(Redirected from Goswell Road)
The current route of the A1 (red) and the historic route of the Great North Road (blue).
The '
A1 in
London' is an
A road in
North London. It runs from the
London Wall to
Bignall's Corner, where it crosses the M25 and becomes the
A1(M) motorway, continuing to
Edinburgh. (For the road outside London, see the main
A1 road article.) The London section passes through 4
London Boroughs: the
City of London,
Islington,
Haringey and
Barnet. Whilst the route of the A1 outside London closely follows that of the historic
Great North Road, the London section for the most part does not.
The current route of the London section of the A1 road was (for the most part) designated as such in
1927. It comprises a number of historic streets in central London and the former suburbs of
Islington,
Holloway and
Highgate and long stretches of purpose-built new roads in the outer London borough of
Barnet, built to divert traffic away from the congested suburbs of
Finchley and
High Barnet.
The London section of the A1 is one of London's most important roads. It links North London to the
M1 motorway and the
A1 (M) motorway, and consequently serves as Central London's primary road transport artery to the
Midlands,
Northern England and
Scotland. It also connects a number of major areas within London, and sections of it serve as the
High Street for many of the now-joined villages that make up north London.
St John Street (historic)
St John Street, north end.
'St John Street' was the original start of the ''Great North Road'' and initially formed part of the A1; however, it no longer forms part of the present route, which runs some way to the east. It is a well-known
London street, located in
Clerkenwell,
Islington. It runs from
Smithfield Market and Charterhouse Street in the south to the junction of
City Road and
Pentonville Road (near
Upper Street) in the north, close to the
Angel tube station. It is the first section of the original route of the Great North Road.
The
Red Bull Theatre was located on the street between 1604 and 1666, when it was destroyed in the
Great Fire of London.
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714–1799) lived at 13 St John Street. He held "learned suppers" at his house, with guests including
James Boswell,
Robert Burns and
Samuel Johnson.
Nowadays there are many office buildings, restaurants and bars.
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The General Post Office headquarters building, circa 1825-1830. The view is from the site of Aldersgate, roughly at the present start point of the A1, looking south into the
City towards
St Paul's Cathedral.
Aldersgate Street
The site of the now-demolished
Aldersgate in the
London Wall, next to the
Museum of London, is the present start of the A1. 'Aldersgate Street' runs north from here to the northern border of the
City of London, where it becomes Goswell Road.
Adjacent to the modern
roundabout on the site of the Aldersgate is the former headquarters of the
General Post Office (closed in
1910 and demolished shortly afterwards), and the adjoining
Postman's Park. The southern part of the roundabout and the northern part of the Post Office site stand on the site of a
collegiate church and
sanctuary founded in
750 by
Withu,
King of Kent, hugely expanded in
1056 by
Ingebrian, Earl of
Essex and issued with a
Royal Charter in
1068 by
William the Conqueror. The site of the church was cleared in
1818 in preparation for the construction of the Post Office
[1].
The poet
Thomas Flatman was born in a house in Aldersgate Street in
1633. As with most historic buildings on this stretch of road, the building no longer stands.
134 Aldersgate Street for many years had a sign claiming "This was
Shakespeare's House"
[2]. Although the building was very close to the nearby
Fortune Playhouse, there is no documentary evidence surviving to indicate that Shakespeare resided here; a subsidy roll from 1598 shows a "William Shakespeare" as owner of the property, but there is nothing to indicate that it is the playwright. The building no longer exists, and
Barbican tube station now occupies the site. The nearby
Shakespeare Tower is named for this (tenuous) connection.
Barbican tube station was originally named "Aldersgate Street" when it opened in
1865. It was renamed "Aldersgate" in 1910, "Aldersgate and Barbican" in 1923, and "Barbican" in 1968
[3].
Most of the buildings on Aldersgate Street were destroyed or badly damaged in
World War II. The entire length of the eastern side of the street is now occupied by the huge 40-acre (162,000m²)
Barbican residential and arts complex
[4].
John Wesley
John Wesley
Memorial on the believed site of Wesley's epiphany.
