rear of St Pancras & Kings Cross stations (Channel Tunnel Railink-CTRL)
King's Cross was once a village called Battle Bridge.Some say this area was the site of a battle
between Boudicca and the Romans in AD61, though many historians hotly dispute this.
However, it explains the name of Boadicea Street near Caledonian Road.
King's Cross derived its name from the sixty foot high structure which was erected as
a memorial to King George IV in 1836. Built at the junction of the New Road (Euston
Road), Maiden Lane (York Way) and Gray's Inn, this structure was removed within
ten years.
The area at the back of Kings Cross station was where Bessemer had his first converter.
It was the first place in England where iron was converted to steel.
There has been a tremendous amount of demolition in the area to the north and west of the station to
make way for the Channel Tunnel Raillink. A great swath of buildings has been cleared along the east
side of Pancras Road and further north most unlisted buildings and structures nolonger exist.
The character of the district has been dramatically altered.
Stanley Buildings, built to a design inspired by Prince Albert for ideal workers' homes for
the men working on the building of the railway in this area. U2 recently shot a video in this building
Two shortened blocks of the grade II listed Stanley Buildings (1864-5) remain in the area between
the realigned Pancras Road and the station extension. Originally there were five blocks, built as
philanthropic housing for workers, by the Improved Industrial Dwellings Co Ltd. The CTRL works
involved the demolition of the westerly block, second world war bomb damage destroyed one block
and another had been lost to road widening. They are walk-up blocks with open central spiral
staircase with balcony access. The blocks of flats are five storeys in height and have recessed
balconies supported by cast-iron columns and enclosed by railings in a lattice pattern. Each
balcony opening is flanked by pilasters, which are decorated with an ova emblem and Ionic
scrolls. The ground floor level has a painted stucco finish.
The street pictured above (Cheney St) has been used in many films mainly Charles Dickens &
Sherlock Holmes films.The building where Michael Caine visits in the film Funeral in Berlin is
situated in this area. Dirk Bogarde stood on the steps on St Pancras Station which is located
behind the Gymnasium when he met his sister in the film The Servant.
Azwar from Vienna writes to Derelict London telling me about his time when he lived in Stanley Buildings:
"a lot of mike leigh's film "high hopes " was shot in stanleys ( next door to my flat ) as was "the missionary"
- (with michael palin etc..) - the public image video "rise" was shot downstairs too .. - i used to run the
tenants association (although we were licence holders & not tenants) & had a lot to do with a lot of
places around there . - this was around 1987-1992"
Jack Baio from Brooklyn,NY writes to Derelict London telling me about his time when he lived in Stanley Buildings:
"I lived there, when I was a little boy circa 1969. I lived on the top floor, Number 75 Stanley Buildings, The
one facing the German Gymnasium. Boy did it bring back memories, when I saw your pictures, I remember
playing on the roof all day. I remember looking at the trains, coming and going from Kings Cross station.
Specially one time I looked out the window and right across the street I saw the Flying Scotsman, the old
steam engine train. I remember one time there was this competition, I think it was something to do with
cars racing down to the gasholders area , I remember been on the roof seen all these helicopters flying
around, and then there was this loud noise, that scared the devil out of me, so I run home crying. I went
back up on the roof with my mum, and there it was, that loud noise, It was a jet fighter, I think they called
it: The Harrier Jump Jet . it took off vertically, I never heard so much noise in my life. it went up turned,
and in a blink of an eye it was gone. I remember seen something about it on the news that night. I
remember seen for the first time from the roof the concord another historic moment. The apartment was
so old, we didnt have a bath, only the toilet bowl and a sink, no hot water. The cooking stove looked like it
was from the 1800's. I remember they would come around to sale coal for the fire place, we had 2 fire
places, but we didnt use them. the only thing they had done was new pipes. Each floor had 4 apartments.
