Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell Green and St James's Church
Clerkenwell  Clerkenwell shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ315825
London borough	Islington
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	EC1
Postcode district	WC1
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Islington South and Finsbury
London Assembly	North East
List of places UK England London

Clerkenwell (/ˈklɑːrkənwɛl/) is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. It was an ancient parish and from 1900 to 1965 formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance.

London's Little Italy

In the 1850s the south-western part of Clerkenwell was known as London's "Little Italy" because around 2,000 Italians had settled in the area. The community had mostly dispersed by the 1960s, but the area remains the 'spiritual home' of London's Italians, and is a focal point for more recent Italian immigrants, largely because of St Peter's Italian Church. There are officially over 200,000 Italians in London, and possibly many more. The Italian Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sagra takes place each July in the streets surrounding the church.

A small number of Italian businesses remain from the nineteenth century including organ builders Chiappa Ltd, and food outlets such as the delicatessen Terroni. Many other Italian firms survive from the period but have relocated elsewhere.

History

Clerks' Well

Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks' Well in Farringdon Lane (clerken was the Middle English genitive plural of clerk, a variant of clerc, meaning literate person or clergyman). In the Middle Ages, the London Parish clerks performed annual mystery plays 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 Hospitallers of 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 (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.

Clerkenwell in 1805

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 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 Mary's nunnery of the Benedictine order, now entirely disappeared, and St James's Church, rebuilt in 1792 on the site of the original church which was partly of Norman provenance. The 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 almhouse 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.

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".

During the Elizabethan era Clerkenwell contained a notorious brothel quarter. In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2, Falstaff complains about Shallow boasting of 'the wildness of his youth, and the feats he has done about Turnbull Street'. 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'. The Clerkenwell Bridewell, a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants, was known for savage punishment and endemic sexual corruption.

Fashionable residential area

In the 17th century South Clerkenwell became a fashionable place of residence. Oliver Cromwell owned a house on Clerkenwell Close, just off the Green. Several aristocrats had houses there, most notably the Duke of Northumberland, as did people such as Erasmus Smith. Before Clerkenwell became a built-up area, it had a reputation as a resort a short walk out of the city, where Londoners could disport themselves at its spas, of which there were several, based on natural chalybeate springs, tea gardens and theatres. The present day Sadler's Wells has survived as heir to this tradition, after being rebuilt many times and many changes of use including pleasure gardens, theatre, aquatic display venue, circus, music hall. Today it is a leading theatre and modern dance venue.

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 Fenians 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 breweries, distilleries and the printing industry. It gained an especial reputation for the making of clocks and 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, Europe's oldest printing company who have now relocated to North London. The company, which was established in 1740 and whose shareholding is mainly family-held, produces a wide variety of commercial work such as magazines, leaflets, report and accounts, brochures and information packs at its on-site print facility.

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.

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 pickpocketing amongst shoppers in the busy market once held there. Indeed, Dickens knew the area well and was a customer of the Finsbury Savings Bank on Sekforde Street, which links Clerkenwell Green to St John Street.

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. 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 known as The Crown Tavern) on the Green 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. 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. In 2011 an anti-cuts protest march departed from Clerkenwell and ended with a rally at Trafalgar Square demanding trade union rights, human rights and international solidarity.

Local government

A map showing the wards of Finsbury Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1952.

Clerkenwell St James was an ancient parish in the Finsbury division of the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex. 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 parish 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 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry 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).

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, an exclave of the parish, was transferred to Hornsey, Middlesex at the same time. 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 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 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 young professionals, nightclubs and restaurants and is home to many professional offices as an overspill for the nearby City of London and 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. Many of London's leading architectural practices have offices in the area.

On 4 November 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron revealed in a speech given in East London that Clerkenwell would form part of a new East London Tech City hub.

Entertainment

Public houses

The Hope

Pubs that serve the Smithfield Market meat workers are allowed to open at 5.30 am. These are Nicholson's Brewery's former Art Nouveau gin palace the Fox & Anchor, The Hope, and the Cock Tavern (which is situated under the market itself).

