ROADS
See Also: BRIDGES; COUNTRYSIDE Beyond
The M25; MEAT; ROMAN REMAINS Roman Roads; SLUMS & AVENUES; STREET FURNITURE Paving; THE THAMES; TRAFFIC CONTROL; MENU
The City of London
In the
City of London's historical core there are meant to be no streets that bear the
word 'Road' as part of their name.
See
Also: LONDON
Street Names and Place Names
The King's Road
It was
King Charles II (d.1685) who established The King's Road as a private royal
road that linked St James's Palace and Whitehall Palace to Hampton Court
Palace. The road went on from Chelsea
through Fulham and crossed the Thames where Putney Bridge now stands. Individuals could use the private royal roads
if they had a pass. In 1830 the Kings
Road became a public road.
Location:
The King's Road: SW3 4NX; SW3 5EL; and SW10 0TU (red, orange)
See
Also: DISTRICT CHANGE Chelsea's Axis; ROYALTY; SHOPPING Kings
Road Shops
Website:
www.kingsroadchelsea.london
Royal
Avenue
Royal
Avenue (1694) in Chelsea was built for King William III as the start of a route
that was intended to provide a formal road between the Thames at the Royal
Hospital Chelsea and his newly acquired Kensington Palace. The scheme stopped once the avenue had
reached the south side of the Kings Road.
In the
mid-1690s England was engaged in the Nine Years War. As a result, the national finances were
beginning to experience extreme strain.
The project was not resumed after peace was re-established in 1697.
Location:
Royal Avenue, SW3 4QE (red, pink)
See
Also: GROOMING Soap, Soper Lane; PALACES Kensington Palace
The London Box
In the
late 1960s the Greater London Council developed the London Box plan for the
construction of a six-lane, inner London, ring-road. The North London districts that it was to
have passed through included: Notting Dale, Primrose Hill, Dalston, and Hackney
Wick. Hammersmith Bridge was to have
been replaced.
However,
the limitations of 1960s urban planning were beginning to be appreciated. In addition, the scheme proposed demolishing
several middle-class neighbourhoods.
Within these, community groups sprang up that voiced their
discontent. The Council concluded that
it would be politically expedient to cancel the scheme and did so.
However,
a number of construction projects had already been executed: the Barrier Block1
in Brixton's Coldharbour Lane, the East Hill portion of Trinity Road in
Wandsworth, and the West Cross Route that runs north of Shepherd's Bush
roundabout.
Prior
to the scheme's cancellation numerous properties in Dalston had been compulsory
purchased. The district's subsequent
decline was believed by some to have derived from the impact of this
development upon the local economy.
See
Also: CAMDEN MARKET; DISTRICT
CHANGE Covent Garden; FOOD
MARKETS, FORMER Covent Garden; LOCAL GOVERNMENT The Greater London Council, The Outer Boroughs and
Central Government; SQUATTING
Frestonia; UNDERGROUND
LINES The Northern Line, The Northern Line Expressway
Website:
www.roads.org.uk/ringways/ringway1 www.roads.org.uk/ringways/ringway2 www.roads.org.uk/ringways/ringway3 www.roads.org.uk/ringways/ringway4
1. The Barrier Block (a.k.a. Southwyck)
was designed so as to keep out noise and pollution from the proposed
motorway. In 1995 the Conservative Prime
Minister John Major chose to make a disparaging remark about the building. Subsequently, The Guardian newspaper
revealed that he had been a member of the Lambeth Council planning committee
that had granted approval for its construction.
Motorways
See
Also: GARDENS & PLANTS Motorway Central Reservations
New Road and City Road
Those
who settled in the West End during the early 18thC were seeking a
more refined atmosphere than was available further east. However, there was a vast volume of
commercial traffic that travelled from west of London to the City of London,
this included herds of livestock. The
western section of what is now the Euston Road is straight because the large
estates - Portman, Portland and Bedford - owned land and could see that they
could develop houses along it. The
landowners of the eastern portion could not agree so the road circumvented
their land going north. The New Road
(1756) linked up several villages. This
helped to promote the development of London's northern satellite region.
The
City Road (1761) formed an extension of the New Road. It linked up with it at Islington and took it
on to Old Street.1 The road
is still very much a means of bypassing the City and has a slightly shabby,
rundown air that reflects its workaday character.2
At Old
Street the City Road turns towards London Bridge. Moorgate (a road) was cut in the early 19thC
in order to help link the two.
In 1857
the western section of the New Road was renamed the Marylebone Road, the middle
one became the Euston Road, while the eastern portion was dubbed the
Pentonville Road.
Location:
City Road,
EC1V 2PH (blue, turquoise)
Euston
Road, NW1 2SD (blue, pink)
Pentonville
Road, N1 9JL
See
Also: ANIMALS The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain & Cattle Trough
Association; BRIDGES
Westminster Bridge; MEAT Smithfield
Market; RAILWAY
STATIONS; TRAFFIC
CONTROL Traffic Lights, The Green Wave; UNDERGROUND LINES The Metropolitan Line; WALLS & GATEWAYS The Demolition of The City
Wall and Gateways
1. The City Road scheme was proposed by Charles Dingley in 1756.
2. In taxi slang the City Road is known as the Spion Kop .
The North Circular and The South Circular
The
North Circular and the South Circular are a heterogeneous variety of inner-city
ring road. There is a distinct
difference between them. The former was
constructed, whereas the latter was designated.
The Society for All British & Irish Road
Enthusiasts
The
Society for All British & Irish Road Enthusiasts
Website:
www.sabre-roads.org.uk
Turnpikes
Until
the 20thC most British government occurred on the local level. The idea that the state should be interested
in the transport requirements of a local vicinity would have struck most people
as peculiar. In the mid-18thC
the only roads that the government was interested in were the ones along which
it might need to move troops fast.1
It was under these unprepossessing conditions that Britain developed a
national road system the quality of which was unrivalled in Europe. The factor that allowed this to come about
was that local people were not keen on paying for the upkeep of roads that they
themselves were not the principal users of.
Thus, the turnpike system came about.
Local
communities could transfer the cost of the upkeep of a road to a trust that
could be created by an Act of Parliament.
This new body would then be able to maintain the highway because it
would be able to generate income by charging a toll. Road users were willing to pay the sum
because a well-cared for road was quicker and easier to use than one that was
not maintained. Although the system was
created in a piecemeal fashion, it eventually covered the whole country.
A
number of London districts take their names from the toll gates that once stood
in them - Highgate, Mile End Gate, Notting Hill Gate, and Turnpike Lane.
See
Also: COACHES; LOCAL
GOVERNMENT Vestries; LONDON Street
Names and Place Names; PUBS Pub Names; RAILWAYS; RUNNING Running Footmen; UNDERGROUND STATIONS Station Name Changes
1. Thus, in the wake of the Jacobite Rising of 1715 Scotland found
itself being equipped with a much-improved road system. The Jacobite rebels of 1745 availed
themselves of this network to take control of much of the country in the space
of a few weeks.
Lewis
Levy
Lewis
Levy (1786-1856) was renowned for leasing turnpike road toll gates around
London. His estate probated at 250,000.
Placenames
Swiss
Cottage
A toll
booth on the Finchley Road was designed to look like a Swiss cottage.
Location: Finchley Road, NW3 5EL
New
Cross Gate
New
Cross Gate was known formerly as Hatcham.
Location:
SE14 6AR
Western Avenue
Location: Western Avenue, W3 0PH
See
Also: TRAFFIC CONTROL Traffic Lights, The Green Wave
David
Backhouse 2024