Origin The area, historically the south-eastern part of the ancient parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of
St Pancras, was previously known as
Battle Bridge or
Battlebridge after an ancient crossing of the
River Fleet. The original name of the bridge was Broad Ford Bridge. The original parish church,
St Pancras Old Church, located behind the stations, was built on a knoll on the west bank of the Fleet, and is believed to be one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain.
Boudica Legend The
corruption "Battle Bridge" led to a tradition that this was the site of a major battle in AD 60 or 61 between the
Romans and the
Iceni tribe led by
Boudica (also known as Boadicea). The tradition claims support from the writing of
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, an ancient Roman historian, who described the place of action between the Romans and Boudica (
Annals 14.31), but without specifying where it was; Thornbury addresses the pros and cons of the identification.
Lewis Spence's 1937 book
Boadicea – warrior queen of the Britons includes a map showing the supposed positions of the opposing armies. The suggestion that Boudica is buried beneath platform 9 or 10 at King's Cross station seems to have arisen as
urban folklore since the end of
World War II. The area had been settled in Roman times, and a camp here known as The Brill was erroneously attributed to
Julius Caesar, who never visited Londinium. There is still a small area named "Battle Bridge Place" between King's Cross and St Pancras stations, and "Brill Place", a road leading towards Euston from St Pancras station. An art installation named the
Identified Flying Object (IFO) stands in Battle Bridge Place, part of the RELAY King's Cross Arts programme.
Development and the name "King's Cross" 's map of London (1746) The
Rocque map of 1746 shows the area as entirely undeveloped; however, the opening of the new
Euston Road (originally
New Road) in 1756 opened the area up for development. The current name has its origin in
a monument to
King George IV which stood from 1830 to 1845 at "the king's crossroads" where New Road (later
Euston Road),
Gray's Inn Road, and
Pentonville Road met. The monument was high and topped by an statue of the king; it was described by
Walter Thornbury as "a ridiculous octagonal structure crowned by an absurd statue". The architect was
Stephen Geary, who exhibited a model of "the Kings Cross" at the Royal Academy in 1830. The upper storey was used as a
camera obscura while the base housed first a police station, and later a public house. The unpopular building was demolished in 1845, though the area kept the name of King's Cross. It is a grade II listed building.
Railway stations King's Cross station now stands by the junction where the monument stood and took its name. This reputation impeded attempts to revive the area, using the large amount of land available following the decline of the railway goods yard to the north of the station and the many other vacant premises in the area. The
King's Cross fire in 1987 in which 31 people died as a result of poor maintenance and safety procedures in the district's major
Tube station only typified the level of dilapidation and neglect present in the area. Relatively cheap rents and a central London location made the area attractive to artists and designers and both
Antony Gormley and
Thomas Heatherwick established studios in the area. In the late 1980s, a group of musicians, mechanics, and squatters from Hammersmith called
Mutoid Waste Company moved into Battlebridge Road warehouse. They built huge industrial sculptures out of scrap metal and held raves. In 1989 they were evicted by police. In 1992, the Community Creation Trust took over the disused coach repair depot and built it into the largest Ecology Centre in Europe with ecohousing for homeless youngsters, The Last Platform Cafe, London Ecology Centre (after its demise in Covent Garden), offices and workshops, gardens and ponds. It was destroyed to make a car park for the Channel Tunnel Regeneration.
Bagley's Warehouse was a nightclub venue in the 1990s warehouse rave scene on the site of Goods Yard behind King's Cross stations, now part of the redevelopment area known as the Coal Drops adjacent to Granary Square.
Regeneration In the 1990s, the government established the King's Cross Partnership to fund regeneration projects, and the commencement of work on
High Speed 1 in 2000 provided a major impetus for other projects. In 2001, Argent was selected as the development partner. The London terminus of the
Eurostar international rail services to Paris and Brussels moved to St Pancras station in November 2007. Following the opening of the High Speed 1 to the station, redevelopment of the land between the two major stations and the old King's Cross railway lands to the rear commenced. In 2008, Argent, London & Continental Railways and DHL formed a joint partnership: Kings Cross Central Limited Partnership. Outline planning permission, prepared by
Allies and Morrison and
Porphyrios Associates, was granted for the whole site in 2006. Detailed planning applications for each part of the site are being made on a rolling programme basis. The area remains a major focus of redevelopment in the second decade of the 21st century. In 2017, Google, which already occupied a large building between St. Pancras and King's Cross stations, submitted plans for a £1 billion building stretching along the west side of King's Cross station towards the Regents canal. The area has also been for many years home to a number of trades union head offices (including the NUJ, RMT, UNISON, NUT, Community and UCU).
Education, culture and heritage The area has increasingly become home to cultural establishments. The
London Canal Museum opened in 1992, and in 1997 a new home for the
British Library opened next to St Pancras station. There was a small theatre, the Courtyard, that closed in late 2006 as a result of the gentrification of the area caused by a number of regeneration projects there, in this case, Regent's Quarter, across the boundary in Islington. The
Gagosian Gallery moved their main London premises to the area in 2004. The
London Sinfonietta and the
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are based in
King's Place, on
Battlebridge Basin next to the
Regent's Canal. King's Place is also the home of
The Guardian and
The Observer newspapers, and of the UK Drug Policy Commission. In September 2011 the
University of the Arts London moved to the Granary Complex. A whole series of new public squares and gardens have opened, among them Granary Square with its spectacular fountains, Lewis Cubitt Park and Square and the new Gasholder Park. The station's redevelopment led to the demolition of several buildings, including the Gasworks. ==Location==