All About King's Cross

Kings Cross is in an inner area of the city of London, and it's one of the major gateways into London from the North.

  

The area was previously a village known as Battle Bridge or Battlebridge which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet. The original name of the bridge was Broad Ford Bridge. The corruption "Battle Bridge" led to a tradition that this was the site of a major battle in AD 60 or 61 between the Romans and the Iceni tribe led by Boudica (also known as Boudicea).

River Fleet

George IV's Statue in Trafalgar Square

The current name has its origin in a monument to King George IV which stood in the area from 1830 to 1845. It was built at the crossroads of Gray's Inn Road, Pentonville Road and New Road, which later became Euston Road. It was sixty feet high and topped by an eleven-foot-high statue of the king, and was described by Walter Thornbury as "a ridiculous octagonal structure crowned by an absurd statue". The statue itself, which cost no more than £25, was constructed of bricks and mortar, and finished in a manner that gave it the appearance of stone "at least to the eyes of common spectators". The architect was Stephen Geary, who exhibited a model of "the Kings Cross" at the Royal Academy in 1830. The upper storey was used as a camera obscura while the base in turn housed a police station and a public house. The unpopular building was demolished in 1845, though the area has kept the name of Kings Cross.

Kings Cross is in one of the best cities in the world, so it's even more than a train station, so I will give you more information about this interesting place in the next posts.

Bie! 

9¾ Platform

We can't talk about King's Cross without mention Harry Potter and his famous platform 9¾ in the station. In Rowling's books, this is the entrance to the magic world of Howharts in the muggle world.

Magic World

Muggle World

This place is very important to Harry Potter fans. There, you can also find a trolley "running through the wall", like in Harry Potter films, and many other things, like...

In the station there's also a hole shop dedicated to Harry Potter, where you can find everything about that world, like wands, magic objects, a chess game based on the movie, etc.

Harry Potter Shop

Magic Map that shows what happens at real time.

Chess Match in HP1.

Alan Rickman's Dead

 

Not so far ago, the actor for Severus Snape, a very important character, died due to cancer. Althought he is famous for representing villians, he's loved all around the world. He got his first role after 2 days in Holywood, in "Die Hard" (Jungla de cristal).

Due to his dead, there've been some homages in his honor (one in Kings Cross), in which people has written banners with his mythic world "always" and his patronus, and has dressed up tunics. Here you have a video about it:

 

† Our deepest sympathies †

 Accidents

There have been numerous accidents in this station, such us...


- On 18 August 1855, a passenger train collided with the buffer stops

- On 30 October 1873, a passenger train stalled on leaving the station and ran back. The following passenger train collided with it. Several people were injured, one seriously.

- On 8 January 1878, a freight train became divided. The rear portion ran back and was in collision with a passenger train. Three people were severely injured.

- On 15 September 1881, a light engine and a coal train were in collision near the mouth of Copenhagen Tunnel due to a signalman's error. One person was killed and one was severely injured.

- On 4 February 1945, a passenger train stalled in Gasworks Tunnel, ran back and was derailed in the station. Two people were killed and 25 were injured.

- On 17 September 2015, the 12:18 arrival from Cambridge collided with the buffer stops at platform 11. Five passengers were injured.

Routes

All right, this place is very interesting and amusing, but once and for all, it's a train station! You'll need the planning and the routes, so here you got'em:

        Tube Routes

 

Places to visit

The Parcel Yard

The Parcel Yard is a pub for all the family, with free Wi-Fi, dinners, breakfasts,... It's open at nights, and there're many groups, you won't be bored.

Great Northern Hotel

You won't have time to visit all London in only one day, so here you have a very good hotel, with free Wi-Fi, in a centrical place of London, near everywhere! Here you'll have amazing food and a great awareness.

John Lewis St Pancras International

This is a huge department store, in which you'll can buy all you need and want, like clothes, gifts, electricals, etc. It's open every day. If you want to discover a new way of shopping, go there.

To finish, here you have a map with more places to visit near Kings Cross.