Chancery Lane 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 on the Central Line between

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

and The City in Central London, England. It has entrances within both the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and ...

and the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. It opened in 1900 and takes its name from the nearby

Chancery Lane Chancery Lane is a one-way street situated in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. It has formed the western boundary of the City since 1994, having previously been divided between the City of Westminster and the London Boro ...

. The station is located between St Paul's and

stations, within fare zone 1. It is located at the junction of

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and ...

Hatton Garden Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favouri ...

and

Gray's Inn Road Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...

, with subway entrances giving access to the ticket office under the roadway. Chancery Lane is one of the few London Underground stations which have no associated buildings above ground.

History

The station was opened by the

Central London Railway The Central London Railway (CLR), also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railwayA "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a cylindrical tunnel by the use of a tunnelling shield, usually deep below g ...

(CLR) on 30 July 1900. The current station entrance is not the original. The original, disused station building is on the north side of

at Nos. 31–33, approximately to the west, closer to High Holborn's junction with

. Originally provided with four lifts between ground and platform levels, the station was rebuilt in the early 1930s to operate with

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

s. It was not possible to construct the inclined escalator shaft between the platforms and the existing entrance, so a new sub-surface ticket hall was constructed below the road junction. The new station entrance came into use on 25 June 1934. The old entrance building became redundant and, in recognition of the location of the new entrance, the station was renamed Chancery Lane (

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

), although the suffix subsequently fell out of use. When the CLR excavated the running tunnels it routed them to avoid passing under surface buildings in order to limit the risk to the buildings from vibration. At Chancery Lane, the eastbound tunnel runs above the westbound one. It is one of eight Underground stations with a deep-level air-raid shelter underneath it; after

World War II 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 opposing ...

this was turned into

Kingsway telephone exchange Kingsway telephone exchange was a Cold War-era hardened telephone exchange underneath High Holborn in London. Initially built as a deep-level air-raid shelter in the early 1940s, it was instead used as a government communications centre. In 194 ...

. Access to the shelter was via the original station building and lift shaft as well as subsidiary entrances in Furnival Street and Took's Court.

Accidents and incidents

On 25 January 2003, a 1992 Stock train derailed at Chancery Lane, injuring 32 passengers, after a motor became detached from the train. All services on the entire Central line and the

Waterloo & City line The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a London Underground shuttle line that runs between Waterloo and Bank with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Hampsh ...

(which used the same type of train) were suspended, as the trains had to be taken out of service whilst the cause of the failure was determined and appropriate modifications made to the trains.

Connections

London Buses routes 8, 17, 46 and

521 Z45 45 Year 521 (Roman numerals, DXXI) 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 Justinian I, Sabbatius and Valerius (or, le ...

and night routes N8 and N25 serve the station.

Gallery

File:Chancery Lane station building.jpg, Chancery Lane original station building File:Chancery Lane stn eastbound.JPG, Eastbound platform looking west File:Chancery Lane stn westbound look east.JPG, Westbound platform looking east File:Chancery Lane Shortest escalator.jpg, The second shortest escalator on the Tube network File:Chancery Lane stn roundel.JPG, Roundel, eastbound platform File:Chancery_Lane_Tube.jpg, Southern entrance

References

External links

London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** ** {{Central line navbox Central line (London Underground) stations London Underground Night Tube stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Camden Former Central London Railway stations London Underground stations located underground Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1900 Disasters on the London Underground Derailments in the United Kingdom