Agar Town (also known as Ague Town, Hagar Town, Agar-Town and Agar-town) was a short-lived relatively tiny area of St Pancras in central

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It is now the site of

St Pancras railway station St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...

History

The area was named after William Agar, a wealthy lawyer who lived at Elm Lodge, a villa in large grounds near to the

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in eas ...

roughly where Barker Drive stands. Key streets were Canterbury Place, Durham Street, and one of the city's Oxford Crescents. The area contained low-quality housing for the poor and labourers building the houses, made of the lowest quality materials on 21-year

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

s, with no street lighting, cleaning or sewerage. Consequently, Agar Town was generally considered a

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

. This designation has been questioned. The neighbourhood was started in 1841 with Agar's widow leasing out small plots on the north side of the canal. Ownership passed to the Church Commissioners, who sold it to the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

. The company demolished most of the housing to make way for warehouses supplying

from 1866. The name of Agar Town is commemorated by Agar Grove which traces an edge and which was St Paul's Road in "

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...

Cultural reference

The place is sung about in a folk-style song of Richard Guard and Anna Crockatt ''The River Don't Run'', included on an album by Nick Hart. The song describes the demolition of Agar Town and the disappearance of the Fleet river or stream as it was diverted underground to make way for

References

External links

*
Mapping Poverty in Agar Town: Economic Conditions Prior to the Development of St. Pancras Station In 1866Saint Thomas, Agar Town: Camden"Agar Town, Camden" on hidden-london.com
Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Camden {{England-hist-stub

History

Cultural reference

See also

References

External links