marquis of Camden's house.
Fleet ran down the other side of the canal. Modest houses on Camden Town development.
Bayham was another of Charles Pratt’s titles.
Greenland Road Children’s Centre on the site of 16.
Brunel court in Pratt Street, 1840.
126-129 demolished for ARP exercises
Westerham flats 1955-61 Festival of Britain style tiles. Large council schemes, characteristic of its era.
Beatty Street,
Built soon after the Battle of Trafalgar, originally
Nelson Street, in tribute to the Admiral's success at Trafalgar, was renamed in
1937. There are two possible derivations, both nautical Sir William Beatty,
Nelson's surgeon, and Admiral Lord Beatty, Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet in
World War I who had died in 1936.
Camden High Street
mixture of mostly small shops and utilities,
typical of the modest development of the Southampton Estate in Camden Town.
112-138 Department Store, ship and steam engines
133 site of Marks and Spencer's bazaar site of Electric
Cinema in the 1920s. By 1939 this had grown into a departmental store. Part of
the present Marks & Spencer’s site was one cinema, the Electric, run by a
Mrs Elizabeth Storey. I 135, inscribed 'SB 1925 SB'
135 'SB' Sydney Bolson, Boot Dealer
287/289 Jobmaster's office. Booking office 1972. Crews of Buses for the Metropolitan District
railway to Gower Street station, then railway took over. Went all round the stations 1895. Assoc. Omnibus stables, then motor engines
and private buses
93-95 new building on site of Bedford Theatre Royal Camden
Theatre, odd dome 1900, Old Bedford music hall demolition in 1969. It was last
used as a playhouse in 1 and the final productions included Sir Donald Wolfit
Othello and King Lear. The list of famous players appearing at the Bedford
before World War 1 is a long one. In 1912 it included Gracie Fields (fourteen
years at the time) and Charlie Chaplin. Among lesser lights the wife of Dr
Crippen, later murdered by her husband. Famous interiors of the theatre were
painted by Sickert. Features in films 'Trottie True’.
ABC Bread Co., 1915, 1920s facade, became Sainsbury's site
Sainsbury supermarket and housing,
1988 Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners Ltd. column-free trading hall and underground car parking. northern orientation addressed by roof lights and glazed, electrically operated garage doors. elaborate vehicle entry gates.
Camden Palace,
1900 designed as the Royal Camden Theatre.
Cinema and night spot.
Plasterwork, galleries. At the junction of the High Street with
Crowndale Road stands what was once an elegant Edwardian playhouse, the Camden
Palace, built at the beginning ( this century at a cost of £50,000. The
architect m was Sprague, the man responsible for the design of numerous
turn-of-the-century theatres in London and suburbs. Messrs. Waring and Gillow
carried out the interior decoration, on his orders, in the then popular Louis
XV style. (Due to the influence of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, it
was fashionable to be Francophile, even in unfashionable Camden Town) The
building, lighted by electricity, had a seating capacity of over 3,000, and a
winter garden and promenade. Ellen Terry travelled from Brighton to open the
theatre on 2 December 1900 and a copper bas-relief still hangs in the foyer to
commemorate the event. After World War I the building became a cinema, as did
several other London theatres. Later it was used as radio and television
studios later, in the 1970s, as a restaurant and disco. Now a listed building,
the Camden Palace is a thriving night spot for the younger generation.
Originally called Southampton Place. Developed by Southampton Estate in 19th
but disrupted by the railway line out of Euston.
Southampton Arms, The present building dates from the
mid-19th and is close to the site of a former humble inn of the
same name. On the outside of the building, note the remains of the gas jets
which were lit after dark to publicise the pub. Adjoining the original inn was
the establishment of Mrs Lait, stay and crinoline tiemaker, in the earlier
nineteenth century. Two tiers of pilasters.
The Brighton
Woolworth's, site of the studio of the painter, George
Morland (1763-1804).
