IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Work continues to erect the trainshed at St Metropolitan, Midland Railway Study Centre Pancras which, at 689ft long, 100ft high and and UCL itself, the finished project details 243ft wide, was the largest single-span roof in the world at the time of its opening in 150 stories, facts and images reflecting the October 1868, and dwarfed its nearest rivals station’s remarkable history. at Cannon Street (190ft wide) and Charing It focuses on five key themes; the history A most sacred Cross (166ft). NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM/ of the station’s landscape and architecture, SCIENCE AND SOCIETY PICTURE LIBRARY. changing railway technology over the ages, personal stories behind St Pancras 150 years old and we wanted to celebrate that International, the social evolution of the St history by connecting and engaging with our Pancras area and the ways in which posters customers to reveal and share its stories. and advertising have been used to capture the station “The station was built and operated by an imagination of passengers. innovative company but has suffered many Murray adds: “We agreed from the outset challenges in its history, not least being that these were the five areas which are most bombed in both world wars. It has been underrepresented in the records we have through periods of underinvestment and near- and that it would be a project of exploration, dereliction only to be saved from demolition because we didn’t know what would be by people who were very passionate about available. But UCL did a fantastic job collating it. Following its listing at Grade I in 1967 and and organizing the information and it gave its subsequent renegeration, it is now being the students an opportunity to work on celebrated again as a masterpiece. a live research project and develop extra- “As guardians of the building we know curricular skills. Very importantly, it is also quite a lot about the infrastructure, building about inspiring the next generation of people and materials, but we don’t know a lot about who are going to look after buildings like St the human stories and the social history of Pancras.” the station. It’s the people who built it, worked Turning her attention to the project’s in it and cared for it that create those stories, findings, Murray says that a wealth of valuable which is a big part of why we wanted to do this material from the station’s earliest days project with UCL.” was available to the researchers. The first Using access to archives from the British unexpected finding emerged from a series Library, National Archives, London Transport of photographs taken in the 50 years that Museum, National Railway Museum, London followed its completion, which offers a To celebrate the 150th anniversary of St Pancras International, HS1 Ltd has partnered with University College London to learn more about the station’s rich and varied history. JOSIE MURRAY, Senior Heritage Advisor at HS1 Ltd, shows RAIL some of what they discovered and explains how the findings will be shared more widely hen St Pancras International successfully resisted by a well-publicized emerge for the station in 2007 when it was University College London (UCL) in March opened in October 1868, its campaign led by the poet laureate John reborn as the UK’s rail gateway to Europe, 2017. arched trainshed designed by Betjeman and architectural historian Nikolaus following an £800 million restoration. At UCL the project was led by Professor William Henry Barlow became Pevsner, so that a bright new future could For railway and architectural historians, Margot Finn, chair of Modern British History, famousW for being the largest single-span roof much has already been documented about who coordinated a team of more than 30 in the world. the physical construction and fabric of the student volunteer researchers. Meanwhile, Built as a statement of intent by the Midland Who was St Pancras? cathedral station. The original drawings for advising from HS1 Ltd was its Senior Heritage Railway Company (MRC) as it sought to According to the Roman Catholic church, the Barlow trainshed and the George Gilbert Advisor Josie Murray. outshine the neighboring stations of its St Pancras was born in Phrygia (in modern Scott-designed Midland Grand Hotel and She explains: “St Pancras International is competitors on Euston Road (at Euston and day Turkey) in around 290AD. The station frontage are a matter of public record, King’s Cross), successive generations have 14-year-old orphan was brought to Rome, as is the choice of building materials which Without beer, we marvelled at its architectural elegance and where he converted to Christianity. He were of the highest quality and designed neo-gothic splendour ever since. was beheaded for refusing to renounce his to showcase the best products that the East would have a very But the history of this wonder of Victorian faith in 304AD by the Emperor Diocletian. Midlands towns and cities served by the MRC engineering has also been an extraordinary It is thought that Pope Vitalian sent his could offer. different St tale of survival. Having endured the German relics to England to spread Christianity, But in order to dig deeper into the twists and Pancras One of the lesser known facts about St Pancras International is that the MRC’s former goods air raids during two world wars, British Rail including to St Pancras Old Church in turns of the St Pancras story and to uncover Josie Murray, Senior depot at Somers Town became known as RAF St Pancras for two weeks when the first ever then proposed to demolish it as traffic declined Camden, from which the railway station previously unreleased historical material, landing in the centre of London by a fixed wing aircraft was made on May 3 1969. An RAF in the 1960s. takes its name. station owner and operator HS1 Ltd joined Heritage Advisor, Harrier ‘jump jet’ made a vertical landing at the disused coal yard, in preparation for the Thankfully, these latter efforts were forces with students and academics from HS1 Ltd Daily Mail Transatlantic Air Race between London and Manhattan a few days later. ALAMY. 6 7 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Sir George Gilbert Scott It’s about Born in 1811, George Gilbert Scott was inspiring the a Gothic revivalist architect chiefly associated with cathedrals, churches next generation and workhouses. He is credited with the of people design or adaptation of more than 800 buildings. who are going to look Having already designed a number of iconic buildings, including the after buildings like St Albert Memorial and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London, he beat Pancras ten other architects to win the commission Josie Murray, Senior Heritage to build the station and hotel buildings at Advisor, HS1 Ltd St Pancras in January 1866. At £315,000, Scott’s designs were the most expensive, Town were considered a maloderous slum but achieved the company’s objective to which was due to poor quality housing, lack of Students from UCL’S History Department and staff from HS1 Ltd gather for the launch of outdo all other London termini. Financial infrastructure and overcrowding. the St Pancras International historical research project in March 2017. HS1 LTD. savings later dictated the removal of one The location of the Fleet sewer, and gas of the floors from the frontage designs holders built by the Imperial Gas & Coke Pancras graveyards and were built with scant North London.” before the Midland Grand Hotel opened Company, steered the MRC towards choosing regard for the human remains interred there. The historical material discovered by the in May 1873. He was knighted by Queen these estates bordering on to Euston Road as “It suited MRC that Agar Town was project will now be used to support St Pancras Victoria in 1872 and died on March 27 the site of their station where 3,000 homes considered a slum by writers of the day International’s 150th anniversary year with a 1878. would need to be demolished. and that its demolition was justified as few series of exhibitions throughout 2018. new perspective on the type of journeys Like much of London, St Pancras suffered Murray says that the MRC was a poor lamented its clearance in 1866,” argues It will be displayed according to different heavily during the Blitz, when five bombs that were being made. fell on the station during a German air raid landlord to the residents of these houses Murray. themes in key locations around the station. They show that more than a century in May 1941. NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM/ International when it exposed some rather less before they were demolished, and that “They also had to bring the line through “2018 is about celebrating St Pancras before the first Eurostar service departed SCIENCE AND SOCIETY PICTURE LIBRARY. edifying aspects of railway development in the their occupants were evicted without a burial ground which had closed in 1854, International: the people, the place and the to the continent from the station in 2007, mid-19th century. compensation. but had been very intensively used as the journey. We know that a lot of our regular passengers were already using the station for Photos have survived from the Second This includes a campaign by MRC to The MRC also dismantled St Luke’s Church cemetery of the parish church. More than users are interested in the station history international journeys and not just domestic World War, however, that vividly show the acquire freeholds in the parish of St Pancras on Euston Road and built a replacement in 7,000 bodies were exhumed but it wasn’t but don’t necessarily have a lot of time to travel, as had been widely assumed.