Aldwych tube station
Encyclopedia
Aldwych is a closed London Underground
station in the City of Westminster
, originally opened as Strand in 1907. It was the terminus and only station on the short Piccadilly line
branch from Holborn
that was a relic of the merger of two railway schemes. The disused station building is close to the junction of Strand
and Surrey Street. During its lifetime, the branch was the subject of a number of unrealised extension proposals that would have seen the tunnels through the station extended southwards, usually to Waterloo
.
Served by a shuttle train for most of their life and suffering from low passenger numbers, the station and branch were considered for closure several times. A weekday peak hours-only service survived until closure in 1994, when the cost of replacing the lifts was considered too high compared to the income generated.
Disused parts of the station and the running tunnels were used during both World Wars to shelter artworks from London's public galleries and museums from bombing.
The station has long been popular as a filming location and has appeared as itself and as other London Underground stations in a variety of films. In recognition of its historical significance, the station is a Grade II listed building.
presented to Parliament in November 1898. The station was to be the southern terminus of an underground railway line planned to run from Wood Green
station (now Alexandra Palace) via Finsbury Park
and King's Cross
and was originally to be located at the corner of Stanhope Street and Holles Street, north of the Strand. When the two streets were scheduled for demolition as part of the London County Council
's plans for the construction of Kingsway
and Aldwych
, the GN&SR moved the location to the junction of the two new roads. Royal Assent
to the bill was given and the Great Northern and Strand Railway Act 1899 was enacted on 1 August.
In September 1901, the GN&SR was taken over by the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway (B&PCR), which planned to build an underground line from South Kensington
to Piccadilly Circus
via Knightsbridge
. Both were under the control of Charles Yerkes
through his Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company and, in June 1902, were transferred to Yerkes' new holding company
, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
(UERL). Neither of the railways had carried out any construction, but the UERL obtained permission for new tunnels between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn to connect the two routes. The companies were formally merged as the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
(GNP&BR) following parliamentary approval in November 1902. Prior to confirmation of the merger, the GN&SR had sought permission to extend its line southwards from the future junction of Kingsway and Aldwych, under Norfolk Street to a new interchange under the Metropolitan District Railway
's station at Temple
. The extension was rejected following objections from the Duke of Norfolk
under whose land the last part of the proposed tunnels would have run.
In 1903, the GNP&BR sought permission for a branch from Piccadilly Circus to run under Leicester Square
, Strand, and Fleet Street
and into the City of London
. The branch would have passed and interchanged with the already approved Strand station, allowing travel on the GNP&BR from Strand in three directions. The deliberations of a Royal Commission
on traffic in London prevented parliamentary consideration of the proposal, which was withdrawn.
In 1905, with the Royal Commission's report about to be published, the GNP&BR returned to Parliament with two bills for consideration. The first bill revived the 1903 proposal for a branch from Piccadilly Circus to the City of London, passing and interchanging with Strand station. The second proposed an extension and relocation of Strand station to the junction of Strand and Surrey Street. From there the line was to continue as a single tunnel under the River Thames to Waterloo
. The first bill was again delayed and withdrawn. Of the second, only the relocation of Strand station was permitted.
running beneath it and while the UERL decided how the junction between the main route and the branch would be arranged at Holborn.
Strand station was built on the site of the Royal Strand Theatre
, which had closed on 13 May 1905 and demolished. Construction of the station began on 21 October 1905, to a design by the UERL's architect Leslie Green
in the UERL house style of a two-storey steel-framed building faced with red glazed terracotta
blocks, with wide semi-circular windows on the upper floor. The station building is L-shaped, with two façades separated by the building on the corner of Strand and Surrey Street. The Strand façade is narrow with a single semi-circular window above the entrance. The façade in Surrey Street is wider with a separate entrance and exit and a shop unit. In anticipation of a revival of the extension to Waterloo and the City route, the station was built with three circular lift shafts able to accommodate six trapezium
-shaped lifts. Only one of the shafts was fitted out, with two lifts. The other two shafts rose from the lower concourse to the basement of the station, but could have been extended upwards into the space of the shop unit when required. A fourth smaller-diameter shaft accommodated an emergency spiral stair.
