Battle Bridge Place, N1C

Battle Bridge Place is the traditional name for a newer area of King’s Cross.

Nearby King’s Cross is traditionally (but not historically) the site of an important battle between British and Roman armies (see Boadicea Street). The bridge was that crossing the River Fleet, north of St Chad’s Place. The whole area between the present Gray’s Inn, Pentonville and King’s Cross Roads, north of Swinton Street, was called Battlebridge until the 1830s when the name King’s Cross was adopted.

Citation information:	The Streets of London – The Underground Map
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Fumblina Whitfield Street, W1T Added: 21 Feb 2023 11:39 GMT	Error on 1800 map numbering for John Street The 1800 map of Whitfield Street (17 zoom) has an error in the numbering shown on the map. The houses are numbered up the right hand side of John Street and Upper John Street to #47 and then are numbered down the left hand side until #81 BUT then continue from 52-61 instead of 82-91. Reply
Roy Batham Covent Garden Added: 7 Jan 2022 07:17 GMT	Smithy in Longacre John Burris 1802-1848 Listed 1841 census as Burroughs was a blacksmith, address just given as Longacre. Source: Batham/Wiseman - Family Tree Reply
Reg Carr Elstree Street, N1C Added: 10 Feb 2021 12:11 GMT	Campbellite Meeting In 1848 the Campbellites (Disciples of Christ) met in Elstree Street, where their congregation was presided over by a pastor named John Black. Their appointed evangelist at the time was called David King, who later became the Editor of the British Millennial Harbinger. The meeting room was visited in July 1848 by Dr John Thomas, who spoke there twice on his two-year ’mission’ to Britain. Reply
Jeff Owen Owen Street, EC1V Added: 20 Mar 2021 16:18 GMT	Owen’s School Owen Street is the site of Owen’s Boys’ School. The last school was built in 1881 and was demolished in the early 1990s to make way for the development which stand there today. It was a “Direct Grant” grammar school and was founded in 1613 by Dame Alice Owen. What is now “Owen’s Fields” was the playground between the old school and the new girls’ school (known then as “Dames Alice Owen’s School” or simply “DAOS”). The boys’ school had the top two floors of that building for their science labs. The school moved to Potters Bar in Hertfordshire in 1971 and is now one of the top State comprehensive schools in the country. The old building remained in use as an accountancy college and taxi-drivers’ “knowledge” school until it was demolished. The new building is now part of City and Islington College. Owen’s was a fine school. I should know because I attended there from 1961 to 1968. Reply
Scott Hatton Blackmoor Street, WC2B Added: 11 Sep 2020 19:47 GMT	Millions Of Rats In Busy London The Daily Mail on 14 April 1903 reported "MILLIONS OF RATS IN BUSY LONDON" A rat plague, unprecedented in the annals of London, has broken out on the north side of the Strand. The streets principally infested are Catherine street, Drury lane, Blackmore street, Clare Market and Russell street. Something akin to a reign of terror prevails among the inhabitants after nightfall. Women refuse to pass along Blackmore street and the lower parts of Stanhope street after dusk, for droves of rats perambulate the roadways and pavements, and may be seen running along the window ledges of the empty houses awaiting demolition by the County Council in the Strand to Holborn improvement scheme. The rats, indeed, have appeared in almost-incredible numbers. "There are millions of them," said one shopkeeper, and his statement was supported by other residents. The unwelcome visitors have been evicted from their old haunts by the County Council housebreakers, and are now busily in search of new homes. The Gaiety Restaurant has been the greatest sufferer. Rats have invaded the premises in such force that the managers have had to close the large dining room on the first floor and the grill rooms on the ground floor and in the basement. Those three spacious halls which have witnessed many as semblages of theatre-goers are now qui:e deserted. Behind the wainscot of the bandstand in the grillroom is a large mound of linen shreds. This represents 1728 serviettes carried theee by the rats. In the bar the removal of a panel disclosed the astonishing fact that the rats have dragged for a distance of seven or eight yards some thirty or forty beer and wine bottles and stacked them in such a fashion as to make comfortable sleeping places. Mr Williams. the manager of the restaurant, estimates that the rats have destroyed L200 worth of linen. Formerly the Gaiety Restaurant dined 2000 persons daily; no business whatever is now done in this direction. Reply