Statue of Cobden. On site of toll
house. Statue financed by Napoleon III
1868. Toll gate, was also a weigh
bridge. Up to 1866 the old toll-house and bar stood in the road where the
Cobden Statue now stands. A nineteenth century account tells us that one of the
'pikemen' had been an amateur gardener who 'raised an embankment of road-drift
to enclose the evidence of his taste for floricultural adornment'. When the
toll-house and bar were removed their place was taken, for no obvious reason,
by the larger than life size Sicilian marble statue of Richard Cobden, Liberal
MP and 'Apostle of Free Trade'. This was put up in 1868, by public subscription
to honour the man who helped to establish free trade between Britain and
France. Perhaps not surprisingly the project was largely financed by Napoleon
III, though the total cost was only about £320. Sculpted by the brothers W. & T. Wills, 1863, of Euston Road,
Cobden is seen in the every-day dress of the period, holding a parliamentary
roll addressing Mornington Crescent Underground Station as if he were making a
speech in the House of Commons. The statue bears the inscription: 'Cobden. The
Corn Laws Repealed, June 1846.' The unveiling ceremony, which took place on a
very warm Saturday afternoon, 27 June has been immortalised by Henry Dixon,
photographer, of Albany Street, from the vantage point of a window opposite
Camden Street
All Saints.
1822. consecrated on 15 July 1824 and was Built as Chapel of Ease for St.Pancras New
Church and first called Camden Chapel. Became All Saints in 1920. closed by the
Church of England early in 1948 and has since been in the hands of the Greek
Holy Orthodox Church.
46 Miss Buss
170 Gas light testing stations
Camden Town,
Dower of St.Paul's and then others until sold for housing
by Charles Pratt, first Earl of Camden. It was previously part of Kentish Town.
Called after Camden Place in Chiselhurst. development dates from the Act of 1788 which allowed Pratt to lay out streets on his property. He had come into possession of the manor of Kentish
Town through his marriage to the daughter of Nicholas Jeffreys. early streets
bear the names of both families, and their estates of Bayham and Brecknock, as
well as that of the contractor, Greenland. George Dance Jun. prepared an
ambitious Neoclassical plan in 1790, with a linked crescent and oval, and a large circus.
This became less expensive semis and villas. west of Camden High
Street was part of Lord Southampton's estate, and was developed in the early
c19, but progress was disrupted by the railway line into Euston in the 1830s.
The early c19 terraces were not fashionable, and by the later c19 the district
had an aura of impoverished
gentility with pockets of industry and services near the canal and railway.
Piano making was a specialty. Some areas were entirely rebuilt after the Second World War, but gradually
gentrification took over. The fabric is essentially c19, lively and scruffy. A Greek
Cypriot community developed post war.
Gilbey's gin distillery
Camley Street
Was Cambridge Street.
Nature
Park. London
Wildlife Trust and LBC, 1985. Site of Plimsoll coal drops 1866. Coal transhipment and distribution was
one of the major activities of the area,
and Samuel Plimsoll (of loading-line fame) campaigned successfully against the
railway companies' monopoly of the coal
trade, promoting his improved coal drops
(structures for the unloading and
bagging of coal) which, he claimed, caused less damage to the coal.
A highly successful habitat creation scheme focuses on wetland and a
pond alongside the Regent's Canal. A wooded embankment protects the park on the
street side, while a boardwalk allows visitors to wander without causing damage
to vulnerable wetland plants. The coal depot, changed into a rubbish dump, and
was acquired by the former G.L.C. for a lorry park in 1981. After lobbying from
LWT and the GLC's own ecologists an ecological park was agreed instead and
opened in 1985. By 1986 such was the success of the park that it became the
first habitat creation scheme to be designated a Local Nature Reserve, and only
the third LNR in the Greater London area.
Rail lines to Midland Railway’s Somerstown Goods Station
St.Pancras Coroner's Court. Gothic.
At the back of the churchyard. 1886. 1886 by Frederick Eggar. A small Gothic
building
Steps to the
canal. Rope marks on the old stone piers.
Bessemer 'secret' factory, listed in the 1851 census as "Besemeer's [sic] Glass
Factory".
Cardington Street
Just about at the later position of the turnpike
Carol Street
Previously was Caroline Street. Coherent terraces. Probably called after
George IV's queen though it might just have been the builder's daughter. Cobden
House and the other works buildings are quite recent the southern terrace
has been ingeniously rehabilitated within substantial c20 back extensions, visible from the public garden behind.
Charrington Street
Named after the brewers
Brewers'
Company Estate mid-19th terrace GLC reabilitation scheme 1976
South Camden Community School. Old L.C.C Board School.
Collingham Gardens
1880s development by Peto and George. Variety of styles.
Clarendon Square?