In May
1738 clergyman
John Wesley attended a meeting of the
Moravians in Aldersgate Street. While attending the meeting, he underwent a profound religious experience, describing it in his journal thus:
:
''"In the evening I went unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter to nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine and saved me from the law of sin and death."''[5]
This moment was for Wesley an awakening to the assurance found in salvation by grace alone and has been referred to by scholars as a defining moment in the Methodist movement.
In
1739 Wesley broke with the Moravians and founded the
Methodist Society of England. In the following years, the Methodist church spread rapidly, becoming one of the most influential Christian denominations in the world, particularly in the
United States and the
British Empire. A memorial at the believed site of the Moravian chapel (its exact address is not known, but it is believed to have been at 28 Aldersgate Street) marks the site of the meeting, and
Wesley's Chapel in nearby
City Road remains a major focal point of the international Methodist movement.
Goswell Road
'Goswell Road' is a road in the south of the
London Borough of Islington. It runs north from the border of the
City of London to
The Angel. There is dispute over the origins of the name, with some sources claiming the road was named after a nearby garden called 'Goswelle' or 'Goderell' which belonged to
Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk[6], whilst others state it derives from "God's Well", and the traditional pagan practice of well-worship
[7].
It is mostly occupied by offices and shops, and by the main campus of
City University. It also contains the central library of the
Society of Genealogists, one of London's most important reference collections
[8] and the Headquarters of
EWS Railways at 310 Goswell Road.
The
New River originally passed along Goswell Road before turning to terminate at New River Head on
Rosebery Avenue[9]. The course of the river at this point is now entirely underground, and no trace of it can be seen at the surface.
James Parrott and the four-minute mile
Some sources (notably
Olympic medallist
Peter Radford[10]) contend that Goswell Road was the starting point for the first successful
four-minute mile run, by
James Parrott on
9 May 1770[11]. Parrott's route began on Goswell Road, before turning down
Old Street, finishing at
St Leonard's, Shoreditch. Although timing methods at this time were accurate enough, following the invention of the
chronometer by
John Harrison, to measure the four minutes correctly, and sporting authorities of the time accepted the claim as genuine, the record is not recognised by modern sporting bodies
[10].
The Dame Alice Owen's School bombing
On
15 October 1940, approximately 150 people were sheltering in the
basement of
Dame Alice Owen's School, then situated on Goswell Road. A large
parachute bomb hit the building directly, causing the structure to collapse and blocking access to the basement. The
blast wave from the bomb caused the pipeline carrying the New River to rupture, flooding the shelter and killing the majority of shelterers
[13].
A memorial to the victims of the bombing stands in Owen's Fields at the northern end of Goswell Road.
The Angel coaching inn at the junction of Islington High Street and
Pentonville Road, which gave its name to the surrounding area. The original building is now a branch of the
Co-operative Bank, although an adjoining
pub continues to use the name of "The Angel".
Islington High Street
'Islington High Street' is, as the name suggests, the former
High Street of the village of
Islington, now completely subsumed by London. Whilst Islington High Street is a relatively long road, only a very short section between
City Road and
Liverpool Road is designated as part of the A1.
The earliest reference to Islington High Street is its appearance on a 1590 map of the area. At this time, nine
inns (including the famous
Angel, which has subsequently given its name to the area), as well as housing and a public pond were shown lining the street
[14]. Then as now, Islington was and is unusual in that the village church,
St. Mary's, does not stand on the high street but is some way off on Upper Street.
In
1716 Islington High Street came under the control of the newly-formed Islington Turnpike Trust. The Trust grew rapidly, and soon had control of most major roads in the area, building a number of major road arteries through the expanding residential areas, including
Caledonian Road,
Euston Road,
City Road and
New North Road[15].
The
Peacock Inn at 11 Islington High Street dates from
1564, although the current
facade dates from
1857. It featured in ''
Tom Brown's Schooldays'' as the inn at which Tom stays prior to travelling to
Rugby. It closed in
1962, although the building still stands
[16].
Angel tube station on Islington High Street has the longest
escalator on the
London Underground system, at 318 steps
[17]. In 2006 a Norwegian man made headlines after
skiing down the escalator at the station
[18]
Upper Street
Upper Street, with the spire of St Mary's Church.
