Elephant & Castle is a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

station in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

in south

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 on the

Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

branch of the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

between

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

and

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

stations, and is the southern terminus of the

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partly ...

, the next station being Lambeth North. The station is in both Travelcard Zones 1 and 2. The Northern line station was opened in 1890 by the

City and South London Railway The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...

(C&SLR) while the Bakerloo line station was opened sixteen years later by the

Baker Street and Waterloo Railway The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that built a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The company struggled to fund the work, and construction di ...

(BS&WR). There is out-of-station interchange with the nearby Elephant & Castle National Rail station. A girl born at the station in 1924 was the first baby to be born on the Underground network. The Bakerloo line building remains much as originally constructed and is a typical

Leslie Green Leslie William Green (6 February 1875 – 31 August 1908) was an English architect. He is best known for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20t ...

structure. The Northern line building was designed by Thomas Phillips Figgis, and was rebuilt several times until the current structure opened in 2003. Transport for London (TfL) is currently planning a major upgrade to the station. A Bakerloo line extension south to

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

was planned and approved in 1931 but construction never started. Similar proposals have been revived on several occasions; in 2014 TfL ran a consultation on an extension to Hayes and

Beckenham Junction Beckenham Junction is the main railway and tram station in Beckenham in the London Borough of Bromley, south London. The railway stop is on the Chatham Main Line, down the line from and situated between and . The tram stop is one of the east ...

, which is still under consideration.

The station today

Geography

Elephant and Castle statue at Elephant and Castle - geograph

Elephant & Castle is located in the

Elephant and Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station ...

area of Newington in the

in central

. The station is in both Travelcard Zones 1 and 2 and is on the

branch of the

between

and

stations, and is the southern terminus of the

, the next station being Lambeth North. The station has two surface buildings, separated by a large traffic intersection. The northern building provides the most direct access to the Bakerloo line, while the southern one is linked more directly to the Northern line.

Station buildings

Access to the more northerly (Bakerloo) part of the station is via the original building, while the exit is via a new extension next to

Skipton House Skipton House is a high specification office building in Elephant and Castle, Central London. It was built for a Japanese bank and then sold on to accommodate staff of the Department of Health who were moved out of Alexander Fleming House. T ...

. Between the entrance and two shops is the entrance to South London House, an office block above the station. The BS&WR station building remains much as originally constructed and is a typical

structure. The main alteration is a modern glass-sided and glass-topped flat-roofed extension abutting the original western elevation, giving access to three of the six arches. These arches, in a classic deep-red faience style, formed the original perimeter: two are infilled with street-facing shops. As the station also functions as a drivers' depot, London Underground uses the offices above the station for administration and drivers' accommodation. The C&SLR station was designed by Thomas Phillips Figgis in a similar style to Kennington station. It was partially rebuilt in the 1920s when the C&SLR tunnels were modernised, and was rebuilt during the construction of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre and roundabout in the 1960s. This Northern line ticket hall was rebuilt at the start of the 21st century, reopening on 12 December 2003 following 2 years of upgrade work. Neither the Northern line or Bakerloo line ticket halls have escalators. To get from either ticket hall to the platforms it is necessary to use the lifts or spiral stairs. The southern (Northern line) building has lifts from street level down to the level of the southbound Northern line platform, the only step-free platform at the station. From inside the station, the northern exit is labelled "

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

" and emerges at the southern tip of the triangular campus. The southern exit is labelled "Shopping Centre" and also leads to the National Rail station where there is an out-of-station interchange, allowing

Oyster card The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London (and certain areas around it) in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport ...

and contactless payment card users to interchange while paying a single fare for their journey.

Heritage feature and refurbishment

The multi-coloured platform tiles on the Northern line were reconstructed in the 1920s in conjunction with an extension to Morden station. The tiles were carefully replicated in 2006 to replace the originals, which were in poor condition. The original C&SLR tiles dating from 1890 remain on the tunnel roofs of the Northern line platforms, albeit now covered over by the new cable-management system. The station was refurbished in 2007. The original maroon and cream tiling on the Bakerloo line platforms has been covered over. Because of the arrangement of the lighting, cabling and public address loudspeakers, it was not possible to arrange the new roundels at alternate ‘low’ and ‘high’ positions, all being at the lower level.

