| Clerkenwell | |
|---|---|
 Clerkenwell Green andSt James's Church | |
  Clerkenwell Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 11,490 (2011 Census. Ward)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ315825 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | EC1 |
| Postcode district | WC1 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°31′34″N0°06′13″W / 51.52604°N 0.103475°W /51.52604; -0.103475 | |
Clerkenwell (/ˈklɑːrkənwɛl/KLAHRK-ən-well) is an area ofcentral London, England.
Clerkenwell was anancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of theLondon Borough of Islington. Thechurch of St James in Clerkenwell Close and nearby Clerkenwell Green sit at the centre of Clerkenwell. Located on the edge of theCity of London, it was the home of thePriory of St John and the site of a number of wells and spas, including Sadlers Wells and Spa Green. The well after which the area was named was rediscovered in 1924.
TheMarquess of Northampton owned much of the land in Clerkenwell, reflected in placenames such asNorthampton Square, Spencer Street and Compton Street.
The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance, particularly in the area around Northampton Square.[2] In the 20th century, Clerkenwell became known as a centre for architecture and design.
Clerkenwell is home toCity University and the Royal Mail'sMount Pleasant sorting office. It includes the neighbourhoods ofFarringdon andExmouth Market.
Goswell Street formed the eastern boundary of the Clerkenwell parishes, with theRiver Fleet, now buried beneathFarringdon Road and other streets, forming the western boundary withHolborn and, in part,St Pancras.[3] This western boundary with both neighbouring areas is now used as part of theLondon Borough of Islington's western boundary with theLondon Borough of Camden.
Pentonville is a part of northern Clerkenwell, while the southern part is sometimes referred to as Farringdon, after the railway station of that name – which was named afterFarringdon Road (an extension of Farringdon Street) and originally named Farringdon Street Station.[4]
Finsbury Town Hall and theFinsbury Estate lie in Clerkenwell, rather than Finsbury. They are named after the formerMetropolitan Borough of Finsbury which included Clerkenwell, Finsbury and other areas.
For a list of street name etymologies in the Clerkenwell area seeStreet names of Clerkenwell and Finsbury.
Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks' Well in Farringdon Lane (clerken was theMiddle English genitive plural ofclerk, a variant ofclerc, meaning literate person or clergyman). The first surviving reference to the name is from 1100.[5] In theMiddle Ages, theLondon Parish clerks performed annualmystery plays there, based on biblical themes. Part of the well remains visible, incorporated into a 1980s building called Well Court. It is visible through a window of that building on Farringdon Lane. Access to the well is managed byIslington Local History Centre and visits can be arranged by appointment.
The Monastic Order of theKnights Hospitallers ofSt John ofJerusalem had its English headquarters at thePriory of Clerkenwell. (The Blessed Gerard founded the Order to provide medical assistance duringthe crusades.)St John's Gate (built by SirThomas Docwra in 1504) survives in the rebuilt form of the Priory Gate. Its gateway, erected in 1504 in St John's Square, served various purposes after theDissolution of the Monasteries. For example, it was the birthplace of theGentleman's Magazine in 1731, and the scene ofDr Johnson's work in connection with that journal. In modern times the gatehouse again became associated with the order and was in the early 20th century the headquarters of theSt John Ambulance Association. AnEarly English crypt remains beneath the chapel of the order, which was otherwise mostly rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bombing. The notorious deception of the "Cock Lane Ghost", in which Johnson took great interest, was perpetrated nearby.
