Editing Clerkenwell (section)

==History==

''For a list of street name etymologies in the Clerkenwell area see [[Street names of Clerkenwell and Finsbury]].''

===Clerks' Well===
Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks' Well in Farringdon Lane (''clerken'' was the [[Middle English#Nouns|Middle English]] genitive plural of ''clerk'', a variant of  ''[[wikt:clerc#Middle English|clerc]]'', meaning literate person or clergyman). The first surviving reference to the name is from 1100.<ref>{{cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Place names –|first=Eilert |last=Ekwall (Fourth edition reprinted 1990) |year=1960 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-869103-3}}</ref> In the [[Middle Ages]], the [[Parish Clerks Company|London Parish clerks]] performed annual [[mystery play]]s there, based on biblical themes. Part of the well remains visible, incorporated into a 1980s building called Well Court. It is visible through a window of that building on Farringdon Lane. Access to the well is managed by [[Islington Local History Centre]] and visits can be arranged by appointment.

===Monastic traditions===
The Monastic Order of the [[Knights Hospitaller]]s of [[John the Apostle|St John]] of [[Jerusalem]] had its English headquarters at the [[Priory of Clerkenwell]]. ([[The Blessed Gerard]] founded the Order to provide medical assistance during [[the crusades]].) [[St John's Gate, Clerkenwell|St John's Gate]] (built by Sir [[Thomas Docwra]] in 1504) survives in the rebuilt form of the Priory Gate. Its gateway, erected in 1504 in St John's Square, served various purposes after the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]]. For example, it was the birthplace of the ''[[Gentleman's Magazine]]'' in 1731, and the scene of [[Dr Johnson]]'s work in connection with that journal. In modern times the gatehouse again became associated with the order and was in the early 20th century the headquarters of the [[St John Ambulance]] Association. An [[Early English Period|Early English]] crypt remains beneath the chapel of the order, which was otherwise mostly rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bombing. The notorious deception of the "[[Cock Lane Ghost]]", in which Johnson took great interest, was perpetrated nearby.

Adjoining the priory was [[St James Church, Clerkenwell#Nunnery of St Mary: c. 1100 - 1539|St Mary's nunnery]] of the Benedictine order, now entirely disappeared, and [[St James Church, Clerkenwell|St James's Church]], rebuilt in 1792 on the site of the original church which was partly of [[Norman architecture|Norman]] provenance. The [[London Charterhouse|Charterhouse]], near the boundary with the [[City of London]], was originally a [[Carthusian]] monastery. Following the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] the Charterhouse became a private mansion and one owner, Thomas Sutton, subsequently left it with an endowment as a school and [[almshouse]]. The almshouse remains but the school relocated to Surrey and its part of the site is now a campus of [[Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry]].

===Black Mary's Hole===
Black Mary’s Hole was a locality and small rural settlement in a low-lying area on the eastern, Clerkenwell side of the valley of the [[River Fleet]]. The area included fields called ''Black Mary’s Hole'', and ''Robin Hood’s Field'', which together with the name of the former local pub, ''The Fox at Bay'', seem to reflect the lawlessness of the area. The locality was also known as a meeting place for gay men.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stephenliddell.co.uk/2022/06/23/on-the-hunt-for-black-marys-hole/|title=On the hunt for Black Marys Hole|first=Stephen|last=Liddell|date=23 June 2022|accessdate=8 February 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Roque 1746 London c1.jpg|thumb|Black Mary's Hole in 1746, located on the eastern side of the [[River Fleet]].]]
[[File:Clerkenwell 1805 Cartographer; Tyrer, James.jpg|thumb|The parishes of Clerkenwell, 1805]]

===New River Head===
The construction of the [[New River (London)|New River]] between 1604 and 1613 resulted in the creation of the [[New River Head]] in Clerkenwell, on what is now [[Rosebery Avenue]]. The New River was constructed to supply London with fresh drinking water from [[Hertfordshire]], and the New River Head originally consisted of a circular reservoir, the ''Round Pond'' and an associated building, the ''Water House''. From here water was fed into a network of wooden mains which conveyed water to the cisterns of London.<ref name=bho>{{cite web |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp165-184 |title=New River Head |work=British History Online |publisher=Institute of Historical Research/University of London |year=2008 |access-date=27 April 2020}}</ref>

