Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for PANCRAS (St.)

PANCRAS (St.), a metropolitan parish and a districtin Middlesex. The parish lies on the Regent canal, and on the Northwestern, the North London, the Metropolitan, the Great Northern, and the Midland railways, between Maiden-lane, Tavistock-square, Regents-Park, Primrose-Hill, and Caen-wood, 2½ miles N W of St. Pauls; includes Camden-Town, Kentish-Town, Somers-Town, Kings-Cross, Grays-Inn-lane, part of Regents-Park, and part of Highgate; contains the termini of the Northwestern, the Great Northern, and the Midland railway s; and has post-offices‡ and postal pillar-boxes under London N W. Acres, 2, 716. Real property, in 1860, £3,080,035; of which £2, 150, 389 were in railway s. Pop. in 1851, 166, 956; in 1861, 198, 788. Houses, 21, 852. The manor belongs to the canons of St. Pauls. The surface, in 1251, was occupied by only 40 houses; in the time of Norden, or about 1680, was a haunt of"rogues, vagabonds, harlots, and thieves; " began, about 1750, to assume a suburban character; and now, withslight exceptions, is all urban. The limits include agreat multitude of streets, mostly well-built and rectilinear; Mornington, Gloucester, and Burton crescents; Cumberland, Chester, and other terraces; and Russell, Clarendon, Fitzroy, Euston, Mecklenburgh, Brunswick, Tavistock, Gordon, Clarence, Munster, and Oakleysquares. The chief public buildings, of different times, are S.-police stations, Upper Albany-street barracks, the railway termini, the Imperial gas-works, the New Riverbranch reservoirs, George-street baths and wash-houses, the Metropolitan Association model lodging-houses, the Queen's theatre, the Colosseum, London University college, the German gymnastic hall, the Foundling hospital, University College hospital, the Royal Free hospital, the Orphan working school, the Boys' home, the Adult Orphan institution, the Strand workhouse, and the Pancras workhouse. Most of these buildings, and also othernotable features within the boundaries, are noticed in the article London, or in the articles on the severalsections of the parish. New baths and wash-houses were erected in 1867, at a cost of about £18, 500. The paving of St. Pancras-road, Hampstead-road, High-street, Camden-Town, Park-street, and Kentish-Town-road, was completed in 1866, at a cost of £56, 637. B. Thornhill was born in Maiden-lane; F. Baily and Galtlived in Tavistock-square; Flaxman died in Buckingham-street; Douce, the antiquary, died in Gower-street; and Trevithick, the Cornish engineer, exhibited his locomotive engine, the precursor of Stephenson's invention, near the site of the Northwestern railway terminus. The name St. Pancras is taken from a Phrygian youth who was martyred at Rome in 304.

Only a section, containing a pop. of 14,038 in 1861, is now served by the parish church, or New St. Pancras; and the rest of the parish is ecclesiastically cut into twenty-three sections. The se, with their respective dates of constitution and their respective pop. in 1861, are Christchurch, 1837, 9, 867; All Saints-Gordon-square, 1843, 6, 780; St. Jude-Grays-Inn-road, 1849, 8, 427; St. Luke-Kings-Cross, 1849, 8,020; St. Mary-Magdalene-Munster-square, 1848, 5, 116; Camden-Town, 1851, 15, 832; Holy Trinity, Haverstock-Hill, 1851, 16, 821; Kentish-Town, 1851, 6, 595; Old St. Pancras, 1851, 11, 161; St. Peter-Regent-square, 1851, 9, 777; St. John-Upper-Charlotte-street, 1851, 17, 779; St. Anne-Highgate-Rise, 1853, 491; St. Mark-Albert-road, 1853, 6, 986; St. Mathew-Oakley-square, 1859, 7, 768; St. Paul-Camden-New-Town, 1851, 5, 145; St. Bartholomew-Grays-Inn-road, 1860, 5, 318; St.Andrew, since1861, about 8,000; St. James-Hampstead-road, since1861, about 12,000; St. Thomas-Camden-New-Town, since 1861, about 5,000; Somers-Town, since 1861, about 14, 500: St. Saviour-Fitzroy-square, since 1861, about 7,000; St. Martin-Kentish-Town, 1866, about3,000; and part of St. Michael-Highgate, 1832, 1, 367 in the Highgate part and 4, 547 in the whole. There are also five chapelries without any assigned limits, Brill-Mission, Clarendon-square-Mission, Woburn-chapel, Percy-Chapel-Charlotte-street, and the Foundling Hospital-chapel. The head living or that of New St. Pancras is a vicarage, and all the other livings are p.curacies, in the diocese of London. Value of New St. Pancras, £1,025; * of All Saints, St. Jude-Camden-Town, St. Thomas-Camden-New-Town, St. Peter-Regent-square, and St. Saviour, each £300; * of St. Luke, St. James-Hampstead-road, and St. Mary-Magdalene, each £200; of Holy Trinity, St. Bartholomew, Old St. Pancras, St. Anne, and Somers-Town, each £300; of Kentish-Town, £420; * of St. John-Upper-Charlotte-street, £350; of St. Mark and St. Paul, each £350; of St. Andrew, £150; of St. Martin, £200; of the others, not reported. Patrons of New St. Pancras, Trinity, St. Mark, St. Peter, and St. Paul, the Dean and Chapter of St. Pauls; of Christ-church, All Saints, St. Anne, St. Saviour, St. John, and Percy chapel, the Bishop of London; of St. Andrew, St. Jude, St. Luke, St. James-Hampstead-road, and St. Thomas, alternately the Crown and the Bishop; of St. Mathew, Old St. Pancras, Camden-Town, and Kentish-Town, the Vicar of St. Pancras; of St. Bartholomew, Trustees; of St. Mary-Magdalene, the Rev. E. Stewart; of St. Martin, J. D. Alcroft, Esq.; of Foundling Hospital chapel, the Governors; of the others, not reported.