Services and connections

Bakerloo line

The station is the southern terminus of the Bakerloo line, with northbound trains terminating at either Queen's Park, Stonebridge Park or Harrow & Wealdstone. The typical service pattern in trains per hour (tph) is: * 6tph to Harrow & Wealdstone * 3tph to Stonebridge Park * 5tph to Queen's Park

Northern line

ELEPHANT CASTLE-1 150210 CPS (4363458224)

On this line, the station is on the

or City branch; the next stations are

to the north and

to the south. The typical off-peak service (as of January 2015) in trains per hour (tph) is 10tph northbound to each of

High Barnet Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing Cr ...

and

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

and 20tph southbound to

Morden Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester Pa ...

Connections

London Bus Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn ''omnibus'' service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London b ...

routes 1, 12, 35, 40, 45, 53, 63, 68,

133 133 may refer to: *133 (number) * AD 133 *133 BC *133 (song) *133 (New Jersey bus) 133 may refer to: *133 (number) * AD 133 *133 BC *133 (song) 133 may refer to: *133 (number) *AD 133 *133 BC *133 (song) *133 (New Jersey bus) 133 may refer to: * ...

, 136,

148 148 may refer to: *148 (number), a natural number *AD 148, a year in the 2nd century AD *148 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *148 (album), an album by C418 *148 (Meiktila) Battery Royal Artillery *148 (New Jersey bus) 148 may refer to: *148 (numb ...

, 155, 168,

171 Year 171 (Roman numerals, CLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Herennianus (or, less frequently, year 92 ...

172 Year 172 ( CLXXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scipio and Maximus (or, less frequently, year 925 '' Ab urbe condita ...

176 Year 176 ( CLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Proculus and Aper (or, less frequently, year 929 '' Ab urbe condita'') ...

, 188,

196 Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita ...

333 __NOTOC__ Year 333 ( CCCXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dalmatius and Zenophilus (or, less frequently, year 108 ...

, 343,

344 Year 344 (Roman numerals, CCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Leontius and Bonosus (or, less frequently, year 1097 ...

, 360, 363, 415,

453 __NOTOC__ Year 453 ( CDLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Opilio and Vincomalus (or, less frequently, year 1206 ...

468 __NOTOC__ Year 468 ( CDLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Anthemius without colleague (or, less frequently, year ...

, C10 and P5, including night routes N1, N63, N68, N89, N133, N155, N171 and N343, stop outside the station at either Newington Butts (Northern line entrance, next to the shopping centre) or London Road (Bakerloo line entrance). In addition, bus routes 12, 35, 53, 148, 176, 188, 344 and 453 provide a 24-hour bus service.

History

Northern line

Between 1883 and 1886, a route was planned by the

(C&SLR), then known as the City of London & Southwark Subway (CL&SS), from King William Street via Elephant & Castle to

Stockwell Stockwell is a district in south west London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated south of Charing Cross. Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, South Lambeth, Oval and Kennington all border Stockwell. History The na ...

and

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of gr ...

. The entire route was approved on 25 July 1890 and the station opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the first successful deep-level tube railway. It ran between King William Street and Stockwell. In November 1891, the C&SLR recognised the deficiencies of the section between Borough station and King William Street. A new route was chosen with a different pair of tunnels, avoiding this section. Near Borough, the new tunnels would branch off to

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

to form an interchange with the mainline station and then north through the City of London to

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

. The plan was approved on 24 August 1893 following a delay. The Act also incorporated another bill of 1893 to grant more time to build the southern extension to Clapham. The new route and the first section of the northern extension from Borough to

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, b ...

opened on 25 February 1900, and the King William Street diversion was closed. The southern extension to

opened on 3 June 1900. Work continued on the rest of the northern extension and it opened on 17 November 1901. In 1912, the C&SLR submitted another bill to increase its capacity by enlarging its tunnels to the larger diameter used for the tunnels of the more recently built railways to allow larger, more modern rolling stock to be used. Together, the works proposed in these bills would enable the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR)'s trains to run over the C&SLR's route and vice versa, effectively combining the two separate railways. Tunnel enlargement works only restarted after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when an extension of time was granted in February 1919. The Moorgate to Clapham Common section reopened on 1 December 1924, approximately eight months after the rest of the line. Baker Street & Waterloo Railway 1904

Bakerloo line

In November 1891, a

private bill Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

was presented to Parliament for the construction of the

(BS&WR). The railway was planned to run entirely underground from

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

to Elephant & Castle via

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

and Waterloo and was approved in 1900. Construction commenced in August 1898 under the direction of Sir Benjamin Baker, W.R. Galbraith and R.F. Church with building work by Perry & Company of Tredegar Works, Bow. Test trains began running in 1905. The first section of the BS&WR was between

and Lambeth North. The BS&WR station opened on 5 August 1906, almost five months after the rest of the line.