Over the years the New River Head complex expanded with the addition of further reservoirs and pumping stations, driven by [[windmill]], [[horse gin]] and, eventually, [[steam engine]]. In 1820, the [[New River Company]], owners of the river, moved its offices into an enlarged Water House, beginning an association of the site with the administration of London's water supply that was to last some 170 years. In 1920, the [[Metropolitan Water Board]] opened a new office building at New River Head, and this remained the headquarters for London's water supply up to the privatisation of the [[Thames Water Authority]] in 1989. The site is now largely in residential use, including both converted buildings and newly built apartment blocks.<ref name=bho/>

===New River Estate===
From 1810 to 1850, the New River Company developed housing on the land surrounding New River Head. At the centre is Myddelton Square, named after [[Sir Hugh Myddelton]], developer of the New River, with the Grade II listed [[St Mark's Church, Myddelton Square|St Mark's Church]] in the centre. The church was built in 1827 in Victorian Gothic style by [[William Chadwell Mylne]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Church of St Mark |url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101298025-church-of-st-mark-clerkenwell-ward |website=British Listed Buildings |access-date=24 December 2022}}</ref> after whom the nearby Mylne Street and Chadwell Street are named. The estate is a series of streets and terraces in neo-Classical, Greek revival style. The place names reference the New River company, including Amwell Street (after the New River's source in Hertfordshire) and River Street.

===Lloyd Baker Estate===
The Lloyd Baker estate was laid out immediately to the west of the New River estate from 1820 to 1840. It takes its name from the family of [[William Lloyd (bishop of Worcester)|Bishop William Lloyd]] who inherited the land from his godmother [[Flower Backhouse, Countess of Clarendon]], a shareholder in the New River company.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp264-297 'Lloyd Baker Estate', in Survey of London: Volume 47, Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville, ed. Philip Temple (London, 2008), pp. 264-297. British History Online accessed 23 September 2022].</ref> The estate is characterised by neo-classical pedimented villas and garden squares.

===Notoriety===
As it was a suburb beyond the confines of the [[London Wall]], Clerkenwell was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers. Consequently, "base tenements and houses of unlawful and disorderly resort" sprang up, with a "great number of dissolute, loose, and insolent people harboured in such and the like noisome and disorderly houses, as namely poor cottages, and habitations of beggars and people without trade, stables, inns, alehouses, taverns, garden-houses converted to dwellings, ordinaries, dicing houses, bowling alleys, and brothel houses".<ref>Middlesex Justices in 1596; cited in Schoenbaum 1987, p. 126.</ref>

During the Elizabethan era Clerkenwell contained a notorious brothel quarter. In Shakespeare's ''[[Henry IV, Part 2]]'', Falstaff complains about Justice Shallow boasting of "the wildness of his youth, and the feats he has done about Turnbull Street".<ref>William Shakespeare, ''[[Henry IV, Part 2]]''. Act 3, Scene 2.</ref> Known now as Turnmill Street and adjoining [[Farringdon station]], it had an infamous reputation for brothel-keeping and was described in Sugden's ''Topographical Dictionary'' as "the most disreputable street in London, a haunt of thieves and loose women".<ref>Nicholl C. (2007) ''The Lodger'', p.204.</ref> The [[Clerkenwell Bridewell]], a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants, was known for savage punishment and endemic sexual corruption.

===Prisons===

Clerkenwell was also the location of three prisons: the [[Clerkenwell Bridewell]], [[Coldbath Fields Prison]] (later Clerkenwell Gaol) and the [[New Prison]], later the [[Clerkenwell House of Detention]], notorious as the scene of the [[Clerkenwell Outrage]] in 1867, an attempted prison break by [[Fenian]]s who killed many in the tenement houses on Corporation Row in trying to blow a hole in the prison wall. The House of Detention was demolished in 1890 but the extensive vaults and cells beneath, now known as the Clerkenwell Catacombs, remained. They were reopened as air raid shelters during the Blitz, and for a few years were open as a minor tourist attraction. Various film scenes have been shot in the catacombs.

