King's Cross, London
King's Cross | |
---|---|
Repurposed gas holders and canal locks at King's Cross, with the buildings of St Pancras Square behind | |
Location within Greater London | |
Population | 11,843 (2011)[1] |
OS grid reference | TQ304827 |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LONDON |
Postcode district | N1, N1C |
Postcode district | NW1 |
Postcode district | WC1 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
Holborn and St. Pancras Islington South and Finsbury | |
London Assembly | |
Website | www |
King's Cross is a district on either side of Euston Road, in north London, England, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Barnsbury to the north, Clerkenwell and Islington to the east, Holborn to the south and Somers Town to the west. It is served by two major rail termini, St Pancras and King's Cross. King's Cross station is the terminus of one of the major rail routes between London and the North.[2]
The area, which was historically the south-eastern part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, has undergone significant regeneration since the mid-1990s. The introduction of the Eurostar rail service at St Pancras International and the rebuilding of King's Cross station helped stimulate the redevelopment of the long derelict railway lands to the north of the termini.
History
Origin
The area, historically the south-eastern part of the ancient parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras, was previously known as Battle Bridge or Battlebridge after an ancient crossing of the River Fleet. The original name of the bridge was Broad Ford Bridge. The original parish church, St Pancras Old Church, located behind the stations, was built on a knoll on the west bank of the Fleet, and is believed to be one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain.
Boudica Legend
The
Development and the name "King's Cross"
The
Railway stations
King's Cross station now stands by the junction where the monument stood and took its name.[8] The station, designed by architect Lewis Cubitt and opened in 1852, succeeded a temporary earlier station, erected north of the canal in time for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
St Pancras railway station, built by the Midland Railway, lies immediately to the west. They both had extensive land ("the railway lands") to house their associated facilities for handling general goods and specialist commodities such as fish, coal, potatoes and grain. The passenger stations on Euston Road far outweighed in public attention the economically more important goods traffic to the north. King's Cross and St Pancras stations, and indeed all London railway stations, made an important contribution to the capital's economy.
Post-war decline
After World War II the area declined from being a poor but busy industrial and distribution services district to a partially abandoned post-industrial district. By the 1980s it was notorious for prostitution and drug abuse.[14] This reputation impeded attempts to revive the area, utilising the large amount of land available following the decline of the railway goods yard to the north of the station and the many other vacant premises in the area.
Relatively cheap rents and a central London location made the area attractive to artists and designers and both Antony Gormley and Thomas Heatherwick established studios in the area. In the late 1980s, a group of musicians, mechanics, and squatters from Hammersmith called Mutoid Waste Company moved into Battlebridge Road warehouse.[15] They built huge industrial sculptures out of scrap metal and held raves. In 1989 they were evicted by police.[16] In 1992, the Community Creation Trust took over the disused coach repair depot and built it into the largest Ecology Centre in Europe with ecohousing for homeless youngsters, The Last Platform Cafe, London Ecology Centre (after its demise in Covent Garden), offices and workshops, gardens and ponds. It was destroyed to make a car park for the Channel Tunnel Regeneration. Bagley's Warehouse was a nightclub venue in the 1990s warehouse rave scene on the site of Goods Yard behind King's Cross stations, now part of the redevelopment area known as the Coal Drops adjacent to Granary Square.
Regeneration
In the 1990s, the government established the King's Cross Partnership[17] to fund regeneration projects, and the commencement of work on High Speed 1 in 2000 provided a major impetus for other projects. In 2001, Argent was selected as the development partner. The London terminus of the Eurostar international rail services to Paris and Brussels moved to St Pancras station in November 2007.
Following the opening of the High Speed 1 to the station, redevelopment of the land between the two major stations and the old King's Cross railway lands to the rear commenced. In 2008, Argent, London & Continental Railways and DHL formed a joint partnership: Kings Cross Central Limited Partnership.
The area remains a major focus of redevelopment in the second decade of the 21st century. In 2017, Google, which already occupy a large new building between St. Pancras and King's Cross stations, announced plans for a further £1 billion building stretching along the west side of King's Cross station towards the Regents canal.
