How to use this guide
This guide can be used either as a walk, followed from the instructions provided, or simply as a guide to interesting sights and activities around this fascinating and historical area.
The walk is less than a mile and takes about an hour to walk and takes in historic squares and views protected by Parliament for hundreds of years along with vibrant evidence of the area’s industrial heritage of railways and canals.
There is also a list of other places in the area to visit illustrating the area’s multifaceted and diverse histories, influences and expressions.
Regents Park Road Bridge
The walk begins on Regent’s Park Bridge where the new mural ‘Isokon Dreams’ is situated.
This bridge sits at what has always been a symbolic point in the area. To the east first industry and railways and now shops and bars, and to the west the affluent Georgian and Victorian terraces and to the south the Royal Parks.
The first bridge on the site was a three brick arches, with one crossing the tracks, but as the area around Camden Lock and Stables Market grew it was pulled down in 1846 to accommodate more lines beneath it and then again 70 years later when the lines were electrified and yet more added the modern bridge was built.
If you were standing there a hundred years ago the view would be a little different. Looking south east towards the city centre there would be dozens of steam engines of all types shunting around the yards or steaming beneath the bridge towards the countryside. Huge sheds hundreds of feet long for the trains would have stood, one on the left where Morrisons now stands and one on the right by Gloucester Avenue, only the Roundhouse remains, and ahead, towards the canal, would have stood the two huge 133ft chimneys of the underground stationary engine house which pulled the early trains up the incline from Euston.
The view up Regents Park Road would have been almost identical to what you see now.
Adelaide Nature Reserve
With the new mural on your left walk down Bridge Approach and turn left onto Adelaide Road. Now walk along for 5 minutes until you come to the gate of the nature reserve on your left.
Adelaide Nature Reserve is a tiny piece of what the whole of Camden would have been at one point some 300 years ago, natural wild meadow. It was founded in 1984 by former actress Ursula Granville, who appeared in such famous shows as Upstairs Downstairs and Doctor Who, and contains wild grasses and plants which would have grown here and across the south east all those years ago.
The reserve is spread over 0.8 acres of land containing a number of rare plants and animals including the yellow meadow ant and the chafer beetle which hadn’t been seen in Britain since the 1950’s. There is also a pond where newts and frogs live.
The reserve also affords the best view of the portals of the Primrose Hill Tunnel.
Primrose Hill Tunnel Portals
The tunnel portals are best viewed from the nature reserve.
Primrose Hill Tunnel was the first railway tunnel to be built in London. What you see are the two eastern portals of the tunnel the nearest of which was constructed in 1837 by the London & Birmingham Railway and the famous public school Eton College, who then owned the land.
It was the College’s idea to have such grand ornamental entrances to the tunnel with its towers and lion’s heads and people would travel from miles around to see them and watch the trains steaming through.
Primrose Hill Summit
Turn left at the gate of the nature reserve and continue up Adelaide Road. Take the first left onto Primrose Hill Road. Within a couple of minutes you will see Primrose Hill, follow the path to the top.
Six views of St. Paul’s Cathedral were protected by an act of Parliament in 1842 and this view from the summit of Primrose Hill is one of them. From here you can see all of London laid out beneath you and in the distance as far as Selhurst near Croydon.
At the bottom of the hill is the distinctive black netting of London oo’s Snowdon Aviary and beyond that Regents Park which was once one of Henry VIII hunting grounds, or chases as they were called then.
The hill itself, view aside, has always been a common feature in popular culture. William Blake wrote a poem about it, H.G. Wells made it the site of a Martian base, it is where Pongo took his evening walks in 101 Dalmatians and has featured in songs written by Blur, Oasis and Red Hot Chilli Peppers amongst many others.
Chalcot Square
Facing London, take the path down the hill to the left toward The Queens pub and Regents Park Road. Walk up Regents Park Road and turn right onto Sharpleshall Street and follow it into Chalcot Square.
The streets around Primrose Hill have been and are home to many famous and influential people over the years from Gwen Stefani and Jude Law to Alan Bennett and Friedrich Engels and Sylvia Plath.
Two hundred years ago the whole area was a hive of construction. The railways and canals were expanding, homes and businesses were being constructed and the whole area was awash with hundreds of labourers, called navvies.
Prosperous Londoners were instantly drawn to the grand houses by the hill and in Chalcot Square stood a great inn called The Chalk Farm Tavern which boasted not only a dancefloor capable of holding 1,000 people but also a 36ft high bandstand know as the Chinese Orchestra.
Regent’s Canal
Walk along Chalcot Road and take the first left onto Fitzroy Road. Follow Fitzroy Road to the end and turn right onto Gloucester Avenue. Follow Gloucester Avenue until you come to the canal and go down the towpath.
Regent’s Canal was built between 1816 and 1820 to connect the Grand Union Canal in the west with the River Thames at Limehouse in the east. The canal became a vital transport route for goods in and out of London.
The canal’s broad towpaths, along which modern people cycle and stroll for pleasure, were places of labour in their heyday and would be busy with barges and their crews and horses which would pull their heavy loads along the canal. When a barge would reach a tunnel, of which the Regent’s Canal contains two very long ones, the workers would lie on their backs on top of the boat and use their feet against the tunnels walls and roof to push themselves along.
Camden Lock and Gilbey’s Yard
Follow the towpath until you see the Roving Bridge and climb to its middle for the best view of the lock. From here you can go one of two ways; either left through the arch you have just passed and into the market or cross the bridge and turn left at the road and follow it towards the overhead railway bridge.
