Ludgate Circus | |
---|---|
Location | |
London, United Kingdom | |
Coordinates | Coordinates: 51°30′51.00″N0°06′15.97″W / 51.5141667°N 0.1044361°W |
Roads at junction | Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, Farringdon Street and New Bridge Street |
Construction | |
Type | Intersection |
Opened | Between 1864 and 1875 |
Ludgate Circus is a road junction in the City of London where Farringdon Street/New Bridge Street (the A201) crosses Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill. (Ludgate Hill is a gentle rise to St Paul's Cathedral.)
Fleet Street was the only direct road between the cities of London and Westminster till the Embankment was opened in 1870. The Circus crosses the River Fleet, London's largest subterranean river. The concave-arced façades of the buildings facing the Circus were constructed between 1864 and 1875 using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in Devon transported via the prototype Haytor Granite Tramway.
In Charles Dickens' Dictionary of London (1879) the area was described as "Farringdon-circus". [1]
The name Ludgate, according to Stow in his 1598 Survey of London, was derived from the belief that the gate had been created by the pre-Roman British king of London, King Lud, as many of his contemporaries believed. When a new gate was erected a statue on it depicted him, along with one of Queen Elizabeth I. [2]
Had the Fleet line of the London Underground been built, it would have had a station at Ludgate Circus. However, the Fleet line's proposed route evolved into what is now the Jubilee line, which went south of the River Thames before reaching Ludgate Circus. In 1990 however, St. Paul's Thameslink (later renamed City Thameslink) was opened on the proposed site, abolishing Ludgate Hill and Holborn Viaduct stations. In an episode of Rumpole of the Bailey is a wide shot of St Bride's Church and Ludgate Circus filmed c. 1988, before City Thameslink station was built. [3]
The Post Office's first coin-operated public call box was installed in 1906 at its Ludgate Circus branch, by the British subsidiary of Western Electric (incorporated in Britain in 1910). [4] [5]
Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Peterborough and Cambridge via central London to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham and Brighton. The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak. All the services are currently operated by Govia Thameslink Railway.
Holborn is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers, all of which today contain foul water for treatment. Its headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath, each of which was dammed into a series of ponds—the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds—in the 18th century. At the southern edge of Hampstead Heath these descend underground as sewers and join in Camden Town. The waters flow 4 mi (6 km) from the ponds, having as combined sewers taken on foul water, in the Victorian economic but grandiose scheme designed by Joseph Bazalgette to be conveyed by very large sewers to be treated at Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.
King's Cross Thameslink station is a closed railway station in central London, England. It is located on Pentonville Road, around 250 metres (0.2 mi) east of King's Cross mainline station. At the time of closure, in 2007, it was served by Thameslink trains and managed by First Capital Connect.
Farringdon is a London Underground and connected main line National Rail station in Clerkenwell, central London. The station is in the London Borough of Islington, just outside the boundary of the City of London. Opened in 1863 as the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground passenger railway, Farringdon is one of the oldest surviving underground railway stations in the world.
Snow Hill tunnel is a railway tunnel on the northern edge of the City of London which carries the up and down Snow Hill lines between City Thameslink and Farringdon stations. The tunnel runs beneath the Smithfield meat market and was constructed, using the cut-and-cover method, immediately prior to the building of the market. The tunnel opened on 1 January 1866.
Farringdon is a small district in Central London, the southern part of the London Borough of Islington. The term is used to describe the area around Farringdon station. Historically the district corresponded to southern Clerkenwell and the small parish of St Sepulchre Middlesex.
Ludgate Hill is a hill in the City of London, near the old Ludgate, a gate to the City that was taken down, with its attached gaol, in 1760. It is the site of St Paul's Cathedral, traditionally said to have been the site of a Roman temple of the goddess Diana. It is one of the three ancient hills of London, the others being Tower Hill and Cornhill. The highest point is just north of St Paul's, at 17.6 metres (58 ft) above sea level.
City Thameslink is a central London railway station within the City of London, with entrances on Ludgate Hill and Holborn Viaduct. The station is on the Thameslink route between Blackfriars to the south and Farringdon to the north.
Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it. It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London financial district, passing over Farringdon Street and the subterranean River Fleet. The viaduct spans the steep-sided Holborn Hill and the River Fleet valley at a length of 1,400 feet (430 m) and 80 feet (24 m) wide. City surveyor William Haywood was the architect and the engineer was Rowland Mason Ordish.
Blackfriars is in central London, specifically the south-west corner of the City of London.
Holborn Viaduct was a railway station in the City of London, providing local and commuter services. It was located to the southeast of Holborn Viaduct, and east of Farringdon Street.
Ludgate Hill was a railway station in the City of London that was opened on 1 June 1865 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) as its City terminus. It was on Ludgate Viaduct between Queen Victoria Street and Ludgate Hill, slightly north of St. Paul's station on the site of the former Fleet Prison.
London Buses route 63 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Honor Oak and King's Cross, it is operated by Abellio London.
The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6 billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the south of London. The development facilitated new cross-London journeys, which means that passengers no longer have to change trains in London. Work included platform lengthening, station remodelling, new railway infrastructure, and new rolling stock. The project was originally proposed in 1991 following the successful introduction of the initial Thameslink service in 1988. After many delays, planning permission was granted in 2006 and funding was approved in October 2007. Work started in 2009 and was completed on 18 September 2020, although trains over the new routes began running in 2018.
Farringdon Without is the most westerly Ward of the City of London, its suffix Without reflects its origin as lying beyond the City's former defensive walls. It was first established in 1394 to administer the suburbs west of Ludgate and Newgate, and also around West Smithfield. This was achieved by splitting the very large, pre-existing Farringdon Ward into two parts, Farringdon Within and Farringdon Without. The large and prosperous extramural suburb of Farringdon Without has been described as having been London's first West End.
The Widened Lines is a double-track railway line forming part of the Thameslink route between St Pancras and Farringdon within Central London.
The A201 is an A road in London running from Kings Cross to Bricklayer's Arms.
Ludgate Circus was a planned London Underground station that would have formed part of "phase 2" of the Fleet line had it been completed. Taking its name from the nearby Ludgate Circus in the City of London financial district, preliminary preparation work was begun in the 1970s, but the plan was later postponed due to lack of funds.
The Holborn Viaduct–Herne Hill line is a railway line between Holborn Viaduct in the City of London and Herne Hill in the London Borough of Lambeth. After the closure of Holborn Viaduct station the line ends at the south portal of Snow Hill tunnel merging into Snow Hill lines. From there the Widened Lines to St Pancras and Kentish Town are reached. Today the section north of Blackfriars is part of the Thameslink core. Originally being a branch line of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) towards the City of London, the line is sometimes called LCDR City Branch.