'Upper Street' is the main shopping street of the
Islington borough of inner north London. It runs roughly north from Islington High Street to
Highbury Corner.
The hilltop village of Islington originally consisted of two streets in addition to the High Street: Upper Street and Lower Street, which diverged from the High Street at
Islington Green and both date back to at least the
12th Century[19].
Henry VIII hunted
duck in the ponds off Upper Street
[20], while
Walter Raleigh lived in Upper Street and owned a pub in Lower Street
[21]. Lower Street has since been renamed Essex Road.
St. Mary's Church, Islington was built in
1754[22] and dominates the Islington skyline. It is still in use today, and is a major venue for performances of traditional
religious music.
The fields around Upper Street, with their close proximity to the growing city of London, were a major farming area. Islington was the home of the
Royal Agricultural Hall, and a number of pubs and shops existed along the street to serve farmers and visitors to the hall
[23].
In the
18th Century Upper Street began to be redeveloped from an agricultural to a residential area. Ten houses were built in 1768 (later named Hornsey Row), and a further group built immediately south of Hornsey Row in 1792
[24]. William Roxby Beverley, the first mathematician to solve the problem of a "magic knight's tour" (a variant on the
knight's tour in which the numbered steps form a
magic square) resided in these buildings
[25], now replaced by Islington Town Hall.
In recent years it has become extremely fashionable, and contains numerous
pubs and
restaurants
[26], including the now closed
Granita where
Tony Blair and
Gordon Brown were said to have made their deal on leadership once the
Labour Party won power
[10]. The southern end of Upper Street also houses the Mall Antiques Arcade, built from a derelict
tram shed in 1979, and now one of the world's largest collections of antiques dealers
[28]; there is also an antiques market nearby at
Camden Passage.
Upper Street was the setting for local resident
[29] Douglas Adams's
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. The London-based sections of the later books are set in and around Upper Street, the home address of "
Fenchurch"
[30]. In addition, the character of
Hotblack Desiato is named after a local
estate agent[31].
Places of interest on Upper Street
High pavement, Upper Street.
Upper Street houses Islington
Town Hall, and the adjacent
Islington Museum. It also contains the
Hope and Anchor, formerly one of the most important
venues of the 1970s and 80s
punk and
new wave scenes, hosting performances by
Madness,
U2 and
Spandau Ballet, among others (and
Shakin' Stevens). The
Stranglers album
Live at the Hope and Anchor was recorded here. The building is still in use as a music venue today
[32].
Upper Street is unusual in being one of the few streets in London (along with adjoining
Liverpool Road) to have a "high pavement". This was constructed to protect pedestrians from being splashed by the large numbers of animals using the road to reach the Royal Agricultural Hall; as a consequence, the
pavement of the street is approximately 1m above the road surface for much of the length of the street
[33].
In
2005 Islington Council launched "Technology Mile", a project to turn Upper Street in a large scale
wi-fi hotspot. Using routers mounted on lampposts anyone with a wireless enabled device can connect to Council services and the internet the entire length of Upper Street, although the best signal is found in the
Islington Green/St. Mary's church areas.
Upper Street and the radical left
In the 1970s & 80s Upper Street was a focal point of the
radical left. It was home to Sisterwrite, Britain's first
feminist bookshop, as well as the
Trotskyist Pioneer Books, the
anarchist Rising Free shop (famous for stealing stock from other shops to sell in theirs) and the socialist Red Books
[34]. In the 1980s, Upper Street was home to the
Islington Action Group for the Unwaged, a major
far left campaigning and
activist group, and to the squatter-run Molly's Cafe, a focal point for the anarchist and
squatting movement
[35]. Upper Street made headlines on
23 July 1995, when the
Reclaim the Streets movement took over the street, barricaded it to traffic and held a long party in the street
[36].
Holloway Road
St John's Church, Upper Holloway, at the junction of Holloway Road and St John's Road, designed by
Charles Barry, Jr.
After reaching the eight-way
Highbury Corner interchange, the A1 turns north-west as 'Holloway Road'. The origins of the name are disputed; some believe that it derives from
Hollow due to the dip in the road, whilst some believe it derives from
Hallow and refers to the road's historic significance as part of the
pilgrimage route to
Walsingham. No documentary evidence can be found to support either derivation.
