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Episode Transcription:
Somers Town sits within the London Borough of Camden as an inner-city district in North West London. It is crammed between the two railway termini of Euston and St Pancras International from which the area has taken heavy influence.
John Somers, Lord Chancellor and Baron Somers of Evesham attained the local freehold of Brill Farm during the wind-up of the 17th century. A century later, saw Frenchman Jacob Leroux lease the farm from the Somers family with plans for development of it into what is now known as Somers Town.
The British Library was opened in 1998 replacing the site of the old Somers Town Milk & Fish depo. It was a massive distribution centre housing fresh goods brought into London early each morning by train from the Midlands countryside. The library today is famous for its red bricked exterior. An extension is currently under-going planning to expand the library into a creative institution that intends to be one of a kind anywhere in the world.
All of the primary schools in the district are Ofsted endorsed with a rating of good with St Mary’s & St Pancras being “outstanding”. Secondary schools: Maria Fidelis Catholic and Regent High are also considered “good” schools.
The area is extremely well connected for transport county-wide with almost half of all Tube lines serving it within walking distance aswell as two of London’s termini, Euston and Kings Cross.
St Pancras International is the London home of Eurostar. Work has also begun on the state-of-the-art High Speed Two, London to Birmingham line construction with a view to help rebalance the UK economy. The 140-miles of dedicated track will pass through 32 miles of tunnels and 10 miles worth of viaducts.
The Cock Tavern of the 1930’s is traditionally an Irish pub now used by the older, lonely patrons, as a sort of community front room. A friendly little oasis of calm for the social life in Somers Town, devoid of tourists. Like most British pubs, Covid-19 has threatened its existence as a business but the building itself is Grade II listed as part of Walker House on the Ossulston Estate.
This Oakshott Court block of council flats was originally the site of a fifteen-sided building from 1784 known as the Polygon. Mary Wollstonecraft gave birth to her daughter here, Mary Shelly, the author of Frankenstein and Charles Dickens also spent a portion of his childhood in the building.
Trinidad-born Pan-Africanist and leading political thinker George Padmore lived at 22 Cranleigh Street for 16 years as commemorated by a ‘Nubian Jak Community Trust’ plaque. His and his comrades’ actions dominate the local history of British connections to the Caribbean. Padmore envisioned a world unburdened from the arrogance and tribulation of empires but dedicated to equality, solidarity and hope.
St Pancras Old Church, an Anglo-Catholic tradition Church of England, has its history tracked as far back as the Norman Conquest of the 11th & 12th century. At the north side of the building, you can see part of the exposed Norman masonry, despite the building having been restored a few times since 1847.
The grounds surrounding the church act as a place of contemplation with many historic tombs.
To make way for the introduction of St Pancras Station, Victorian classic novelist Thomas Hardy, author of ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ was given the gruesome task of digging up the dead bodies in the graveyard for burial elsewhere. Supposedly at a loose end with dozens of leftover gravestones; he arranged for an ash tree to be encircled with them overlapping each other around the roots. This is the Hardy Tree.
The Francis Crick Institute of 2016, adds a modern touch to compliment the area with its iconic presence. Founded by the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK and the University College London, it has become world class as a leading research centre in the UK surrounding biomedical science.
9 сен 2024