The area has also been for many years home to a number of trades union head offices (including the NUJ, RMT, UNISON, NUT, Community and UCU).
Education, culture and heritage
The area has increasingly become home to cultural establishments. The
In September 2011 the University of the Arts London moved to the Granary Complex. A whole series of new public squares and gardens have opened, among them Granary Square with its spectacular fountains, Lewis Cubitt Park and Square and the new Gasholder Park.
The station's redevelopment led to the demolition of several buildings, including the Gasworks.[22]
Location
King's Cross forms the south-east part of the ancient parish and subsequent borough of St Pancras, which is now the major part of the London Borough of Camden. The importance of King's Cross station means that use of the place name term spills over into neighbouring parts of the London Borough of Islington.
The eastern boundary of the parish and borough of St Pancras has become the boundary of the larger modern borough and is locally formed, in part, by the course of the River Fleet. The southern boundary of the parish and borough ran along Guilford Street and in places slightly further south where, on the north side of Long Yard and along Roger Street it followed the course of a now culverted tributary of the Fleet, a tributary which was historically dammed to form Lamb's Conduit.[23]
The London Borough of Camden has an electoral ward called King's Cross, but this only includes a part of southern King's Cross; south of Euston Road and north of Guilford Street.[24] In 2021 it was proposed that this ward be extended north of Euston Road as far as the North London line, to take in the King's Cross and St Pancras termini as well as the large redeveloped area to the north of those stations.[25]
In popular culture
In the
King's Cross and its surrounding streets were also the setting for the 1955
Iin 1972 it was the setting for Kings Cross Lunch Hour, one of four plays set in different parts of London, written by John Mortimer for the BBC drama series Thirty-Minute Theatre.[30]
"Vale Royal", an epic poem in 700 triads by Aidan Andrew Dun probes into this zone of London; "Vale Royal" was launched at the Albert Hall in 1995. A triad of Dun's, excerpted from another poem, "The Brill", has been installed at the western end of Granary Square in a small grove of trees beside the new Central Saint Martins. It reads: "Kings Cross, dense with angels and histories, there are cities beneath your pavements, cities behind your skies. Let me see!"[31]
The
The British
Rail
King's Cross station
King's Cross is a famous railway interchange, and King's Cross station is a focal point in the district.
Commuter services from King's Cross are operated by
In fiction, the station is the London terminus of the
The Goods Yard complex, part of the King's Cross Central development, was a rail freight terminal. The Yard was designed by Lewis Cubitt in 1852. The nearby Granary Square is named after the Granary building. Trains carried Lincolnshire wheat to King's Cross, where the wheat would then be stored in the Granary building to be used by London's bakers.[40]
St Pancras International
St Pancras International station is in the district.
St Pancras is Eurostar's London terminus. International destinations include Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris.[41]
The station is also the terminus of Southeastern High Speed services from Kent and Stratford International (where London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is situated).[41]
Other long-distance National Rail services are operated by East Midlands Railway to cities such as Leicester and Sheffield.[41]
Thameslink operates regional services across London, South East England, and East Anglia. Trains serve key UK destinations including Bedford, Brighton, Cambridge, and Luton. They also serve several major London destinations, including Farringdon, Finsbury Park, and London Bridge. These routes provide the King's Cross area with direct links to Gatwick and Luton Airports .[35]
Euston station
Euston station sits around one-half mile (800 m) west of King's Cross. National Rail trains from Euston serve the West Midlands, North Wales, North West England, and Scotland. Destinations include Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Holyhead, and Glasgow.[42]
London Overground () services run between Euston and Watford Junction, via Willesden Junction, Wembley Central, and Harrow & Wealdstone.[43]
A business partnership group has designed a "Wellbeing Walk" between Euston and St Pancras stations. The route avoids Euston Road, and the group claims that their route, compared to the Euston Road route, reduces pedestrians' exposure to air pollution by 50%.[44]
London Underground
King's Cross St Pancras tube station is on several London Underground lines:
- Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines
- Northern line (Bank branch)
- Piccadilly line
- Victoria line
The Piccadilly line links King's Cross directly to Heathrow Airport and the West End, whilst the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, and Northern lines link the area to the City.