Holloway Road is one of north London's most important shopping streets, containing major
Waitrose,
Morrisons,
Marks & Spencer,
Sainsbury's,
James Selby and
Argos stores as well as numerous smaller shops. Holloway Road is the site of the main campus of the much-renamed
London Metropolitan University (formerly 'Northern Polytechnic Institute', 'Polytechnic of North London' and 'University of North London')
[37], probably best known for its striking
deconstructivist Orion Building, designed by
Daniel Libeskind, which dominates the central stretch of Holloway Road
[38], and of the headquarters of the
National Union of Students[39] and the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament[40]. Most of the shops are clustered in the
Nag's Head area, near the junction with
Seven Sisters Road.
The earliest record giving the name of the road as The Holloway dates from
1307. The main stretch of Holloway Road runs through the site of the villages of Tollington and Stroud. The exact time of their founding is not known, but the earliest record of them dates from
1000. The names ceased to be used by the late
17th Century, but are still preserved in the local place names "Tollington Park" and "Stroud Green"
[41]; since that time, the area has been known as
Holloway.
Archway Tower at the intersection of Holloway Road and
Junction Road.
In recent years, Holloway Road has become a major focal point for the sale of
smuggled tobacco, with large numbers of illegal tobacco dealers congregating in the area. It is believed that this easy availability of cheap tobacco is the primary reason for Islington's very high
smoking rate
[42].
The northern point of Holloway Road is the complex interchange at
Archway, where the A1 leaves the historic route of the Great North Road. The traditional Great North Road heads northeast up
Highgate Hill (now the B519) before turning north at
Highgate to cross the current A1 route. The A1 heads north along the relatively recently built Archway Road. The construction of the interchange left a few buildings isolated in the centre of the
roundabout, including the
Archway Tavern, made famous on the cover of
The Kinks' 1971 album ''
Muswell Hillbillies''
[10].
Churches
Holloway Road contains two significant London churches.
St Mary Magdalene is situated in
St Mary Magdalene Gardens near the southern end of the road. Built by
William Wickings in
1814, it is one of the best preserved early 19th century churches in London
[44].
Charles Barry, Jr.'s St John's Church is a leading example of
Gothic architecture and dominates the northern end of the road.
Holloway Road in popular culture
Record producer Joe Meek, responsible amongst other things for ''Telstar'' by
The Tornados, a massive UK and US no. 1 record in 1962, and the highly influential
1959 album
I Hear a New World, lived, worked, and committed suicide at 304 Holloway Road
[45], where he is commemorated by an unofficial
blue plaque (actually black).
Sex Pistols singer
John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) claims to have been born and raised in side-street Benwell Road
[46], although no documentary evidence survives of this. The road also features heavily as the home of a fictionalised Meek in
Jake Arnott's ''
The Long Firm'' trilogy, and was the setting for
George and
Weedon Grossmith's ''
Diary of a Nobody''.
Railway stations on Holloway Road
As one of London's primary transport routes during the
19th Century railway boom, Holloway Road contains a number of railway stations.
Highbury Corner is the site of
Highbury & Islington station, one of London's most important transport interchanges. The
Victoria Line,
Great Northern & City Railway (now part of
First Capital Connect) and
North London Line converge at this location. From
2010 it will also be the northern terminus of the
East London Line[47].
The disused
GN&CR station at Highbury & Islington, the only surviving surface section of the original station.
The complicated junction at the Archway interchange.
The
huge station building was badly damaged by a
V-1 flying bomb in 1944 and never rebuilt. The remainder of the building was demolished in
1966 in preparation for the construction of the Victoria Line
[48]; the only surface building is a small entrance hall, set back from the main road and hidden from view behind a post office.
Holloway Road tube station opened with the
Piccadilly Line in 1906
[49], next door to an existing
Great Northern Railway main line station
[50] built in
1852. The main line station closed in
1915[51]. Although Holloway Road is the nearest station to the
Emirates Stadium, trains do not stop here on match days due to concerns about overcrowding
[52].
