Somers Town, London
Encyclopedia
Somers Town, was named for Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers
. The area in St Pancras, London
, was originally granted by William III
to John Somers
, Lord Chancellor and Baron Somers of Evesham. It was to be strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston
(1838), St. Pancras (1868) and Kings Cross (1852), together with the Somers Town railway and canal goods depot
(1887), where the British Library
now stands.
Historically, the name Somers Town was used of the larger triangular area between the Pancras, Hampstead
, and Euston Road
s, but it is now taken to mean the rough rectangle bounded by Pancras Road, Euston Road, Eversholt Street, Crowndale Road, and the railway approaches to St Pancras Station; that is to say, the area about 200 metres east and west of Chalton Street. Somers Town to some extent overlaps with the parish and district of St Pancras
.
is one of the oldest Christian sites in England. The churchyard remains consecrated but it managed by Camden Council
as a park, holds many literary associations, from Charles Dickens
to Thomas Hardy
, as well as memorials to dignitaries.The remarkable tomb of architect Sir John Soane is there.
In 1784, the first housing was built at the Polygon amid fields, brick works and market gardens on the northern fringes of London. Mary Wollstonecraft
, writer, philosopher and feminist, lived there with her husband William Godwin
, and died there in 1797 after giving birth to the future Mary Shelley
, author of Frankenstein
. The area appears to have appealed to middle class people fleeing the French Revolution
. The site of the Polygon is now the site of a council block of flats called Oakshott Court. The Polygon deteriorated socially as the surrounding land was subsequently sold off in smaller lots for cheaper housing, especially after the start of construction in the 1830s of the railway lines into Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross. In this period the area housed a large transient population of labourers and the population density of the area soared. By the late 19c most of the houses were in in multiple occupation and overcrowding was severe with whole families sometimes living in one room, as confirmed by the social surveys of Charles Booth
and Irene Barclay
When the Church of St Luke's, near Kings Cross, was removed to make way for the construction of the Midland Railway Station, the estimated twelve thousand inhabitants of Somers Town at that time were deprived of that place of worship, as the Church was re-erected in Kentish Town. However, in 1868, the Victorian merchant and philanthropist, George Moore
built, at his own expense, a new church, known as Christ Church, with an associated school in Chalton Street with an entrance in Ossulston Street. The school accommodated about eight hundred children. Christ Church and the adjacent school were destroyed in a World War II bombing raid and no trace remains today, the site being occupied by a children's play area and sports court. The parish church of St Mary Eversholt Street is today the parish church.
, amongst the worst in the capital, was first undertaken by St Pancras Council in 1906 at Goldington Buildings, at the junction of Pancras Road and Royal College Street, and continued on a larger scale by the St Pancras House Improvement Society (subsequently the St Pancras and Humanist Housing Association
) (who now own Goldington Buildings) which was established in 1924. Its founders were Church of England
priest, Father Basil Jellicoe
and Irene Barclay
, the first woman in Britain to qualify as a chartered Surveyor
. The Society's Sidney Street and Drummond Street estates incorporated sculpture panels of Doultonware
designed by Gilbert Bayes
, and ornamental finial
s for the washing line posts designed by the same artist, now mostly destroyed or replaced with replicas. Further social housing was built by the London County Council
, which began construction of the Ossulston Estate
in 1927. There remains a small number of older Grade 2 listed properties, mostly Georgian
terraced houses.
In the 1980s, some council tenants took advantage of the 'right to buy' scheme, and bought their homes at a substantial discount, later moving away from the area into the outer suburbs of North London. This led to an influx of young semi-professional people, resulting in a changing population and a more diverse place to live.
Somers Town ward used to include a number of hospitals, such as the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and the National Temperance
. These have all closed since 1980, with the exception of St Pancras Hospital
, which still occupies the site and some of the buildings of its former life as the workhouse
, adjacent to the old church. The large forbidding red brick building fronting the complex to the north of St Pancras Gardens is still residential, chiefly as a rehabilitation hospital
for the elderly. Its other buildings house the headquarters of Camden NHS Primary Care Trust. It also accommodates parts of Islington Primary Care Trust, the Huntley Centre (a mental health unit), and St. Pancras Coroner's Court.