Euston tube station is nearby, which is served by both branches of the Northern line, and the Victoria line.
Both stations are in London's
Transport
Bus and Coach
With three railway stations in the immediate area, and two tube stations, much of the area is used as a transport interchange.
Cycling
Several cycle routes pass through King's Cross. Cycling infrastructure is maintained by the London Borough of Camden and Transport for London (TfL).
Cycleway 6 runs north–south along Midland Road (between St Pancras station and the British Library) and Judd Street. Northbound, Cycleway 6 passes east of Camden Town en route to Kentish Town. Southbound, the route links King's Cross to Farringdon, the City, and Elephant & Castle.[48]
The Regent's Canal Towpath runs westbound from King's Cross to Camden Lock, Regent's Park, and Maida Vale. The Islington Tunnel means that eastbound cyclists must bypass the canal through Angel, but the path continues to the west of Angel towards Hoxton, Victoria Park, Mile End, and Limehouse.[49]
Cycling infrastructure is also provided along Mabledon Place (towards Bloomsbury), York Way (towards Barnsbury and Kentish Town), Pentonville Road (towards Farringdon), Goods Way (between St Pancras International and York Way), and Argyle Street (between Gray's Inn Road and Euston Road).
There are cycle parking facilities throughout the district. Several bicycle-sharing systems operate in the area, including the Santander Cycles scheme.
Road
The district is centred around a busy junction at which several major routes meet:
- A501 Euston Road/Pentonville Road | Westbound: Ring Road (W), Euston, Marylebone | Eastbound: Ring Road (E), Angel, the A1
- B512 Crowndale Road | Westbound: Camden Town
Euston Road and Pentonville Road both appear on the London edition of the game, Monopoly.
Camden Highline
A new park utilising the former railway alignment between Camden Town and Kings Cross was given planning permission in January 2023.[50][51]
Nearby attractions
- Platform 9 3/4
- Camden Town Hall
- The British Library
- Camley Street Natural Park
- London Canal Museum
- House of Illustration[52]
- St Pancras Old Church
- King's Place
- Charles Dickens Museum
- The Foundling Museum
- Guildhall Art Gallery
- Gagosian Gallery
- British Postal Museum and Archive
- Gasholder No. 8[53]
- Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Sorting Office
- Coal Drops Yard shopping complex
References
- ^ "Kings Cross is made up of the Kings Cross ward in the London Borough of Camden and 7 Output Areas in the Caledonian ward in the London Borough of Islington". Ukcensusdata.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ Highbury, Upper Holloway and King's Cross, Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 273–279. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
- ^ a b c Walter Thornbury (1878). "Highbury, Upper Holloway and King's Cross". Old and New London: Volume 2. British History Online. pp. 273–279. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- ^ Museum of London - Learning on Line (1 March 2009). "Boudica and King's Cross Station". Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Caesar's Camp at Pancras called the Brill (British Library). Bl.uk (30 November 2003). Retrieved on 30 July 2013.
- ^ "IFO (Identified Flying Object) by Jaques Rival at King's Cross". www.kingscross.co.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ "The art programme at King's Cross". www.kingscross.co.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0192801066.
- ^ "The Architectural Magazine, conducted by J.C. Loudon F.L.S. &c. Vol. III. Nos. XXIII. to XXX". The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. 6 (new series). 1836. pp. 627–8. quoting The Architectural Magazine
- ^ Walter H. Godfrey and W. McB. Marcham (editors) (1952). "Euston Road". Survey of London: volume 24: The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
{{cite web}}
:|author=
has generic name (help) - ^ Algernon Graves (1905). The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904. Vol. 4. London: Henry Graves. p. 220.