London's first gastropub, the Eagle, opened in Clerkenwell in 1991. The Eagle has been joined by, among others, the Peasant, the Coach and Horses and the Gunmakers and the Green, which as part of a nationwide evolution of the traditional public house have since converted to gastropubs.

It is said that Vladimir Lenin and a young Joseph Stalin met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now known as the Crown Tavern) on Clerkenwell Green when the latter was visiting London in 1903.

The Betsey Trotwood (named after Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens) adopted the name in 1983, having previously been the Butcher's Arms.

Restaurants

Clerkenwell is home to some of the best restaurants in London, including St John, a traditional English restaurant, the Spanish/Moroccan restaurant Moro, Bistrot Loubet, the Michelin starred Club Gascon, Café du Marché, the Modern-European Little Bay Restaurant famous for its "Pay what you think it's worth" campaign in 2009 and others contribute to the area's gastronomic reputation.

Bars

Clerkenwell is the home of several bars including Smith's of Smithfield and The Slaughtered Lamb. The evening economy is centred on the north side of Smithfield Market (the trading hours are from 4:00 am to 12:00 noon every weekday), with bar customers gathering amidst trucks of carcasses at the all-night meat market, except on Saturdays and Sundays when it is closed.

Notable people

Russian artist Pasha Aksenov, Павла Аксенова, at work in a Panther House, 38 Mount Pleasant, WC1X 0AN, studio in 2003.

• John Bell (d. 1556), Church of England bishop
• Thomas Birch (1705–1766), English historian
• Thomas Britton (1644–1714), English charcoal merchant best known as a concert promoter
• James Duff Brown (1862–1914), English librarian, information theorist, music biographer and educationalist
• Rev. Moses Browne (1704–1787), Church of England priest and poet
• Robert Burnside (1759–1826), English Baptist minister
• Phil Cameron (b. 1972), English entrepreneur, the founder of No.1 Traveller, and a former Tony and Olivier Award-winning theatre producer
• William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (1592–1676), English polymath and aristocrat, having been a poet, equestrian, playwright, swordsman, politician, architect, diplomat and soldier
• Earl of Clanricarde (1832–1916), Anglo-Irish ascendancy nobleman and politician
• Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland
• Helkiah Crooke (1576–1648), Court physician to King James I of England, is best remembered for his textbook on anatomy, Mikrokosmographia, a Description of the Body of Man
• Daniel Defoe (c. 1660–1731), English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, and spy, now most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe
• Charles Dickens (1812–1870), English writer and social critic
• Michael Fagan (b. 1948), Buckingham Palace intruder
• Zaha Hadid (b. 1950), Iraqi-British architect
• John Holwell (1649–1686?), English astrologer and mathematician
• Anthony Horowitz (b. 1955), English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense
• Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924), Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist
• Charles Sabini (1889–1950), English criminal, leader of the Sabini gang
• David Thewlis (b. 1963), English actor
• Louis Wain (1860–1939), English artist
• John Weever (1576–1632), English antiquary and poet
• John Wilkes (1725–1797), English radical, journalist, and politician
• Gillian Anderson (b. 1968), American actress

Nearby areas

Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, London's largest sorting office.

• St Pancras to the west
• Bloomsbury to the west
• Hatton Garden to the west
• Holborn to the southwest
• Smithfield to the south
• Barbican Estate and Barbican Arts Centre to the southeast
• Golden Lane Estate to the east
• St Luke's to the east
• Finsbury Estate to the north
• Islington to the north
• King's Cross to the northwest

Nearest railway and London Underground stations

Farringdon station, which provides both mainline rail and tube services, is the only station in Clerkenwell itself. However Angel, King's Cross St Pancras, Chancery Lane and Barbican stations all lie near the fringes of Clerkenwell.

See also

• Clerkenwell Priory

External links

London/Holborn-Clerkenwell travel guide from Wikivoyage

• Map of Clerkenwell, showing location of the Clerks' Well
• Description and history of Clerkenwell from an 1868 Gazetteer
• Islington Museum and Local History Centre
• Information about Lenin's stay in Clerkenwell
• Craft Central
• St James Church Clerkenwell
• St Mark's Church, Myddelton Square, Clerkenwell
• GraceLife London at Woodbridge Chapel, for many years known as Clerkenwell Medical Mission