The platforms are 92 in 6 in (28.19 m) below street level and are 250 feet (76.2 m) long; shorter than the GN&PBR's standard length of 350 feet (106.7 m). As with other UERL stations, the platform walls were tiled with distinctive patterns, in this case cream and dark green. Only parts of the platform walls were decorated because it was planned to operate the branch with short trains. Due to the reduced lift provision, a second route between the platforms and lifts was never brought into use and was left in an unfinished condition without tiling.
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The GNP&BR's main route opened on 15 December 1906, but the Strand branch was not opened until 30 November 1907. Initially, shuttle trains operated to Holborn from the eastern platform into the through platform at Holborn. At peak times, an additional train operated alternately in the branch's western tunnel into the bay platform at Holborn. During the first year of operation, a train for theatregoers operated late on Monday to Saturday evenings from Strand through Holborn and northbound to Finsbury Park; this was discontinued in October 1908.
In March 1908, the off-peak shuttle service began to use the western platform at Strand and the through platform at Holborn, crossing between the two branch tunnels south of Holborn. Low usage led to the withdrawal of the second peak-hour shuttle and the eastern tunnel was taken out of use in 1914. On 9 May 1915, three of the Underground stations in the area were renamed and Strand station became Aldwych. Sunday services ended in April 1917 and, in August of the same year, the eastern tunnel and platform at Aldwych and the bay platform at Holborn were formally closed. A German bombing campaign in September 1917 led the disused platform being used as storage for 300 pictures from the National Gallery
until December 1918.
In October 1922, the ticket office was replaced by a facility in the lifts. Passenger numbers remained low: when the station was one of a number on the network considered for closure in 1929, its annual usage was 1,069,650 and takings were £4,500. The branch was again considered for closure in 1933, but remained open.
Wartime efficiency measures led to the branch being closed temporarily on 22 September 1940, shortly after the start of The Blitz
, and it was partly fitted out by the City of Westminster
as an air-raid shelter
. The tunnels between Aldwych and Holborn were used to store items from the British Museum
, including the Elgin Marbles
. The branch reopened on 1 July 1946, but patronage did not increase. In 1958, the station was one of three that London Transport
announced would be closed. Again it survived, but the service was reduced in June 1958 to run only during Monday to Friday peak hours and Saturday morning and early afternoons. The Saturday service was withdrawn in June 1962.
After operating only during peak hours for more than 30 years, the closure announcement came on 4 January 1993. The original 1907 lifts required replacement at a cost of £3 million. This was not justifiable as only 450 passengers used the station each day and it was losing London Regional Transport
£150,000 per year. The Secretary of State for Transport
granted permission on 1 September 1994 to close the station and the branch closed on 30 September.
In the years after the Second World War, a series of preliminary plans for relieving congestion on the London Underground had considered various east-west routes through the Aldwych area, although other priorities meant that these were never proceeded with. In March 1965, a British Rail
and London Transport
joint planning committee published "A Railway Plan for London" which proposed a new tube railway, the Fleet line (later renamed the Jubilee line
), to join the Bakerloo line
at Baker Street
then run via Bond Street
, Green Park
, Charing Cross, Aldwych and into the City of London via Ludgate Circus
, Cannon Street
and Fenchurch Street before heading into south-east London. An interchange was proposed at Aldwych and a second recommendation of the report was the revival of the link from Aldwych to Waterloo. London Transport had already sought parliamentary approval to construct tunnels from Aldwych to Waterloo in November 1964, and in August 1965, parliamentary powers were granted. Detailed planning took place, although public spending cuts led to postponement of the scheme in 1967 before tenders were invited.
Planning of the Fleet line continued and parliamentary approval was given in July 1969 for the first phase of the line, from Baker Street to Charing Cross. Tunnelling began on the £35 million route in February 1972 and the Jubilee line opened north from Charing Cross in May 1979. The tunnels of the approved section continued east of Charing Cross under Strand almost as far as Aldwych station, but no work at Aldwych was undertaken and they were used only as sidings. Funding for the second phase of the work was delayed throughout the 1970s whilst the route beyond Charing Cross was reviewed to consider options for serving anticipated development in the London Docklands area. By 1979, the cost was estimated as £325 million, a six-fold increase from the £51 million estimated in 1970. A further review of alternatives for the Jubilee line was carried out in 1980, which led to the a change of priorities and the postponement of any further effort on the line. When the extension was eventually constructed in the late 1990s it took a different route, south of the River Thames via Westminster
, Waterloo and London Bridge
to provide a rapid link to Canary Wharf, leaving the tunnels between Green Park and Aldwych redundant.