Upper Holloway railway station was built in
1868 as part of the
Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway[53]. It now forms part of the
Gospel Oak to Barking Line and is soon to be integrated into the
London Overground network.
Archway tube station is not actually situated on Holloway Road, but approximately 10m off the main road on
Junction Road, underneath the architecturally striking
Archway Tower. Originally known as "Highgate", it was the original northern terminus of the
Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway and until 1940 was the northern terminus of the
Northern Line.
Archway Road
The short dual-carriageway section of Archway Road, heading north under Suicide Bridge.
After the Archway roundabout, the A1 veers away from the historic Great North Road route into a cutting, and becomes 'Archway Road'.
The traditional Great North Road at this point heads up a very steep hill to the village of
Highgate before passing back down on the northern side. By the early
19th Century, this was proving unsuitable for increasingly heavy traffic, and the new Archway Road, crossing the hill at a shallower
gradient, was authorised in
1910, financed by
tolls. The tolls were abolished in
1876 and traffic increased substantially thereafter, particularly after the introduction of
trams on the road
[54]. In 1970 the road was substantially widened from the Archway roundabout to a point just north of
Suicide Bridge (see below). It was originally intended to widen the length of the road, but a successful protest campaign led to the widening being abandoned; this is generally considered the first successful
road protest in the UK
[55].
The road passes north in
cutting in a short
dual carriageway through Highgate Hill and under
Suicide Bridge, before narrowing back to a
single carriageway and passing through the eastern end of
Haringey. It then veers northeast, crossing the original route of the Great North Road at a point just west of
Highgate Wood.
With the influx of
Jews to London in the early
20th Century, Archway Road became a focal point of London's Jewish community.
Highgate Synagogue opened in
1930 at 88 Archway Road, and moved to 200 Archway Road in
1950[56].
While Archway Road is an important shopping street, it lacks the large supermarkets and superstores of Holloway Road, and instead retains long rows of small specialist shops
[57].
The large
Jackson's Lane Centre, built in a large converted church near the peak of the hill, is one of north London's leading community arts venues
[58]. Immediately opposite is the Boogaloo club, London's most important
boogaloo music venue
[59] and the favourite drinking club of
Pete Doherty and
Shane MacGowan[60].
Suicide Bridge
Shops on Archway Road.
During
Thomas Telford's construction of Archway Road, it was originally intended that it would pass through Highgate Hill in
tunnel. However, the tunnel collapsed, leaving an inadvertent
cutting through the hill. In
1813,
John Nash built a bridge, known as the Archway, to carry the ancient
Hornsey Lane over the cutting
[61]. Between
1897 and
1900, Nash's bridge was replaced with the present cast-iron structure, officially called the "Hornsey Lane Bridge" but universally known as "
Suicide Bridge"
[62]. Suicide Bridge is, as the name would suggest, one of the world's most significant locations for
suicides, and is the only significant
suicide bridge to pass over land rather than water. It was the subject of
Johnny Burke's
2006 film
The Bridge[63]. As one of the locations in London most associated with depression and mental illness, Suicide Bridge was the venue for the mental illness campaign group
Mad Pride's inaugural vigil
[64].
Accessible from the Archway Road level by a steep flight of steps, Suicide Bridge, as one of the highest points in London, offers impressive views over London and is a popular spot for photographers.
Suicide Bridge marks the boundary between
Islington and
Haringey, and consequently the official boundary between
Inner London and
Outer London. Although technically the boundary runs down the centre of the bridge, in practice the bridge is treated as part of Haringey and the land beneath it as part of Islington. For historic reasons, the bridge itself is owned and maintained by the
Corporation of London.
The abandoned "Northern Heights" scheme, which would have seen Highgate become a major interchange.
Highgate Station & the Northern Heights scheme
Although
Highgate tube station is today a minor stop on the
Northern Line, under the "Northern Heights" project, part of the
New Works Programme of the 1930s, it was to have become a major transport interchange. Lines from multiple directions were to have converged on the station; from the
City and
West End via the twin spines of the
Northern Line; to
High Barnet and
Bushey Heath via
Finchley on converted
Edgware, Highgate and London Railway lines; to
Moorgate via
Finsbury Park on the converted
Great Northern & City Railway and to
Alexandra Palace on the former
Muswell Hill Railway line
[65].