Adjoining the priory wasSt Mary's nunnery of the Benedictine order, now entirely disappeared, andSt James's Church, rebuilt in 1792 on the site of the original church which was partly ofNorman provenance. TheCharterhouse, near the boundary with theCity of London, was originally aCarthusian monastery. Following theDissolution of the Monasteries the Charterhouse became a private mansion and one owner, Thomas Sutton, subsequently left it with an endowment as a school andalmshouse. The almshouse remains but the school relocated to Surrey and its part of the site is now a campus ofBarts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Black Mary’s Hole was a locality and small rural settlement in a low-lying area on the eastern, Clerkenwell side of the valley of theRiver Fleet. The area included fields calledBlack Mary’s Hole, andRobin Hood’s Field, which together with the name of the former local pub,The Fox at Bay, seem to reflect the lawlessness of the area. The locality was also known as a meeting place for gay men.[6]
The construction of theNew River between 1604 and 1613 resulted in the creation of theNew River Head in Clerkenwell, on what is nowRosebery Avenue. The New River was constructed to supply London with fresh drinking water fromHertfordshire, and the New River Head originally consisted of a circular reservoir, theRound Pond and an associated building, theWater House. From here water was fed into a network of wooden mains which conveyed water to the cisterns of London.[7]
Over the years the New River Head complex expanded with the addition of further reservoirs and pumping stations, driven bywindmill,horse gin and, eventually,steam engine. In 1820, theNew River Company, owners of the river, moved its offices into an enlarged Water House, beginning an association of the site with the administration of London's water supply that was to last some 170 years. In 1920, theMetropolitan Water Board opened a new office building at New River Head, and this remained the headquarters for London's water supply up to the privatisation of theThames Water Authority in 1989. The site is now largely in residential use, including both converted buildings and newly built apartment blocks.[7]
From 1810 to 1850, the New River Company developed housing on the land surrounding New River Head. At the centre is Myddelton Square, named afterSir Hugh Myddelton, developer of the New River, with the Grade II listedSt Mark's Church in the centre. The church was built in 1827 in Victorian Gothic style byWilliam Chadwell Mylne,[8] after whom the nearby Mylne Street and Chadwell Street are named. The estate is a series of streets and terraces in neo-Classical, Greek revival style. The place names reference the New River company, including Amwell Street (after the New River's source in Hertfordshire) and River Street.
The Lloyd Baker estate was laid out immediately to the west of the New River estate from 1820 to 1840. It takes its name from the family ofBishop William Lloyd who inherited the land from his godmotherFlower Backhouse, Countess of Clarendon, a shareholder in the New River company.[9] The estate is characterised by neo-classical pedimented villas and garden squares.
As it was a suburb beyond the confines of theLondon Wall, Clerkenwell was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers. Consequently, "base tenements and houses of unlawful and disorderly resort" sprang up, with a "great number of dissolute, loose, and insolent people harboured in such and the like noisome and disorderly houses, as namely poor cottages, and habitations of beggars and people without trade, stables, inns, alehouses, taverns, garden-houses converted to dwellings, ordinaries, dicing houses, bowling alleys, and brothel houses".[10]
During the Elizabethan era Clerkenwell contained a notorious brothel quarter. In Shakespeare'sHenry IV, Part 2, Falstaff complains about Justice Shallow boasting of "the wildness of his youth, and the feats he has done about Turnbull Street".[11] Known now as Turnmill Street and adjoiningFarringdon station, it had an infamous reputation for brothel-keeping and was described in Sugden'sTopographical Dictionary as "the most disreputable street in London, a haunt of thieves and loose women".[12] TheClerkenwell Bridewell, a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants, was known for savage punishment and endemic sexual corruption.
Clerkenwell was also the location of three prisons: theClerkenwell Bridewell,Coldbath Fields Prison (later Clerkenwell Gaol) and theNew Prison, later theClerkenwell House of Detention, notorious as the scene of theClerkenwell Outrage in 1867, an attempted prison break byFenians who killed many in the tenement houses on Corporation Row in trying to blow a hole in the prison wall. The House of Detention was demolished in 1890 but the extensive vaults and cells beneath, now known as the Clerkenwell Catacombs, remained. They were reopened as air raid shelters during the Blitz, and for a few years were open as a minor tourist attraction. Various film scenes have been shot in the catacombs.
TheIndustrial Revolution changed the area greatly. It became a centre forbreweries,distilleries and the printing industry. It gained an especial reputation for themaking of clocks,marine chronometers andwatches, which activity once employed many people from around the area. Flourishing craft workshops still carry on some of the traditional trades, such as jewellery-making. Clerkenwell was home to Witherbys, a printing company who have now split ownership, with the printers having relocated to north London and the publishers toScotland (see also theWitherby Publishing Group).[13]
It was during the Industrial Revolution that Clerkenwell became known as London's Italian district, although the total number of Italian residents probably numbered no more than 2,000 at any one time.[citation needed]
The Kodak United Company opened a factory and storefront at 41–43 Clerkenwell and took advantage of the surplus of unemployed Jewelers and Watch makers to build their Stereoscopic and Folding Pocket Cameras that they produced and repaired. The location also allowed them easy access to the chemicals required for their Bromide based papers and negatives. During World War II, they were relocated for security reasons because of the fear that Axis bombs would destroy the photographic equipment used for the war effort.[14]
Clerkenwell Green lies at the centre of the old village, by the church, and has a mixture of housing, offices and pubs, dominated by the imposing formerMiddlesex Sessions House. It was built in 1782, extended during theVictorian era, and by the early 21st century used as aMasonic hall. The name is something of a historical relic – Clerkenwell Green has had no grass for over 300 years. However, in conveying some impression of its history, it gives the appearance of one of the better-preserved village centres in what is nowcentral London. InCharles Dickens'sOliver Twist, Clerkenwell Green is whereFagin and theArtful Dodger induct Oliver intopickpocketing amongst shoppers in the busy market once held there. In his words it is "an open square in Clerkenwell, which is yet called, by some perversion of terms the Green", despite lacking any "greenery". Indeed, Dickens knew the area well and was a customer of the Finsbury Savings Bank onSekforde Street, which links Clerkenwell Green to St John Street.