In July 2005, Ove Arup & Partners
produced a report, DLR Horizon 2020 Study, for the Docklands Light Railway
(DLR) examining "pragmatic development schemes" to expand and improve the DLR network between 2012 and 2020. One of the proposals was an extension of the DLR from Bank to Charing Cross via City Thameslink station and Aldwych. The disused Jubilee line tunnels would be enlarged to accommodate the larger DLR trains and Aldwych station would form the basis for a new station on the line, although requiring considerable reconstruction to accommodate escalators. The estimated cost in 2005 was £232 million for the infrastructure works and the scheme was described as "strongly beneficial" as it was expected to attract passengers from the London Underground's existing east-west routes and from local buses and reduce overcrowding at Bank station. The business case
assessment was that the proposal offered high value, although similar values were calculated for other extension proposals from Bank. Further detailed studies were proposed.
As a self-contained section of the London Underground closed at weekends and for extended periods during weekdays, Aldwych station before its closure and the branch from Holborn were popular locations for filming scenes set on the Tube. Since closure, film production usage has continued, with the station appearing as itself and, with appropriate signage, other parts of the network. Despite being closed since 1994 the track and infrastructure are maintained in operational condition, and a train of ex-Northern line
1972 tube stock
is permanently stabled on the branch. This train can be driven up and down the branch for filming. The physical connection with the Piccadilly line
northbound tracks remains, but requires manual operation.
Films and television productions that have been shot at Aldwych include:
The pre-war operation of the station features in a pivotal scene in Geoffrey Household
's novel Rogue Male
, when the pursuit of the protagonist by an enemy agent sees them repeatedly using the shuttle service on the branch line. A chase through Aldwych station ends with the agent's death by electrocution on the track. A much modified and expanded version of the station appears as a level
in the video game Tomb Raider III
. The music video for The Prodigy
's song "Firestarter
" was filmed in the disused eastern tunnel and one of the unused lift shafts.
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London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
station in the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
, originally opened as Strand in 1907. It was the terminus and only station on the short Piccadilly line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
branch from Holborn
Holborn tube station
Holborn is a station of the London Underground in Holborn in London, located at the junction of High Holborn and Kingsway. Situated on the Piccadilly Line and on the Central Line , it is the only station common to the two lines, although the two lines cross each other three times elsewhere...
that was a relic of the merger of two railway schemes. The disused station building is close to the junction of Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
and Surrey Street. During its lifetime, the branch was the subject of a number of unrealised extension proposals that would have seen the tunnels through the station extended southwards, usually to Waterloo
Waterloo tube station
Waterloo tube station is a London Underground station located at Waterloo station. It is the second busiest station on the network and is served by the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and the Waterloo & City lines...
.
Served by a shuttle train for most of their life and suffering from low passenger numbers, the station and branch were considered for closure several times. A weekday peak hours-only service survived until closure in 1994, when the cost of replacing the lifts was considered too high compared to the income generated.
Disused parts of the station and the running tunnels were used during both World Wars to shelter artworks from London's public galleries and museums from bombing.
The station has long been popular as a filming location and has appeared as itself and as other London Underground stations in a variety of films. In recognition of its historical significance, the station is a Grade II listed building.
Planning
The Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR) first proposed a station in the Strand area in a private billPrivate bill
A private bill is a proposal for a law that would apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity. If enacted, it becomes a private Act . This is unlike public bills which apply to everyone within their jurisdiction...
presented to Parliament in November 1898. The station was to be the southern terminus of an underground railway line planned to run from Wood Green
Alexandra Palace railway station
Alexandra Palace railway station is in the London Borough of Haringey in north London, and is in Travelcard Zone 3. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by First Capital Connect...
station (now Alexandra Palace) via Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park station
Finsbury Park Station is a busy transport interchange in North London. The interchange consists of an interconnected National Rail station, London Underground station and two bus stations. The main entrances are by the eastern bus station on Station Place...
