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{{About|the area of London||King's Cross (disambiguation){{!}}Kings Cross}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{infobox UK place|
|official_name=         Kings Cross<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ukcensusdata.com/kings-cross-e05000141 |title=King's Cross - 2011 |website=UK Census Data|date=2012|author= |accessdate= 1 September 2017}}</ref>
|static_image_name = King's Cross St. Pancras aerial view, image 5.jpg
|static_image_caption = Aerial view of the area surrounding [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross station]]
|country =              England
|map_type =             Greater London
|region=                London
|population=           14,082
|population_ref= (2011)<ref>{{cite web|title=Kings Cross is made up of the Kings Cross ward in the London Borough of Camden and 7 Output Areas in the Caledonian ward in the London Borough of Islington|url= http://ukcensusdata.com/london-e12000007#sthash.DazkINIV.dpbs |website=Ukcensusdata.com|accessdate=2016-09-29}}</ref>
|london_borough=        Camden
|london_borough2=        Islington
|constituency_westminster=      [[Holborn and St. Pancras (UK Parliament constituency)|Holborn and St. Pancras]] [[Islington South and Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Islington South and Finsbury]]
|post_town=             LONDON
|postcode_area=         N1C
|postcode_district=     N1C
|postcode_area1=        N1C
|postcode_district1=    N1C
|dial_code=             020
|os_grid_reference=     TQ315835
|coordinates = {{coord|51.5303|-0.1236|display=inline,title}}
|website= [http://www.kingscross.co.uk kingscross.co.uk]
}}'''Kings Cross''' is an [[inner London|inner city]] district in [[North London|north]] [[London]], England, 2.5 miles (4.8&nbsp;km) north west of [[Charing Cross]]. It is served by [[London King's Cross railway station]], the terminus of one of the major rail routes between London and the North.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45097 ''Highbury, Upper Holloway and King's Cross, Old and New London: Volume 2'' (1878)], pp. 273–279. Retrieved 15 May 2009.</ref>

Formerly a [[red light district]], the area has been regenerated since the mid-1990s with the terminus of the [[Eurostar]] rail service at [[St Pancras railway station|St Pancras International]] opening in 2007 and the rebuilding of King's Cross station, a major redevelopment in the north of the area.

==History==

===Toponymy===
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 (linguistics)|corruption]] "Battle Bridge" led to a tradition that this was the site of a major battle in AD 60 or 61 between the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] and the [[Iceni]] tribe led by [[Boudica]] (also known as Boudicea).<ref name="thornbury">{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45097 |title=Highbury, Upper Holloway and King's Cross |work=Old and New London: Volume 2 |author=Walter Thornbury |authorlink=George Walter Thornbury |year=1878 |pages=273–279 |accessdate=11 November 2010 |publisher=British History Online}}</ref> The tradition claims support from the writing of [[Tacitus|Publius Cornelius Tacitus]], an ancient Roman historian, who described the place of action between the Romans and Boadicea (''Annals'' 14.31), but without specifying where it was; Thornbury addresses the pros and cons of the identification. [[Lewis Spence]]'s 1937 book ''Boadicea – warrior queen of the Britons'' includes a map showing the supposed positions of the opposing armies. The suggestion that Boudica is buried beneath platform 9 or 10 at King's Cross station seems to have arisen as [[urban folklore]] since the end of [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Museum of London - Learning on Line |url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_7.htm |title=Boudica and King's Cross Station |date=2009-03-01 |accessdate=2016-09-29 |deadurl=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301192533/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_7.htm |archivedate= 1 March 2009 |df= }}</ref> The area had been settled in Roman times, and a camp here known as The Brill was erroneously attributed to [[Julius Caesar]], who never visited Londinium.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/crace/c/007000000000014u00048000.html Caesar's Camp at Pancras called the Brill (British Library)]. Bl.uk (30 November 2003). Retrieved on 2013-07-30.</ref> There is still a small area named "Battle Bridge Place" between King's Cross and St Pancras stations, and "Brill Place", a road leading towards Euston from St Pancras Station. An art installation named the ''Identified Flying Object'' (IFO) stands in Battle Bridge Place,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kingscross.co.uk/ifo |title=IFO (Identified Flying Object) by Jaques Rival at King's Cross |website=www.kingscross.co.uk|date=  |author= |accessdate= 1 September 2017}}</ref> part of the RELAY King's Cross Arts programme.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kingscross.co.uk/art-programme |title=The art programme at King's Cross|website=www.kingscross.co.uk|date=  |author= |accessdate= 1 September 2017}}</ref> [[St Pancras Old Church]], also set behind the stations, is said to be one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain.

