Finsbury Pavement is a short length of street in England connecting

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, but ...

with

City Road City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of Lo ...

in the

London Borough of Islington The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough, borough in North London, England. Forming part of Inner London, Islington has an estimated population of 215,667. It was formed in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, by the amalg ...

. It forms a part of the

London Inner Ring Road The London Inner Ring Road, or Ring Road as signposted, is a route with an average diameter of , formed from a number of major roads that encircle Central London. The ring road forms the boundary of the London congestion charge zone, although ...

(as the A501 road), and before the introduction of the ring of steel around the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

it formed a major through-route towards

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

and south London.

History

The name was formerly Moor Fields Pavement, being on the west side of the Moorfields, behind the

Bethlem Hospital Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in Bromley, London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and television series, most notably '' Bedlam'', ...

. Its current name derives from lying within the historic manor of Finsbury, the manor forming one of the prebends of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

, and becoming the

Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury The Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury was a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropolitan borough within the County of London from 1900 to 1965, when it was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of Islington to form the Borough ...

, in 1900. The area was first drained in 1527, and the existing

postern A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often placed in concealed locations, allowing inconspicuous entrance and exit. In the event of a siege, a postern could act as a s ...

made into a gate in the

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

at Moorgate. In the early 19th century, the southern end of the street was renamed Moorgate, by the

– and the name change marked the boundary, but today, due to boundary changes, most of the street is within the city's

Coleman Street Coleman Street is one of the Wards of the City of London, 25 ancient wards of the City of London, England, and lies on the City's northern boundary with the London Borough of Islington. The ward, which includes land lying on either side of the ...

ward. By 1761, the Islington

turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road toll road, tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain from the 17th ...

built City Road, to meet Finsbury Pavement from the city. The street formed an early terminus for coach traffic from the north, and in 1871, the street became the terminus for tramways running from

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

. In 1891, Finsbury Pavement became the City terminus for the Great Northern & City underground railway serving

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in Harringay, north London, England. The park lies on the southern-most edge of the London Borough of Haringey. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal ...

, via the Copenhagen Fields tunnel, under Islington. This line was taken over by

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

in 1913, as a part of the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

's Highbury branch, and the terminus extended to

Moorgate station Moorgate () is a London station group, central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station on Moorgate in the City of London. Main line railway services for Hertford North railway station, Hertford, Welwyn Garden City rai ...

. This branch was never integrated with the underground system, and is now operated as the Northern City Line, a suburban service.''Great Northern Railway (GNR)''
(London Railways) accessed: 11 August 2008 In 1825, George Batty and his wife founded Batty & Co, a condiments manufacturer, at Finsbury Pavement. The company later established a large manufacturing plant in

Peckham Peckham ( ) is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vi ...

, which became the United Kingdom's first manufacturing base of H. J. Heinz Company in 1905. As well as Moorgate, the closest mainline railway station is Liverpool Street, a short distance to the east which also has an integrated London Underground station.

References

{{coord , 51, 31, 11, N, 0, 5, 15, W, type:landmark_region:GB-LND, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Islington Streets in the City of London

History

See also

References