and King's Cross
King's Cross St. Pancras tube station
King's Cross St. Pancras is a tube station in the London Borough of Camden, on the London Underground network, serving both King's Cross and main line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is the fourth busiest station on the system and serves more lines than any other...
and was originally to be located at the corner of Stanhope Street and Holles Street, north of the Strand. When the two streets were scheduled for demolition as part of the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
's plans for the construction of Kingsway
Kingsway (London)
Kingsway is a major road in central London in the United Kingdom, designated as part of the A4200. It runs from High Holborn, at its north end in the London Borough of Camden, and meets Aldwych in the south in the City of Westminster at Bush House. It was built in the 1900s...
and Aldwych
Aldwych
Aldwych is a place and road in the City of Westminster in London, England.-Description:Aldwych, the road, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. At its centre, it meets the Kingsway...
, the GN&SR moved the location to the junction of the two new roads. Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
to the bill was given and the Great Northern and Strand Railway Act 1899 was enacted on 1 August.
In September 1901, the GN&SR was taken over by the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway (B&PCR), which planned to build an underground line from South Kensington
South Kensington tube station
South Kensington is a London Underground station in Kensington, west London. It is served by the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines. On the District and Circle lines, the station is between Gloucester Road and Sloane Square, and on the Piccadilly Line, it is between Gloucester Road and...
to Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus tube station
Piccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
via Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge tube station
Knightsbridge tube station is a London Underground station in Knightsbridge , The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is on the Piccadilly Line between South Kensington and Hyde Park Corner, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.-History:...
. Both were under the control of Charles Yerkes
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes was an American financier, born in Philadelphia. He played a major part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.-Philadelphia:...
through his Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company and, in June 1902, were transferred to Yerkes' new holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited , known operationally as The Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a circular tunnel by the use...
(UERL). Neither of the railways had carried out any construction, but the UERL obtained permission for new tunnels between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn to connect the two routes. The companies were formally merged as the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus...
(GNP&BR) following parliamentary approval in November 1902. Prior to confirmation of the merger, the GN&SR had sought permission to extend its line southwards from the future junction of Kingsway and Aldwych, under Norfolk Street to a new interchange under the Metropolitan District Railway
Metropolitan District Railway
The Metropolitan District Railway was the predecessor of the District line of the London Underground. Set up on 29 July 1864, at first to complete the "Inner Circle" railway around central London, it was gradually extended into the suburbs...
's station at Temple
Temple tube station
Temple is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, between Victoria Embankment and Temple Place. It is on the Circle and District lines between Embankment and Blackfriars and is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station entrance is from Victoria Embankment...
. The extension was rejected following objections from the Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, , styled Baron Maltravers until 1856 and Earl of Arundel and Surrey between 1856 and 1860, was a British Unionist politician and philanthropist...
under whose land the last part of the proposed tunnels would have run.
In 1903, the GNP&BR sought permission for a branch from Piccadilly Circus to run under Leicester Square
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
, Strand, and Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
and into the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. The branch would have passed and interchanged with the already approved Strand station, allowing travel on the GNP&BR from Strand in three directions. The deliberations of a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
on traffic in London prevented parliamentary consideration of the proposal, which was withdrawn.
In 1905, with the Royal Commission's report about to be published, the GNP&BR returned to Parliament with two bills for consideration. The first bill revived the 1903 proposal for a branch from Piccadilly Circus to the City of London, passing and interchanging with Strand station. The second proposed an extension and relocation of Strand station to the junction of Strand and Surrey Street. From there the line was to continue as a single tunnel under the River Thames to Waterloo
Waterloo tube station
Waterloo tube station is a London Underground station located at Waterloo station. It is the second busiest station on the network and is served by the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and the Waterloo & City lines...
. The first bill was again delayed and withdrawn. Of the second, only the relocation of Strand station was permitted.
Construction
The linking of the GN&SR and B&PCR routes meant that the section of the GN&SR south of Holborn became a branch from the main route. The UERL began constructing the main route in July 1902. Progress was rapid, so that it was largely complete by the Autumn of 1906. Construction of the Holborn to Strand section was delayed while the London County Council constructed Kingsway and the tramway subwayKingsway tramway subway
The Kingsway Tramway Subway is a cut-and-cover Grade II Listed tunnel in central London, built by the London County Council, the only one of its kind in Britain...
running beneath it and while the UERL decided how the junction between the main route and the branch would be arranged at Holborn.