Land at Brill Place earmarked for later phases of the British Library
development were used, when the library expansion was cancelled, as site offices for the HS1 terminal development and partly to allow for excavation of a tunnel for the new Thameslink
station. It has now been acquired as the site for the Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation), a major medical research institute being established by a partnership of Cancer Research UK
, Imperial College London
, King's College London
, the Medical Research Council
, University College London
(UCL) and the Wellcome Trust
.
, held in Chalton Street every Friday.
The START (Somers Town Art) Festival of Cultures is held on the second Saturday in July, on the site of the market. It is the biggest street festival in Camden and attracts about 10,000 people, bringing together the area's diverse cultural communities.
The children's charity Scene & Heard
is based in Somers Town. It offers a unique mentoring project that partners the inner-city children of Somers Town with volunteer theatre professionals, providing each child who participates with quality one-on-one adult attention and an experience of personal success through the process of writing and performing plays.
The film Somers Town
was released in 2008. Directed by Shane Meadows
, filming took place almost entirely in and around Phoenix Court, a low rise council property in Purchese Street. The film was funded by Eurostar
, to mark the move of its London terminus from Waterloo to St Pancras that year.
in the area. Somers Town Community Sports Centre was built on part of the school playground. The building is leased to a charitable trust
which is jointly managed by the school and University College London Union
, based just south of Euston Road
. It is used for 17% of available hours by UCLU's sports teams for training and home matches and for recreational sport by UCL students. As part of Building Schools for the Future
plans to expand the school, it is probable that the sports centre will be reintegrated back into the school campus.
There are also three primary schools, Edith Neville (state), St. Aloysius (state-aided Catholic) and St Mary and St Pancras (state-aided Church of England). The latter has been rebuilt, beneath four floors of University College London
(UCL) accommodation units. UCL is based a few hundred metres to the south of Euston Road and is a major employer of local residents.
The nearest London Underground stations are Mornington Crescent
, Euston
and King's Cross St. Pancras
. National Rail
services operate from London King's Cross and London St. Pancras — both to the east of the district; and London Euston — to the west. St. Pancras International is also the terminus for Eurostar
services and will be the London terminus for the Javelin service to the London Olympic Park.
Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers
Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers , known as Sir Charles Cocks, 1st Baronet, from 1772 to 1784, was a British politician....
. The area in St Pancras, London
St Pancras, London
St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...
, was originally granted by William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
to John Somers
John Somers, 1st Baron Somers
John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, PC, FRS was an English Whig jurist and statesman. Somers first came to national attention in the trial of the Seven Bishops where he was on the their defence counsel. He published tracts on political topics such as the succession to the crown, where he elaborated his...
, Lord Chancellor and Baron Somers of Evesham. It was to be strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
(1838), St. Pancras (1868) and Kings Cross (1852), together with the Somers Town railway and canal goods depot
Goods station
A goods station is, in the widest sense, a railway station which is exclusively or predominantly where goods of any description are loaded or unloaded from ships or road vehicles and/or where goods wagons are transferred to local sidings.A station where goods are not specifically received or...
(1887), where the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
now stands.
Historically, the name Somers Town was used of the larger triangular area between the Pancras, Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, and Euston Road
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
s, but it is now taken to mean the rough rectangle bounded by Pancras Road, Euston Road, Eversholt Street, Crowndale Road, and the railway approaches to St Pancras Station; that is to say, the area about 200 metres east and west of Chalton Street. Somers Town to some extent overlaps with the parish and district of St Pancras
St Pancras, London
St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...
.
History
St. Pancras Old ChurchSt Pancras Old Church
St Pancras Old Church is a Church of England parish church in central London. It is believed to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England, and is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, although the building itself is largely Victorian...
is one of the oldest Christian sites in England. The churchyard remains consecrated but it managed by Camden Council
Camden London Borough Council
Camden London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Camden in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London...
as a park, holds many literary associations, from Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
to Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
, as well as memorials to dignitaries.The remarkable tomb of architect Sir John Soane is there.
In 1784, the first housing was built at the Polygon amid fields, brick works and market gardens on the northern fringes of London. Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
, writer, philosopher and feminist, lived there with her husband William Godwin
William Godwin
William Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism...
