Pentonville Road
Pentonville Road is a road in Central London that runs west to east from Kings Cross to City Road at The Angel, Islington. The road is part of the London Inner Ring Road and part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone.
The road was originally built in the mid-18th century as part of the New Road, a bypass of Central London for coach traffic. It was named Pentonville Road after the new town of Pentonville, that encouraged manufacturing to move out of the city and into suburbia. Numerous factories and commercial premises became established on the road in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly after the arrival of London railways in the 1840s.
As industrial manufacturing fell out of favour in London in the late 20th century, many properties are now residential or student accommodation. Current premises include the Crafts Council Gallery on the site of a former chapel, the Scala nightclub in a former cinema, and The Castle, a public house.
Geography
The road is 0.7 miles (1.1 km) long and runs east from
Most of the road is in the London Borough of Islington but a small part near Kings Cross is in the London Borough of Camden, including the King's Cross Thameslink railway station and the "Lighthouse" Block.[3] London Underground and National Rail stations in the vicinity include Kings Cross and Angel Underground station.[1]
There has been a bus service on Pentonville Road since 1829.[4] Regular bus routes running along the road are 30, 73 and 146.[5]
History
What is now Pentonville Road was built as the final section of the
The road was designed as part of
The street is distinguished by the "set back" housing lines originally intended to provide an atmosphere of spaciousness along the thoroughfare.[10] The original 1756 act to create the New Road prohibited the construction of any building within 50 feet (15 m) of its side.[11] Though the area had been designed to be a pleasant suburb, the arrival of railways in the 1840s turned the road into an industrial urban street, with factories and workshops aligning the road.[10] The original bylaw restricting property on the front of the road was ignored and shops were built on top of gardens.[12]
By the 21st century, most of the manufacturing base along Pentonville Road had disappeared. The original townhouses are now apartments.[13]
Properties
Alexander Cumming, former clockmaker and organ builder to Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, built a house at No. 166 Pentonville Road. In 1807, the year after his death, the house became the London Female Penitentiary, housing "fallen women" and rehabilitating them into society. It was extended between 1811 and 1812, roughly tripling its capacity, and moved to Stoke Newington in 1884.[4]
The Thomas S. Jones
The Claremont Chapel was at No. 44a Pentonville Road. It was named after Claremont House, home of the then-recently deceased Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales. The chapel was built by Thomas Wilson, who acquired the 2-acre site in 1818 for £700, spending an additional £6,000 on building works. It opened in October 1819, though a regular pastor was not appointed until 1822. The building was extended in 1847 to accommodate a Sunday school, while sash windows were installed in 1853. In 1860, the building was refurbished and given a Classical facade, but reducing the capacity of the inside gallery. Attendance declined and the chapel was sold to the London Congregational Union, before closing in 1899. It re-opened in 1902 as Claremont Hall, a mission institute. It was let for commercial purposes in the 1960s, and sub-let to the Crafts Council in 1991.[7] The building is now the Crafts Council Gallery, a public gallery funded by the Arts Council England. It contains a number of exhibition rooms that are available for use.[15]
The block of properties at No. 295–297 Pentonville Road, at its junction with Gray's Inn Road, is known as the "Lighthouse Block" owing to the lead clad tower at the top of the building.
The Vernon Square school opened on Pentonville Road in 1913, expanding to cover secondary school students in 1949. It was renamed the
The Castle is a pub at No. 54 Pentonville Road, at the junction with Baron Street. In 2015, the perpetrators of the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary met at the pub to discuss the crime shortly after it occurred, but were secretly filmed there by the Flying Squad. All were subsequently arrested and sent to prison. The current owners, Geronimo Inns, wish to distance themselves from the burglary and forbid staff to discuss it with customers.[24]
The original
Cultural references
The poet John Betjeman's parents ran a cabinet makers at No. 34–42 Pentonville Road. It was established since 1859 and produced the Tantalus drinks cabinet in 1881.[7]
Pentonville Road is one of the locations on the London version of the Monopoly board game. It is one of the light blue squares alongside The Angel, Islington and Euston Road, both of which it connects to.[6] The magazine Mixmag's main offices are at Nos. 90–92 Pentonville Road.[27]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ a b "Pentonville Road". Google Maps. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ Norris, Steven (7 November 1995). "Red Routes". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 8 July 2016.
- ^ Camden Site Allocations – Local Development Framework (Report). Camden London Borough Council. March 2012. p. 22. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Hibbert & Weinreb 2010, p. 634.
- ^ "Central London Bus map" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ^ a b c Moore 2003, p. 210.
- ^ a b c d Philip Temple, ed. (2008). "Pentonville Road". Survey of London. London. pp. 339–372. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- ^ Hibbert & Weinreb 2010, p. 117.
- ^ Moore 2003, p. 219.
- ^ a b c Moore 2003, p. 220.
- ^ Conservation Area Statement : King's Cross (Report). London Borough of Camden. June 2004. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- ^ Grosvenor, Robert (7 July 1854). "Supply : Miscellaneous Estimates". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- ^ Moore 2003, p. 221.
- ^ "130–154 Pentonville Road : Site Allocations" (PDF). London Borough of Islington. November 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ "What We Do". Crafts Council Gallery. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ a b "The 'Lighthouse' block, 295–297 (odd), Pentonville Road WC1 – Camden". Historic England. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ Waller, Gary (28 January 1992). "Stopping Up Roads". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 8 July 2016.
I am happy to say that amendment No. 3 is acceptable. It would disapply the powers of compulsory purchase which would otherwise apply to the properties referred to in the Select Committee proceedings as the island triangular block—the so-called lighthouse block.
- ISBN 978-1-107-16442-0.
- ^ "Dinwiddy House". SOAS University of London. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ "The gig venue guide: The Lexington, London". The Guardian. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ "Scala, King's Cross". Arthur Lloyd. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ a b Woolley, Stephen (5 August 2010). "Beyond B-movies: Recreating The Scala's movie mecca". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ "The world was not ready for Iggy and the Stooges". The Guardian. 11 March 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ^ "The north London pub where Hatton Garden raid was planned". The Guardian. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
- ISBN 978-3-867-41508-8.
- ^ Temple, Philip, ed. (2008). "The Angel and Islington High Street". Survey of London. 47 : Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville. London: 439–455. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
- ^ "Contact Mixmag". Mixmag. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-099-43386-6.
- ISBN 978-1-405-04925-2.
51°31′52″N 0°7′2″W / 51.53111°N 0.11722°W