Carol Gifford Street, N1 Added: 7 May 2021 18:44 GMT	Nan My nan lily,her sister Elizabeth and their parents Elizabeth and William lived here in1911 Reply
Julian Collingwood House, W1W Added: 23 Mar 2021 10:11 GMT	Dennis Potter Author Dennis Potter lived in Collingwood House in the 1970’s Reply
Jessie Doring Tisbury Court, W1D Added: 22 Feb 2021 04:33 GMT	Tisbury Court Jazz Bar Jazz Bar opened in Tisbury Court by 2 Australians. Situated in underground basement. Can not remember how long it opened for. Reply
Lena White Conduit Street, N1 Added: 18 Mar 2021 13:08 GMT	White Conduit Street, N1 My mum, Rosina Wade of the Wade and Hannam family in the area of Chapel Street and Parkfield Street, bought her first “costume” at S Cohen’s in White Conduit Street. Would have probably been about 1936 or thereabouts. She said that he was a small man but an expert tailor. I hope that Islington Council preserve the shop front as it’s a piece of history of the area. Mum used to get her high heel shoes from an Italian shoe shop in Chapel Street. She had size 2 feet and they would let her know when a new consignment of size 2 shoes were in. I think she was a very good customer. She worked at Killingbacks artificial flower maker in Northampton Square and later at the Halifax bombers factory north of Edgware where she was a riveter. Reply
BG Lancing Street, NW1 Added: 20 Dec 2022 02:58 GMT	Lancing Street, NW1 LANCING STREET Reply
Eileen Brecknock Road, N7 Added: 10 Nov 2023 09:42 GMT	Brecknock Road Pleating Company My great grandparents ran the Brecknock Road pleating Company around 1910 to 1920 and my Grandmother worked there as a pleater until she was 16. I should like to know more about this. I know they had a beautiful Victorian house in Islington as I have photos of it & of them in their garden. Source: Family history Reply
P Cash Woburn Place, WC1H Added: 19 Feb 2023 08:03 GMT	Occupants of 19-29 Woburn Place The Industrial Tribunals (later changed to Employment Tribunals) moved (from its former location on Ebury Bridge Road to 19-29 Woburn Place sometime in the late 1980s (I believe). 19-29 Woburn Place had nine floors in total (one in the basement and two in its mansard roof and most of the building was occupied by the Tribunals The ’Head Office’ of the tribunals, occupied space on the 7th, 6th and 2nd floors, whilst one of the largest of the regional offices (London North but later called London Central) occupied space in the basement, ground and first floor. The expansive ground floor entrance had white marble flooring and a security desk. Behind (on evey floor) lay a square (& uncluttered) lobby space, which was flanked on either side by lifts. On the rear side was an elegant staircase, with white marble steps, brass inlays and a shiny brass handrail which spiralled around an open well. Both staircase, stairwell and lifts ran the full height of the building. On all floors from 1st upwards, staff toilets were tucked on either side of the staircase (behind the lifts). Basement Floor - Tribunal hearing rooms, dormant files store and secure basement space for Head Office. Public toilets. Geound Floor - The ’post’ roon sat next to the entrance in the northern side, the rest of which was occupied by the private offices of the full time Tribunal judiciary. Thw largest office belonged to the Regional Chair and was situated on the far corner (overlooking Tavistock Square) The secretary to the Regional Chair occupied a small office next door. The south side of this floor was occupied by the large open plan General Office for the administration, a staff kitchen & rest room and the private offices of the Regional Secretary (office manager) and their deputy. First Dloor - Tribunal hearing rooms; separate public waiting rooms for Applicants & Respondents; two small rooms used by Counsel (on a ’whoever arrives first’ bases) and a small private rest room for use by tribunal lay members. Second Floor - Tribunal Hearing Rooms; Tribunal Head Office - HR & Estate Depts & other tennants. Third Floor - other tennants Fourth Floor - other tennants Fifth Floor - Other Tennants except for a large non-smoking room for staff, (which overlooked Tavistock Sqaure). It was seldom used, as a result of lacking any facities aside from a meagre collection of unwanted’ tatty seating. Next to it, (overlooking Tavistock Place) was a staff canteen. Sixth Floor - Other tennants mostly except for a few offices