The current name has its origin in [[King's Cross (building)|a monument]] to [[George IV of the United Kingdom|King George IV]] which stood from 1830 to 1845 at "the king's crossroads" where New Road (later [[Euston Road]]), [[Gray's Inn Road]], and [[Pentonville Road]] met.<ref name="Mills">{{cite book | last = Mills | first = A. D. | title = A dictionary of London place names | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | year = 2001 | isbn = 0192801066 }}</ref> The monument was sixty feet high and topped by an eleven-foot-high statue of the king; it was described by [[George Walter Thornbury|Walter Thornbury]] as "a ridiculous octagonal structure crowned by an absurd statue".<ref name="thornbury"/> 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".<ref name=gmam>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Gentleman's Magazine|title=The Architectural Magazine, conducted by J.C. Loudon F.L.S. &c. Vol. III. Nos. XXIII. to XXX.|pages=627–8|year=1836|volume=6 (new series)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTVOAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA628}} quoting ''The Architectural Magazine''</ref>  The architect was [[Stephen Geary]],<ref name=survey>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65569 |title=Euston Road |author=Walter H. Godfrey and W. McB. Marcham (editors) |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1952 |work=Survey of London: volume 24: The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood |accessdate=24 May 2012 }}</ref> who exhibited a model of "the Kings Cross" at the Royal Academy in 1830.<ref>{{cite book |author=Algernon Graves |title=The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904 |volume=4|year= 1905 |publisher= Henry Graves|location=London  |page=220}}</ref> The upper storey was used as a [[camera obscura]] while the base housed first a police station, and later a public house. The unpopular building was demolished in 1845, though the area kept the name of Kings Cross.<ref name="thornbury"/> A structure in the form of a [[lighthouse]] was built on top of a building almost on the site about 30 years later. Known locally as the "Lighthouse Building", the structure was popularly thought to be an advertisement for Netten's Oyster Bar on the ground floor, but this seems not to be true.<ref>[http://www.glias.org.uk/news/186news.html#L Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society newsletter, February 2000]. Glias.org.uk (27 December 1999). Retrieved on 2013-07-30.</ref> It is a grade II listed building.<ref>{{Webarchiv |wayback=20120514111809 |url=http://mycamden.camden.gov.uk/gdw/T/ListedBuildingDetail?LbNo=655&xsl=ListedBuildingDetail.xsl |text= ''Listed building details'', Camden Council}}. Mycamden.camden.gov.uk. Retrieved on 30 July 2013.</ref>

===Railway stations===
King's Cross station now stands by the junction where the monument stood and took its name.<ref name="Mills"/> The station, designed by architect [[Lewis Cubitt]] and opened in 1852, succeeded a temporary earlier station, erected north of the canal in time for the [[Great Exhibition]] of 1851.

[[St Pancras railway station]], built by the [[Midland Railway]], lies immediately to the west. They both had extensive land ("the railway lands") to house their associated facilities for handling general goods and specialist commodities such as fish, coal, potatoes and grain. The passenger stations on Euston Road far outweighed in public attention the economically more important goods traffic to the north. King's Cross and St Pancras stations, and indeed all London railway stations, made an important contribution to the capital's economy.