The places of worship, in 1851, were 29 of the Church of England, with 31, 813 sittings; 1 of the Presbyterianchurch in England, with 1, 300 s.; 10 of Independents, with 8, 419 s.; 7 of Baptists, with 4, 134 s.; 5 of Wesleyans, with 2,078 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 70s.; 1 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, with 700 s.; 2of the New Church, with 360 s.; 3 undefined, with 600s.; 2 of Latter Day Saints, with 220 s.; and 3 of Roman Catholics, with 1, 204 s. The increase of church accommodation till 1867 was at least proportionate to the increase of pop. The new parish church stands in New-road; was erected in 1819-22, after designs by the Inwoods, at a cost of £76, 679; was modelled after the Erectheum, in Athens; has an Ionic portico, vestrywings, with caryatides, modelled after the Pandrosium, and a steeple 165 feet high, modelled after the Temple of the Winds; and contains a pulpit, made out of the Fairlop oak, and a communion table, with columns after the temple of Minerva. Old St. Pancras church stands in the midst of what was once open country; was longcalled St. Pancras-in-the-Fields; occupies the site of one of the earliest Christian churches in Britain; was builtabout 1180; went into a ruinous condition, after the Reformation; was restored and enlarged in 1848, with reconstruction of its tower; is in the Norman style; wasfound, at its restoration, to contain Roman bricks, an altar-stone, a piscina, and sedilia; and, together with its churchyard, contains the monuments or graves of Jeremy Collier, S. Cooper the painter, Leoni the architect, Wardthe author of the " London Spy, " Platt the founder offellowships at Cambridge, Godwin the novelist, Mary Woolstone croft, Obadiah Walker, Grabe the Grecian, Gen. Paoli, Chevalier D' Eon, The obald the editor of" Shakspeare, " Walker the author of the " Pronouncing Dictionary, " Malcolm the author of " Londinium Re-divivum, " and many other distinguished persons. Atunnel of the Midland railway, formed in 1867, passesbeneath the churchyard, 12 feet below the surface. St. Peter s church, Regent-square, was built in 1824, at a cost of £16,000. Some of the other churches are noticed in the articles on their respective localities. The Presbyterian church in Regent-square was builtfor Edward Irving, and has a pleasing front, with twogood towers. The Independent chapel in Tottenham-Court-road was built in 1756, for Whitfield; and contains the graves of Mrs. Whitfield and the sculptor John Bacon. The Baptist chapel in Regent-parkwas formed out of the Diorama, by Sir S. M. Peto, at his own expense; is in the by zantine style; has apulpit of carved stone, and a baptistery inlaid with Minton's ornamented tiles; and contains 1, 500 sittings. The cemeteries for St. Giles, St. Andrew-Holborn, St.George-Bloomsbury, St. George-the-Martyr, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and St. James-Westminster, are all within St. Pancras parish. The schools, in 1851, were 47 publicday-schools, with 11, 465 scholars; 239 private day-schools, with 5, 847 s.; 34 Sunday schools, with 8,050 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 15 s.

The district is conterminate with the parish; and is divided into the sub-districts of Regent-park, Tottenham-Court, Grays-Inn-Lane, Somers-Town, Camden-Town, and Kentish-Town. Acres of Regent-Park sub-d, 427. Pop. in 1851, 31, 918; in 1861, 34, 927. Houses, 3, 925. Acres of Tottenham-Court sub-d., 145. Pop. in 1851, 28, 433; in 1861, 29, 371. Houses, 2, 603. Acres of Grays-Inn-Lane sub-d., 155. Pop. in 1851, 26, 523; in 1861, 27, 808. Houses, 2, 887. Acres of Somers-Town sub-d., 184. Pop. in 1851, 35, 641, in 1861, 39,099. Houses, 3, 907. Acres of Camden-Town sub-d., 171. Pop. in 1851, 21, 115; in 1861, 23, 266. Houses, 2, 550. Acres of Kentish-Town sub-d., 1, 634. Pop. in 1851, 23, 326; in 1861, 44, 317. Houses, 5, 980. Poor-rates of the district in 1863, £93, 499. Marriages in 1863, 2, 125; births, 7, 169, of which 386 were illegitimate; deaths, 4, 747; of which 2,069 were at ages under5 years, and 73 at ages above 85. Marriages in the tenyears 1851-60, 16, 958; births, 61, 312; deaths, 41, 645. The workhouse stood in Camden-Town sub-district; had1, 544 inmates at the census of 1861; and, together with the vestry hall and the grounds, comprising nearly 5acres, was required in 1865 for the uses of the Midland railway company, who offered £131,000 for them, butwhich were appraised by a valuator, on the part of the vestry, at £211,000.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Administrative units: St Pancras Vest/CP/AP       Middlesex AncC
Place names: PANCRAS ST     |     ST PANCRAS
Place: St Pancras

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