Holborn
Holborn | |
---|---|
Location within Greater London | |
Population | 13,023 (2011 Census. Holborn and Covent Garden Ward)[1] |
OS grid reference | TQ310818 |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LONDON |
Postcode district | WC1, WC2 |
Postcode district | EC1 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
Holborn (/ˈhoʊbərn/ ⓘ HOH-bərn or /ˈhɒlbərn/[a]) is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Camden and the City of London. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Holborn is apart (St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without.
The area has its roots in the ancient parish of Holborn, which lay on the west bank of the now buried River Fleet,[2] taking its name from an alternative name for the river. The area is sometimes described as part of the West End of London[3][4] or of the wider West London area.
The River Fleet also gave its name to the streets Holborn and High Holborn which extend west from the site of the former Newgate in the London Wall, over the Fleet, through Holborn and towards Westminster.
The district benefits from a central location which helps provide a strong mixed economy. The area is particularly noted for its links to the legal profession, the diamond centre at Hatton Garden and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Origins and administration
Holborn emerged from the
Toponymy
The earliest surviving written record of the area occurs in a charter of AD 959, in which
The name Holborn is used in the charter, but it refers to the River Fleet rather than the district.The name "Holborn" may derive from the Middle English hol for "hollow", and bourne, a "brook", referring to the River Fleet as it ran through a steep valley (hollow) in places.[6][8]
However, the 16th-century historian John Stow attributes the name to a different watercourse: the Old Bourne ("old brook"), a small stream which he believed ran into the Fleet at Holborn Bridge. This structure was lost when the river was culverted in 1732. The exact course of the stream is uncertain, but according to Stow it started in one of the many small springs near Holborn Bar, the old City toll gate on the summit of Holborn Hill.[8][9] Other historians, however, find the theory implausible, in view of the slope of the land.[10]
Administration: Parish and Ward
The
A charter of around 1000 shows the boundaries of the city being pushed west to their settled historic extent in around 1000, though this extramural area would have been very sparsely settled. The city’s wards take shape in the 11th century, before the Norman Conquest.
The City Bars mark the boundary of the City of London within Holborn. In 1994 the City boundary shifted slightly to the junction of Chancery Lane and the Bars were moved accordingly.
Many Civil Parishes
It has been described how the two parts of the parish came under separate civil governance (though without any civil governance at parish level) according to whether the part was in the city or outside. From the Tudor period onwards new local government were introduced in England, and parish areas were obliged to take on civil as well as ecclesiastical responsibilities for the first time, this started with
The two parts became, for civil but not ecclesiastical purposes, two separate parishes known as St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars and St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars, the Bars being the City boundary markers. The area "above Bars" (outside the city's jurisdiction) was organised by the
As well as Holborn's two main civil parishes, there were a number of extra-parochial areas, parts of the ecclesiastical parish of Holborn but formed their own (usually tiny) civil parish areas:
- Liberty of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place
- Lincoln's Inn (excluding Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the combined parish of St Giles and Bloomsbury)
- Thavie's Inn
- Barnard's Inn
- Furnival's Inn
- Gray's Inn
- Staple Inn
Response to urbanisation
The St George the Martyr Queen Square area became a separate parish, for both civil and ecclesiastical matters, in 1723; but for civil matters was reunited with the part of St Andrew outside the city (Above the Bars) of London in 1767, to form St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars with St George the Martyr.
The Holborn District was created in 1855, consisting of the civil parishes and extra-parochial places of Holborn outside the city; St Andrew Holborn Above the Bars with St George the Martyr, Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, Ely Rents and Ely Place, as well as two tiny units that were added from the Finsbury Division: Glasshouse Yard and St Sepulchre, Middlesex.
The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was created in 1900, consisting of the former area of the Holborn District and the St Giles District, but the small units previously part of the Finsbury Division were instead included in the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The Metropolitan Borough of Holborn was abolished in 1965 and its area now forms part of the London Borough of Camden.
Latter history
Urban growth
The westward growth of London beyond the City Wall, and towards the seat of government in Westminster, took place along the banks of the River Thames and along the roads leading from Ludgate (Fleet Street and The Strand) and Newgate (Holborn and High Holborn). This growth, initially limited to Farringdon Without (which includes a part of Holborn) was well underway in the 12th century, leading to the Ward being retrospectively described as the capital's original West End.[12]
In the 12th century St Andrew's was noted in local title deeds as lying on "Holburnestrate"—Holborn Street,[14] but as the street leads from Roman Newgate, and the church was sited on it by the 10th century, it is probably considerably older. In 1394 the population had grown so large that the Ward of Farringdon had grown too large for effective governance and was formally divided into the separate Wards, (rather than separate named areas within the same Ward) in 1394.
