Well, maybe not quite all…but I love exploring the area around Seven Dials and Tottenham Court Rd: and much of the fascination stems from how it has been shaped by its location on several very ancient routes.
Take the crossroads where Centrepoint stands, where Oxford St meets Tottenham Court Rd. Here arrived one of the main ancient routes from the north, from either side of Hampstead Heath: and it met the Roman (and then Anglo-Saxon) route running west out of the City, starting at Newgate (where the Old Bailey now is).
Coming up from the south and west was a track from Westminster and Whitehall, a continuation of the main way into London from the west. And a few yards east (towards the City), the ancient route of Drury Lane joined the main southern way out of the City (Fleet St/Strand) with the old Roman route. It used to be called the Via de Aldwych (“Old Place”), a reminder that its route ran right through the Anglo Saxon settlement of Lundenwic (the City was uninhabited for many years after the Romans left).
This pivotal location shaped the St Giles area in three main ways. Firstly, it spurred the development of posh town houses. Half way between the City and Westminster, it seemed an ideal spot to build in the latter part of the 1600’s, after the Great Fire had destroyed the old City and spurred demand for houses to the west. Hence the development of Seven Dials by MP and well-connected entrepreneur Thomas Neal: and the smart houses still visible in Denmark St if you raise your eyes above the instrument shops…
But it also spurred the development of commercial premises, which mitigated against maintaining a posh and exclusive residential feel. As the population of London expanded rapidly in the 1700’s and 1800’s, but before the development of canals and railways, goods had to be made near the people who would buy them. For example, the area south of St Giles’ became a centre of the ironmongery business: and Crosse and Blackwell made and packed pickles and preserves in the same area.
The third factor, which led to some notoriety for the area, was the prevalence of poor and working Irish immigrants. Whether arriving from the north or the south west, St Giles’ was a natural landing spot and base to look for work, for example labouring in Covent Garden or building houses, railway lines and canals. As with commerce, these workers had to live near the work: there was no mass transport. Where Renzo Piano’s smart Central St Giles development now stands was the notorious “Rookery”, a dense slum area much written about by prurient Victorians.
I find guests on my walking tour of this area love to explore and learn about this history and to see how these different forces have acted to make St Giles’ a unique area: bitty, mixed, lively but always interesting! To book this or other walks in Camden and other parts please visit my website, “Who Knew Tours”.
Links:
Slums and Squares and Rock n’Roll: Secrets of St Giles’ – Who Knew Tours