Cumberland Market facts for kids
Cumberland Market was a busy market in London, located between Regent's Park and Euston railway station. It was built in the early 1800s. For about 100 years, until the late 1920s, it was London's main market for hay and straw. A special branch of the Regent's Canal was built to reach the market. The area around the market had many homes. In the early 1900s, it became a popular place for artists to live and work. The original buildings were later taken down during and after the Second World War. Today, the area is a housing estate called Regent's Park Estate.
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How Cumberland Market Started
The land east of Regent's Park, designed by John Nash, was meant to be a service area. It had small houses for workers and three large squares for selling goods. Only Cumberland Market, the square furthest north, became a successful trading spot.
London's Hay Market
London's main hay market moved here from Haymarket (near Piccadilly Circus) in 1830. However, it was never very busy. In 1878, people said it was "never very largely attended."
The Regent's Canal Connection
The Regent's Canal was built to bring goods into North London. It connected the Grand Junction Canal to the River Thames. The Cumberland Arm was a short branch off this canal. It led to the Cumberland Basin, which had many wharves and warehouses.
Hay and straw arrived by barge for the market. Goods also came for the nearby cavalry barracks on Albany Street. Barges could carry 30 tons of heavy items like stone, lime for building, coal, and timber. These materials were used by local businesses making coaches and furniture. Ice was also brought in for William Leftwich, an ice merchant. He had a huge icehouse under the market, 82 feet deep, that could hold 1,500 tons of ice! Vegetables and even cattle were brought in by canal, meaning they didn't have to be herded through the city streets.
Other Nearby Markets
Clarence Market, the square south of Cumberland Market, was planned for selling fresh vegetables. These vegetables came from market gardens in Middlesex. Later, it became a nursery garden and is now Clarence Gardens. The houses in both Clarence and Cumberland Markets were simple. They were built quickly without much thought for design.
The southernmost square was called York Market, but it was never used for trading. It was later renamed Munster Square. Its houses were small but well-designed.
Early Buildings and Businesses
In the northwest corner of Cumberland Market, on Albany Street, John Nash built the Ophthalmic Hospital. This hospital was for Sir William Adams, who was King George IV's eye doctor. For several years, Adams helped soldiers with eye problems for free.
The hospital closed in 1822. For a while, it was a factory making 'steam guns'. In 1826, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney bought it to build his famous 'steam carriages'. One of these carriages traveled from London to Bath and back in July 1829. However, Gurney couldn't sell his vehicles and had to sell the building in 1832. Sir Felix Booth, a gin distiller, bought it. The building was a landmark until it was badly damaged in World War II and taken down in 1968.
Next to the Ophthalmic Hospital was Christ Church (now St. George's Cathedral). James Pennethorne, Nash's assistant, built it in 1837 for the local working-class community. Over time, changes were made to the church, including adding stained glass windows. One window was even made by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whose family attended the church.
The tall steeple of Christ Church stood out in Cumberland Market. So did the chimney of William Grimble's gin distillery, also on Albany Street. In 1840, Grimble decided to make vinegar from leftover spirit. He partnered with Sir Felix Booth and set up a business in the northeast corner of the market. This didn't work well, so they switched to a more traditional way of making vinegar. The brewery burned down in 1864 but was rebuilt and made bigger soon after.
Impact of Railways
The growth of railways, especially the opening of Euston railway station in 1837, greatly changed the area. The railway construction brought noise, dirt, and many railway workers. Writer Charles Dickens compared the railway work in Camden Town to a "great earthquake."
More Industry and Crowding
More factories started to appear near the canal and railway lines. This meant there was even less space for homes. Houses originally built for middle-class families became overcrowded. For example, terraces on Mornington Crescent and Arlington Road were perfect for many people to share. As many as nine or ten people might live in one house.
By 1852, the Midland Railway was bringing about a fifth of all coal to London through Euston and King's Cross stations. The canal was actually helpful for building St Pancras and King's Cross, as it brought building materials to the sites.
Canal Problems and Social Divide
Even though the canal was still used, it carried less and less. By the 1850s, the Cumberland Basin was described as a "stagnant putrid ditch." This led to health problems like cholera spreading among families who worked on the barges and wharves.
The housing situation got even worse in the next ten years. About 4,000 houses were torn down east of Cumberland Market to build the new St Pancras Station in 1868. This displaced as many as 32,000 people, most without any help or money to find new homes.
By the late 1800s, there was a big difference between rich and poor in this part of London. Cumberland Market was in the middle. Just a short walk west were the wealthy people living in Nash's Chester Terrace. A short distance east were areas described by social writer Charles Booth as being for the "very poor," those always in "chronic want."