Site of the Polygon development. Replaced with artisan
dwellings
Coopers Lane
Site of St.Pancras Coal Depot. Informal maisonettes
Cranleigh Street
Was Johnson Street
29 John Dickens
was released from prison in May 1824, and at the end of that year the family they moved to a small house, in
what was then Johnson Street . The
family was evicted from the house soon after Lady Day 1827 for non-payment of
rent and rates
Crowndale Road
Was previously called ‘Fig Lane’ because of an old fig
tree. The road from London forked here,
one way picked up the main road via Hampstead Road and the other went off to
Highgate
Crowndale Centre. Office of Works Post Office converted to
community services. Library, Health Centre and Surgery. Crowndale was an appropriate commission for a
practice known for its economic, enabling work with local authority projects.
This project - designed by Charles Thompson, the partner in charge - is a
conversion of a substantial but redundant Edwardian post-office building. Rock
Townsend have carved out the interior and formed a new atrium from which an
escalator leads up to the council offices. These are supplemented by an outer
periphery of shops, cafes and some apartments, together with a health centre
located in a smaller, separate building. The whole totals 11,000 sq.m and
accommodates 400 people. The large curved roof - cantilevered from supports
around the atrium's edge - and the add-on features signal massive changes. It works well, but the scheme was caught up
in struggles between central and local government and there is an underlying
dispiritedness.
Working Men's College. Founded 1854 by F.
D.Maurice. The building is 1904-6 by W.D. Came, very
subdued for this architect; perhaps influenced by the c18 houses nearby. It had originated in Great Ormond
Street. hall at the end with a curved wall, the classroom block symmetrical.
Extra floor added by Alban Caroe in the 1930s. 2008 new library, café, studios and
performance space.
26 St.Pancras Vestry House. Mission House and Hall. Baroque doorway with figure of St.Pancras by Hems. Church House, 1896-7 by C.R. Baker King.
Curnock Street
Estate by Camden.
1967. Alternative to high rise and generously planted squares and
playgrounds.
Doric Way
St.Pancras Home Improvement Society – these are their earliest
buildings. 1926. St.Mary. St. Ann and St.Joseph. Plus pedestrian link to two storey cottages.
Eversholt Street
Was previously Seymour Street. East of the street St.Pancras 1960s
development of maisonettes.
Dense
cluster ofmaisonettes, c. 1965, mostly of four storeys, with a pedestrian spine leading through
grassed courtyards and car parking tucked
away beneath
24 Euston House, 1934 For British Railways Board.
St.Mary, 1824 west tower. ,
Cab road for Euston
162-203 Railway clearing house. 1842 to transmit railway
business. 2,500 clerks in 1915.
Refurbished in 1980s.
Goldington Crescent
17 Prince Alfred
Goldington Street
Cecil Rhodes House site of
Pancras Square. First block of workers flats' built in 1847 but destroyed in
bombing. Built by Metropolitan Association for improving the dwellings of the
Industrial Classes Prince Consort visited. Now a building works depot for the
council
Unity Theatre
Granby Terrace
Originally Granby Street, took its
name from the Granby Arms, demolished in 1889 for railway widening. The Marquis
of Granby was a popular general, whose name was often used for inns, but he has
no known connection with this area. The street once housed William Black, a
Scottish journalist and successful novelist, who in 1870 had the distinction of
being arrested as a spy in Germany, where he was correspondent for the Morning
Star in the Franco- Prussian War.
A great deal of the street is now
taken up by the railway bridge.
Independent Chapel in 1870, soon to
be cut off with the Granby Arms by the railway.
After the bridge railway buildings in
red and blue brick, serving the carriage sheds below.
Greenland
Road,
Where the
southern terrace has been ingeniously rehabilitated within substantial c20 back extensions, visible from the public
garden behind.
Hampstead Road
Leads south to the upper end of
Tottenham Court Road
Corner with Euston Road. Disturbing faceted cliff of
glossy mirror glazing
263 plaque to
commemorate George Cruikshank, who lived here from 1850 until his death in
1878. Another celebrated artist, Clarkson Stanfield, who was previously in
Mornington Crescent lived in the same
house in 1846 before moving to Hampstead. The house was then 48 Mornington
Place but was renumbered as part of Hampstead Road in 1863.