In 1941 the plans were abandoned due to wartime restrictions and to a lack of storage space for the new trains, following the conversion of the train depot at
Aldenham into an aircraft factory, and the new lines never opened. Only the low-level Northern Line station is in use; however,
Charles Holden's abandoned & derelict high-level interchange station remains standing and can be seen from the footpath parallel to Archway Road leading north from the station entrance
[66]. On a clear day, the outlines of the London Underground
roundel can still be seen on the brickwork of the station platforms. The abandoned railway line south to Finsbury Park and north to
Muswell Hill were converted to pathways in the 1970s, and remain open today as the "
Parkland Walk"
[67].
Aylmer Road
At the northern end of Archway Road, the road re-intersects with the traditional Great North Road route (at this point called "North Hill"). The roads almost immediately re-diverge, with the Great North Road route heading north as the
A1000 towards
Finchley,
Whetstone and
Barnet and the A1 heading west as 'Aylmer Road'. The two routes do not meet again until they converge at
Hatfield, well to the north of London
[68].
Aylmer Road is a very short stretch of road, running east for less than half a mile between the junction with the A1000 in
Haringey to the junction with
The Bishop's Avenue in
Barnet, where it turns northwest and becomes Lyttelton Road. The entire southern side of the road is taken up by
Highgate Golf Course, while the northern side is a mixture of small shops, flats and
allotments[69].
The road is named for
General Sir Fenton John Aylmer, VC KCB[70], British commander at the
Siege of Kut in
World War I. He received the
Victoria Cross for his part in the assault on
Nilt Fort on
2 December 1891[71].
The Bishop's Avenue
Immediately before becoming Lyttelton Road, Aylmer Road crosses The Bishop's Avenue. As with much of the surrounding area, this land was owned by the
Bishop of London following a land grant in
704. In
1894, the Church let building plots for construction of homes on the road. In the
20th Century much of the land was sold by the Church, which now only owns one house on the road (46 The Bishop's Avenue) and a nearby
residential home[72].
Despite the relatively modest character of the surrounding area, this small 66-house street (and the parallel
Winnington Road) have become the most expensive residential area in the world
[73]. In 2006, the smallest houses in the street were selling for £5 million ($10 million), while a larger house was sold in the same year for £50 million ($100 million). Ten of the houses are owned by the
House of Saud, whilst other notable owners of houses on the street include controversial businessman & fraudster
Gerald Ronson[74], pornography & newspaper magnate
Richard Desmond (owner of two houses)
[10] and
billionaire industrialist
Lakshmi Mittal[10].
View west along Lyttleton Road; the road rises to pass over the northern tip of
Highgate Hill before turning sharply south to join the original route of the Great North Road.
The road was repeatedly mentioned in
Elton John's 1988 reworking of ''
Give Peace a Chance'' ("Why not talk about Bishop's Avenue/I've got a lovely house on Bishop's Avenue")
[77].
Lyttelton Road
After crossing the Bishop's Avenue, the A1 becomes 'Lyttelton Road'. Lyttelton Road was built in
1931 in an attempt to divert traffic away from the congested suburb of
Finchley, and runs east-west along the northern foot of
Highgate Hill between
Hampstead Garden Suburb and
East Finchley.
Lyttelton Road is for the most part a nondescript residential road, characterised by large
detached houses built with the road in the 1930s
[78]. Due to high traffic on the road and consequent noise and pollution, the houses are set much further back from the road than is typical for English housing, leading to extremely wide pavements and verges in addition to large front gardens. House prices are far lower than on surrounding streets, with houses typically selling for around a tenth of the price of similarly-sized homes on the adjoining The Bishop's Avenue & Winnington Road
[79].
On the northern side of Lyttelton road stands the
Belvedere Court block of flats. Built with the road in the 1930s, the building is now
Grade II Listed as a leading example of 1930s architecture
[80].
Market Place
Market Place
After passing playing fields to the south, Lyttelton Road crosses Kingsley Way and becomes 'Market Place'.