Market Life
The hay market operated three days a week, alongside a general produce market. The central market area was cobbled and surrounded by simple houses. Most houses had three floors, some with a basement. While they didn't start as shops, many ground floors were later turned into businesses. At the start of the 1900s, there were 21 different businesses and four pubs in Cumberland Market.
The canal was very good at bringing stone to the Cumberland Basin. Because of this, many businesses making masonry and statuary (statues) opened on Euston Road.
A Home for Artists
The availability of stone, cheap rents, and its closeness to central London attracted many sculptors and artists to set up studios in the Cumberland Market area. Famous sculptors like Mario Raggi, John Henry Foley, and Sir Thomas Brock worked here. Sir Frederic Leighton also had his sculptor's studio on Osnaburgh Street.
Fred Winter, who was in charge of money for the New English Art Club, sculpted at 13 Robert Street. The famous painter Walter Sickert painted in the studio next door in 1894. For a while, he shared it with his old teacher, Whistler. Years later, C.R.W. Nevinson rented the same studio. There, he painted the works for his second exhibition of War Paintings in 1918.
In 1909-10, Sickert rented a studio at 21 Augustus Street. He called it the "Vinegar Factory" because it used to be part of Grimble's Factory. Here, he taught etching. His painting Cumberland Market (around 1910) shows the side window of Charles Chase's bakery at 24 Cumberland Market.
Today, Cumberland Market is best known as the home of Robert Bevan's Cumberland Market Group. It was in his studio at 49 Cumberland Market that he and his friends held their Saturday afternoon "At Homes" during the early days of the First World War.
The artist William Roberts also worked in the market at this time. He mentioned other artists nearby, including Bernard Meninsky, John Flanagan, Colin Gill, and Geoffrey Nelson.
In 1914, the poet Charlotte Mew wrote "The Hay-Market," which gave a clear picture of Cumberland Market and its people. Her description of a woman walking with her young daughter could almost be a scene from one of Bevan's paintings from that time.
Another writer who liked the area was the American "Tramp Poet" Harry Kemp. He rented two rooms in the market in late 1913.
Helping the Community
A few years earlier, Mary Neal, a kind person who helped others, was worried about the poor living conditions. She decided to help girls working in the dressmaking business. With Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, she started the Espérance Girls' Club at 50 Cumberland Market.
The Espérance Girls' Club
The club was open almost every night from 8 to 10 o'clock. One night was for singing, another for musical exercise, and others for games, sewing, or cooking. In 1905, Mary Neal heard about Cecil Sharp's collection of folk songs. She asked him for songs to teach the girls. This was so popular that he was asked to suggest dances to go with the songs. Soon, the Espérance girls were performing their folk dances all over the country. Sharp worked with Herbert MacIlwaine, the club's music director, to create the first of the Morris dance books.
Mary Neal was an early supporter of the Women's Social and Political Union, which fought for women's right to vote. The Espérance Club danced at many of their events. This caused a disagreement between Sharp and Neal. Although she published two Espérance Morris books, the club closed during the First World War.
Managing the Estate
The idea of social change remained important in Cumberland Market. In 1916, Miss M.M. Jeffery, who had been the secretary for the social reformer Octavia Hill, took over three rooms at 42 Cumberland Market. She was put in charge of the Cumberland Market Estate for the Commissioners of Crown Lands (now the Crown Estate Commissioners). This estate had about 850 houses, divided into about 2,000 rented homes, where about 7,000 people lived.
The Market's End
The market continued until the late 1920s. The last trading barges stopped using the canal arm around 1930. Local businesses were closing down. By 1931, only five businesses remained, and the King's Head was the only pub left. In the same year, the buildings on the north side of the market, including Grimble's Vinegar Factory, were torn down. They were replaced by council housing.
Filling in the Canal Arm
In August 1938, the Cumberland Basin was blocked off and drained. Over the next two years, it was officially abandoned. By January 15, 1941, the Basin was filled with rubble from London's bombing during World War II. In the years after the war, the site was covered with topsoil and turned into allotments (small plots of land for growing food).
War Damage and Redevelopment
Because it was so close to both Euston and King's Cross stations, the area was heavily bombed during the Second World War. A V1 rocket hit the northeast corner in 1944. Buildings on the southeast corner were so damaged they couldn't be repaired. There was also general damage from bombs in the southwest corner.
The remaining buildings were demolished in 1950. In 1951, the Crown Estate Commissioners sold the 32 acres (about 130,000 square meters) where Munster Square, Clarence Gardens, and Cumberland Market stood. They sold it to St Pancras Borough Council to build a new housing estate, which became known as Regent's Park Estate.