Railway bridge and signalling system into Euston
Euston Taxi Centre on a derelict patch where there were once terrace houses. Covers 247
247 Dickens’
went to Wellington House Academy school here in 1824-6 when his family lived in
Bayham Street. This was probably the original of 'Salem House' in David
Copperfield. In 1849 he wrote that the
railway had 'taken the playground, sliced the schoolroom, and pared off the
corner of the house'. Walter Sickert painted and taught in the house. It had been
given a plaque to Dickens in 1924 but was demolished in 1964 for bridge
rebuilding.
Toll House
Harrington Estate
Harrington Gardens
Built around 1877
1880s development Ernest George and Harold Peto.
11 Chez Cleo,
39 W.S.Gilbert
Harrington Square
St Pancras Borough council flats. One terrace remains of
what was Bedford New Town stucco-trimmed terraces developed from 1834 on the Duke of Bedford's small Figs Mead
Estate. Arched first-floor windows in
stucco panels with paterae are the distinctive feature.. Bombed
Gate. barriers were erected on the Bedford estate in Fig's
Mead in St Pancras when this area was developed in the 1840s and 1850s; one barred Harrington Square at the
junction with Houghton Place.
Johnson Street?
King's Road?
Demolished for St.Pancras Station; St.Pancras destructor
1893
Martin's Gardens?
Old churchyard is the cemetery for the dead of St.Martin's
in the Fields. C.Dibden memorial from KT
estate. Riots when it was closed - now a
public garden.
Mary Terrace
Originally Mary's Terrace, described in 1828 as a 'new
intended street' to be built on land leased to Mr William Maryon.
Car park marks
the site of the famous Bedford Tavern and there is a story that the street was
named after the landlord's favourite daughter. The tavern had a tea garden,
arbours and a bowling green; coffee was served as well as beer and shrimps.. On
gala days there were balloon ascents. In July 1824, Mr Rossiter made an ascent
from the Bedford in aid of the family left by Mr Harris, who had perished in a
similar exploit. A music hall was built in the garden of the Bedford Arms and
was opened in 1861. Admission cost 4d a each man was allowed two women guests
free of charge. The original building had
a sliding roof, presumably to save artificial lighting. By 1898 the hall had
been reconstructed and was known the Bedford Theatre. The facade straddled Mary
Terra and then faced onto Camden High Street Millbrook Place? Bedford Theatre, Camden Town, N.W.I. This small
music hall was allowed to become derelict In the 1960s with the usual result.
The modern bulldirg which occupies the
front part of the site houses a branch of the Abbey National Building Society
at street level, with the DHS office above. The rear of the site where
auditorium and stage were Is the car park. Part of one of the walls of the
theatre still stands, facing Mary Terrace.
Miller Street
Miller was the builder. . Started in 1811 an named after
John Miller, its builder, who lived in Warren Street
Mornington Crescent
Built by the Southampton Estate - Fitzroy. built by
Russell family as ‘Bedford New Town’. It was first called Southampton Street –
then named after Earl of Mornington whose daughter married one of the Fitzroy
sons. He was Governor General of India,
and the eldest brother of the Duke of Wellington. It First appears in the Rate
Books in 1821, with one entry and a note by the collector to leave room for
thirty houses. However it was fully inhabited by 1832. The Crescent originally
overlooked a neatly-planted garden and Thomas Rhodes's fields to the east,
which temporarily kept at bay the dense development creeping up from the south.
The backs of the houses looked across fields to Park Village East and Regent's
Park. The first residents of the area were middle class families, with servants
on the top floor. Residents of the 1860s included a professor of music, a
dental surgeon, a surveyor and a valuer.
All the houses have fine cast-iron, balconies and the front railings
have a variety of tasselled spear heads and finials; even Greater London House
has classic railings of its period. It was a curved terrace with pretty balconies and door cases with inset fluted columns. Until 1926 it was a garden and it is a pity that Greater London
House cannot be demolished to reveal the Crescent, which would then form a
suitably embracing entrance to Camden High Street and the restored gardens
would punctuate the depressing approach up the Hampstead Road. Features in
films 'Night, After Night, After Night’.
12 was occupied by a seminary 1820s
25 erstwhile "Hotel Splendide" Built 1821-32. bedsit
use.