Strand station was built on the site of the Royal Strand Theatre
Royal Strand Theatre
The Royal Strand Theatre was located in Strand in the City of Westminster. The theatre was built on the site of a panorama in 1832, and in 1882 was rebuilt by the prolific theatre architect Charles J. Phipps...
, which had closed on 13 May 1905 and demolished. Construction of the station began on 21 October 1905, to a design by the UERL's architect Leslie Green
Leslie Green
Leslie William Green was an English architect known especially for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20th century....
in the UERL house style of a two-storey steel-framed building faced with red glazed terracotta
Glazed architectural terra-cotta
Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a ceramic masonry building material popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the 1930s, and still one of the most common building materials found in U.S. urban environments...
blocks, with wide semi-circular windows on the upper floor. The station building is L-shaped, with two façades separated by the building on the corner of Strand and Surrey Street. The Strand façade is narrow with a single semi-circular window above the entrance. The façade in Surrey Street is wider with a separate entrance and exit and a shop unit. In anticipation of a revival of the extension to Waterloo and the City route, the station was built with three circular lift shafts able to accommodate six trapezium
Trapezoid
In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...
-shaped lifts. Only one of the shafts was fitted out, with two lifts. The other two shafts rose from the lower concourse to the basement of the station, but could have been extended upwards into the space of the shop unit when required. A fourth smaller-diameter shaft accommodated an emergency spiral stair.
The platforms are 92 in 6 in (28.19 m) below street level and are 250 feet (76.2 m) long; shorter than the GN&PBR's standard length of 350 feet (106.7 m). As with other UERL stations, the platform walls were tiled with distinctive patterns, in this case cream and dark green. Only parts of the platform walls were decorated because it was planned to operate the branch with short trains. Due to the reduced lift provision, a second route between the platforms and lifts was never brought into use and was left in an unfinished condition without tiling.
Operation
In March 1908, the off-peak shuttle service began to use the western platform at Strand and the through platform at Holborn, crossing between the two branch tunnels south of Holborn. Low usage led to the withdrawal of the second peak-hour shuttle and the eastern tunnel was taken out of use in 1914. On 9 May 1915, three of the Underground stations in the area were renamed and Strand station became Aldwych. Sunday services ended in April 1917 and, in August of the same year, the eastern tunnel and platform at Aldwych and the bay platform at Holborn were formally closed. A German bombing campaign in September 1917 led the disused platform being used as storage for 300 pictures from the National Gallery
National gallery
The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...
until December 1918.
In October 1922, the ticket office was replaced by a facility in the lifts. Passenger numbers remained low: when the station was one of a number on the network considered for closure in 1929, its annual usage was 1,069,650 and takings were £4,500. The branch was again considered for closure in 1933, but remained open.
Wartime efficiency measures led to the branch being closed temporarily on 22 September 1940, shortly after the start of The Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
, and it was partly fitted out by the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
as an air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air...
. The tunnels between Aldwych and Holborn were used to store items from the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, including the Elgin Marbles
Elgin Marbles
The Parthenon Marbles, forming a part of the collection known as the Elgin Marbles , are a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures , inscriptions and architectural members that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens...
. The branch reopened on 1 July 1946, but patronage did not increase. In 1958, the station was one of three that London Transport
London Transport Executive
The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in the Greater London area, UK, between 1948-1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-Creation:On 1...
announced would be closed. Again it survived, but the service was reduced in June 1958 to run only during Monday to Friday peak hours and Saturday morning and early afternoons. The Saturday service was withdrawn in June 1962.
After operating only during peak hours for more than 30 years, the closure announcement came on 4 January 1993. The original 1907 lifts required replacement at a cost of £3 million. This was not justifiable as only 450 passengers used the station each day and it was losing London Regional Transport
London Regional Transport
London Regional Transport was the organisation responsible for the public transport network in Greater London, UK from 1984-2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.The organisation was...
£150,000 per year. The Secretary of State for Transport
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...
granted permission on 1 September 1994 to close the station and the branch closed on 30 September.
