Oval Road is a street in the

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

area of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It runs northwards from

Gloucester Avenue Gloucester Avenue is a street in the Primrose Hill area of London, England. Located in the London Borough of Camden, it is a residential road featuring many nineteenth century properties including several pubs as well as the neo-Georgian Cecil ...

near

Parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare. The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded. Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled p ...

to the

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in ea ...

, a little to the west of the centre of Camden Town. Close to its southern end is the junction with

Delancey Street Delancey Street is one of the main thoroughfares of the Lower East Side in Manhattan, New York City. It runs from the street's western terminus at the Bowery to its eastern end at FDR Drive, connecting to the Williamsburg Bridge and Brookly ...

. It then heads northwards as Gloucester Crescent curves away and then rejoins the street while Regent's Park Terrace follows more closely beside Oval Road. Further on is a junction with Jamestown Road which runs eastwards to

Camden High Street The A400 road is an A roads in Great Britain, A road in London that runs from Charing Cross (near Trafalgar Square, in London's West End of London, West End) to Archway, London, Archway in North London. It passes some of London's most famous l ...

. Oval Road continues northwards crossing the Regent's Canal at a bridge near

Camden Lock Camden Lock is a small part of Camden Town, London Borough of Camden, England, which was formerly a wharf with stables on the Regent's Canal. It is immediately to the north of Hampstead Road Locks, a Twin lock, twin manually operated Lock (wate ...

. It terminates at a junction with Gilbeys Yard by a

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

built on the site of the old Camden Goods Yards.

History

The street was given its name, despite running in a straight line, because it was intended to have two crescents on each side forming an

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...

shape. In the event the arrival of the railways in the 1830s led to only one of these, Gloucester Crescent to the east, being built. The land on the western side was taken over for the construction of the Main Line into Euston, opening in 1839. Although originally intended for upmarket housing, thes northern end became dominated by

warehouses A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, to ...

and other businesses reflecting the industrial nature of Camden Town, several connected to the

wine merchant A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by winery, wineries or :Wine companies, wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulture, viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grap ...

s Gilbeys. The Old Piano Factory at number 12, also known as the Rotunda, was part of the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

manufacturing industry centred on Camden Town. Constructed in 1851 by the

Collard and Collard Collard may refer to: * Collard (plant), certain loose-leafed ''Brassica oleracea'' cultivars ** Collard liquor, a soup made from collard greens * "Collard Greens" (song), a 2013 song by hip hop artist Schoolboy Q People * Catherine Collard (194 ...

firm, it is now

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. The southern sections of street are

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

with some surviving

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

housing alongside later additions.

Regent's Park Terrace

Regent's Park Terrace runs alongside Oval Road within the curve of Gloucester Crescent. It was constructed in the 1840s. Notable nineteenth century residents include the artist

Samuel Cousins Samuel Cousins (9 May 1801 in Exeter – 7 May 1887 in London) was a British mezzotinter. Life Cousins was born at Exeter. In 1855 he was elected a full member of the Royal Academy, to which he later gave in trust £15,000 to provide annui ...

and the Hungarian leader

Louis Kossuth Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–1849. Wi ...

. The

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

Humphrey Jennings Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings (19 August 1907 – 24 September 1950) was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organisation. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 1 ...

lived there from 1944 and is now commemorated by a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

. Numbers 1-22 are all

.https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1330368?section=official-list-entry

References

Bibliography

* Bebbington, Gillian. ''London Street Names''. Batsford, 1972. * Cherry, Bridget & Pevsner, Nikolaus. ''London 3: North West''. Yale University Press, 2002. * Woodford, Peter (ed.) ''From Primrose Hill to Euston Road''. Camden History Society, 1995 Streets in the London Borough of Camden Camden Town {{coord missing, London