, and died there in 1797 after giving birth to the future Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
, author of Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
. The area appears to have appealed to middle class people fleeing the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. The site of the Polygon is now the site of a council block of flats called Oakshott Court. The Polygon deteriorated socially as the surrounding land was subsequently sold off in smaller lots for cheaper housing, especially after the start of construction in the 1830s of the railway lines into Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross. In this period the area housed a large transient population of labourers and the population density of the area soared. By the late 19c most of the houses were in in multiple occupation and overcrowding was severe with whole families sometimes living in one room, as confirmed by the social surveys of Charles Booth
Charles Booth (philanthropist)
Charles Booth was an English philanthropist and social researcher. He is most famed for his innovative work on documenting working class life in London at the end of the 19th century, work that along with that of Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree influenced government intervention against poverty in the...
and Irene Barclay
Irene Barclay
Irene Barclay was the first Woman in Britain to qualify as a chartered surveyor, following the passage of the Sex Disqualification Removal Act 1919...
When the Church of St Luke's, near Kings Cross, was removed to make way for the construction of the Midland Railway Station, the estimated twelve thousand inhabitants of Somers Town at that time were deprived of that place of worship, as the Church was re-erected in Kentish Town. However, in 1868, the Victorian merchant and philanthropist, George Moore
George Moore (philanthropist)
George Moore was an English merchant and philanthropist. He was born in Mealsgate but later acquired a mansion in Kensington Palace Gardens.-Further reading:...
built, at his own expense, a new church, known as Christ Church, with an associated school in Chalton Street with an entrance in Ossulston Street. The school accommodated about eight hundred children. Christ Church and the adjacent school were destroyed in a World War II bombing raid and no trace remains today, the site being occupied by a children's play area and sports court. The parish church of St Mary Eversholt Street is today the parish church.
20th century
Improvement of the slum housing conditionsUrban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
, amongst the worst in the capital, was first undertaken by St Pancras Council in 1906 at Goldington Buildings, at the junction of Pancras Road and Royal College Street, and continued on a larger scale by the St Pancras House Improvement Society (subsequently the St Pancras and Humanist Housing Association
Housing association
Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in housing need. Any trading surplus is used to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones...
) (who now own Goldington Buildings) which was established in 1924. Its founders were Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
priest, Father Basil Jellicoe
Basil Jellicoe
Father Basil Lee Jellicoe was a clergyman in the Church of England and a housing reformer best known for his housing work, started when he was Missioner at the Magdalen Mission in Somers Town, London....
and Irene Barclay
Irene Barclay
Irene Barclay was the first Woman in Britain to qualify as a chartered surveyor, following the passage of the Sex Disqualification Removal Act 1919...
, the first woman in Britain to qualify as a chartered Surveyor
Chartered Surveyor
Chartered Surveyor is the description ofProfessional Members and Fellows of the RICS entitled to use the designation in Commonwealth countries and Ireland...
. The Society's Sidney Street and Drummond Street estates incorporated sculpture panels of Doultonware
Royal Doulton
The Royal Doulton Company is an English company producing tableware and collectables, dating to 1815. Operating originally in London, its reputation grew in The Potteries, where it was a latecomer compared to Spode, Wedgwood and Minton...
designed by Gilbert Bayes
Gilbert Bayes
Gilbert William Bayes RA was a British sculptor and medalist.-Career:Born in London into a family of artists, Bayes' lengthy and illustrious career began as a student under Sir George Frampton and Harry Bates, and so became associated with the British New Sculpture movement and its focus on...
, and ornamental finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
s for the washing line posts designed by the same artist, now mostly destroyed or replaced with replicas. Further social housing was built by 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...
, which began construction of the Ossulston Estate
Ossulston Estate
The Ossulston Estate is a multi-storey council estate built by the London County Council in Somers Town between 1927 and 1931. It was unusual at the time both in its inner-city location and in its modernist design, and all the original parts of the estate are now listed buildings.The estate was...
in 1927. There remains a small number of older Grade 2 listed properties, mostly Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
terraced houses.
In the 1980s, some council tenants took advantage of the 'right to buy' scheme, and bought their homes at a substantial discount, later moving away from the area into the outer suburbs of North London. This led to an influx of young semi-professional people, resulting in a changing population and a more diverse place to live.
Somers Town ward used to include a number of hospitals, such as the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and the National Temperance
National Temperance Hospital
The National Temperance Hospital is an abandoned hospital in Hampstead Road, London, near Camden Town. It opened on 6 October 1873 by initiative of the National Temperance League, and was managed by a board of 12 teetotallers...
. These have all closed since 1980, with the exception of St Pancras Hospital
St Pancras Hospital
St Pancras Hospital is a public hospital in the St Pancras/Somers Town area of London, near Camden Town. The hospital is controlled by the Camden Primary Care Trust and specialises in geriatric and psychiatric medicine....