Proposals for extension and new connections
Although the Piccadilly Circus to City of London branch proposal of 1905 was never revisited after its withdrawal, the early plan to extend the branch south to Waterloo was revived a number of times during the station's life. The extension was considered in 1919 and 1948, but no progress towards constructing the link was made.In the years after the Second World War, a series of preliminary plans for relieving congestion on the London Underground had considered various east-west routes through the Aldwych area, although other priorities meant that these were never proceeded with. In March 1965, a British Rail
British Railways Board
The British Railways Board was a nationalised industry in the United Kingdom that existed from 1962 to 2001. From its foundation until 1997, it was responsible for most railway services in Great Britain, trading under the brand names British Railways and, from 1965, British Rail...
and London Transport
London Transport Board
The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1963-1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-History:The...
joint planning committee published "A Railway Plan for London" which proposed a new tube railway, the Fleet line (later renamed the Jubilee line
Jubilee Line
The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections—initially to Charing Cross, in central London, and later extended, in 1999, to Stratford, in east London. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects...
), to join the Bakerloo line
Bakerloo Line
The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...
at Baker Street
Baker Street tube station
Baker Street tube station is a station on the London Underground at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 1 and is served by five different lines...
then run via Bond Street
Bond Street tube station
Bond Street tube station is a London Underground station on Oxford Street, near the junction with New Bond Street. Note that the street-level entrances are approximately 200 metres west of New Bond Street itself...
, Green Park
Green Park tube station
Green Park tube station is a London Underground station located on the north side of Green Park, close to the intersection of Piccadilly and the pedestrian Queen's Walk...
, Charing Cross, Aldwych and into the City of London via Ludgate Circus
Ludgate Circus tube station
Ludgate Circus tube station was planned in the 1970s to be built as part of phase two of the London Underground's Jubilee line near Ludgate Circus. Preliminary preparation work was begun before the plan was postponed due to lack of funds...
, Cannon Street
Cannon Street station
Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London, England. It is built on the site of the medieval Steelyard, the trading base in England of the Hanseatic League...
and Fenchurch Street before heading into south-east London. An interchange was proposed at Aldwych and a second recommendation of the report was the revival of the link from Aldwych to Waterloo. London Transport had already sought parliamentary approval to construct tunnels from Aldwych to Waterloo in November 1964, and in August 1965, parliamentary powers were granted. Detailed planning took place, although public spending cuts led to postponement of the scheme in 1967 before tenders were invited.
Planning of the Fleet line continued and parliamentary approval was given in July 1969 for the first phase of the line, from Baker Street to Charing Cross. Tunnelling began on the £35 million route in February 1972 and the Jubilee line opened north from Charing Cross in May 1979. The tunnels of the approved section continued east of Charing Cross under Strand almost as far as Aldwych station, but no work at Aldwych was undertaken and they were used only as sidings. Funding for the second phase of the work was delayed throughout the 1970s whilst the route beyond Charing Cross was reviewed to consider options for serving anticipated development in the London Docklands area. By 1979, the cost was estimated as £325 million, a six-fold increase from the £51 million estimated in 1970. A further review of alternatives for the Jubilee line was carried out in 1980, which led to the a change of priorities and the postponement of any further effort on the line. When the extension was eventually constructed in the late 1990s it took a different route, south of the River Thames via Westminster
Westminster tube station
Westminster is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. On the Circle and District lines, the station is between St. James's Park and Embankment and, on the Jubilee line it is between Green Park and Waterloo. It is in...
, Waterloo and London Bridge
London Bridge station
London Bridge railway station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the London Borough of Southwark, occupying a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the...
to provide a rapid link to Canary Wharf, leaving the tunnels between Green Park and Aldwych redundant.
In July 2005, Ove Arup & Partners
Arup
Arup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...
produced a report, DLR Horizon 2020 Study, for the Docklands Light Railway
Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway is an automated light metro or light rail system opened on 31 August 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London...
