Moorgate

Underground station, existing between 1865 and now.

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Underground station · * · ·
September
23
2013
Moorgate was a postern in the London Wall originally built by the Romans.

It was turned into a gate in the 15th century. Though the gate was demolished in 1762, the name survives as a major street in the City of London. The street connects the City to Islington and Hackney, and was constructed around 1846 as one of the new approaches to London Bridge.

The name Moorgate derives from the surrounding area of Moorfields, which was one of the last pieces of open land in the City. Today this region is a financial centre, and is home to several investment banks. The street also showcases historic and contemporary office buildings.

The earliest descriptions of Moorgate date from the early 15th century. Located between Bishopsgate and Cripplegate and leading to a moor known as Moorfields, it was not one of the larger or more important of the city gates.

When Moorgate was demolished with all the other London city wall gates in 1761/2, the resulting stone was sold for £166 to the City of London Corporation to support the starlings of the newly widened centre arch of the London Bridge.

The Moorfields were one of the last pieces of open land in the City of London. The fields were divided into three areas: the Moorfields proper, just inside the City boundaries, north of Bethlem Royal Hospital (also known as Bedlam, Europe's oldest psychiatric hospital), and Middle and Upper Moorfields (both also open fields) to the north. Much of Moorfields was developed in 1777 and turned into present day Finsbury Circus.

The London Dispensary for curing diseases of the Eye and Ear was founded on the Moorfields in 1805, and evolved to become the present Moorfields Eye Hospital, which is now located on City Road and is close to Old Street station.

Moorfields was the site of the first hydrogen balloon flight in England, when Italian Vincenzo Lunardi took off on the afternoon of 15 September 1784. Lunardi flew in a hydrogen balloon from the area of the Honourable Artillery Company near Moorfields (where it still is to this day, occupying a site next to City Road).

Moorgate is also the birthplace of John Keats, one of the principal poets in the English Romantic movement. Keats was born in 1795 in the Swan and Hoop Inn at 199 Moorgate, where his father was an ostler.

Moorgate station was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in December 1865 when they extended their original route between Paddington and Farringdon.

The Northern line platforms were opened by the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) as Moorgate Street in February 1900 and formed the northern terminus of its services from Stockwell south of the River Thames. The line was extended to Angel the following year.

The Northern City Line to Moorgate was opened by the Great Northern & City Railway in February 1904 offering a service to Finsbury Park. The route was constructed in tube tunnels, but they were constructed at a diameter capable of accommodating main line trains (in contrast to the majority of London tube tunels which are much smaller). However the planned through services to the Great Northern Railway's main line were never implemented, and the route remained a simple short route between Moorgate and Finsbury Park, later cut back to run between Moorgate and Drayton Park only due to Victoria Line construction in the 1960s.

Moorgate station is remembered for the Moorgate tube crash of 1975. In the incident, a train terminating at the station failed to stop and crashed into a brick wall, and 43 people were killed. This resulted in systems being installed on the Underground which automatically stop trains at dead-ends, which have become known as Moorgate control.


