Visit Clerkenwell Places

Welcome to Visit Clerkenwell Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Clerkenwell

  

Clerkenwell Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Clerkenwell

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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 geography / climate

Goswell Street formed the eastern boundary of the Clerkenwell parishes. River Fleet now buried beneath Farringdon Road and other streets, forming the western boundary with Holborn and, in part, St Pancras. This western boundary is now used as part of the London Borough of Islington’s western boundary.

You can visit Clerkenwell places with Walkfo Clerkenwell to hear history at Clerkenwell’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Clerkenwell has 3148 places to visit in our interactive Clerkenwell map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Clerkenwell, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Clerkenwell places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Clerkenwell & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 3148 audio facts unique to Clerkenwell places in an interactive Clerkenwell map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Clerkenwell Places Map
3148 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Clerkenwell historic spots	Clerkenwell tourist destinations	Clerkenwell plaques	Clerkenwell geographic features
Walkfo Clerkenwell tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Clerkenwell

  

Best Clerkenwell places to visit

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Clerkenwell has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Clerkenwell’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Clerkenwell’s information audio spots:

Park Street, Mayfair Park Street is a street in Mayfair, London, England . It is the longest street on the Grosvenor Estate . The longest street is Park Street, the longest on the estate .

South Audley Street South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London . It runs north to south from the southwest corner of Grosvenor Square to Curzon Street .

Chesterfield House, Westminster Chesterfield House was built between 1747 and 1752 by Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield . The exterior was in the Palladian style, the interior Baroque . It stood in Mayfair on the north side of Curzon Street, between South Audley Street and what is now Chesterfield Street .

Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and the KGB . After speaking critically about corruption within the Russian government, he fled retribution to the UK . Six years later he was assassinated by two Russians by poisoning .

Eagle Squadrons Memorial The Eagle Squadrons Memorial is a Second World War memorial in Grosvenor Square, London . It commemorates the service of the three Royal Air Force . The bronze sculpture of an eagle which tops the memorial is by Elisabeth Frink .

St Mark’s, Mayfair St Mark’s Church, Mayfair, is a Grade I listed building in the heart of London’s Mayfair district . The church is located on North Audley Street, on the north side of the road .

Beaumont Hotel, London The Beaumont Hotel is a Grade II listed luxury hotel in Mayfair, London . One of its rooms was designed by Antony Gormley as a public sculpture .

Chesterfield Street Chesterfield Street is a “virtually intact” Georgian street in London’s Mayfair district . Several of the buildings are Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England .

Curzon Mayfair Cinema The Curzon Mayfair Cinema is a Grade II listed building at 37–38 Curzon Street, London W1 . It was built in 1963–66 by H. G. Hammond for Sir John Burnet, Tait and Partners, architects .

Brown Hart Gardens Brown Hart Gardens, located off Duke Street, Mayfair, is a 10,000 square feet (929 m) public garden on top of an electricity substation .

Visit Clerkenwell plaques