(DLR) examining "pragmatic development schemes" to expand and improve the DLR network between 2012 and 2020. One of the proposals was an extension of the DLR from Bank to Charing Cross via City Thameslink station and Aldwych. The disused Jubilee line tunnels would be enlarged to accommodate the larger DLR trains and Aldwych station would form the basis for a new station on the line, although requiring considerable reconstruction to accommodate escalators. The estimated cost in 2005 was £232 million for the infrastructure works and the scheme was described as "strongly beneficial" as it was expected to attract passengers from the London Underground's existing east-west routes and from local buses and reduce overcrowding at Bank station. The business case
Business case
A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also sometimes come in the form of a short verbal argument or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, whenever resources such as money or...
assessment was that the proposal offered high value, although similar values were calculated for other extension proposals from Bank. Further detailed studies were proposed.
Use in films and television programmes
Northern Line
The Northern line is a London Underground line. It is coloured black on the Tube map.For most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. The line carries 206,734,000 passengers per year. This is the highest number of any line on the London Underground system, but the Northern line is unique in...
1972 tube stock
London Underground 1972 Stock
The London Underground 1972 stock is a fleet of trains used on the London Underground. The 1972 Stock was ordered to make up the shortfall in trains on the Northern line's 1959 Tube Stock fleet...
is permanently stabled on the branch. This train can be driven up and down the branch for filming. The physical connection with the Piccadilly line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
northbound tracks remains, but requires manual operation.
Films and television productions that have been shot at Aldwych include:
- The Gentle GunmanThe Gentle GunmanThe Gentle Gunman is a black-and-white 1952 Ealing Studios drama film, directed by Basil Dearden and starring John Mills and Dirk Bogarde.-Plot:...
(1952) - Battle of BritainBattle of Britain (film)Battle of Britain is a 1969 Technicolor film directed by Guy Hamilton, and produced by Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz. The film broadly relates the events of the Battle of Britain...
(1969) - Death LineDeath LineDeath Line is a 1972 British horror film, distributed as Raw Meat in the United States. The film stars Donald Pleasence as Inspector Calhoun, and was directed by the American filmmaker Gary Sherman.-Plot:...
(1972) - Superman IV: The Quest for PeaceSuperman IV: The Quest for PeaceSuperman IV: The Quest for Peace is a 1987 superhero film directed by Sidney J. Furie. It is the fourth film in the Superman film series and the last installment to star Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. It is the first film in the series not to be produced by Alexander and Ilya Salkind, but...
(1986) - CreepCreep (film)Creep is a 2004 British horror film about a woman locked in overnight on the London Underground who finds herself being stalked by a hideously deformed killer living in the sewers below...
(2004) - The Good ShepherdThe Good Shepherd (film)The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...
(2006) - V for VendettaV for Vendetta (film)V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd...
(2006) - AtonementAtonement (film)Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006...
(2007) - 28 Weeks Later28 Weeks Later28 Weeks Later is a 2007 British/Spanish film sequel to the 2002 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later. 28 Weeks Later was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and released in the United Kingdom and United States on 11 May 2007...
(2007) - The Edge of LoveThe Edge of LoveThe Edge of Love is a 2008 John Maybury film starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys from a script by Sharman Macdonald, Knightley's mother...
(2008)
The pre-war operation of the station features in a pivotal scene in Geoffrey Household
Geoffrey Household
Geoffrey Edward West Household was a prolific British novelist who specialized in thrillers. He is best known for his novel Rogue Male .-Personal life:...
's novel Rogue Male
Rogue Male (novel)
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household is a classic thriller novel of the 1930s.-Storyline:The protagonist, an unnamed British sportsman, sets out to see whether he can stalk and prepare to shoot a European dictator...
, when the pursuit of the protagonist by an enemy agent sees them repeatedly using the shuttle service on the branch line. A chase through Aldwych station ends with the agent's death by electrocution on the track. A much modified and expanded version of the station appears as a level
Level (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
in the video game Tomb Raider III
Tomb Raider III
Tomb Raider III is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It is the third instalment in the Tomb Raider series, and the sequel to Tomb Raider II...
. The music video for The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
's song "Firestarter
Firestarter (song)
"Firestarter" is a song by the English band The Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996. It was the first single from their third album The Fat of the Land, and their tenth single. It was also the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks...
" was filmed in the disused eastern tunnel and one of the unused lift shafts.
External links
- Underground History, Aldwych Station
- London's Abandoned Tube Stations — Aldwych
- Subterranea Britannica — Aldwych-Holborn Branch
- London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
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