Greater
London House - Carreraas Factory. ‘Abominable’ bulk of the 550-ft-long Six storeys high former tobacco factory fills what had
been the gardens of Mornington Crescent. sold off
by the borough council. The factory was
built for Carreras in 1926 by M. E. &
O. H. Collins with A. G. Pom. It was equipped with progressive machinery and air-conditioning and given one of the most extravagant Art Deco exteriors in London,
said to be inspired by the Egyptian
temple to the cat-goddess at Bubastis.
There is showy Egyptian detail along the long frontage, a solar disc to the sun-god Ra, and two gigantic bronze
cats flanking the entrance. It was called the Arcadia Works but known as the 'black cat
factory', because of the two cats and also the black cat on their cigarette
packet. The Egyptian decorations were inspired by the discovery of
Tutankhamen's tomb- Even the chimney looks like an obelisk. In its day, it was
heralded as the largest reinforced concrete building of its type. The detail was stripped off in 1961 when the building was converted to officesand It Became GLC’s
Greater London House. It was restored in colourful splendour in 1998-9. The
development represents all that town planning would now prevent
Mornington Crescent Station, 22nd June 1907. Between Camden Town and Euston on the
Northern Line. Built for the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway. Work
started in 1903. Taken over by Yerkes Leslie Green designed station where the
Booking office rode up and down in the lift. The Station was built in the usual
red tiles on the site of two houses of Millbrook Place, a short terrace looking
north at Cobden's statue and it station has changed very little.Prior to the station's opening, the name
of "Seymour Street" had been proposed. Closed in 1992 for renovation but shortage of
money meant it was closed for six years.
Street level building restored and all looks very authentic although it
is a mixture of restoration and original.
The ticket hall is all reproduction as is all the platform level tiling.
36 Clarkson Stanfield (1793-1867), famous marine artist
and friend of Charles Dickens lived in 1832
261 Athene Booksellers
277 East Asia Book and Arts Co.
31 Spencer Frederick Gore (1874-1914) lived until 1912. He
was the first president of the Group. Other members included Augustus John,
Harold Oilman and the Director of the Tate Gallery, J. B. Manson: not
surprisingly, there is a good selection of the Group's work in the Tate
Gallery.
48 Cruikshank
The Metropolitan Drinking trough reminds us of the main
mode of transport.
Mornington Court. Built in 1937, it mimics the Egyptian
flavour of the Carreras factory of ten years earlier
Crowndale Centre
Oakley Gardens
Oakley Square
Large houses 1840s air raid shelters. South side replaced
by St.Pancras 1960s. One terrace remains of what was Bedford New Town stucco-trimmed
terraces developed from 1834 on the Duke of
Bedford's small Figs Mead Estate. Arched first-floor windows in stucco panels with paterae are the distinctive
feature.
Old vicarage in polychrome brick for St.Matthew’s church
which stood next door... boldly Gothic c.
1861 by John Johnson
Gate. barriers were
erected on the Bedford estate in Fig's Mead in St Pancras when this area was
developed in the 1840s and 1850s; two were in Oakley Square.
24 Spencer
Oakley Street
1856, part of Bedford New Town. Middle suburb of lower and middle
classes. Home named after Oakley House
where the Duke of Bedford lived.
St.Michael's church, 1852, council flats
Ossulton Street
'Superior blocks of artisan dwellings' 'avoid typical
monotony of the older types' bombed in 1940. Experimental L.C.C Estate.
Showpiece. To cater for housing needs other than cottage estates.
Midland Green hostel closed in 1935. Opened 5/73.
Chamberlain House. First part of the estate. 1927
Levita House. Tribute to housing schemes of Vienna.
Electric servicing though coal fires.
The Cock – part of the facilities of the estate
Walker House., 1929
Pancras Road
The road follows the line of the Fleet. Used to be called
Fig Lane - fig tree there until the nineteenth century. Old main road forked
here. Fleet river line near the church which is built on a mound above it.
St.Pancras. Prebendal manor by King Ethelbert given to St.Paul's, 1251. 30 houses, 4 manor houses, two moated houses,
vicarage and rectory area of brickfields. Bodies hanging on gibbets, Highwaymen, one
shot 1730. Warehouses in ruins. Site of Bruges mansion. Body snatchers and
baby abandoners. Services not held in
the church. Around the church is an
abandoned medieval village. Stukeley
thought it was a Roman camp
Old St.Pancras Church. Roman bricks in the
foundations and it is believed to be the
first Christian church in England, founded by St.Augustine. Site of a pre-Saxon temple with a Saxon altar of 600. Dedicated to martyr, St.Pancras, boy – is Pangrace
or Pan Crucis the Christ child himself.