on the northern side occupied by tribunal Head Office - IT Dept. Seventh Floor - Other tenants in the northern side. The southern (front) side held the private offices of several senior managers (Secretariat, IT & Finance), private office of the Chief Accuntant; an office for two private secretaries and a stationary cupboard. On the rear side was a small kitchen; the private office of the Chief Executive and the private office of the President of the Tribunals for England & Wales. (From 1995 onwards, this became a conference room as the President was based elsewhere. The far end of this side contained an open plan office for Head Office staff - Secretariat, Finance & HR (staff training team) depts. Eighth Floor - other tennants. The Employment Tribunals (Regional & Head Offices) relocated to Vitory House, Kingsway in April 2005. Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Peter Gambia Street, SE1 Added: 4 Dec 2023 07:05 GMT	Gambia Street, SE1 Gambia Street was previously known as William Street. Reply
Eileen Brecknock Road, N7 Added: 10 Nov 2023 09:42 GMT	Brecknock Road Pleating Company My great grandparents ran the Brecknock Road pleating Company around 1910 to 1920 and my Grandmother worked there as a pleater until she was 16. I should like to know more about this. I know they had a beautiful Victorian house in Islington as I have photos of it & of them in their garden. Source: Family history Reply
Squirrel’s Lane, IG9 Added: 6 Nov 2023 16:59 GMT	061123 Why do Thames Water not collect the 15 . Three meter lengths of blue plastic fencing, and old pipes etc. They left here for the last TWO Years, these cause an obstruction,as they halfway lying in the road,as no footpath down this road, and the cars going and exiting the park are getting damaged, also the public are in Grave Danger when trying to avoid your rubbish and the danger of your fences. Source: Squirrels Lane. Buckhurst Hill, Essex. IG9. I want some action ,now, not Excuses.MK. Reply
Christian Cornwall Road, W11 Added: 31 Oct 2023 10:34 GMT	Cornwall Road, W11 Photo shows William Richard Hoare’s chemist shop at 121 Cornwall Road. Reply
Vik Oaks Road, TW6 Added: 30 Oct 2023 18:48 GMT	Old pub sign from the Rising Sun Hi I have no connection to the area except that for the last 30+ years we’ve had an old pub sign hanging on our kitchen wall from the Rising Sun, Stanwell, which I believe was / is on the Oaks Rd. Happy to upload a photo if anyone can tell me how or where to do that! Reply
Phillip Martin Ashburnham Place, SE10 Added: 16 Oct 2023 06:25 GMT	16 Ashburnham Road On 15 October 1874 George Frederick Martin was born in 16 Ashburnham Road Greenwich to George Henry Martin, a painter, and Mary Martin, formerly Southern. Reply
Christine Bithrey Holly Park, N4 Added: 15 Oct 2023 15:20 GMT	The Hollies (1860 - 1900) I lived in Holly Park Estate from 1969 I was 8 years old when we moved in until I left to get married, my mother still lives there now 84. I am wondering if there was ever a cemetery within The Hollies? And if so where? Was it near to the Blythwood Road end or much nearer to the old Methodist Church which is still standing although rather old looking. We spent most of our childhood playing along the old dis-used railway that run directly along Blythwood Road and opposite Holly Park Estate - top end which is where we live/ed. We now walk my mothers dog there twice a day. An elderly gentleman once told me when I was a child that there used to be a cemetery but I am not sure if he was trying to scare us children! I only thought about this recently when walking past the old Methodist Church and seeing the flag stone in the side of the wall with the inscription of when it was built late 1880 If anyone has any answers please email me [email protected] Reply
Chris hutchison Broadhurst Gardens, NW6 Added: 15 Oct 2023 03:04 GMT	35 broadhurst gardens. 35 Broadhurst gardens was owned by famous opera singer Mr Herman “Simmy”Simberg. He had transformed it into a film and recording complex. There was a film and animation studio on the ground floor. The recording facilities were on the next two floors. I arrived in London from Australia in 1966 and worked in the studio as the tea boy and trainee recording engineer from Christmas 1966 for one year. The facility was leased by an American advertising company called Moreno Films. Mr Simbergs company Vox Humana used the studio for their own projects as well. I worked for both of them. I was so lucky. The manager was another wonderful gentleman called Jack Price who went on to create numerous songs for many famous singers of the day and also assisted the careers of Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. “Simmy” let me live in the bedsit,upper right hand window. Jack was also busy with projects with The Troggs,Bill Wyman,Peter Frampton. We did some great sessions with Manfred Mann and Alan Price. The Cream did some demos but that was before my time. We did lots of voice over work. Warren Mitchell and Ronnie Corbett were favourites. I went back in 1978 and “Simmy “ had removed all of the studio and it was now his home. His lounge room was still our studio in my minds eye!! Reply