===Industrial Revolution===
The [[Industrial Revolution]] changed the area greatly. It became a centre for [[brewery|breweries]], [[distillation|distilleries]] and the printing industry. It gained an especial reputation for the [[clockmaker|making of clocks]], [[marine chronometer]]s and [[watchmaker|watches]], which activity once employed many people from around the area. Flourishing craft workshops still carry on some of the traditional trades, such as jewellery-making. Clerkenwell was home to Witherbys, a printing company who have now split ownership, with the printers having relocated to north London and the publishers to [[Scotland]] (see also the [[Witherby Publishing Group]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://witherbypublishinggroup.com/Witherby-History|title=Witherby Company History|accessdate=1 July 2016|archive-date=14 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314145247/http://witherbypublishinggroup.com/Witherby-History|url-status=dead}}</ref>

It was during the Industrial Revolution that Clerkenwell became known as London's Italian district, although the total number of Italian residents probably numbered no more than 2,000 at any one time.{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}}

[[File:Article-1204508-05F33865000005DC-837 964x691.jpg|thumb|Kodak Building at 41–43 Clerkenwell Rd, London in 1902]]
The Kodak United Company opened a factory and storefront at 41–43 Clerkenwell and took advantage of the surplus of unemployed Jewelers and Watch makers to build their Stereoscopic and Folding Pocket Cameras that they produced and repaired.  The location also allowed them easy access to the chemicals required for their Bromide based papers and negatives.  During World War II, they were relocated for security reasons because of the fear that Axis bombs would destroy the photographic equipment used for the war effort.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.earlyphotography.co.uk/site/companies2.html#kodak|title=Information on Camera Makers and Companies – Antique and Vintage Cameras|website=www.earlyphotography.co.uk}}</ref>

===Clerkenwell Green===
[[File:Clerkenwell Green, Londra.jpg|thumb|Clerkenwell Green]]
Clerkenwell Green lies at the centre of the old village, by the church, and has a mixture of housing, offices and pubs, dominated by the imposing former [[Middlesex Sessions House]]. It was built in 1782, extended during the [[Victorian era]], and by the early 21st century used as a [[Masonic]] hall. The name is something of a historical relic – Clerkenwell Green has had no grass for over 300 years. However, in conveying some impression of its history, it gives the appearance of one of the better-preserved village centres in what is now [[central London]]. In [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', Clerkenwell Green is where [[Fagin]] and the [[Artful Dodger]] induct Oliver into [[pickpocket]]ing amongst shoppers in the busy market once held there. In his words it is "an open square in Clerkenwell, which is yet called, by some perversion of terms the Green", despite lacking any "greenery". Indeed, Dickens knew the area well and was a customer of the Finsbury Savings Bank on [[Thomas Seckford|Sekforde Street]], which links Clerkenwell Green to St John Street. 

[[Hockley-in-the-Hole]] was an area of Clerkenwell Green where [[bull-baiting]], [[bear-baiting]] and similar activities occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref name="BHO">{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol2/pp306-309|title=Hockley-in-the-Hole &#124; British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>Boulton, W. 1901. ''[https://books.google.com/books/download/The_Amusements_of_Old_London.pdf?id=Yp9CAAAAYAAJ&output=pdf The Amusements of Old London: CHAPTER I - THE DIVERSIONS OF HOCKLEY IN THE HOLE, AND AT FIGG'S].'' {{ISBN|9781139094375}}</ref>

===Radicalism===
Clerkenwell Green has historically been associated with radicalism, from the [[Lollards]] in the 16th century, the [[Chartists]] in the 19th century and [[communists]] in the early 20th century.<ref>Andrew Rothstein, ''A House on Clerkenwell Green'', London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1966. A history of 37a Clerkenwell Green and activism in the area.</ref> In 1902, [[Vladimir Lenin]] moved the publication of the ''[[Iskra]]'' (Spark) to the British [[Social Democratic Federation]] at 37a Clerkenwell Green, and issues 22 to 38 were indeed edited there. At that time [[Vladimir Lenin]] resided on Percy Circus, less than half a mile north of Clerkenwell Green. In 1903, the newspaper was moved to [[Geneva]]. It is said that Lenin and a young [[Joseph Stalin]] met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now The Crown Tavern)<ref name=crowntavernloc>{{NHLE|num=1195546 |desc=The Crown Tavern Public House |access-date= 12 November 2016}} Has address 43 and 44, Clerkenwell Green</ref> when the latter was visiting London in 1903. In the 1920s and 1930s, 37a Clerkenwell Green was a venue for Communist Party meetings, and the [[Marx Memorial Library]] was founded on the same site in 1933. In 1942 the [[Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury|local borough council]] erected a controversial bust of [[Vladimir Lenin]] at the site of a [[Bevin Court|new block of flats]] in Holford Square (the bust was removed in the 1950s).