There is a 13th window, some bits of Norman in the doorway.
The chancel was rebuilt in 1500. It is
said to have had the last bell to toll the Catholic mass. On 5 November 1642
fifty Cromwellian troopers were billeted in the deserted church, and on 9
December of the following year they pulled down the chancel rails and communion
table. Inhabitants petitioned the House of Commons but got no compensation.
Fortunately they hid the church plate. Jonathan Wild married there 1718, and
Grimaldi. The church was restored in Norman style in 1848 by Roumieu & Gough,
who removed the medieval tower and replaced it with an extension and
incongruous half-timbering was introduced. The interior was restored in 1888 by
A. W. Blomfield.. In 1872 became a chapel of ease.
There is diagonal bedding in the stone of the church which shows it was in the
sea. Altar Stone - discovered in 1847. Dated from the early 7th
. Stained Glass of 1866, possibly by W.M.Teulon. Monuments: Early 16th recess with tomb-chest and indents for
kneeling brass figures against the back;
Philadelphia Woolaston 1616, wall monument with semi-reclining effigy;
William and Mary Platt 1637 wall monument with frontal busts; John Offley and
family, big, ornamental architectural tablet of after 1678; Samuel Cowper, the
miniature painter 'Angliae Apelles', 1672 and his wife
Coal drops. Now
garages with timber chutes
Coal offices. Gothic.
1896 with two level coal depot now demolished
Concrete Building for Midland railway 1880.
Site of Bessemer’s Baxter House site in front and to the south of the church. An outcome of a massive clearance of brickwork is that the
ground at the site of Baxter House where
the first Bessemer steel was made was cleared. Baxter House became St Pancras Ironworks was on the east side of Pancras
Road just south of the churchyard.. Bessemer between 1841 and 1862 used the
site to manufacture his famous 'bronze powder' (a cheap substitute for the
'gold powder' used by japanners); and a centrifugal machine for separating
molasses from sugar crystals; and there were conducted the early experiments
that led to the patenting of his celebrated eponymous steel-making 'converter'.
The recently demolished Midland Railway coal drops later occupied the site.
Houses - humble nineteenth century terraces in the side
street built for the Borough Council
Lodge for the churchyard
Parish boundary marker
Plate girder bridges carrying the railway coming out of
St.Pancras station
Cedar Way Industrial Estate. Site of earlier Midland
Railway Goods Depot that lay to the west of the main passenger line into St
Pancras station just north of the point where it crossed the Regent's Canal,
and the linked Ale and Porter Stores to south of the canal. Also partly a
communications complex. Ale and Porter warehouse opposite.
The hydraulic pumping station was situated under the
arches of the approach viaduct adjacent to the gasworks just north of the
station. One 40 hp engine was used to provide power for the wagon hoist which
moved wagons to and from the cellars under the station.
Site of St.Pancras Goods
yard site. Warehouse burnt down 1987 demolished. Some fragments remain on British Library site
– mainly boundary walls.
St. Pancras Vestry Hall. This vestry hall was built adjoining the St. Pancras Workhouse in
1846 to designs by Thomas Bird for the select vestry of St. Pancras and the
Directors of the Poor. It was remodelled
in I874-5 to' the competition-winning designs of H H Bridgman when it was given
a grand new brick-and-stone Italianate facade. The second floorboard room would
have been familiar to George Bernard Shaw who served as both vestryman and
councillor here. From 1900-1903. A competition for its replacement in 1892-3
was won by William Harrison but the plans were never realised. Bombed and
destroyed
Site of Workhouse
St.Pancras Gardens.
Managed by Vestry of St.Pancras. Features in films 'Career Girls’.
St.Pancras Lock.
Goods sheds of Great Northern Railway. Features in films 'Alfie’.
Wells c.
1650-1800 advertised by Edward Martin,
proprietor of the nearby Horns Tavern, as early as 1697. The site was on the
south side of old St Pancras
Church. The most notable feature was a garden, laid out with long straight
walks shaded by avenues of trees. About
1735 the waters were offered for sale in
London at 12 bottles for 6/-. Facing the
church was the House of Entertainment with Long Room and Pump Room behind. By
1769 the attractions were chiefly the tea garden with its hot loaves,
syllabubs, and milk from the cow. Dinners were also obtainable with 'neat
wines, curious punch, Dorchester, Marlborough and Ringwood beers'.