Hockley-in-the-Hole was an area of Clerkenwell Green wherebull-baiting,bear-baiting and similar activities occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries.[15][16]
Clerkenwell Green has historically been associated with radicalism, from theLollards in the 16th century, theChartists in the 19th century andcommunists in the early 20th century.[17] In 1902,Vladimir Lenin moved the publication of theIskra (Spark) to the BritishSocial Democratic Federation at 37a Clerkenwell Green, and issues 22 to 38 were indeed edited there. At that timeVladimir Lenin resided on Percy Circus, less than half a mile north of Clerkenwell Green. In 1903, the newspaper was moved toGeneva. It is said that Lenin and a youngJoseph Stalin met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now The Crown Tavern)[18] when the latter was visiting London in 1903. In the 1920s and 1930s, 37a Clerkenwell Green was a venue for Communist Party meetings, and theMarx Memorial Library was founded on the same site in 1933. In 1942 thelocal borough council erected a controversial bust ofVladimir Lenin at the site of anew block of flats in Holford Square (the bust was removed in the 1950s).
Clerkenwell's tradition of left-leaning publication continued until late 2008 withThe Guardian andThe Observer having their headquarters on Farringdon Road, a short walk from the Green. Their new offices are a short distance away inKing's Cross. In 2011, ananti-cuts protest march departed from Clerkenwell and ended with a rally atTrafalgar Square demanding trade union rights, human rights and international solidarity.[19]
Clerkenwell St James was an ancient parish in theFinsbury division of theOssulstone hundred ofMiddlesex.[20] Part of the parish of St James was split off as the parish of St John in 1723. However, for civil matters they remained a single parish. TheClerkenwell Vestry became a nominating authority to theMetropolitan Board of Works in 1855.
Under theMetropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the parish of St James & St John Clerkenwell was divided into five wards (electingvestrymen): No. 1 (12), No. 2 (15), No. 3 (12), No. 4 (18) and No. 5 (15).[21]
The area of the metropolitan board became theCounty of London in 1889. A reform of local government in 1900 abolished the Clerkenwell Vestry and the parish became part of theMetropolitan Borough of Finsbury.Alexandra Park, an exclave of the parish, was transferred toHornsey, Middlesex at the same time.[20] Clerkenwell Town Hall, which had been built onRosebery Avenue in 1895, becameFinsbury Town Hall.Finsbury became part of theLondon Borough of Islington in 1965 and the old town hall lay empty and deteriorating for many years. It has since been sold to the Urdang Dance Academy.
After theSecond World War Clerkenwell suffered fromindustrial decline and many of the premises occupied by the engineering, printing publishing and meat and food trades (the last mostly around Smithfield) fell empty. Several acclaimed council housing estates were commissioned byFinsbury Borough Council. Modernist architect and Russian émigréBerthold Lubetkin's listed Spa Green Estate, constructed 1943–1950, has recently been restored. TheFinsbury Estate, constructed in 1968 to the designs of Joseph Emberton includes flats, since altered and re-clad.
A general revival and gentrification process began in the 1980s, and the area is now known for loft-living in some of the former industrial buildings. It also hasyoung professionals, nightclubs and restaurants and is home to many professional offices as an overspill for the nearbyCity of London andWest End. Amongst other sectors, there is a notable concentration of design professions around Clerkenwell, and supporting industries such as high-end designer furniture showrooms. It is claimed that the area has the highest concentration of architects and building professionals in the world.[citation needed] Many of London's leading architectural practices have offices in the area.
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It is said thatVladimir Lenin and a youngJoseph Stalin first met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now known as the Crown Tavern) on Clerkenwell Green, when the latter was visiting London in 1903.[22]
The Betsey Trotwood (named afterBetsey Trotwood inDavid Copperfield by Charles Dickens) adopted the name in 1983, having previously been theButcher's Arms.[23]
In 2005Mark Bittman ofThe New York Times wrote that Clerkenwell has "some of the best restaurants in London".[24] Restaurants in Clerkenwell includeSt John and the Michelin-starredClub Gascon.