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Kings Place from York Way Credit: Alan Stanton TUM image id: 1518888183 Licence: CC BY 2.0	The British Library TUM image id: 1482066417 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Agar Town (1857) Credit: Percy Lovell TUM image id: 1499434317 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Caledonian Road looking north towards Holloway Old London postcard TUM image id: 1625084399 Licence:	Cromer Street TUM image id: 1547917827 Licence:
Doughty Street is a broad tree lined street in the Holborn district. TUM image id: 1443044786 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Rainy St Pancras Credit: IG/legere photos TUM image id: 1681221521 Licence:	Goods Way - old sign TUM image id: 1526241892 Licence: CC BY 2.0	View of the centre of Gordon Square (2008) The square was developed by master builder Thomas Cubitt in the 1820s, as one of a pair with Tavistock Square, which is a block away and has the same dimensions. Credit: Flickr/Ewan-M TUM image id: 1674221243 Licence:	10 Gower Street, Bloomsbury What’s in a name? Well, this area abounds in streets named after landowners. Gower Street is named after Gertrude Leveson-Gower, the wife of John Russell, the 4th Duke of Bedford. Leveson-Gower was noted as a formidable adviser to her husband who held various political roles during the reigns of George II and George III, including Lord Privy Seal and Ambassador to France at the end of the Seven Years’ War. The Gower baronetcy was a subsidiary title of the Duke of Sutherland, held in the Leveson-Gower family until 1963. The area now known as Bloomsbury had come into the possession of the Russell family in 1669. That year the 5th Earl of Bedford’s son married Lady Rachel Vaughan, daughter of the 4th Earl of Southampton. Southampton had started developing the area in the 1660s. John Russell died in 1771 and Gower Street was laid out from the 1780s onwards under Lady Gertrude’s supervision. Credit: Spudgun67 TUM image id: 1546448389 Licence:
John Street, looking up Doughty Street (1949) Credit: Rene Groebli TUM image id: 1692652295 Licence: CC BY 2.0	The Brill Market in Somers Town (1858) Centre stage in this engraving of a busy market scene is the Brill Tavern itself, situated at the end of Brill Row. Credit: Illustrated News of the World, London TUM image id: 1616003795 Licence:	York Road was the name for a ’lost’ underground station on the Piccadilly Line north of King’s Cross and south of Caledonian Road. Traffic levels were never high, and the station closed in 1932, on the same day that the northern extension of the Piccadilly Line from Finsbury Park to Arnos Grove opened. London Transport Museum runs tours of the station through its "Hidden London" programme. The tour features original elements of the station including the tiled lift lobby and signal cabin and it explores the modifications that were made to the station over the years. The road it was named after has also changed its name (to York Way) Credit: The Underground Map TUM image id: 1624971865 Licence:	The Polygon, Somers Town in 1850 The Polygon was an eighteenth century housing estate - a Georgian building with 15 sides and three storeys that contained 32 houses. The idea appears to have initially appealed to the middle-classes. Two of the most famous residents of the Polygon were William Godwin and his wife Mary Wollstonecraft, who died giving birth to Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Another former Polygoner was Charles Dickens, who lived at No 17 in the 1820s shortly after his father, John Dickens, was released from debtors prison. Dickens later made the Polygon a home for his ’Bleak House’ character Harold Skimpole. TUM image id: 1499354315 Licence:	Cow chained to a lamppost, Torrington Square Credit: FB Group Londonist Urban Oddities/Clive P L Young TUM image id: 1653775395 Licence: CC BY 2.0

King’s Cross

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