, which still occupies the site and some of the buildings of its former life as the workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
, adjacent to the old church. The large forbidding red brick building fronting the complex to the north of St Pancras Gardens is still residential, chiefly as a rehabilitation hospital
Rehabilitation hospital
A rehabilitation hospital, also referred to as Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals, are devoted to the rehabilitation of patients with various neurological, musculo-skeletal, orthopedic and other medical conditions following stabilization of their acute medical issues. The industry is largely made...
for the elderly. Its other buildings house the headquarters of Camden NHS Primary Care Trust. It also accommodates parts of Islington Primary Care Trust, the Huntley Centre (a mental health unit), and St. Pancras Coroner's Court.
21st century
Major construction work along the eastern side of Somers Town was completed in 2008, to allow for the Eurostar trains to arrive at the refurbished St Pancras Station. This involved the removal of part of the Old St Pancras churchyard, the human remains being re-interred elsewhere.Land at Brill Place earmarked for later phases of the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
development were used, when the library expansion was cancelled, as site offices for the HS1 terminal development and partly to allow for excavation of a tunnel for the new Thameslink
Thameslink
Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than...
station. It has now been acquired as the site for the Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation), a major medical research institute being established by a partnership of Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom, formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Its aim is to reduce the number of deaths from cancer. As the world's largest independent cancer...
, Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
, King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, the Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
, University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
(UCL) and the Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...
.
Culture
Somers Town has a flourishing street marketStreet market
A street market is an outdoor market such as traditionally held in a market square or in a market town, and often held only on particular days of the week...
, held in Chalton Street every Friday.
The START (Somers Town Art) Festival of Cultures is held on the second Saturday in July, on the site of the market. It is the biggest street festival in Camden and attracts about 10,000 people, bringing together the area's diverse cultural communities.
The children's charity Scene & Heard
Scene & Heard
Scene & Heard, is a British registered charity which operates as a mentoring project for inner-city children in Somers Town, London.Much of the charity's work involves teaming children with a volunteer theatre professional to write short plays, which are performed by professional actors in front of...
is based in Somers Town. It offers a unique mentoring project that partners the inner-city children of Somers Town with volunteer theatre professionals, providing each child who participates with quality one-on-one adult attention and an experience of personal success through the process of writing and performing plays.
The film Somers Town
Somers Town (film)
Somers Town is a 2008 film directed by Shane Meadows, written by Paul Fraser and produced by Barnaby Spurrier. It stars Thomas Turgoose, Piotr Jagiello, Kate Dickie, Perry Benson, and Elisa Lasowski...
was released in 2008. Directed by Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows
Shane Meadows is an English film director, screenwriter, occasional actor and BAFTA winner.-Background:Meadows grew up in the Westlands Road area of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. His father was a long distance lorry driver and his mother worked in a fish and chip shop...
, filming took place almost entirely in and around Phoenix Court, a low rise council property in Purchese Street. The film was funded by Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
, to mark the move of its London terminus from Waterloo to St Pancras that year.
Education
Sir William Collins School, established in the 1890s and later renamed South Camden Community School, is the main state secondary schoolSecondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in the area. Somers Town Community Sports Centre was built on part of the school playground. The building is leased to a charitable trust
Charitable trust
A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...
which is jointly managed by the school and University College London Union
University College London Union
University College London Union , founded in 1893, has a credible claim to be England's oldest students' union. It was formed with the following objectives: "the promotion of social intercourse and of the means of recreation, physical and mental, of the students of University College, and the...
, based just south of Euston Road
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
. It is used for 17% of available hours by UCLU's sports teams for training and home matches and for recreational sport by UCL students. As part of Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future is the name of the previous UK Government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England. The program is very ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicians from all English political parties supportive of the principle but...
plans to expand the school, it is probable that the sports centre will be reintegrated back into the school campus.
There are also three primary schools, Edith Neville (state), St. Aloysius (state-aided Catholic) and St Mary and St Pancras (state-aided Church of England). The latter has been rebuilt, beneath four floors of University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
(UCL) accommodation units. UCL is based a few hundred metres to the south of Euston Road and is a major employer of local residents.