Incidents

On the morning of 27 November 1923, a slight misjudgement at the end of the tunnel enlargement work left the tunnel unstable near Borough. A collapse on the same day, caused when a train hit temporary shoring near Elephant & Castle, filled the tunnel with wet gravel. Later a gas main exploded, causing a water main to break and leaving a water-filled crater in the middle of the street. The line was briefly split in two, but was completely closed on 28 November 1923. A girl born at the station on 13 May 1924 was the first baby to be born on the Underground network. According to initial press reports, she had been named Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so that her initials would be T.U.B.E.) but this later proved false: her actual name was Mary Ashfield Eleanor Hammond. Her second name Ashfield was from Lord Ashfield, chairman of the railway, who agreed to be the baby's godfather, but said that "it would not do to encourage this sort of thing as I am a busy man."

Station upgrade and expansion

The interchange between the Bakerloo and Northern lines has long been criticised by local residents for its lack of escalators, its winding passageways and its two separate station entrances. Given the increased demand on the Underground station from proposed and under-construction residential development,

Southwark Council Southwark London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a numbe ...

has called for the expansion and redevelopment of the station, noting in 2008 that it was the "final hurdle" of a deal to redevelop the Shopping Centre. In 2018, the redevelopment of the

Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground statio ...

was approved, with a new station entrance as part of the proposal. The upgrade and expansion work will include a new station entrance and ticket hall facing Elephant Square, three new escalators, and lifts providing step-free access to the Northern line platforms. The new entrance would also improve the interchange between the Underground and

Elephant & Castle railway station Elephant & Castle railway station is a National Rail station in Newington, south London. Along with the London Underground station of the same name, it is located in the London Borough of Southwark and is in both Travelcard Zone 1 and 2. The ...

, with a more direct route through the new development. The shell of the new ticket hall will be constructed by the developer Delancey; TfL and Southwark Council will share the £15m cost of connecting the shell to the existing platforms and to "fit out" the new ticket hall with escalators and lifts. The Shopping Centre closed in September 2020, allowing construction work to begin. The new ticket hall is scheduled to open in 2028/9. The new ticket hall has been designed to accommodate the proposed

Bakerloo line extension The Bakerloo line extension is a proposed extension of the London Underground Bakerloo line in South London from its current terminus at to Lewisham station. An extension southwards from Elephant & Castle was considered as early as 1913, with ...

. New Bakerloo tunnels would be dug along with new platforms to accommodate the increase in demand if the Bakerloo line extension comes into service.

Proposals for the future

Bakerloo line extension to southeast London

An extension to

from Elephant & Castle was planned and approved in 1931. Elephant & Castle was also to be reconstructed with a third platform to provide the additional reversing capacity, along with a new ticket hall and escalators. Due to the need to prioritise the extension from

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels often freque ...

, to relieve congestion on the

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...

, as well as financial constraints and the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, no work was carried out on the extension. In the 1950s there was a brief revival of the plan, in which it was proposed that Elephant & Castle would not be altered and the additional turn-round capacity would be provided by making Camberwell a three-platform terminus. The project was ultimately unaffordable owing to post-war austerity, reduced demand, and the disproportionately high cost of the project with a three-platform deep-level terminus and the requirement for new trains and a depot. During 2005–06, a Bakerloo extension was proposed with three route options. The options were extensions to Hayes via

Peckham Rye Peckham Rye is an open space and road in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England. The roughly triangular open space lies to the south of Peckham town centre. It is managed by Southwark Council and consists of two contiguous areas, wit ...

via Camberwell, or Hayes via

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

. In July 2011,

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

recommended an extension of the Bakerloo line from Elephant & Castle to

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

, where it would take over the line to Hayes. In September 2014, Transport for London ran a consultation on the Bakerloo extension to Hayes and Beckenham Junction with options via Lewisham and Camberwell or Old Kent Road, taking over Network Rail's Hayes line. The cost of the extension is estimated at around £2–3 billion with construction expected to take place between the mid-2020s and early 2030s. A February 2017 consultation indicates that the line could extend to Lewisham via Old Kent Road with future extension options later on.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Elephant and Castle Tube Station Bakerloo line stations Northern line stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Southwark London Underground stations located underground Former City and South London Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1890 Former Baker Street and Waterloo Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1906 Leslie Green railway stations

The station today

Geography

Station buildings

Heritage feature and refurbishment

Services and connections

Bakerloo line

Northern line

Connections

History

Northern line

Bakerloo line

Incidents

Station upgrade and expansion

Proposals for the future

Bakerloo line extension to southeast London

Notes and references

Notes

References

Further reading

External links