===Post War Decline===


After World War II the area declined from being a poor but busy industrial and distribution services district to a partially abandoned post-industrial district. By the 1980s it was notorious for prostitution and drug abuse.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/12/regeneration-kings-cross-can-other-developers-repeat-trick|title=All hail the new King’s Cross – but can other developers repeat the trick?|first=Rowan|last=Moore|date=12 October 2014|publisher=|via=The Guardian}}</ref> This reputation impeded attempts to revive the area, utilising the large amount of land available following the decline of the railway goods yard to the north of the station and the many other vacant premises in the area.

Relatively cheap rents and a central London location made the area attractive to artists and designers and both [[Antony Gormley]] and [[Thomas Heatherwick]] established studios in the area. In late 1980s, a group of musicians, mechanics, and squatters from Hammersmith called [[Mutoid Waste Company]] moved into Battlebridge Road warehouse.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mutatebritain.com/history/ |title=History « Mutate Britain |website=Mutatebritain.com |date=2010-08-04 |accessdate=2016-09-29}}</ref> They built huge industrial sculptures out of scrap metal and held raves. In 1989 they were evicted by police.<ref>{{cite web|author=Mutoid Must Remain |url=http://meetingbenches.com/bench/2014/02/mutoid-must-remain/ |title=Mutoid Must Remain |publisher=Meeting Benches |date=2014-02-21 |accessdate=2016-09-29}}</ref>
In 1992, the Community Creation Trust took over the disused coach repair depot and built it into the largest Ecology Centre in Europe with ecohousing for homeless youngsters, The Last Platform Cafe, London Ecology Centre (after its demise in Covent Garden), offices and workshops, gardens and ponds.  It was destroyed to make a car park for the Channel Tunnel Regeneration.  Bagley's Warehouse was a nightclub venue in the 1990s warehouse rave scene on the site of Goods Yard behind King's Cross stations, now part of the redevelopment area known as the Coal Drops adjacent to Granary Square.

==Three Decades of Regeneration==
The site is one of the largest construction projects in Greater London in the first quarter of the 21st century. All of the "socially undesirable" behaviour has moved on, and new projects such as offices and housing are over halfway completed. 

In the 1990s the government established the King's Cross Partnership<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.901 |title=Home-King's Cross Partnership: London Development Agency |date=2009-06-05 |accessdate=2016-09-29 |deadurl=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605013936/http://www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.901 |archivedate= 5 June 2009 |df= }}</ref> to fund regeneration projects, and the commencement of work on [[High Speed 1]] in 2000 provided a major impetus for other projects. In 2001, Argent was selected as the development partner. The London terminus of the [[Eurostar]] international rail services to Paris and Brussels moved to St Pancras station in November 2007. 

Following the opening of the [[High Speed 1|new high speed line]] to the station, redevelopment of the land between the two major stations and the old King's Cross railwaylands to the rear commenced. In 2008, Argent, London & Continental Railways and DHL formed a joint partnership: Kings Cross Central Limited Partnership<ref>https://www.kingscross.co.uk/the-story-so-far</ref>.  Outline planning permission, prepared by Allies and Morrison and Porphyrios Associates, was granted for the whole site in 2006. Detailed planning applications<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kxdf.wordpress.com/ |title=King's Cross Development Forum |website=Kxdf.wordpress.com |date= |accessdate=2016-09-29}}</ref> for each part of the site are being made on a rolling programme basis. 

The area remains a major focus of redevelopment in the second decade of the 21st century. In 2017 Google, who already occupy a large new building situated between St. Pancras and King's Cross stations, announced plans for a further £1 billion building stretching along the west side of King's Cross station towards the Regents canal.

The area has also been for many years home to a number of trades union head offices (including the NUJ, RMT, UNISON, NUT, Community and UCU).

King’s Cross in numbers:<ref>https://www.kingscross.co.uk/the-story-so-far</ref>
67 acres, 
50 new buildings, 
1,900 new homes, 
20 new streets, 
10 new public parks and squares, 
26 acres of open space, 
30,000 people by 2016.