As the name suggests, Market Place was formerly the site of a street market. Whilst no trace of the market now remains other than the name, this short stretch of road is still an important shopping district and the site of the local
post office and
library.
Falloden Way
Black elder growing on the banks of the verge carrying Falloden Way, near Henly's Corner.
Immediately west of Market Place the A1 becomes 'Falloden Way', which runs west before turning northwest and converging with the
North Circular Road.
Falloden Way was built between 1914 as part of a programme of planned extensions to
Hampstead Garden Suburb[81] and runs on
embankment due to a dip in the ground caused by the
valley of
Mutton Brook, which runs parallel to the road immediately to the south for its entire length. The north side of the road is occupied by 1930s housing blocks, whilst the southern side is occupied by a narrow strip of parkland following the brook, and by the northern tip of Big Wood & Little Wood (see below).
Falloden Way is a notoriously dangerous stretch of road. The layout of
bus stops and misunderstanding/ignoring of rules regarding their use means
buses are often forced to turn sharply out of the stops into fast moving traffic or to stop short of the bus stops presenting a hazard to other drivers
[10]. Additionally, the layout of pedestrian crossings mean a number of pedestrians attempt to run across the road rather than make their way to the inconveniently sited crossings
[83]. In 2006 two bus stops were suspended from use due to the hazards caused by traffic having to cross onto the wrong carriageway to pass stopped buses
[10].
Henly's Corner
The western end of Falloden Way is dominated by the complicated Henly's Corner interchange. The
A406 runs from the northeast to converge with the A1 from the southeast. The roads run
concurrently to a junction with the
A598 north-south road, known as
Finchley Road to the south of the junction and
Regents Park Road to the north (confusingly, as the road is nowhere near
Regents Park). The roads continue as a concurrency to the west, past the enormous
Finchley Synagogue before diverging; the A406 turns sharply south to parallel
Dollis Brook to
Brent Cross, while the A1 turns northwest as Great North Way. Seven smaller roads also meet the A1 along the Henly's Corner stretch of road, while a complex system of
subways beneath the interchange connect the various pedestrian footways.
Due to concerns about the safety of the underpasses, a number of people prefer to cross at surface level, leading to a number of serious road traffic accidents at the junction. There has been a sustained campaign in recent years to replace the subways with
pedestrian crossings
[85] or
footbridges
[86].
Big Wood & Little Wood
Immediately south of Falloden Way are twin patches of woodland known as 'Big Wood' and 'Little Wood'. They are two of the few surviving remnants of the
ancient woodland that once covered what is now north London. Big Wood covers a little over 7 hectares (70,000m²) while Little Wood covers around 2 hectares (20,000m²).
In
704 Wealdheri,
Bishop of London was granted the land in the area by
Tyrhtel,
Bishop of Hereford. From the
8th Century until
1933 the land continued to belong to the Bishop of London, the western edge of Big Wood marking the edge of the estate. At the time of the
Domesday Book, the land was noted as being "capable of supporting 1000 pigs"
[87].
Over the years the forest was gradually cleared, leaving twin patches of isolated woodland. The exact dates are not known, but it is known that Big Wood and Little Wood were separated by fields by
1767.
Big Wood
In
1907, the woods became surrounded by the newly-built town of
Hampstead Garden Suburb. Ownership of the land was ceded by the Bishop of London to the newly created
Municipal Borough of Finchley in 1933, which in
1965 passed to its successor, the
London Borough of Barnet[88].
Big Wood is dominated by large
oak trees. It also contains one of London's highest concentrations of
Wild Service Trees, while the undergrowth is dominated by
Ivy,
Yellow Archangel,
Common Bluebell and
Guelder Rose. As a relatively isolated patch of woodland, it attracts large numbers of birds now rarely seen in the rest of London, particularly
Owls and
Green Woodpeckers
[89].
The nearby 'Little Wood', now separated from Big Wood by housing, is the site of the
Garden Suburb Theatre, an open-air
theatre built in
1920[10].
The nearby Park Farm, on the opposite side of Falloden Way, was owned by
circus proprietor "Lord" George Sanger between
1904 and Sanger's murder in
1911. Prior to the construction of the Denman's Drive housing on the field between Little and Big Woods, the field was used for grazing elephants
.
