Page 136 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

134  L ONDON AREA B Y AREA

q St Pancras Parish
Church
Euston Rd NW1. Map 5 B3. Tel 020
7388 1461. 1 Euston. Open 8am–
6pm Mon–Thu (check ahead.
5 8am, 10am & 6pm Sun. 7
Recitals 1:15pm Thu.
∑ stpancraschurch.org
This is a stately Greek Revival
church of 1822 designed by
William Inwood and his son
Henry, both great fans of
Athenian architecture. The
design is based on the
St Martin’s College of Art in its new home on Granary Square Erechtheion at the Acropolis in
Athens, and even the wooden
9 Granary Square worship since the 4th century – pulpit stands on miniature Ionic
there are fragments of Roman columns of its own. The long
N1C. Map 5 B1 1 King’s Cross St
Pancras. Visitor centre: 11 Stable St. tiles embedded in one of the galleried interior has a dramatic
Tel 020 3479 1795. Open 10am–5pm walls and some Norman severity appropriate to the
Mon–Fri, 10am–4pm Sat 8 from the masonry – though much of the church’s style. The female figures
visitor centre; book online. church building dates from a on the northern outer wall were
∑ kingscross.co.uk substantial renovation in 1847. originally taller than they are
St Pancras Old Church’s now: a chunk had to be taken
The formerly drab area north of graveyard, now a pleasant out of the middle of each to
King’s Cross station has been green space with a few make them fit under the roof
radically transformed into a monuments dotted around, they were meant to support.
cultural and social hub, with was until the 1850s one of the The church hosts a festival
several major building projects largest burial sites in London. of contemporary church music
still ongoing. The focus of the With the arrival of the railways, in May, and art exhibitions are
area is attractive Granary half the site was built over, and sometimes mounted in the
Square, which leads down to gravestones were moved – atmospheric crypt.
Regent’s Canal. The square is hence the remarkable sight
dominated by magnificent of closely packed gravestones
fountains that dance to an embedded into the base of w Wellcome
ever-changing pattern of lights, a tree. This is the Hardy Tree, Collection
a magnet for small children on named after author Thomas
hot days. Hardy, who worked as an archi- 183 Euston Rd NW1. Map 5 A4.
Adding to the appeal of tectural technician on the site. Tel 020 7611 2222. 1 Euston,
this increasingly popular area Sir John Soane (see pp140–41) King’s Cross, Warren St. Open
are green spaces, such as designed his own family 10am–6pm Tue–Sat (to 10pm Thu &
first Fri of month), 11am–6pm Sun,
Lewis Cubitt Park, just to the mausoleum, which is said to noon–6pm public hols. Closed 1 Jan,
north of the square; exciting have inspired Sir Giles Gilbert 24–26 Dec. 7 - =
installations (including an Scott’s design of London’s ∑ wellcomecollection.org
outdoor swimming pond); famous and once-ubiquitous
a regular food market; and a red telephone box. Sir Henry Wellcome (1853–1963)
number of good restaurants. was a pharmacist, entrepreneur
and collector. His passionate
interest in medicine and its
0 St Pancras history, as well as ethnography
Old Church and and archaeology, led him to
gather more than one million
Graveyard objects from around the world.
The Wellcome Collection is a
Pancras Rd NW1. Map 5 A2. Tel 020 £30-million public venue used
7424 0724. 1 King’s Cross St Pancras. to house his vast collection.
Open 9am–dusk daily (church until
around 3pm; check in advance). The museum’s permanent
5 9:30am Mon, 7pm Tue, 9:30am exhibitions – Medicine Man
Sun. 7 Recitals 1:15pm Thu. and Medicine Now – include
∑ sosstpancras.org more than 900 objects, from
Napoleon’s toothbrush to
This site is thought to have Caryatids in classical Greek style support Florence Nightingale’s moccasins.
been a place of Christian the portico of St Pancras Church Changing exhibitions cover a

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