===Education, Culture & Heritage===
[[File:Battlebridge Basin - geograph.org.uk - 110002.jpg|thumb|Battlebridge Basin]]
The area has increasingly become home to cultural establishments. The [[London Canal Museum]] opened in 1992,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/history/regents.htm|title=The Regents Canal History|website=Canalmuseum.org.uk|accessdate=2016-09-29}}</ref> and in 1997 a new home for the [[British Library]] opened next to St Pancras Station. There was a small theatre, the Courtyard, that closed in late 2006 as a result of the gentrification of the area caused by a number of regeneration projects there, in this case, Regent's Quarter, across the boundary in Islington. The [[Gagosian Gallery]] moved their main London premises to the area in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gagosian.com/about/about-larry-gagosian|title=About Larry Gagosian - Gagosian|website=Gagosian.com|accessdate=2016-09-29}}</ref> The [[London Sinfonietta]] and the [[Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment]] are based in [[King's Place]], on [[Battlebridge Basin]] next to the [[Regent's Canal]]. King's Place is also the home of ''[[The Guardian]]'' and ''[[The Observer]]'' newspapers, and of the UK Drug Policy Commission. 

In September 2011 the University of the Arts London moved to the Granary Complex. A whole series of new public squares and gardens have opened, among them Granary Square with its spectacular fountains, Lewis Cubitt Park and Square and the new Gasholder Park.

The station's redevelopment led to the demolition of several buildings, including the Gasworks.<ref>Built in the 1860s and rebuilt in the 1880s, the [[gasholders]] (of unique linked triplet design) were still in use until 1999. Several gasholders (the site was originally a [[gasworks]]) that had dominated the area behind station for over a century have been taken down during the building works and placed in storage, and three are re-erected and converted to other use, partly a park, partly housing.</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2014}}
[[File:Harry Potter-platform.JPG|thumb|upright|The Platform {{frac|9|3|4}} sign at [[London Kings Cross railway station|King's Cross station]]]]
In the [[Harry Potter]] books, King's Cross station is where the schoolboy hero boards the train for [[Hogwarts]]. The railway station has put up a sign for the fictional "[[Platform 9 3/4|Platform {{frac|9|3|4}}]]" described in the books, and embedded part of a luggage trolley halfway into the wall. Film adaptations have used platforms 4 and 5 for some scenes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Harry Potter's London |url=http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/sightseeing/london-attraction/harry-potters-london |publisher=Visit London |accessdate=21 July 2017}}</ref>

Kings Cross and its surrounding streets were also the setting for the 1955 [[Ealing comedy]], ''[[The Ladykillers]]'',<ref>{{cite news |last=Shoard |first=Catherine |date=7 December 2011 |title=My Favourite Film: The Ladykillers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/dec/07/my-favourite-film-the-ladykillers |department=My Favourite Film (story series) |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |accessdate=21 July 2017}}</ref> two British drama films starring [[Max Bygraves]]—''[[A Cry from the Streets]]'' (1958) and ''[[Spare the Rod]]'' (1961)—as well as [[Mike Leigh]]'s ''[[High Hopes (1988 film)|High Hopes]]'' (1988).<ref name="auto"/> [[Anthony Minghella]]'s 2006 film ''[[Breaking and Entering (film)|Breaking and Entering]]'' is also set in Kings Cross.<ref>{{cite web |title=King's Cross Stars in Minghella's Homage to London |url=http://filmlondon.org.uk/news/2006/november/kings_cross_stars_in_minghellas_homage_to_london |publisher=Film London |date=28 November 2006 |accessdate=21 July 2017}}</ref>

"Vale Royal", an epic poem in 700 triads by Aidan Andrew Dun probes into this zone of London; "Vale Royal" was launched at the Albert Hall in 1995. A triad of Dun's, excerpted from another poem, "The Brill", has been installed at the western end of Granary Square in a small grove of trees beside the new Central Saint Martins. It reads: "Kings Cross, dense with angels and histories, there are cities beneath your pavements, cities behind your skies. Let me see!"

