Beneath Your Feet

An Alternative Guide to King’sCross

The Route

A more detailed version of this map is available from any of theConsortium venues, and from www.camdenartscentre.org

Start: The Constitution Pub,St. Pancras Way

St. Pancras Way

1. St. PancrasWorkhouse

2. St. PancrasOld Church

Regent’s Canal

Pancras Road

Goods Way

St. PancrasStation

3. GranaryBuilding

4. Battlebridge Basin (behindKing’s Place)

5. Site ofthe GreatDust Heap

York Way

Gt. Percy St.

6.Percy Circus(for CoalHoles)

Pentonville Rd.

King’s Cross Rd.

7. Site of Bagnigge Wells(63 King’s Cross Rd.)

8. Site of Coldbath FieldsPrison (now a Royal Mailsorting office)

Farringdon Rd.

Ray St.Finish: The CoachAnd Horses Pub.Here the Fleet canbe heard

9.Clerk’sWell

Farringdon Lane

Where the numbered waymarkersare mentioned in the booklet, theyare written in bold.

This walk makes you look more closely at what happens beneathyour feet and out of sight: things that are missed in the hustle andbustle of everyday life. The route follows the path of the River Fleet.This ancient tributary of the Thames flows from Hampstead Heathdown through King’s Cross and Clerkenwell before joining theThames at Blackfriars. The Fleet once flowed overground throughthis area but was channelled underground in the 19th century andhas been everything from a sacred site to an open sewer. On thiswalk you will find signs of the river’s presence as well as clues to thehistory of King’s Cross.

Repairing the Fleet Sewer, c. 1854

A Sacred River

The Fleet used to be called the Riverof Wells due to the healing wellswhich could be found along itsroute. The waters of the river havebeen used in rituals since pagantimes and traces of some of thesewells can still be seen. References toClerk’s Well (pictured) go back tothe 12th century and it is where thearea of Clerkenwell got its name. Itused to be the site of medieval mys-tery plays put on by the ParishClerks of London, which were a pop-ular source of entertainment. For aguided visit, call the Islington LocalHistory Centre on 0207 527 7988.Alternatively, the well is housed in aglass-fronted building and you canget a good view of it and read the in-formation boards without having tobook to go inside.

Look out for a plaque ofa man’s head on the wallof 63 King’s Cross Road(behind the bus stop).This marks the locationof Bagnigge Wells. Inthe 19th century therewere gardens here (pic-tured) and it was a popu-lar place to take tea andrelax, whilst benefittingfrom the healing powersof the water.

Look out for this tree inthe church yard. It is TheHardy Tree, an arrange-ment of headstones by au-thor Thomas Hardy. In the1860s Hardy was an archi-tecture student, chargedwith removing peoples’ re-mains from the cemeteryto make room for thebuilding of the MidlandRailway, which cut acrossthe grounds of the church.

St. Pancras Old Church

ActivitiesThe church yard is a brilliant place to make a rubbing. Using a graphitestick or soft pencil, try rubbing over the beautiful surfaces of the head-stones to make an image. Look out for the section of Norman masonryinside the church itself and feel the contrasting textures of the flintand plaster.

St. Pancras Old Church isbuilt on an ancient Pagansite for worshipping theHorned God, the PaganGod representing male en-ergy. This image shows awitch crossing the RiverFleet, which used to flowpast the doors of thechurch.

Many hospitals, prisons and poorhouses were situated along thebank of the Fleet. The two most notable, Coldbath Fields Prisonand The St. Pancras Workhouse, were both renowned for theirharsh conditions.

The Workhouses and Prisons

St. Pancras WorkhouseIt has been suggested that one childinmate from this workhouse, RobertBlincoe, was Dickens’ inspiration forthe character Oliver Twist. Thisgives an idea of the conditions ofthe institution. The number of in-mates varied between 1500 and2000, all in cramped and unhygienicconditions. In 1865 the workhousewas highly criticised in a medicaljournal for its overcrowding and itslack of medical staff.

Coldbath Fields PrisonThere was a prison on this site forsome 300 years. The prison wasrenowned for its poor conditions, andit was even said that the Devil visited:‘And he was well pleased, for it gavehim a hint/ For improving his prisonsin Hell.’Inmates were subjected to hard laboursuch as oakum picking (see opposite)and walking on a treadwheel to grindwheat for their bread.

A common task for inmates of workhouses and prisons in Victoriantimes was that of oakum picking. This was the separation of the fi-bres of old rope, the result of which could be mixed with tar andused to line wooden ships. As can be imagined, this was both in-credibly tedious and very hard work. Used rigging was chopped intoappropriate lengths and handed out amongst the inmates, who hada quota of fibres to reach every day. Often the rigging was coated intar which made it even harder to unpick. Both Coldbath FieldsPrison and the St. Pancras Workhouse had oakum wards. The aboveimage shows inmates at Coldbath Fields Prison unpicking oakum.All forms of communication were forbidden and inmates had tocarry out this task in complete silence for hours on end.