Pancras Way
Called Pancras Wash and line of the Fleet. Submerged after
1812 during building of the canal 25 ft below the road
St Pancras Hospital and
Hospital for Tropical diseases. It is now a wing of UCL catering for
geriatrics. It was transferred to London
County Council from St.Pancras Board of Guardians. It was built as a replacement to an earlier
workhouse. Tall and gaunt with clock
tower.
Stables converted into a garden centre
Plender Street
New Camden Chapel. Methodist. Designed by T. & W. Stone. Decent debased
classical. Stock brick with stucco dressings; recessed entrance between
columns, ' rather squashed central pediment.
Kimon Bookshop
Polygon Road
1976 low rise housing for Camden. Striking red brick Roman
Halter Assocs and James Gowan
Somers Town development.
It was named after Earl Somers Lord Chancellor 1695 who was given the
estate by Queen Anne. Jacob Leroux main
landowner
Oakshott Court
Polygon
The four sides of the square are now defined by Chalton
Street, Polygon Road, Phoenix Road and Werrington Street. It was a ring of 32
houses arranged in a 15-sided figure, and was demolished in the 1890s. It was three storeys high.
29 W.Godwin, Mary
Wollstonecraft died there, 1797,
17 Riches
Dickens family was
evicted from Johnson Street soon after Lady Day 1827 took lodgings here.
Pratt Street
Some humble
terraces remain from Lord Camden’s development of the
1790s onwards, amid later industry and council rebuilding.
Some battered survivals
57 Electricity sub station used as ARP control room
82-86 Gothick glazing
Modest houses (humble) on Camden Town development.
St.Martin's Hall 19th County of London Regiment
St.Pancras Burial Ground Gardens. Monuments and Gothic sarcophagus. Very neglected. The gardens were laid
out in 1889 for long a sad and neglected space with tombstones lining the walls and a few
battered Monuments. A two-tier Gothic sarcophagus
to the Woodburn family,
Purchese Street
Site of St.Pancras Coal Depot. Informal maisonettes brown brick and houses
Clyde Court,
Monica Shaw Court ,
Railway
Euston to Camden Town first electric telegraph system
which didn't work and was replaced by pneumatic signal system original cable
haulage scheme
Canal
Completed
1820, gave the Grand Junction Canal, which ran from
Paddington to the Midlands, access to the London docks,
and a second route to the Thames.
Pad stone of a bridge above the sixth window which carried
coal to drops on the other side of the canal by Maiden Lane steps. Cooling plant for power cable
Bangor Wharf, Ash from dust destructor brought through
bricked up arch IDRIS building, red brick with square tower and arched windows
redeveloped for Post Office
St. Pancras Yacht Basin,
built originally for coal staithes, and now used for residential moorings. 1867
Built for coal transfer from the Midland Railway. For bottom discharge railway
wagons to barges Basin over which railway sidings used to discharge cinders
from locos into barges. Used for cruising moorings
St.Pancras Cruising Club. Iron girders remain.
Brick wall pad stone on site of bridge which was siding of
1865 to Bass and Co. store. Remains of hydraulic pumping station and fragment
of Midland Railway lozenge shaped window panes
Bridge replica
in concrete and steel of 1840s cast iron bridge oblique angle. Older abutments there. Carried drive to Mr. Agar's house Elm Lodge
Bridge used to take railway
line from Great Northern Railway yards to coal chutes in Camley Street and the
Plimsoll Coal drops
Camden Canoe Club is where the mayor fell in the
river. Burnt down twice since.
Canal narrows and stop gates for dewatering
Elm Lodge was on
the left behind the wall. Agar's turreted house became railway offices
The
St Pancras Way Bridge was once an elaborate cast iron structure but it has been modernised. The loss of the iron panels
has opened up the canal to the view of
passers-by. A stone on the side of
the bridge records that it was opened on Thursday, March 4th, 1897. T
Site
of another piano factory.
Horse ramp. Cobbled horse entrance to the towpath and
horse ramp
Iron roller protects brickwork from rope abrasion
Canal widens on site of St Pancras dust wharf and dust
destructor was under Bricked up arch
Site of the
access bridge to the Plimsoll Coal Drops.
