Farringdon Road Market | London WW2 Photos

Farringdon Road is one of the major roads in London that connects Blackfriars Bridge and King’s Cross. It was built in the Victorian period as part of a plan to improve the traffic and sanitation of Clerkenwell, a densely populated and poorly laid out district.

However, Farringdon Road also witnessed some of the most devastating events of the Second World War, when it was repeatedly bombed by German aircrafts and rockets. In this blog post, we will explore the history and impact of Farringdon Road and Charterhouse Street during WW2 in the 1940s.

Farringdon Road Vegetable Market London
Farringdon Road Vegetable Market London

Images from East London showing the destruction from German bombs during World War Two. Images scanned from a genuine copy of The London Evening news magazine, handed down to me from my late grandfather.

ONE of the worst of the V2 rocket incidents happened in March, 1945, when the fish, fruit, and vegetable market at the corner of Farringdon Road and Charterhouse Street was hit during morning shopping hours.

The Origins and Planning of Farringdon Road

Farringdon Road was not originally a single road, but a combination of two existing roads: Coppice Row and Bagnigge Wells Road. These roads were narrow, winding and congested with traffic and pedestrians. They also ran through some of the worst slums and rookeries in London, where poverty, disease and crime were rampant.

In order to improve the situation, various proposals were made to cut a new road through Clerkenwell from Farringdon Street in the City to King’s Cross. The idea was to create a wide and straight thoroughfare that would ease traffic flow, provide better access to public transport, clear away unhealthy dwellings and stimulate commercial development.

However, the project faced many obstacles and delays due to lack of funding, legal disputes over land ownership, opposition from local residents and businesses, and difficulties in acquiring parliamentary approval. It took from 1841 to 1856 for the southern half of Farringdon Road to be completed from Farringdon Street to Clerkenwell Green. The northern half was built in the 1860s in conjunction with the construction of the Metropolitan Railway (the world’s first underground railway), which ran parallel to Farringdon Road in a cutting.

The Construction and Impact of Farringdon Road

The making of Farringdon Road required extensive demolition work that involved clearing hundreds of houses, shops, pubs, churches and other buildings along its route. Some notable structures that were lost included St John’s Gate (the medieval entrance to Clerkenwell Priory), St James’s Church (a Gothic Revival church designed by James Savage), Sadler’s Wells Theatre (a famous venue for musical entertainment) and Bagnigge House (a popular spa resort).

Farringdon Road Charterhouse Street London WW2
Farringdon Road Charterhouse Street London WW2

The displaced residents were mostly poor working-class people who had little choice but to move into other overcrowded areas nearby or further away from their workplaces. Some were rehoused by philanthropic organisations or local authorities in new model dwellings that were built along or near Farringdon Road. These included Corporation Buildings (a large block of flats erected by Islington Vestry), Nos 68-86 Farringdon Road Buildings (a row of tenements built by George Peabody) and William Rust House (a hostel for homeless men run by Rowton Houses).

The new road also attracted commercial investment from various industries such as printing, publishing,

Over 100 people were killed outright and 123 received injuries, many of them serious. Out of a welter of fallen girders, masonry, glass, and debris came the screams and shouts of the injured and the trapped. Rescue squads released those who could be got at, but for many hours afterwards the search for victims went on, and bloodhounds were brought in to help.

The corner shop was that of J. Mack, an old trader who started in the street with a barrow. On the opposite corner in Charterhouse Street there was a long queue of women outside Hart’s, the butchers.

Many of them were victims of the blast and flying debris. Part of the cold stores of the Union Cold Storage Company and of the Port of London Authority were penetrated by the bomb.

This was one of the very last of Hitler’s bombs to fall on “Southern England.”

1 thought on “Farringdon Road Market | London WW2 Photos”

  1. The long queue outside the butchers was in response to the arrival of a consignment of rabbits — not subject to rationing.

    The floor collapsed and victims fell though to the rail tunnels below.
    The burnt flesh of the carcasses from the cold store and the bodies of the poor people was indistinuishable.

    I am researching the life of Cliff Bayliss, 1912-1989, an artist who led the St Giles Rescue Squad all through the war.

    Reply

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