Oakum Picking

‘The Great Stink’

This extract from Alexander Pope’s Dunciad talks about the infa-mous dirty waters of the Fleet. Due to the number of tanneries andabattoirs on its banks, the river became a collecting ground forgrime and sludge. As such in 1858 it was given the nickname ‘TheGreat Stink’ and was labelled a health hazard. In fact the waters gotso clogged up that the river had to be scraped periodically in orderto allow boats to pass.

The Great Dust HeapAt the junction of York Way and Gray’s Inn Road there used to bethe Great Dust Heap, a pile of cinders and other detritus collectedfrom the surrounding houses and streets that was taller than thehouses. People called Sorters and Searchers were charged withscouring the heap for materials which could be salvaged and sold.

Examples of items sold:

Dead catsDead cats, sold accordingto their colour (white catsfetched the highest price).

BonesBones, which werecrushed up for manure andthe marrow was boiled forsoap.

Larger cindersLarger cinders were sold to laundresses; the fine dust or ‘breeze’was sold to brickmakers (hence the name ‘breeze blocks’).

Dust Activities

A lot can be learned from dust. The above image shows dust I col-lected from the sculpture studios at the Slade School of Fine Art.Dust gives you clues to the history and industry of a place as well asshowing traces of the people who pass by. It is a way of looking athistory through traces of activity rather than the most obvioussigns, and can lead to interesting discoveries. Along the walk, tryusing strips of clear tape to lift the dust from objects and look at itthrough a magnifying glass to see what you can find. More thanlikely you will see traces of plaster dust from the building work hap-pening all over King’s Cross. But there are other things to be found:

Small insectsCar emissionsMetal debrisCrumbsPaper fibreParticles of soil

It is even possible that any magnetic particles are parts of meteorswhich have fallen to earth during a meteor storm.

Pulverised stonePollen LichenWoodPaintFabric fibres

Trade

ActivityLook under the bridges of thecanal to find these grooves in thebricks. These were made by thetow ropes pulling the Granary’sbarges. Run your hand over themand try pressing them with apiece of clay to make an imprint.You can then see the fine textureof the rope. A good bridge to lookunder is the one next to the Con-stitution Pub on St. PancrasWay, where this walk begins.

King’s Cross used to be a bustling trade centre. The above paint-ing is a watercolour of the Granary Building at King’s Cross byThomas Cubitt, who designed the building, which now housesCentral Saint Martins College of Art and Design. In the 19th cen-tury it responsible for transporting grain via Regent’s Canal tobakeries across London.

Coal

As well as a Granary, the Goods Yard at King’s Cross also housed acoal depot. Look in the surrounding streets for these grids outsidehouses. These intricately patterned circles are known as Coal Holesand are covers for cellars where the coal for houses was deliveredand stored. You can only find them outside what were wealthierhouses because poorer households would not have been able to af-ford such luxury. A good place en route to find coals holes is PercyCircus.

ActivityTry making a rubbing of them using a piece of graphite or a softpencil. Each company had a different pattern and some are verybeautiful.

Signs of the River

The curved front of the Great Northern Hotel next to King’s Crossstation was built in this way because of a bend in the River Fleet,which used to flow through the piece of land on which the hotel issituated.

The river was channelled underground in the 19th century to makeway for increasing development in the King’s Cross area. Nowadays themost obvious signs of the river’s presence are the place names that itinspired. Of course there is Fleet Street further downriver, but aroundKing’s Cross you can see Turnmill Street and the area called Clerken-well. Battle Bridge Basin reminds us that King’s Cross used to becalled Battle Bridge. This was because it was the site of an ancient rivercrossing where a battle between the Romans and the Iceni is supposedto have taken place. Evidence for this is, however, dubious.

Catching a Glimpse of the River

In this grate outside the Coach and Horses Pub on Ray Street inClerkenwell, the Fleet can be heard gushing past. Shine a torch downinside the grate and this is what you’ll see: the river rushing past at thebottom of a beautifully built Victorian brick hole. The Fleet continueson its route through central London before joining the Thames atBlackfriars. After following it for a couple of miles, it is exhilarating tofinally get to see it.

Notes

Notes

This booklet was produced to accompany one of the inauguralcommissions of Junction: North London Cultural Consortium,a collaboration between arts organisations in North London,which offers a new platform from which to support and developartists’ projects.

Katherine Midgley 2012