I think we left Stanley Buildings around spring of 1969.I was 7 years old. We were the last family to leave,
I think the buildings belonged to a privet owner, and town hall must have taken it over. They told everyone
that they were going to demolish the building. So the city council gave us a new flat, and we moved near
Regents park area. After 3 years, when I was 10 years old, me and a friend, went to see Stanley Buildings.
And I found out, that they didnt demolish the building, but they fixed it up, and each floor now had 2
apartments instead of 4. And new tenants."
John Dickson adds:
"I was working on the second floor of an engineering company in Bayham Street Camden Town at the time
and from the rear windows we could see right across to St Pancras and saw it take off there was clouds of
coal dust lifted into the air as it had taken off from the flat roofs of the coal offices to the rear of the station
the coal offices backed on to Camley Street where they used to unload the coal from the railway hence the
dust. Anyway the event was the Atlantic race which started at the top of the Post Office Tower and it was
for the fastest crossing to New York by various means of transport"
As at 2006, it is likely that what is left of the Stanley Buildings will be demolished
The building above is the German Gymnasium built in 1861.Gymnastics was “transported” on to the British
Islands by German followers of the Father of modern Gymnastics, Frederick Ludwig Jahn. German Immigrants
formed the first Gym Club in Britain & opened their German Gymnasium in St. Pancras, London.
(Ironically, this centre was bombed by the Germans during the first World War on 7th July 1917.)
Built at the same time as Stanley Buildings (1864), it was a unique, purpose-built gym, of great historic and
aesthetic importance. It was part of the movement towards the establishment of the Olympic Games and was
important in the development of public sport and fitness. Its style is a Prussian neo-medieval vernacular.
It has rare surviving laminated timber roof ribs of a type originally used in King's Cross station
The Fish and Coal Building dating from the mid 19th century, still standing on Goodsway, London NW1
icons for King's Cross..............................
The grade II listed triplet of interlocking gasholders built 1880 located adjacent to Goods
Way has been dismantled and their guide frames and other components placed in
storage near Goods Way, adjacent to the remaining no 8. gasholder. The triplets
and no. 8 gasholder remain listed. The gas tanks have been demolished. The
unlisted group of two telescopic gas holders previously situated to the north of
Goods Way and the unlisted southern gas holder of the pair located on the
northern side of Goods Way have been demolished. In addition, manual gas
pumps and wrought iron handrail posts have been removed from the former gas
works. Gasholders to welcome dinosaurs and forests?! See Goodsyard proposals
below.
The Culross Buildings were developed to the south of the gas works in 1891, being an early example of social
housing. The blacksmith's forge, which previously abutted the eastern end of the Culross Buildings has been
demolished (this is now a car park) .Culcross Hall recently was a base for socialist/political activists in London,
this was one of their exhibition venues and meeting houses
Culross Buildings and Culross Hall (1891-2) occupy the southern side of Battlebridge Road. Culross Buildings
is a multi-storey Victorian philanthropic industrial dwelling, as are the Stanley Buildings. It was built by the Great
Northern Railway for its workers working on the expansion of the train shed to the west and on the suburban shed;
also for people made homeless by the demolition of houses for railway expansion. The main elevation to the north
is decorated with regular horizontal and vertical red brick banding and is subdivided by regular open stairwells,
which are framed by red brick projections (like giant pilasters) which add a vertical orientation and variety to the
elevation. Green painted iron railings are set within the stairwells, whilst similar railings also surround the flat roof.
The north and south elevations have green painted timber sash windows, with red brick lintels.There is an unusual
flat roof, with railings round the edges, providing amenity areas for the residents and areas for drying washing.
As as February 2006, it is likely that the Culross Buildings will be demolished
This grade II listed steam locomotive water point has been relocated from a site adjoining
St Pancras Station, to a site overlooking St Pancras Cruising Club basin; built by the architect
Sir George Gilbert Scott in the early 1870s to supply steam locomotives at St Pancras.
Demolition of viaducts adjacent to St Pancras Churchyard.