Nearby areas
- Camden TownCamden Town-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
to the north - Euston to the west
- Kings Cross to the east
- St PancrasSt Pancras, LondonSt Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...
to the south-east - BloomsburyBloomsbury-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
to the south
Transport
Vehicular through traffic is not heavy, and is confined by traffic calming and other measures to a few North/South arterial throughways.The nearest London Underground stations are Mornington Crescent
Mornington Crescent tube station
Mornington Crescent is a London Underground station in Camden Town in north west London, named after the nearby street. The station is on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, between and...
, Euston
Euston tube station
Euston tube station is a London Underground station served by the Victoria Line and both branches of the Northern Line. It directly connects with the Euston mainline station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1....
and King's Cross St. Pancras
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...
. National Rail
National Rail
National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...
services operate from London King's Cross and London St. Pancras — both to the east of the district; and London Euston — to the west. St. Pancras International is also the terminus for Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
services and will be the London terminus for the Javelin service to the London Olympic Park.
Notable residents
- Guy-Toussaint-Julien CarronGuy-Toussaint-Julien CarronAbbé Guy-Toussaint-Julien Carron was a French Roman Catholic priest who founded a number of social and educational institutions, especially while in exile in England, and was a prolific author of pious tracts.-Life:...
(1760-1821), French priest who fled the French Revolution and established the chapel of St. Aloysius and other institutions in the area - Nell CampbellNell Campbell"Little" Nell Campbell is an Australian actress, club owner and singer.-Early life:She was born in Sydney, to Ruth and Ross Campbell, a writer, who called her "Little Nell" in his family life column in the Sydney Daily Telegraph...
, actress and singer, lived in Charrington St while appearing in The Rocky Horror ShowThe Rocky Horror ShowThe Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"... - Joe ColeJoe ColeJoseph John "Joe" Cole is an English footballer who plays for Lille, on loan from Liverpool, and the England national football team as midfielder. He started his career with where he played more than 100 games during five years, until he left for Chelsea in 2003...
, England footballerEngland national football teamThe England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first... - Costas Dino Contostavlos A.K.A DappyDappyCostadinos Contostavlos better known by his stage name Dappy, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, actor of Greek descent. He is best known for being the lead singer of the Camden-based Grime/hip hop/R&B trio N-Dubz, with his cousin Tulisa and their friend Fazer...
(based near the area Crowndale) member of trio band N Dubz - Samuel De WildeSamuel De WildeSamuel De Wilde , born and died in London, was a portrait painter and etcher of Dutch descent famous for his theatrical paintings. He was the son of a Dutch joiner who had settled in London by 1748....
(1751–1832), portrait painter and etcher, lived at the Polygon - Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
(1812-1870), lived at 29 Johnson (now Cranleigh) St for 4 years, then moved in Nov 1828 to 17 The Polygon; he wrote of the gravediggers in St Pancras Churchyard - Francis Aidan Gasquet (1846-1929), Cardinal, Librarian of the Vatican, scholar, was born there
- Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley) (1797-1851), most famous for her novel FrankensteinFrankensteinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
, was born at 29 Polygon Square. - William GodwinWilliam GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism...
(1756-1836), EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
philosopher, lived at 29 The Polygon, in Chalton St and Skinner St. - Samuel Mitan (1786-1843), engraver, died at The Polygon.
- Sidney Richard PercySidney Richard PercySidney Richard Percy , born Sidney Richard Percy Williams, was an English landscape painter.-Biography:...
(1821-1886), one of the most prolific and popular landscape painters of the Victorian era, lived at 11 Johnson St in 1842. - Antonio PuigblanchAntonio PuigblanchAntoni Puig i Blanch was a Catalan Spanish philologist and politician. He was living in London during 1815-1820 and 1823-1840...
(1775–1840), author of The Inquisition Unmasked, London, 1816, lived at 51 Johnson St. - Edward ScrivenEdward Scriven-Life:He was born, according to his own account, at Alcester, Warwickshire, though his name does not appear in the parish register. He was a pupil of Robert Thew, and became known as an engraver of portraits, in the stipple and chalk manner...
(1775–1841), pre-eminent engraver of his generation, lived at the Polygon - Fred TitmusFred TitmusFrederick John Titmus MBE was an English cricketer, whose first-class career spanned five decades. Although he was best known for his off spin , he was an accomplished lower-order batsman who deserved to be called an all-rounder, even opening the batting for England on six occasions...
(1932-2011), cricketer, born there - Mary WollstonecraftMary WollstonecraftMary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
(1759-1797), writer and philosopher, died at 29 The Polygon.