Oval 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 counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

station in the

London Borough of Lambeth Lambeth () is a London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London is at Frazier S ...

. It is on 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, t ...

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

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 name ...

stations and is in

Travelcard Zone 2 Fare zone 2 is an inner zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. Ba ...

. It opened on 18 December 1890 as part of 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 ...

and is named after

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

cricket ground, which it serves.

Location

The station is located at the junction of

Kennington Park Road Kennington Park Road is a main road in south-east London, England, and is part of the A3 trunk road. It runs from Newington Butts at its Y-junction with Kennington Lane, south-west to the Oval, where the A3 continues as Clapham Road, towards ...

(heading north-east), Camberwell New Road (south-east), Clapham Road (south west) and Harleyford Street (north west) and is about 500 yards from The Oval cricket ground.Google Maps – Oval Tube Station
/ref> Also close by are

Kennington Park Kennington Park is a public park in Kennington, south London and lies between Kennington Park Road and St. Agnes Place. It was opened in 1854 on the site of what had been Kennington Common, where the Chartists gathered for their biggest "mons ...

and the imposing St Mark's Church.

History

The City and South London Railway opened to passengers between Stockwell and King William Street on 18 December 1890, and was both the first standard gauge tube and the first railway to employ electric traction in London. To avoid disturbance of surface buildings the construction of the tube was shield-driven at deep level, and much of the work was done via shafts at station sites which later contained the passenger lifts. Oval tube station was the intended site of one of the attempted London bombings on 21 July 2005.

Station building

The Oval station, opened as Kennington Oval, was designed by Thomas Phillips Figgis with elements of early

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

and neo-classical detailing. The structure was made distinctive by a lead-covered dome with cupola lantern and weathervane which housed some of the lift equipment; the main part of the building was of red brick. The station building was rebuilt in the early 1920s when the line was modernised and was refurbished during late 1997/early 1998 at street level with a modern tiling scheme inside and out, adding a full-length glazed canopy and giving the station a more modern look. Reflecting its proximity to the cricket ground, the internal decorative tiling features large images of cricketers in various stances. In 2004 station staff started to use a whiteboard to display a handwritten "thought of the day" from the ''

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion ...

'' for the benefit of passengers. This idea then spread to other Underground stations such as North Greenwich, where the content relates to events at the nearby

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena (London) *O2 Arena (Prague) *The 3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 Decemb ...

Services and connections

Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally operate every 3–6 minutes between 06:03 and 00:27 in both directions.

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 ...

routes 3, 36, 59,

133 133 may refer to: *133 (number) *AD 133 *133 BC *133 (song) 133 may refer to: *133 (number) *AD 133 *133 BC __NOTOC__ Year 133 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scaevola ...

, 155, 159,

185 Year 185 ( CLXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lascivius and Atilius (or, less frequently, year 938 ''Ab urbe con ...

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 10 ...

, 415 and

436 __NOTOC__ Year 436 ( CDXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Isodorus and Senator (or, less frequently, year 1189 ' ...

and night routes N3, N109, N133, N136 and N155 serve the station.

In popular culture

The station was mocked up by the television series '' Survivors: The Lights of London parts 1 & 2'', broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

on 14 and 21 April 1976. However, the filmed site was actually at Camden Town deep-level shelter.Survivors – The Lights of London parts 1 & 2 14-21/04/76 BBC1
/ref>

Gallery

File:Interior of Oval Tube Station.jpg, Station interior File:Oval station northbound look south.JPG, Northbound platform looking south File:Oval station southbound look north.JPG, Southbound platform looking north. It is directly below the northbound platform. File:Oval Tube roundel.jpg, Station platform roundel

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** {{Northern line navbox Northern line stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Lambeth Former City and South London Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1890 London Underground stations located underground Kennington London Underground Night Tube stations 1890 establishments in England