The parish churchyard at St Pancras was the burial place of many eminent French Roman Catholics including the
Archbishop of Narbonne and seven bishops expelled from France, as well as several French marshals and the
Chevalier D'Eon. In 1889 part of the burial ground was acquired by the Midland Railway Company and was disturbed
for the building of St Pancras station. The excavation work for the new St Pancras station and the Channel Tunnel Rail
Link has uncovered many more graves and remarkably well preserved finds.
Graves destroyed by Chunnel diggers By Evening Standard (2002)
More than 1,000 graves are being destroyed by contractors building the King's Cross Channel Tunnel terminal in what
government advisers have called "a desecration" and "an outrage against human dignity". Archaeologists excavating
human remains from up to 2,000 graves have been suddenly ordered off the site of the Camley Street Cemetery at St
Pancras as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link company (CTRL) prepares to start digging them out. They had completed
work on only about 100 graves. The experts wanted to identify the graves and then contact living relatives of the dead.
They also believed they could gather vital information which would help build up a picture of life in London during the
Industrial Revolution. "There will be many people alive who have relatives buried in this graveyard," said English
Heritage. "The archaeologists were excavating these remains with respect, as they are required to do. Normally that
is done using sheets to protect the remains from public view, and with meticulous care. "Now, instead, the company
will be sending bulldozers straight through the lot, loading the soil, bones, bits of coffin and name plates into what they
call a muck- away truck. Archaeologists will then pick over them for bones. "It is a total desecration of human remains.
If this were happening anywhere else - if it were an aboriginal cemetery somewhere, for example - there would be an
outcry. It is outrageous that they can just drive through a churchyard - people's grandparents and great-grandparents -
in this way." English Heritage is powerless to act, despite what it says is the invaluable record the graveyard contains of
life in London, with the most recent of the graves dating from 1854. CTRL - which operates under a special Act of
Parliament, giving it virtual carte blanche - has obtained a Home Office licence to remove the graves, although English
Heritage says it is missing the usual clause insisting on their "respectful and dignified removal". The row echoes that
surrounding the building of St Pancras Station in the mid-19th Century, when the Midland Railway company cut
through the same graveyard, disturbing 40,000 graves. The public outcry that resulted led to the appointment of the
novelist Thomas Hardy to ensure that the remains were correctly treated. "It seems today that little has been learned.
It is of great concern that this may set a precedent for the way early modern burial grounds are treated," said English
Heritage.
Kings Cross Goodsyard
The 3 gas holders could be re-erected here to house giant greenhouses including one recreating the Jurassic
Age with life-like dinosaurs.
The proposal is part of a plan to redevelop the 58-acre former goods yard behind King's Cross, the largest and
most important development site in central London. As at the Eden Project, self-contained natural environments
would be created in glass drums within the former gasholders, each of which is larger than the Great Palm
House at Kew and tall enough to allow rainforest trees to grow to full height. As well as a rainforest environment
there would be swamp and a "Jurassic Park", complete with animatronic dinosaurs. The scheme is likely to
receive the backing of English Heritage and the Victorian Society as its smooth glass skin and drums of varying
heights make it the most sensitive of the four proposals towards the listed gasholders.
Miscellaneous items of street furniture have been removed and placed in temporary storage, under the provisions
of the CTRL Act, with the specific intention that they would be re-used in the area , including: granite setts and
kerbstones; stone paving flags; granite and cast iron bollards (including those marked GNER); Hayward's Patent
Self-Locking Plate coal covers; cast iron railings (including those marked GNER and some featuring shields
embossed with lions); and cast iron marker posts (including those marked S.P.P. [St Pancras Parish] 1854).
The new terminal taking shape (Jan 2004) New terminal entrance (Feb 2006)
Work on a new ticket hall at side of existing St Pancras station
The existing roof of the old St Pancras station is to be replaced as part of the renovation being carried out by London
& Continental Railways. The existing wrought iron arches and roof over the platform are I understand to be removed
and replaced with a more modern structure. This is due to to the state of the arches and roof being beyond reasonable
repair to meet safety requirements
stencil art spotted at Culross Buildings
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