The westward growth towards Westminster accelerated in the Tudor period. The westerly ribbon development through the parish was complete before the Great Fire of 1666, with the displacement of people accelerating the development of the rest of the area. The northern fringe the last area to be developed, with this process finalised in the 18th century.[15][16]
Medieval
St Etheldreda's Church, in gated Ely Place, was originally the chapel of the Bishop of Ely's London palace. This ecclesiastical connection allowed the street to remain part of the county of Cambridgeshire until the mid-1930s. This meant that Ye Olde Mitre, a pub located in a court hidden behind the buildings of the Place and the Garden, was licensed by the Cambridgeshire Magistrates.[17][18]
St Etheldreda's is the oldest Roman Catholic church in Britain, and one of two extant buildings in London dating back to the era of
Tudor and Stuart periods
Henry VII paid for the road to be paved in 1494 because the thoroughfare "was so deep and miry that many perils and hazards were thereby occasioned, as well to the king's carriages passing that way, as to those of his subjects". Criminals from the Tower and Newgate passed up Holborn on their way to be hanged at Tyburn or St Giles.[22]
Hatton Garden, the centre of the diamond trade, was leased to a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Christopher Hatton, at the insistence of the Queen to provide him with an income.
The area was not damaged by the Great Fire of London in 1666, though the area of destruction reached its south-eastern boundary.
Legal profession
Historic points of interest
In the 18th century, Holborn was the location of the infamous
Subsequently, the area diversified and become recognisable as the modern street. A plaque stands at number 120 commemorating Thomas Earnshaw's invention of the Marine chronometer, which facilitated long-distance travel. At the corner of Hatton Garden was the old family department store of Gamages. Until 1992, the London Weather Centre was located in the street. The Prudential insurance company relocated in 2002. The Daily Mirror offices used to be directly opposite it, but the site is now occupied by Sainsbury's head office.
Behind the Prudential Building lies the Anglo-Catholic church of St Alban the Martyr.[28] Originally built in 1863 by architect William Butterfield, it was gutted during the Blitz but later reconstructed, retaining Butterfield's west front.
On
Geography
The district can best be described in reference to the ancient parish and the sub-divisions that succeeded it, however the area is not an administrative unit so contemporary perceptions of its extent can be vague and highly variable. In particular there are overlapping perceptions of the extent of the districts of Holborn, Bloomsbury and St Giles. One of the many factors in this, is a tendency to conflate the Holborn and High Holborn roads with the district.
The now buried
The area extends west from Farringdon Street, for three-quarters of a mile, roughly as far as Southampton Row and Holborn tube station. The station was originally named Holborn (Kingsway)[30] as it was on the junction of those two roads. Most of the area lies north of the eponymous road, rather than to the south.
Transport
The nearest London Underground stations are Chancery Lane and Holborn. The closest mainline railway station is City Thameslink.
Holborn is served by bus routes 1, 8, 19, 25, 38, 55, 59, 68, 76, 91, 98, 133, 168, 171, 188, 243, 341, X68 and night routes N1, N8, N19, N38, N41, N55, N68 and N171.
Nearby areas
Economy
In the early 21st century, Holborn has become the site of new offices and hotels. For example, the old neoclassical Pearl Assurance building near the junction with
There has been attempts by some commercial organisations to rebrand the southern parts of the London Borough of Camden (Holborn, Bloomsbury and St Giles; the former Metropolitan Borough of Holborn) as "Midtown".[31] This area, is notionally in the very middle of London, being situated between the Westminster and the City,[32] but this Americanisation has been widely criticised[by whom?] and not accepted or used by Londoners.[citation needed]
Representation
The MPs for the area are:
- Holborn and St Pancras;
- Nickie Aiken, the Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, which includes the City of London portion of Holborn.
The three ward
- Cllr Julian Fulbrook, Cllr Sue Vincent and Cllr Awale Olad of the Labour Party.
Holborn is represented in the
- Andrew Dismore, of the Labour Party.
Notable people
The following is a list of notable people who were born in or are significantly connected with Holborn.
- Matthew Ball, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet lives there.
- John Barbirolli (1899–1970), conductor, born in Southampton Row (blue plaque on hotel his father managed)
- John William Bean (1824–1882), criminal, born in Holborn. He attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria.
- Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770), poet, born in Bristol and died in a garret in Holborn at the age of 17
- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912), composer, born at 15 Theobalds Road; acclaimed especially for The Song of Hiawatha trilogy
- Sir John Elley (1764–1839), a hero of the Napoleonic Wars, born to the owner of an eating-house in Furnival's Inn
- James Day(1850–1895), cricketer, born in Holborn
- Charles Dickens (1812–1870). He lived in Doughty Street, where his house is now a museum.
- Rupert Farley, actor and voice actor, born in Holborn
- Naomi Lewis (1911–2009), advocate of animal rights, poet, children's author and teacher. She lived in Red Lion Square from 1935 to 2009.