Clerkenwell's tradition of left-leaning publication continued until late 2008 with ''[[The Guardian]]'' and ''[[The Observer]]'' having their headquarters on Farringdon Road, a short walk from the Green. Their new offices are a short distance away in [[King's Cross, London|King's Cross]]. In 2011, an [[2011 anti-cuts protest in London|anti-cuts protest]] march departed from Clerkenwell and ended with a rally at [[Trafalgar Square]] demanding trade union rights, human rights and international solidarity.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13254761 | work=BBC News | title=May Day: Thousands participate in rally | date=1 May 2011}}</ref>

===Local government===
[[File:Finsbury Met. B Ward Map 1952.svg|thumb|The wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury, 1952. Clerkenwell forms the western part of this area]]
Clerkenwell St James was an ancient parish in the [[Finsbury division]] of the [[Ossulstone]] hundred of [[Middlesex]].<ref name=vision>{{cite vob | url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10129837&c_id=10001043 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20121224201201/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10129837&c_id=10001043 | url-status=dead | archive-date=24 December 2012 | name=Clerknwell parish | map=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/boundary_map_page.jsp?u_id=10129837&c_id=10001043 | access-date=5 November 2009 }} </ref> Part of the parish of St James was split off as the parish of St John in 1723. However, for civil matters they remained a single parish. The [[Clerkenwell Vestry]] became a nominating authority to the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] in 1855.

Under the [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]] any parish that exceeded 2,000 [[Rates in the United Kingdom|ratepayers]] was to be divided into wards; as such the parish of St James & St John Clerkenwell was divided into five wards (electing [[vestrymen]]): No. 1 (12), No. 2 (15), No. 3 (12), No. 4 (18) and No. 5 (15).<ref>{{cite book|title=The London Gazette Issue: 21802|date=20 October 1855|pages=3887–3888|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/21802/page/3887|access-date=8 April 2015}}</ref>

The area of the metropolitan board became the [[County of London]] in 1889. A reform of local government in 1900 abolished the Clerkenwell Vestry and the parish became part of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury]]. [[Alexandra Park, London|Alexandra Park]], an exclave of the parish, was transferred to [[Hornsey]], Middlesex at the same time.<ref name=vision/> Clerkenwell Town Hall, which had been built on [[Rosebery Avenue]] in 1895, became [[Finsbury Town Hall]]. [[Finsbury]] became part of the [[London Borough of Islington]] in 1965 and the old town hall lay empty and deteriorating for many years. It has since been sold to the Urdang Dance Academy.

===Post-war de-industrialisation and revival===
After the [[Second World War]] Clerkenwell suffered from [[deindustrialization|industrial decline]] and many of the premises occupied by the engineering, printing publishing and meat and food trades (the last mostly around Smithfield) fell empty. Several acclaimed council housing estates were commissioned by [[Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury|Finsbury Borough Council]]. Modernist architect and Russian émigré [[Berthold Lubetkin]]'s listed Spa Green Estate, constructed 1943–1950, has recently been restored. The [[Finsbury Estate]], constructed in 1968 to the designs of Joseph Emberton includes flats, since altered and re-clad.

A general revival and gentrification process began in the 1980s, and the area is now known for loft-living in some of the former industrial buildings. It also has [[Yuppie|young professionals]], nightclubs and restaurants and is home to many professional offices as an overspill for the nearby [[City of London]] and [[West End of London|West End]]. Amongst other sectors, there is a notable concentration of design professions around Clerkenwell, and supporting industries such as high-end designer furniture showrooms. It is claimed that the area has the highest concentration of architects and building professionals in the world.{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}} Many of London's leading architectural practices have offices in the area.