Navigator Square is the name chosen for the pedestrianised space outside Archway tube station.
Navigator Square is a reference to the Irish community who have long called the area their home.
The term ’navigators’ or ’navvies’ was first applied to the Irish who moved to England to build the canal systems in the 19th century. The Irish were then recruited to build railway systems and later the motorway systems, but the name stuck.
Esther Doyle, 62, grew up in Archway, just off Junction Road, and speaks with a faint Irish accent though she only lived in Ireland for a year when she was a child.
The adjacent Archway Tavern was the heart of this community.
Navigator Square hosts an occasional street market.
