Travel Clerkenwell Map

Travel to Clerkenwell Map

Clerkenwell tourist guide map of landmarks & destinations by Walkfo

Clerkenwell history

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For a list of street name etymologies in the Clerkenwell area see Street names of Clerkinwell and Finsbury.

Clerks’ Well

Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks’ Well in Farringdon Lane . The first surviving reference to the name is from 1100 . In the Middle Ages, the London Parish clerks performed mystery plays there .

Monastic traditions

Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem had its English headquarters at the Priory of Clerkenwell . St John’s Gate was the birthplace of Gentleman’s Magazine in 1731 .

New River Head

The New River Head was constructed between 1604 and 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water from Hertfordshire . It originally consisted of a circular reservoir, the Round Pond and an associated building, the Water House . From here water was fed into a network of wooden mains which conveyed water to the cisterns .

Notoriety

As it was a suburb beyond the confines of the London Wall, Clerkenwell was outside the City fathers’ jurisdiction . Consequently, “base tenements and houses of unlawful and disorderly resort” sprang up .

Prisons

Clerkenwell was also the location of three prisons: the Clerkinwell Bridewell, Coldbath Fields Prison and the New Prison . The House of Detention was demolished in 1890 but the extensive vaults and cells beneath, now known as the Clerkenwell Catacombs, remained . They were reopened as air raid shelters during the Blitz, and for a few years were open as a minor tourist attraction .

Industrial Revolution

Clerkenwell was home to breweries, distilleries and printing industry . It gained an especial reputation for the making of clocks, marine chronometers and watches .

Clerkenwell Green

Clerkenwell Green lies at the centre of the old village, by the church, and has a mixture of housing, offices and pubs . It is dominated by the imposing former Middlesex Sessions House, built in 1782, extended during the Victorian era . Dickens knew the area well and was a customer of the Finsbury Savings Bank .

Radicalism

In 1902, Vladimir Lenin moved the publication of the Iskra (Spark) to the British Social Democratic Federation at 37a Clerkenwell Green . It is said that Lenin and a young Joseph Stalin met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now The Crown Tavern) in 1903 .

Post-war de-industrialisation and revival

After the Second World War Clerkenwell suffered from industrial decline . Several acclaimed council housing estates were commissioned by Finsbury Borough Council . Modernist architect and Russian émigré Berthold Lubetkin’s listed Spa Green Estate has recently been restored .

  

Clerkenwell map & travel guide with history & landmarks to explore

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Tourist Guide to Clerkenwell Map

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Walkfo Clerkenwell travel map key: visit National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top travel destinations in Clerkenwell