Editing King's Cross, London (section)

==History==

===Origin===
The area, historically the south-eastern part of the ancient parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of [[St Pancras, London|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 (linguistics)|corruption]] "Battle Bridge" led to a tradition that this was the site of a major battle in AD 60 or 61 between the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] and the [[Iceni]] tribe led by [[Boudica]] (also known as Boadicea).<ref name="thornbury">{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45097 |title=Highbury, Upper Holloway and King's Cross |work=Old and New London: Volume 2 |author=Walter Thornbury |author-link=George Walter Thornbury |year=1878 |pages=273–279 |access-date=11 November 2010 |publisher=British History Online}}</ref> The tradition claims support from the writing of [[Tacitus|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]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Museum of London - Learning on Line |url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_7.htm |title=Boudica and King's Cross Station |date=1 March 2009 |access-date=29 September 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301192533/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_7.htm |archive-date= 1 March 2009 }}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/crace/c/007000000000014u00048000.html Caesar's Camp at Pancras called the Brill (British Library)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225053728/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/crace/c/007000000000014u00048000.html |date=25 December 2022 }}. Bl.uk (30 November 2003). Retrieved on 30 July 2013.</ref> 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,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kingscross.co.uk/ifo |title=IFO (Identified Flying Object) by Jaques Rival at King's Cross |website=www.kingscross.co.uk |access-date=1 September 2017 |archive-date=1 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901201144/https://www.kingscross.co.uk/ifo |url-status=dead }}</ref> part of the RELAY King's Cross Arts programme.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kingscross.co.uk/art-programme|title=The art programme at King's Cross|website=www.kingscross.co.uk|access-date=1 September 2017|archive-date=1 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901201747/https://www.kingscross.co.uk/art-programme|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Development and the name "King's Cross"===
[[File:St Pancras and Battle Bridge.png|thumb|The countryside north of Bloomsbury and Holborn, with the hamlets of St Pancras and Battle Bridge, on [[John Rocque]]'s map of London (1746)]]
[[File:King's Cross statue of George IV.jpg|thumb|upright|The 19th century monument to George IV, since demolished, that gave the area its name]]
The [[John Rocque's Map of London, 1746|Roque 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 [[King's Cross (building)|a monument]] to [[George IV of the United Kingdom|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.<ref name="Mills">{{cite book | last = Mills | first = A. D. | title = A dictionary of London place names | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | year = 2001 | isbn = 0192801066 }}</ref> The monument was {{Convert | 60 | ft | m |spell = in }} high and topped by an {{Convert | 11 | ft | m | spell = in | adj = mid |-high}} statue of the king; it was described by [[George Walter Thornbury|Walter Thornbury]] as "a ridiculous octagonal structure crowned by an absurd statue".<ref name="thornbury"/> The statue itself, which cost no more than £25, was constructed of bricks and mortar, and finished in a manner that gave it the appearance of stone "at least to the eyes of common spectators".<ref name=gmam>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Gentleman's Magazine|title=The Architectural Magazine, conducted by J.C. Loudon F.L.S. &c. Vol. III. Nos. XXIII. to XXX.|pages=627–8|year=1836|volume=6 (new series)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTVOAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA628}} quoting ''The Architectural Magazine''</ref>  The architect was [[Stephen Geary]],<ref name=survey>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65569 |title=Euston Road |author=Walter H. Godfrey and W. McB. Marcham (editors) |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1952 |work=Survey of London: volume 24: The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood |access-date=24 May 2012 }}</ref> who exhibited a model of "the Kings Cross" at the Royal Academy in 1830.<ref>{{cite book |author=Algernon Graves |title=The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904 |volume=4|year= 1905 |publisher= Henry Graves|location=London  |page=220}}</ref> 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.<ref name="thornbury"/> A structure in the form of a [[lighthouse]] was built on top of a building almost on the site about 30 years later. Known locally as the "Lighthouse Building", the structure was popularly thought to be an advertisement for Netten's Oyster Bar on the ground floor, but this seems not to be true.<ref>[http://www.glias.org.uk/news/186news.html#L Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society newsletter, February 2000]. Glias.org.uk (27 December 1999). Retrieved on 30 July 2013.</ref> It is a grade II listed building.<ref>[http://mycamden.camden.gov.uk/gdw/T/ListedBuildingDetail?LbNo=655&xsl=ListedBuildingDetail.xsl ''Listed building details'', Camden Council] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514111809/http://mycamden.camden.gov.uk/gdw/T/ListedBuildingDetail?LbNo=655&xsl=ListedBuildingDetail.xsl |date=14 May 2012 }}. Mycamden.camden.gov.uk. Retrieved on 30 July 2013.</ref>