Big Wood was declared a
Local Nature Reserve in
1999, and is currently owned and managed by
Barnet Council. The current gates to the wood on the western boundary are the Hampstead Garden Suburb
war memorial and commemorate the 29 local residents who died in
World War II[91].
Great North Way
After the Henly's Corner interchange, the A1 turns northwest as 'Great North Way'. The southern section of the road is mainly residential, whilst the northern stretch is dominated by
Sunny Hill Park to the south and the sprawling fields of the
Copthall Sports Centre to the north. The Copthall Sports Centre complex includes a large
running stadium, a number of
tennis courts, the ground of Hendon
RFC, a full
golf course, a
Powerleague centre and, unusually, a large
cemetery[92].
Finchley Synagogue
Finchley Synagogue
On the Great North Way side of the Henly's Corner interchange stands
Finchley Synagogue. Popularly known as "Kinloss", after a nearby street, it is one of Europe's largest
Orthodox synagogues, with seats for 1,350
[10]. While a synagogue has stood on the site since 1935, the current building dates from 1967
[94].
Watford Way
After passing the Copthall complex, the A1 meets the
M1 motorway at
Fiveways Corner. As most traffic leaves the A1 at this point to join the motorway, the road narrows north of this point. Immediately after passing Fiveways Corner, the A1 turns sharply north under the name of 'Watford Way'.
Watford Way itself actually runs northwards from
Brent Cross, well to the south. However, that section south of Fiveways Corner is designated as part of the
A41 and is not part of the A1. Between Fiveways Corner and Apex Corner (see below) the A1 and A41
overlap[95].
As the stretch of Watford Way north of Fiveways Corner was built as a
bypass, and is also very close to the noisy and polluting M1, there is very little construction along this stretch of road.
Apex Corner
At the northern end of Watford Way is the large 'Apex Corner'
roundabout. The A1 and A41 separate, with the A1 turning to run straight north and the A41 turning west, while Selvage Lane runs southwest to
Mill Hill and Marsh Lane runs northeast to
Totteridge. Although Apex Corner is adjacent to the M1, there is no interchange with the motorway.
As the
car parks of shops at Apex Corner overlook the
Midland Main Line, the location is extremely popular with
trainspotters[96].
Barnet Way/Barnet Bypass
After passing Apex Corner, the A1 runs north and out of London as 'Barnet Way' (also known as 'Barnet Bypass'), built in the 1920s to divert traffic away from
Barnet. Although not technically a motorway at this point, the road runs as dual carriageway throughout and is treated as a motorway for most purposes.
After passing Scratchwood (see below), the A1 heads north, skirting the towns of Barnet and
Elstree, before turning northeast and running through open
countryside to Bignell's Corner.
The "
Thatched Barn" on the Barnet Bypass is reported to have been a secret
Special Operations Executive base during
World War II[97]. This has still to be officially confirmed.
The Barnet Bypass was also the location of the last
Metropolitan Police Police box in use (prior to the reintroduction of a single new box in
Earl's Court in 1996)
[98]. The box was taken out of use in
1981, seriously inconveniencing the filming of ''
Logopolis'' which required a functioning police box as a key element and was intended to be filmed at the spot
[99].
Moat Mount & Scratchwood
Just north of Apex Corner, the road passes the 140 acre (570,000m²)
Moat Mount open space on the east of the A1. This large
Victorian park is a popular
camping and walking spot for north Londoners
[100]. A large camping and
outdoor activity complex for
schools,
youth groups and
probation services was opened in 1997
[101], while Nan Clark's Lane, running through the park, is supposedly
haunted[102].
On the western side of the A1 opposite Moat Mount is the
ancient forest of
Scratchwood. In recent years, Scratchwood
Service Station and the surrounding forest has become a popular spot for
dogging[10].
Bignell's Corner
At 'Bignell's Corner' the A1 meets the
M25 motorway at a large roundabout. North of Bignell's Corner the A1 becomes the A1(M)
motorway, and rejoins the historic Great North Road route, running north to
Edinburgh. For information on the A1 outside of London, see the main
A1 road article.
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102. Moat Mount Walk
103.
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