Holborn Circus is a five-way junction at the western extreme of 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 ...

, specifically 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 ro ...

(St Andrew) and its

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 ...

(St Alban) part. Its main, east–west, route is the inchoate

A40 road A4 most often refers to: *A4 paper, a paper size defined by the ISO 216 standard, measuring 210 × 297 mm A4 and variants may also refer to: Science and mathematics * British NVC community A4 (''Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloide ...

. It was designed by the engineer William Haywood and opened in 1867. The term ''circus'' describes how the frontages of the buildings facing curved round in a concave chamfer. These, in part replaced with glass and metal-clad buildings, remain well set back. The place was described in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

' ''Dictionary of London'' (1879) as "perhaps... the finest piece of street architecture in the City".

Roads

DISTRICT(1888) p091 - Holborn Circus (map)

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 S ...

(part of the

) links Holborn Circus to the West End. To the east,

Holborn Viaduct Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it (which forms part of the A40 route). It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London financial district, passing ov ...

leads into the

financial district. To the north Charterhouse Street and London's jewellery trade district of

is in 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 S ...

. The district of

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redis ...

is to the north-east. New Fetter Lane (the start of the

A4 road This is a list of roads designated A4. A4 is the name of several roads: * A004 road (Argentina), a road connecting Buenos Aires-La Plata highway with the Juan María Gutiérrez circle * A4 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Vienna and Nickels ...

) exits to the south, a few metres along which a brief lane, without motor vehicle access at its south end, leads towards Blackfriars, which changes name twice along its course.

Layout changes

Holborn Circus was a frequent

accident blackspot In road safety management, an accident blackspot or black spot is a place where road traffic accidents have historically been concentrated. It may have occurred for a variety of reasons, such as a sharp drop or corner in a straight road, so oncom ...

, topping a list of the worst such sites in 2012. This was partly due to it being a multi-arm junction, that was a signalised roundabout, and had poor visibility due to the central statue. The

Clear Zone Partnership Clear may refer to: *Transparency and translucency, the physical property of allowing light to pass through Arts and entertainment Music Groups * Clear (Christian band), an American CCM group from Cambridge, Minnesota * Clear (hardcore band), a ...

between the

and the

identified the need to simplify and improve this junction in road safety terms. The

identified the opportunity to redirect St Andrew's Street into New Fetter Lane. To create a new paved space beside the church and to reduce the number of arms of the junction. Despite this traffic modelling still could not make the traffic flow adequately work for this new junction design. The

then saw that by relocating the statue to beside the junction it could be seen and appreciated up close by people, and this would allow a smaller, and potentially safer junction, which became the successful design. In May 2012 funding was secured for a £4.4 million improvement project to the junction to reduce its high accident rate. Works included the relocation of the statue from the centre of the junction where it obstructed drivers' sight lines to a nearby position on High Holborn. The number of roads feeding into the junction was also reduced from six to five, with St Andrew Street now accessed from New Fetter Lane.

Surrounding buildings

On one side lies the church of

St Andrew, Holborn The Church of St Andrew, Holborn, is a Church of England church on the northwestern edge of the City of London, on Holborn within the Ward of Farringdon Without. History Roman and medieval Roman pottery was found on the site during 2001/02 ...

, an ancient guild church that survived the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...

. However, the parochial authority decided to commission

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 church ...

to rebuild it. Although the nave was destroyed in

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, the reconstruction was faithful to Wren's original. Many other buildings surrounding Holborn Circus were severely damaged during the Blitz. After the Second World War, many were demolished. From 1961 to 1994 the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

headquarters of the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its Masthead (British publishing), masthead was simpl ...

'', designed by Sir Owen Williams and Anderson, Forster and Wilcox, were a prominent landmark overlooking the junction. The site is now occupied by the headquarters of the supermarket

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

Prince Albert statue

Prince Albert Equestrian Statue, Holborn

To the west of Holborn Circus there is an equestrian statue of Prince Albert by

Charles Bacon Charles James Bacon Jr. (January 9, 1885 – November 15, 1968) was an American athlete and a member of the Irish American Athletic Club and the New York City Police Department. He won the 400 metres hurdles at the 1908 Summer Olympics. H ...

(1874) which is the City of London's official monument to him. This bronze statue was originally sited in the middle of the circus and was moved in 2014 as part of improvement works to the junction. The statue features the prince consort in a field marshal's uniform raising his hat. The sculpture sits on an oblong plinth displaying plaques of

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Grea ...

, Albert and bronze figures representing commerce and peace. It was presented by Charles Oppenheim, of the diamond trading company

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and ...

, whose headquarters is on nearby

Charterhouse Street Charterhouse Street is a street on the north side of Smithfield in the City of London. The road forms part of the City’s boundary with the neighbouring London Boroughs of Islington and Camden. It connects Charterhouse Square and Holborn Circ ...

References

*Google Maps

External links