The [[Irish rock]] group [[The Pogues]] were founded in Kings Cross.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jelbert |first=Steve |date=28 April 2012 |title=Here Comes Everybody: The Story of The Pogues, By James Fearnley |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/here-comes-everybody-the-story-of-the-pogues-by-james-fearnley-7687289.html |location=London |work=[[The Independent]] |accessdate=21 July 2017}}</ref>

The British [[Popular music|pop music]] duo [[Pet Shop Boys]] recorded a song featured on their 1987 album ''[[Actually (album)|Actually]]'' named "Kings Cross": the melancholy track discusses the hopelessness of the AIDS epidemic during that time and uses the Kings Cross area as the "backdrop" of the story, trading on the area's associations with drug use and prostitution. [[Tracey Thorn]] [[cover version|covered]] the song in 2007. Songwriter [[David Gedge]] also wrote a song called "Kings Cross" while recording under the name [[Cinerama (band)|Cinerama]].

==Transport==
King's Cross and [[St Pancras railway station]]s are the principal [[National Rail]] services in the district. St Pancras is the [[Eurostar]] terminus for international services to [[Amsterdam]], [[Brussels]] and [[Paris]].  [[Thameslink]] train line run underground northwards towards Kentish Town and Finsbury Park and southwards towards Farringdon (connection with Elisabeth [[Crossrail]] line) and Blackfriars.

[[King's Cross St Pancras tube station]] is a [[London Underground]] station underground in front of King's Cross railway station served by four sub surface lines sharing the same two platforms and three deep underground lines. 

[[Euston railway station|Euston station]], half a mile to the west, will from 2026/27 be the Central London terminus for the [[High Speed 2]] trainline towards [[Old Oak Common]] and Birmingham, and from the early 2030s towards Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds.

The [[One Belt One Road Initiative]] may one day allow high speed passenger trains to reach Europe from China. The exact routes has not been determined.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://inhabitat.com/china-to-connect-its-high-speed-rail-all-the-way-to-europe/|title=China Planning to Connect High Speed Rail Lines To Europe|date=2010-03-15|accessdate=2016-11-03}}</ref>

==Nearby attractions==
* Platform 9 3/4
* [[Camden Town Hall]]
* The [[British Library]]
* [[Camley Street Natural Park]]
* [[London Canal Museum]]
* House of Illustration<ref>{{cite web|title=Official site|url=http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/|publisher=House of Illustration|accessdate=6 November 2015}}</ref>
* [[St Pancras Old Church]]
* [[King's Place]]
* [[Charles Dickens Museum]]
* The Foundling Museum
* [[Guildhall Art Gallery]]
* [[Gagosian Gallery]]
* [[British Postal Museum and Archive]]
* Gasholder No. 8 <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Attractions/Gasholder-No.-8/a6d72/ |title=Gasholder Park London &#124; Nearby hotels, shops and restaurants |website=LondonTown.com |date=2014-12-16 |accessdate=2016-09-29}}</ref>
* [[Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Sorting Office]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Kings Cross}}
* [http://www.kingscross.co.uk Official site of King's Cross development]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060407160911/http://www.kingsx.co.uk/ Local directory]
* [http://www.visitkingscross.com/ Local tourist attractions summary]
* [http://www.victorianlondon.org/buildings/thekingscross.htm The original King's Cross monument (Victorian London)]
* [http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/research/planning/kx/draft_planning_brief.pdf King's Cross Development Brief]
* [http://kxdf.wordpress.com/ King's Cross Development Forum,a group providing the community response to developments]
* [http://www.kingscrossenvironment.com/ Local newsletter]
* [http://onefoot.info/ Experimental documentary centred around King's Cross]

{{LB Camden}}

[[:en:Category:Districts of the London Borough of Islington]]
[[:en:Category:Districts of the London Borough of Camden]]
[[:en:Category:Areas of London]]
[[:en:Category:Red-light districts in the United Kingdom]]
[[:en:Category:Kings Cross, London| ]]