In the 1850s the south-western part of Clerkenwell andSaffron Hill in the nearby borough of Holborn became known as London's "Little Italy" because around 2,000 Italians had settled in the area. The community had mostly dispersed by the 1960s, but the area remains the 'spiritual home' of London's Italians, and is a focal point for more recent Italian immigrants, largely because ofSt Peter's Italian Church in nearbySaffron Hill. There are officially, as of 2014[update], over 200,000 Italians in London, and possibly many more.[25] The Italian Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sagra takes place each July in the streets surrounding the church.
A small number of Italian businesses remain from the nineteenth century including organ builders Chiappa Ltd, and food outlets such as thedeli Terroni of Clerkenwell and Gazzano's. Many other Italian firms survive from the period but have relocated elsewhere.
Farringdon station is the only station in Clerkenwell itself. 12.618 million journeys began or ended at Farringdon in 2017–18.[26] The station first opened in 1863 asFarringdon Street.
Farringdon is served by the London UndergroundCircle,Hammersmith and City andMetropolitan lines and theElizabeth line. The next station west of Farringdon isKing's Cross St Pancras, and all westbound trains call atBaker Street tube station. To the east, the next stations areBarbican,Moorgate andLiverpool Street in theCity.
The Hammersmith and City and Circle lines both terminate in West London atHammersmith (viaPaddington). Eastbound, the Hammersmith and City line continues towardsBarking inEast London, whilst the Circle line loops around the City of London with trains heading westwards towardsTower Hill,Embankment andVictoria. The Metropolitan line terminates atAldgate to the east, and to the west, trains carry passengers toWembley Park,Uxbridge, and stations inHertfordshire andBuckinghamshire.[27]
There are several tube stations near the fringes of Clerkenwell:
Farringdon is aNational Rail station served on theThameslink route, served byThameslink trains run byGovia Thameslink Railway (GTR). This links Clerkenwell directly toLuton andGatwick airports, and destinations includingBedford,Brighton,Cambridge,Luton,Peterborough, and destinations inSouth London andKent.[28][29] Moorgate is also nearby, withGreat Northern services linking the area directly to North London and Hertfordshire destinations.
Clerkenwell is in the LondonCongestion Charge Zone, as well as theLondon Low Emission and Ultra Low Emission Zones.[30][31][32] Most roads in Clerkenwell are residential, but several key routes cross Clerkenwell.
Goswell Road carries theA1 between the City of London (Barbican) andAngel, with the road continuing northbound towardsHighbury,Archway andthe M1. Beyond London, the A1 passes through theEast andNorth of England before terminating inEdinburgh, Scotland.
Farringdon Street is numbered theA201, which links Clerkenwell toKing's Cross,Blackfriars, andElephant & Castle. TheA5201 (Clerkenwell Road/Old Street) also runs through Clerkenwell, linkingSoho andHolborn in Central London withShoreditch andthe A10 to Clerkenwell's east.[33]
Transport for London (TfL) and theLondon Borough of Islington both providecycling infrastructure in Clerkenwell, and the area is well connected toLondon's cycle network.
Cycle Superhighway 6 (CS6) runs north–south through Clerkenwell, which provides the area with direct links toKing's Cross,Bloomsbury,Blackfriars andElephant and Castle on a signed cycle route. To the south of Farringdon station, CS6 uses a segregatedcycle track which runs parallel toFarringdon Road. South ofExmouth Market, signal-controlled junctions on Farringdon Road often give priority to cyclists, particularly where there is acycle lane or track to separate cycles from other road traffic. In the north of Clerkenwell, CS6 runs on quieter "side-streets" towards Bloomsbury and King's Cross.[34]
Quietways 2 and 10 are also nearby, both passing throughFinsbury. Quietway 2 linksRussell Square toAngel,Dalston andWalthamstow via Finsbury, whilst Quietway 10 runs from Finsbury toFinsbury Park.[35][36] Quietways use cycle paths and "side-streets" allowing cyclists to avoid busy roads. Quietways 2 and 10 are signed cycle routes.
Bus and cycle lanes are also provided onRosebery Avenue,Clerkenwell Road and Percival Street.
Santander Cycles, a cycle hire scheme across Central London, has docking stations with bicycles for hire across Clerkenwell.[37]
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