The area around Camden Lock was the heart of all the industry and bustle which went on around here. The whole area which is covered by the market now was once covered in repair shops, engine sheds, offices, warehouses and repair depots. Goods poured in and out on the canals and tracks and the area is honeycombed with underground storage rooms, catacombs and tunnels.
Here relics from very different times rub shoulders. The huge Georgian Interchange building looms over the site and the old studio where Jim Henson filmed the Muppets and the controversial Gilgamesh building stands alongside the original cobbles and arches.
Another interesting fact is that the underground tunnels and storage areas were not just the domain of the workers but that there were horses working there as well. You can still see the entrances for them with their specially placed steps so that the four legged animals could climb them easily.
Just past the diagonal Roving Bridge is the lock itself which let the barges move from one part of the canal, where the water level was higher, to another and next to it the original lock-keeper’s cottage which dates back to 1816. The lock-keeper would have stayed there all of the time to let the many barges through as they collected and delivered their goods.
Horse Hospital
If you are in the market make your way away from the canal and around the Gilgamesh building and follow the cobbled floor until you pass the Proud Gallery and the Horse Hospital is ahead of you. If you are on the road, continue under the bridge and go into the second large entrance the market, beneath the ‘Stables Market’ sign, and then turn right.
In the northern corner of Stables Market is a long, dark stone building. This was the horse hospital. At any time the site would have around 500 horses working around the area, pulling carriages and stock both above ground and below including the many animals working on the canal’s towpaths. They were hugely important to both the railways and waterways and this hospital is testament to that.
It was built in 1846 and the physical make-up of the area has changed little. These are still the same cobbles they walked on and the same walls that housed them.
An interesting fact about the site is that due to the extra earth built up to raise the street level to that of the railway, the outer walls of what is now the market and was then the train yard, had to be massively reinforced and here at the horse hospital they are almost 7ft thick.
Roundhouse
Walk back towards the market and turn left through the entrance with the ‘Stables Market’ sign above it and turn left up Chalk Farm Road toward Chalk Farm tube station until you reach the Roundhouse.
The roundhouse on most train depots were not remarkable, in fact, they were seldom actually round. This one on Chalk Farm Road though is an exception.
Train engines require a lot of space and track to turn around and this caused problems for which a creative solution needed to be found. Here we have a large round building with and open interior and an iron frame. The outer ring is split into 24 bays and in the middle is a huge turntable with railway lines on it. This meant that trains could come in and either park in one of the bays until needed or rest on the turntable which would then rotate and they were back out into the yard, facing the opposite way.
As steam power increased the engines became more sophisticated and by the time electric trains came into common use the Roundhouse had been redundant for almost a hundred years. All over the country they were being demolished but this one, built in 1846 and with its 160ft diameter survived but in a very different life to what it was designed for.
It became a live music venue and a very popular one in the 1960’s which hosted such enormous acts as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. But this would not be enough to save it and in 1983 it closed again but reopened in 2004 as a centre for performing arts.
Some interesting sights nearby
Little Venice
Little Venice is an area of Regent’s Canal towards the Paddington Basin which is famous for its houseboats and elegant stucco terraces.
Its name was coined by the English poet Robert Browning. Its waterways are actually made up of a canal junction between Regent’s Canal and The Grand Union Canal.
Nearest tube Warwick Avenue or a 30-45 minute walk west along the towpath from Camden Lock.
The Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum is housed in a Victorian listed building on Albert Street in Camden and has one of the Britain’s finest collections of ceremonial art alongside exhibitions recounting Jewish life in England and Camden.
Open Monday to Thursday 10-4 and Sunday 10-5
Nearest tube Camden Town
London Zoo
London zoo, opened in 1828, is the world’s oldest scientific zoo. It was first opened to the public in 1847 and now houses 651 different species.
The zoo went on to have a series of firsts with the worlds first reptile house in 1849, the first aquarium in 1853, the first insect house in 1881, and the first children’s zoo in 1939.
A massive renovation programme is currently underway to replace the current enclosures with more natural environments for the animals of which a number have been completed including the gorilla enclosure.
Open Monday to Sunday 10-5.30
Nearest tubes Barker Street or Regent’s Park
St. Pancras Old Church
St. Pancras Old Church is one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in the country. Though early records are scarce there is documentary evidence suggests it has existed since 314AD.
The graveyard is grade 1 listed and contains the tombs of Bank of England architect John Soane and his wife. The Beatles did a photo shoot there from which the cover of Hey Jude was taken.
St. Pancras Old Church, St. Pancras Way.
Nearest tubes Mornington Crescent or Kings Cross St. Pancras
Isokon Building
The Isokon Building on Lawn Road in Hampstead was the key project of Isokon, a London based company founded to design and construct modernist houses and flats and the fittings and furniture for them, was finished in 1934.
The 29 flat block, which now refurbished to 25 flats, was built to cater for a new market of young professionals in the 1930’s and featured staff quarters, kitchens and a large garage.
A club, The Isobar, opened there in 1937 and famous residents and regulars included Agatha Christie, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Walter Gropius, former head of the Bauhaus.
It is grade 1 listed and despite falling into dereliction in the 1990’s it is now mostly occupied by key workers and contains a public gallery space recreating the original interiors.
Nearest tube Belsize Park
Copyright 2007