- Eric Morley (1918–2000), founder of the Miss World pageant, born in Holborn
- William Morris (1845–1896), artist and socialist. He lived at 8 Red Lion Square.
- Frederico Perera (1836–1909), first-class cricketer
- Pedro Perera (1832–1915), first-class cricketer
- Gothic novel, born in Holborn
- John Shaw Jr. (1803–1870), architect, born in Holborn; praised as a designer in the "Manner of Wren"
- Barry Sheene (1950–2003), World Champion motorcycle racer. He spent his early years in Holborn.
Gallery
-
The headquarters of Sainsbury's at Holborn Circus
-
Grange Holborn Hotel
-
Entrance to Gray's Inn
-
Royal London Fusiliers Monument on Holborn, dedicated to those who died in World War I
-
HEC UK House, Parker Street
See also
Notes
- a. ˈhəʊbə(r)n" but allows "sometimes also hohl-buhrn". The organisation's less formal Pronouncing British Placenames notes, "You'll occasionally find towns where nobody can agree.... Holborn in central London has for many years been pronounced 'hoe-bun', but having so few local residents to preserve this, it's rapidly changing to a more natural 'hol-burn'".[33][34] However, Modern British and American English pronunciation (2008) cites "Holborn" as one of its examples of a common word where the "l" is silent.[35] The popular tourist guide The Rough Guide to Britain sticks to the traditional form, with neither "l" nor "r": /ˈhoʊbən/ HOH-bən.[36]
References
- ^ "Camden Ward population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
- ^ a b Temple, Philip (2008). "'West of Farringdon Road', in Survey of London: Volume 47, Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville". London: British History Online. pp. 22–51. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
- ^ "West End Project Overview" (PDF). London Borough of Camden. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 September 2018.
- ^ "Case Study" (PDF). London Borough of Camden. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 June 2021.
- ^ detail of the perambulation of the landholding described in 'Citadel of the Saxons' by Rory Naismith, p130
- ^ a b Lethaby, William (1902). London before the conquest. London: Macmillan. p. 60.
- ^ Citadel of the Saxons, Rory Naismith, p130
- ^ a b Besant, Walter; Mitton, Geraldine (1903). Holborn and Bloomsbury. The Fascination of London (Project Gutenberg, 2007 ed.). London: Adam and Charles Black. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
- ^ Strype, John (1720). "Rivers and other Waters serving this City". Survey of London. The Stuart London Project. Online edition: University of Sheffield 2007.
- ^ Lethaby (1902:48)
- ^ History of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham, 1986 p19 After the development of Canon Law, changes after this time became legally onerous and rare
- ^ a b Process, terms and sources described in detail in "London, 800-1216". Brooke and Keir, Chapter 7
- ^ The Parish of St Andrew Holborn pp. 11–12 Caroline Barron London 1979
- ^ Harben, Henry (1918). A Dictionary of London. London: Herbert Jenkins.
- ^ "Strype map of 1720".
- ^ "Horwood map of 1799".
- ^ Vitaliev, Vitali (3 January 2003). "Things that go bump on the map". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
- Time Out. Archived from the originalon 26 July 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
- ^ "History of the Church". stetheldreda.com.
It is the oldest Catholic church in England and one of only two remaining buildings in London from the reign of Edward I.
- ISBN 978-1-892123-32-9.
This is Britain's oldest Roman Catholic church, dating from the 13th century.
- ISBN 978-0-333-45708-5.
In 1874 when the church was bought back by the Roman Catholics it was found to be full of 'inconceivable filth, living and dead'. St Etheldreda's is the oldest Catholic church building in Britain.
- ^ Timbs, John (1855). Curiosities of London: Exhibiting the Most Rare and Remarkable Objects of Interest in the Metropolis. D. Bogue. p. 428.
- ^ Chap. 20
- ISBN 1-4050-4925-1.
- ^ "The Inns of Court and City Yeomanry".
- IMDb
- Royal Opera House, Covent Gardenin December 1912.
- ^ St Alban the Martyr accessed 14 December 2013
- ^ The History of the River Fleet, UCL Fleet Restoration Team, 2009
- ^ "Article on the history and future of Holborn tube station". 30 November 2017.
- ^ Barrett, Helen (22 April 2023). "The London districts nobody knows: where are NoHo, Midtown and Brain Yard?". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023.
- ^ Colvile, Robert (27 June 2012). "A Midtown in London? There's NoHo chance". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 June 2012.
- ISBN 0-19-280710-2.
- ^ "Pronouncing British Placenames". BBC. 7 March 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
- ISBN 978-3-8252-2053-2.
- ISBN 1-84353-301-4.
External links
- Holborn and Bloomsbury, by Sir Walter Besant and Geraldine Edith Mitton, 1903, from Project Gutenberg