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Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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NEARBY STREETS
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Aldermanbury, EC2V Aldermanbury is the Saxon name for ’Eldermen’ (elder statesmen) and ’bury’ (house) (City of London)
Andrewes Highwalk, EC2Y Andrewes Highwalk is named for Lancelot Andrewes, rector of the nearby St Giles-without-Cripplegate Church (Barbican)
Andrewes House, EC2Y Andrewes House is a block on Fore Street (Barbican)
Basinghall Avenue, EC2V Basinghall Avenue is one of the streets of London in the EC2V postal area (City of London)
Basinghall Street, EC2V Basinghall Street joins Gresham Street to the south (City of London)
Bastion Highwalk, EC2Y Bastion Highwalk is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Blomfield Street, EC2M Blomfield Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Boston House, EC2M Boston House is a building on New Broad Street (City of London)
Bradford Avenue, EC2Y Bradford Avenue was a street of warehouses (Barbican)
Brandon Mews, EC2Y Brandon Mews is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Britannic House, EC2M Britannic House is a block on Finsbury Circus (City of London)
Broad Street Place, EC2M Broad Street Place is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Broadgate Circle, EC2M Broadgate Circle is situated at the centre of the Broadgate development (City of London)
City Place House, EC2V City Place House is a block on Basinghall Street (City of London)
City Tower, EC2V City Tower is a block on Unnamed Road (City of London)
Coleman Street, EC2V Coleman Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2V postal area (City of London)
Cross Key Court, EC2R After 1939, the new name for Sun Court, Great Swan Alley was Cross Key Court, EC2 (City of London)
Dominion Street, EC2M Dominion Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Eldon Street, EC2M Eldon Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Finsbury Avenue, EC2M Finsbury Avenue is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Finsbury Circus Gardens, EC2M Finsbury Circus Gardens is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Finsbury Circus House, EC2M Finsbury Circus House is a block on Eldon Street (City of London)
Finsbury Circus, EC2M Finsbury Circus is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Finsbury Pavement, EC2M Finsbury Pavement was the first pavement of firm ground north of the marshy Moorfields (Moorgate)
Fore Street Avenue, EC2Y Fore Street Avenue is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Fore Street, EC2Y Fore Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Gilbert Bridge, EC2Y Gilbert Bridge is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Gilbert House, EC2Y Gilbert House is a block on Gilbert Bridge (Barbican)
Great Swan Alley, EC2R Great Swan Alley is one of the streets of London in the EC2R postal area (City of London)
Great Winchester Street, EC2N Great Winchester Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2N postal area (City of London)
Habib House, EC2R Habib House is a block on Moorgate (City of London)
Lackington Street, EC2M Lackington Street is a road in the EC2A postcode area (City of London)
Langthorn Court, EC2N Langthorn Court is an historic courtyard in the City of London (City of London)
Liverpool Street, EC2M Liverpool Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (Liverpool Street)
London Wall, EC2M London Wall is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
London Wall, EC2Y London Wall is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (City of London)
Love Lane, EC2V Love Lane is one of the streets of London in the EC2V postal area (City of London)
Milton Street, EC2Y Milton Street was formerly known as Grub Street (Barbican)
Monkwell House, EC2Y Monkwell House is a building on Barbican Highwalk (City of London)
Monkwell Square, EC2Y Monkwell Square is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Moor House, EC2Y Moor House is a block on Fore Street Avenue (City of London)
Moorfields Highwalk, EC2Y Moorfields Highwalk is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Moorfields, EC2Y Moorfields is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (City of London)
Moorgate Hall, EC2M Moorgate Hall is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Moorgate Place, EC2R Moorgate Place is one of the streets of London in the EC2R postal area (City of London)
Moorgate, EC2M Moorgate is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
New Broad Street House, EC2M New Broad Street House is a block on Old Broad Street (City of London)
New Broad Street, EC2M New Broad Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
New Liverpool House, EC2M New Liverpool House can be found on Eldon Street (City of London)
New Union Street, EC2Y New Union Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (City of London)
Old Broad Street, EC2M Old Broad Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
One Ropemaker Street, EC2Y One Ropemaker Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (City of London)
Park House, EC2M Park House is a block on Finsbury Circus (City of London)
Red Cross Street, EC2Y Red Cross Street once ran to the junction of Beech Street and Golden Lane (Barbican)
River Plate House, EC2M River Plate House is a block on Finsbury Circus (City of London)
Roman House, EC2Y Roman House is a building on St Alphage Garden (Barbican)
Ropemaker Street, EC2M Ropemaker Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Moorgate)
Salisbury House, EC2M Salisbury House can be found on London Wall (City of London)
Seddon Highwalk, EC2Y Seddon Highwalk is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Silk Street, EC2Y Silk Street is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Silver Street, EC2V Silver Street was the location of a house in which William Shakespeare lived during his time in London (City of London)
South Place, EC2M South Place is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (Moorgate)
Speed House, EC2Y Speed House is a block on Speed Highwalk (Barbican)
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St Alphage Highwalk, EC2V St Alphage Highwalk is part of the Barbican (City of London)
St Giles Terrace, EC2Y St Giles Terrace lies alongside St Giles Cripplegate church (Barbican)
Swedbank House, EC2M Swedbank House is a block on New Broad Street (City of London)
The Postern, EC2Y The Postern is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Thomas More Highwalk, EC2Y Thomas More Highwalk is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Throgmorton Avenue, EC2N Throgmorton Avenue is one of the streets of London in the EC2N postal area (City of London)
Union Court, EC2N Union Court is an alleyway off of Broad Street (City of London)
Wallside, EC2Y Wallside is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
Whitecross Place, EC2M Whitecross Place is one of the streets of London in the EC2M postal area (City of London)
Willoughby Highwalk, EC2Y Willoughby Highwalk is one of the streets of London in the EC2Y postal area (Barbican)
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Wood Street, EC2V Wood Street was originally the main north–south route through the Roman Fort, discovered after Second World War bombing. (City of London)
Wood Street, EC2Y The northern section Wood Street lies between London Wall and the Barbican (Barbican)


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