Albion Yard and Balfe Road: My stroll round King’s Cross on Saturday eighth April 1989 continues. The earlier publish was Alongside the Cally & York Means. I used to be collaborating in a stroll led by the Larger London Industrial Archaeology Society, GLIAS.
I can’t now keep in mind if we took an alley from York Solution to enter Albion Yard or if we turned east alongside Railway Road, from the place there was one other entrance. However I feel this constructing was on our route into Albion Yard, and is now nonetheless current both in Albion Yard or the linked Ironworks Yard.
Neither of those yards is called on the outdated larre-scale OS maps, and solely Albion Yard seems on my outdated avenue atlas. Just a few yards away from the Balfe Road entrance on the nook with Caledonian Street The Albion pub opened in 1845 when Balfe Road was known as Albion St however the yard was merely labelled on the 1877 map as ‘Blue Manufactury.’ The Albion constructing remains to be there although by the point of this stroll often called Malt & Hops. For some years it was the Ruby Lounge wine bar, then a Be At One cocktail bar and is now dwelling to the Institute of Physics.
The identify ‘Albion’ is the oldest recognized identify for the mainland of Britain, in use no less than because it was recorded by Greek geographers round 6,000 years in the past to distinguished it from Eire. They’re thought to have gotten the identify from the Celts and it was Romanised as Albion.
Some consider it got here from a phrase which means white and relate it to the ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ nevertheless it appears extra more likely to have a special origin merely which means ‘land’ or ‘world’, and presumably the identical root that additionally led to Alps and Albania.
Albion largely survives in fashionable English merely within the identify ‘Alba’ utilized by Scottish separatists and in Celtic languages for Scotland.
However Albion is the England of myths, with the fantasies of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae being repeated as truth in histories within the 5 centuries that adopted. However most essential for its continued reputation was the work of visionary poet and printmaker William Blake and his ‘Jerusalem‘, subtitled ‘The Emanation of the Big Albion‘ revealed in simply as six copies earlier than his loss of life in 1827. Later many have come to treat him as the best artist Britain has ever produced.
Albion Yard had entrances from York Means, Caledonia St, Balfe St and Railway St and was the inside of this block of 4 streets. The entrances and some of the buildings that had been current in 1989 nonetheless exist although in reasonably completely different state, however the character of the realm, now labelled ‘Regent Quarter’ may be very completely different.
An property group’s website supplies the next description:
“Regents Quarter is a growth of just about six acres of land subsequent to Kings Cross Station that and has been reworked right into a dwelling working group. Victorian workshops have been transformed into loft model residences, sitting comfortably alongside extremely fashionable enterprise and residential areas…
This wanted gated growth boasts a stunning entrance corridor additional benefitting from a 24 hour concierge/safety service.”
Among the properties had been nonetheless in use as small workshops however others are clearly derelict. I used to be intrigued by the heads of mannequins seen within the first ground with a door on which the identify MODRENO had been hand-painted. This {photograph} had an indication painted on the wall ‘NO PARKING MODRENO LOADING BAY – SIGNED LECKY’S DUMMY MODELS’. You will discover out way more on Modreno at Foxxhunting – Modreno.
You may view a very detailed presentation of the proposed redevelopment of the entire space, which features a plans and quite a lot of pictures of the present Albion Yard, half of what is going to be known as Jahn Court docket. You may recognise this and different buildings in my footage within the pictures there.
The mid nineteenth century home at left and the adjoining arch with its inscription ‘WORKS & MILLS’ and the date 1846 is Grade II listed. Balfe St was previously Albion St, and was renamed after the composer of the opera The Bohemian Lady, William Balfe in 1938.
My King’s Cross stroll with GLIAS will proceed in a later publish
The primary publish on this stroll was Kings Cross, St George’s Gardens & Extra.
Tags: Albion Yard, Balfe Road, Caledonia St, Dummy Fashions, GLIAS, Larger London Industrial Archaeology Society, Industrial Archaeology, Ironworks Yard, Islington, Jerusalem, King’s Cross, Lecky’s Dummy Fashions, London, London Photographs, Modreno, Pentonville, peter Marshall, Railway St, Regent Quarter, The Albion, William Blake, York Means
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