===Railway stations===
[[File:King's Cross St. Pancras aerial view, image 5.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of the area surrounding [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross station]]]]
King's Cross station now stands by the junction where the monument stood and took its name.<ref name="Mills"/> The station, designed by architect [[Lewis Cubitt]] and opened in 1852, succeeded a temporary earlier station, erected north of the canal in time for the [[Great Exhibition]] of 1851.

[[St Pancras railway station]], built by the [[Midland Railway]], lies immediately to the west. They both had extensive land ("the railway lands") to house their associated facilities for handling general goods and specialist commodities such as fish, coal, potatoes and grain. The passenger stations on Euston Road far outweighed in public attention the economically more important goods traffic to the north. King's Cross and St Pancras stations, and indeed all London railway stations, made an important contribution to the capital's economy.

===Post-war decline===
After World War II the area declined from being a poor but busy industrial and distribution services district to a partially abandoned post-industrial district. By the 1980s it was notorious for [[prostitution]] and [[Substance abuse|drug abuse]].<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/12/regeneration-kings-cross-can-other-developers-repeat-trick|title=All hail the new King's Cross – but can other developers repeat the trick?|first=Rowan|last=Moore|newspaper=The Observer |date=12 October 2014|via=The Guardian}}</ref> This reputation impeded attempts to revive the area, utilising 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.

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mutatebritain.com/history/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220418093452/http://www.mutatebritain.com/history/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=18 April 2022 |title=History « Mutate Britain |website=Mutatebritain.com |date=4 August 2010 |access-date=29 September 2016}}</ref> They built huge industrial sculptures out of scrap metal and held raves. In 1989 they were evicted by police.<ref>{{cite web|author=Mutoid Must Remain |url=http://meetingbenches.com/bench/2014/02/mutoid-must-remain/ |title=Mutoid Must Remain |publisher=Meeting Benches |date=21 February 2014 |access-date=29 September 2016}}</ref>
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===
{{Further|King's Cross Central}}
[[File:Kings Cross Post Office.jpg|thumb|left | King's Cross Post Office in King's Cross, London]]

In the 1990s, the government established the King's Cross Partnership<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.901 |title=Home-King's Cross Partnership: London Development Agency |date=5 June 2009 |access-date=29 September 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605013936/http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.901 |archive-date= 5 June 2009 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="kingscross.co.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kingscross.co.uk/the-story-so-far|title=About the redevelopment of King's Cross|access-date=19 April 2018|archive-date=19 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419122515/https://www.kingscross.co.uk/the-story-so-far|url-status=dead}}</ref> Outline planning permission, prepared by [[Allies and Morrison]] and [[Porphyrios Associates]], was granted for the whole site in 2006. Detailed planning applications<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kxdf.wordpress.com/|title=King's Cross Development Forum |website=Kxdf.wordpress.com |access-date=29 September 2016}}</ref> 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 occupy a large new building between St. Pancras and King's Cross stations, announced plans for a further £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===
{{anchor|Gasholder Park}}
{{anchor|Lewis Cubitt Square}}
[[File:King's Cross Central 2019.jpg|thumb|Canalside regeneration at King's Cross has seen many modern buildings erected, together with the preservation of most heritage assets.]]
The area has increasingly become home to cultural establishments. The [[London Canal Museum]] opened in 1992,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/history/regents.htm|title=The Regents Canal History|website=Canalmuseum.org.uk|access-date=29 September 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gagosian.com/about/about-larry-gagosian|title=About Larry Gagosian - Gagosian|website=Gagosian.com|access-date=29 September 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>Built in the 1860s and rebuilt in the 1880s, the [[gasholders]] (of unique linked triplet design) were still in use until 1999. Several gasholders (the site was originally a [[gasworks]]) that had dominated the area behind station for over a century were taken down during the building works and placed in storage; three are now re-erected and converted to other use, one a pocket park and others inventively converted to housing.</ref>

[[File:Gasholder park.jpg|thumb|Gasholders park in Kings Cross, London]]