North End tube station
Encyclopedia
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...
's Northern line
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...
). The station was to have been built at North End on the boundaries of Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...
and Golders Hill Park
Golders Hill Park
Golders Hill Park is a formal park in Golders Green, London. It is managed by the City of London Corporation as part of the parkland and commons in and near Hampstead Heath, and is part of the Hampstead Heath Local Nature Reserve...
and is located between Hampstead
Hampstead tube station
Hampstead tube station is a London Underground station in Hampstead, north London NW3 1QG. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Golders Green and Belsize Park stations, and on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3....
and Golders Green
Golders Green tube station
Golders Green tube station is a London Underground station in Golders Green, north London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line between Hampstead and Brent Cross...
.
The original 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...
for the construction of the CCE&HR had been granted under the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway Act, 1893 but gave permission for a railway only as far north as Hampstead. Financing difficulties meant that no work had been begun by the beginning of the 20th century and the company was bought out by a syndicate led by American financier 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:...
in 1900. Following the purchase, plans were revised to continue the route under the Heath to Golders Green where a depot could be constructed and where open farmland offered opportunities for property development. The new proposals met with strong opposition from residents of Hampstead and users of the Heath who feared that the construction of tunnels would detrimentally affect the heath's ecology. The Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead
Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead
The Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead was a Metropolitan borough of the County of London from 1900 to 1965, when it was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras and the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn to form the London Borough of Camden....
also initially objected but relented and parliamentary approval was granted for the extended route in the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway Act, 1903.
One of the conditions for construction of the extended route was the provision of an intermediate station at North End, which would have been located on Hampstead Way. The station would have served a new residential development being planned to the north of the heath but Henrietta Barnett instigated the purchase of the land in 1904 to form the Hampstead Heath Extension instead. Tunnelling for the CCE&HR had begun in 1903 and initially plans for the construction of the station continued to the extent that the larger diameter station tunnels and low level passageways were excavated; however, it became apparent that the removal of the proposed residential development would significantly reduce the number of passengers using the station. Works on the station were ended in 1906 before the lift shafts were dug and before any work on a surface building was done. Services began on the CCE&HR on 22 June 1907, running through the abandoned station. The uncompleted platforms and lower passageways remain, bricked off from the tracks. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it was used to store secret archives with access only available from the cabs of passing service trains.
During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
a shaft was dug down to the lower passageways and the abandoned station became part of the London Underground's civil defence preparations. As the tunnels were the deepest in the network it was an ideal site. The role of the control centre was to manage the emergency floodgate
Floodgate
Floodgates are adjustable gates used to control water flow in flood barriers, reservoir, river, stream, or levee systems. They may be designed to set spillway crest heights in dams, to adjust flow rates in sluices and canals, or they may be designed to stop water flow entirely as part of a levee or...
s placed throughout the tube network at the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During this period, the building at the top was disguised as an electricity substation through the appropriate signage. The exits from the platform tunnels are now marked as emergency evacuation routes from the underground system, and its function is now publicly acknowledged.
Due to its location at the top of a hill, the station would have been, at 221 feet (67 m) deep, the deepest on the entire Underground network. The current deepest is the adjacent Hampstead station to the south-east.
The station's alternative name derives from its proximity to the nearby Bull and Bush public house.
See also
- HaxoHaxo (Paris Métro)Haxo is a ghost station on the Paris Métro. It lies on an unused connecting branch between lines 3bis and 7bis. - History :The station is situated on a line which was constructed in the 1920s between Porte des Lilas and Pré Saint-Gervais...
- a never-opened station on the Paris MetroParis MétroThe Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ... - KymlingeKymlingeKymlinge is an area of Sundbyberg Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It is mostly a recreational park, part of which is a nature reserve .-History:...
- a never-opened station on the Stockholm MetroStockholm MetroThe Stockholm Metro is a metro system in Stockholm, Sweden. The first line opened in 1950, and today the system has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. There are seven lines numbered from 10 to 19, in three groups identified by a color: the Green, Red and Blue lines...