- ^ Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society newsletter, February 2000. Glias.org.uk (27 December 1999). Retrieved on 30 July 2013.
- ^ Listed building details, Camden Council Archived 14 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Mycamden.camden.gov.uk. Retrieved on 30 July 2013.
- ^ a b Moore, Rowan (12 October 2014). "All hail the new King's Cross – but can other developers repeat the trick?". The Observer – via The Guardian.
- ^ "History « Mutate Britain". Mutatebritain.com. 4 August 2010. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Mutoid Must Remain (21 February 2014). "Mutoid Must Remain". Meeting Benches. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ "Home-King's Cross Partnership: London Development Agency". 5 June 2009. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ "About the redevelopment of King's Cross".
- ^ "King's Cross Development Forum". Kxdf.wordpress.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ "The Regents Canal History". Canalmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ "About Larry Gagosian - Gagosian". Gagosian.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- gasholders (of unique linked triplet design) were still in use until 1999. Several gasholders (the site was originally a gasworks) that had dominated the area behind station for over a century were taken down during the building works and placed in storage; three are now re-erected and converted to other use, one a pocket park and others inventively converted to housing.
- ^ The History of the River Fleet, UCL Fleet Restoration Team, 2009
- ^ Ward map of the London Borough of Camden https://opendata.camden.gov.uk/Maps/Camden-Ward-Boundary/yqyi-6agf
- ^ Proposed new ward map https://www.camden.gov.uk/documents/20142/0/Polling+District+Map+-+King%27s+Cross.pdf/3e3e5e4c-8aa1-b98b-5ef5-af55addb8131?t=1633338993306
- ISBN 978-0-099-55793-7
- ^ "Harry Potter's London". Visit London. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ Shoard, Catherine (7 December 2011). "My Favourite Film: The Ladykillers". My Favourite Film (story series). The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ "King's Cross Stars in Minghella's Homage to London". Film London. 28 November 2006. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ Lawson, Mark. "John Mortimer's Britain through the years". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ "The triad in granary square". Voice of Kings Cross. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ Jelbert, Steve (28 April 2012). "Here Comes Everybody: The Story of The Pogues, By James Fearnley". The Independent. London. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
- ^ Rogers, Jude (29 March 2017). "Pet Shop Boys – 10 of the best". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ "King's Cross". Songography for The Wedding Present and Cinerama. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Route Map" (PDF). GTR. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2020.
- ^ "Popular Routes". Grand Central. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019.
- ^ "Route Map". Hull Trains. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020.
- ^ "LNER Route Map" (PDF). London North Eastern Railway. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2020.
- ^ "Where was Harry Potter filmed?". BritMovieTours. 3 August 2016. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017.
- ^ "The History of the Granary Building, King's Cross". King's Cross. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Train Timetables - St Pancras Station | London". St Pancras. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- ^ "National Rail Train Operators" (PDF). Project Mapping. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2020.
- ^ a b "London's Tube and Rail services" (PDF). Transport for London (TfL). Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 January 2020.
- ^ "Wellbeing Walk". Urban Partners. 26 January 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- ^ "Buses from King's Cross" (PDF). Transport for London (TfL). Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2020.
- ^ "National Express Route A8". National Express. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019.
- ^ "Hemel Hempstead to London". GreenLine Coaches. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020.
- ^ "Cycle - Transport for London". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- Canal and River Trust. Archivedfrom the original on 26 May 2019.
- Londonist. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ Kristine Klein (23 January 2023). "Rails to Trails: London approves planning for the first section of the Camden Highline". The Architect's Newspaper. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Official site". House of Illustration. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ "Gasholder Park London | Nearby hotels, shops and restaurants". LondonTown.com. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
External links
- Official site of King's Cross development
- Local directory
- Local tourist attractions summary
- The original King's Cross monument (Victorian London)
- King's Cross Development Brief Archived 22 May 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- King's Cross Development Forum,a group providing the community response to developments
- Local newsletter
- Experimental documentary centred around King's Cross
- Curious King's Cross - a transgressive look at the area and its history