Modern
wharf with
blue steel doors and next to it is a red brick
tower
Embankment on canal to contain the water
Hampstead Road locks
Maiden Lane/York Way Bridge widened. Underneath see abrasion marks from ropes on
the abutments cast iron work
Midland Railway
Bridge into St.Pancras from Park Gates. Steel works in 1868. Lines and main line station at same
level. 17' above the ground. The station concourse
is raised about 20 feet (6 metres) above ground level in order to be level with
the railway tracks after they have crossed the canal at this point. Wrought
iron bridge over the canal, which determined the MR's approach to St. Pancras
Camley Street
entrance to canal. Oblique bridge modernised. Cast-iron road bridge with
vertical railings. Steps from towpath. Note rope
marks.
Goods shed of Great Northern Railway Opposite lock
St.Pancras lock only
one where there is a left hand weir.
Brick building was a pumping station; only tiny landing stage for
boaters; the
twin chamber (one out of use) one of 13 locks on the canal which drops 100ft in
8 miles. Canal often short of water and the two chambers acted as mutual side-ponds.
Steps to the road c used to be King's Road
Tower across the tow path with base of bridge in the canal
wall, this was the railway line to the opposite side of the Burton warehouse
1865 for Bass, warehouse changed and in 1970s was Woolworth, burnt down and now
PO Royal Mail North West district office
Towpath crosses entrance to St.Pancras basin. Serving stone and coal wharves operated by
Great Northern Railway London to Doncaster line 1846 for coal from South
Yorkshire and in 1867 handling 1m tons a year.
Basin filled in and bricked up
Towpath paved with granite setts to help the horse
Depot. cf. Alfie film. Stone blocks in the brickwork on sixth
bricked up arch; Wall which was Agar Town Goods Yard of MR opened in 1862 now
Elm Village Housing development
Wagons ran on sidings laid on girders- some ends left
Windows in the wall for stables built under a roadway in
the goods yard
Rossendale Road
Elm Village development
Royal College Street
Modest houses on Camden Town development. Features in films
'The Man Who Knew Too Much’.
Goldington Buildings.
1902-3 earliest housing of the Borough of St.Pancras – five storeys in
cheerful orange and yellow brick. K. D. Young
St. Augustine’s Road
17 Low energy
Victorian house. Camden Council project.
St Pancras
Means place with a church dedicated to St Pancras'.
Pancras was a Christian martyr in Rome at the time of Diocletian. Some early spellings
indicate a development towards ‘Pancridge’, paralleled by Mrs Gamp's pronunciation of Jonas as 'Jonadge', but the
name was doubtless brought back to its original form by awareness of its origin
in the dedication. ‘Sanctum Pancratiu’ 1086, ‘Parochia Sancti Pancrassi’ 1353,
‘Pancrich’ 1575, ‘Pankeridge al St Pancras’ 1588.
Sidney Street
Sidney
Street Estate
This is
Bridgeway and Aldenham Street – No Sidney Street on AZ. It was the final phase of the St
Pancras Housing Association's second major scheme
in Somers Town, planned in 1929, when it was described optimistically as 'a
miniature garden city'. An ambitious lay-out, with Hamilton's flats arranged around a generous central court. A central assembly hall was intended, also shops along
the street front.
Somers Road
Bridge access to goods yard. Pad stone remain
Smallpox hospital moved to Highgate Hill when the railway
was built Fever and smallpox hospital.
London Fever Hospital sold to Great Northern Railway
Somers Town
Haynes and Douglas Cotton Mill
Gladwin House
Morland House
Wolcot House
Stanhope Street
Very little left all under Euston Centre Name from William
Stanhope Earl of Harrington
Was Brook Street
Factory building of 1930s
'Boys' entry to school now London School of Accountancy
Marylebone Divisional Offices LSB and a rose
Central Institute was Stanhope Institute, Sidney, Kaye
& Firmin
Lord Nelson pub 1899
Samuel Lithgow Boys Club after founder of Stanhope Inst.
Pangbourne
Stanhope Parade
Sovereign, site of older pub
Garage with Regent's Park Nursery above
Levertons
Stebbing Street?
Underhill Passage.
Used to Pleasant Passage
Werrington Street
51 Neptune
Wharf Road
Comments