Hungerford Stairs

Steps in/near Charing Cross, existed between 1680 and 1862.

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Steps · * · WC2N ·
APRIL
23
2017
The Hungerford Stairs were the entrance point to Hungerford Market from the River Thames. They are now the site of Charing Cross railway Station.

Hungerford Market occupied a strip 126 feet wide, extending 465 feet northward towards the Strand. The market had been built in 1680 and rebuilt in 1831 and was named after the Hungerford family of Farleigh Castle, near Bath in Somerset.

The site had become the property of the Hungerford family in 1425, when it was acquired from Sir Robert Chalons and his wife Blanche by Sir Walter Hungerford (later Baron Hungerford), Speaker of the House of Commons and Steward of the Household of King Henry V. It finally passed down the family to Sir Edward Hungerford (1632–1711), created a Knight of the Order of the Bath at the coronation of Charles II.

Before its rebuilding, Hungerford Market was called "a disgrace to the metropolis" (Mogg’s New Picture of London and Visitor’s Guide to it Sights, 1844). Mogg further says: "The present elegant and convenient structure was erected from designs by Mr. Fowler in 1831 and 1833."

The market consisted of three divisions. The upper one formed a quadrangle, flanked by colonnades with dwellings and shops. The centre - a great hall - was formed of four rows of granite columns, with arches springing from them to support the roof. Hungerford Market specialised in food: meat, poultry, fruit, vegetables, butter and eggs.

By 1830 the replacement of Old London Bridge meant that fishing boats could then come further upstream to deliver their catch. So the owners of the market hoped to break the monopoly of Billingsgate Market by providing a more convenient supply of fish for the West End. Hence a lower quadrangle was accessible by a spacious flight of steps and contained a fish market.

Down Hungerford Stairs was a wharf, about 200 feet long with steps down to the water, where landings could be made. The formation of floating piers at the quay facilitated the arrival and departure of numerous steamboats that left during the summer months every quarter of an hour, for the City, Westminster and Vauxhall, and at other times for Greenwich and Woolwich.

During a period when Charles Dickens’s father faced financial challenges, Charles was sent to labour at Warren’s Blacking Factory situated near Hungerford Stairs. Notably, the Micawber family in Dickens’s works also temporarily resided at Hungerford Stairs before embarking on their journey to Australia. When Dickens passed away, his coffin was transported from Rochester to Charing Cross Station for the final burial at Westminster Abbey.

When the site of the market was sold to the South Eastern Railway, the railway company demolished both it and the stairs, building Charing Cross railway station over the top.


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Comment
Linda Webb   
Added: 27 Sep 2021 05:51 GMT   

Hungerford Stairs
In 1794 my ancestor, George Webb, Clay Pipe Maker, lived in Hungerford Stairs, Strand. Source: Wakefields Merchant & Tradesmens General Directory London Westminster 1794

Source: Hungerford Stairs

Reply
Lived here
Richard Roques   
Added: 21 Jan 2021 16:53 GMT   

Buckingham Street residents
Here in Buckingham Street lived Samuel Pepys the diarist, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling

Reply

The Underground Map   
Added: 8 Dec 2020 00:24 GMT   

Othello takes a bow
On 1 November 1604, William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello was presented for the first time, at The Palace of Whitehall. The palace was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698. Seven years to the day, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy The Tempest was also presented for the first time, and also at the Palace of Whitehall.

Reply
Comment
Simon   
Added: 15 Jan 2024 15:44 GMT   

Simon De Charmes, clockmaker
De Charmes (or Des Charmes), Simon, of French Huguenot extraction. Recorded 1688 and Free of the Clockmakers’ Company 1691-1730. In London until 1704 at least at ’his House, the Sign of the Clock, the Corner of Warwick St, Charing Cross’. See Brian Loomes The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain, NAG Press, 1981, p.188

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Comment
Jude Allen   
Added: 29 Jul 2021 07:53 GMT   

Bra top
I jave a jewelled item of clothong worn by a revie girl.
It is red with diamante straps. Inside it jas a label Bermans Revue 16 Orange Street but I cannot find any info online about the revue only that 16 Orange Street used to be a theatre. Does any one know about the revue. I would be intesrested to imagine the wearer of the article and her London life.

Reply
Lived here
Linda WEBB   
Added: 8 Jun 2023 23:16 GMT   

Craven Street, WC2N
James webb lived in Craven Street Westminster. He died in 1758 and his states he was of Craven Street.
FROM England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 for James Webb PROB 11: Will Registers
1773-1776 Piece 1004: Alexander, Quire Numbers 1-45 (1775)

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

Reply

NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

Reply
Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

Reply
Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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Comment
Gillian   
Added: 17 Feb 2024 00:08 GMT   

No 36 Upper East Smithfield
My great great grandfather was born at No 36 Upper East Smithfield and spent his early years staring out at a "dead wall" of St Katharine’s Docks. His father was an outfitter and sold clothing for sailors. He describes the place as being backed by tenements in terrible condition and most of the people living there were Irish.

Reply

Kevin Pont   
Added: 16 Feb 2024 20:32 GMT   

Name origin
Interestingly South Lambeth derives its name from the same source as Lambeth itself - a landing place for lambs.

But South Lambeth has no landing place - it is not on the River Thames

Reply

C Hobbs   
Added: 31 Jan 2024 23:53 GMT   

George Gut (1853 - 1861)
George Gut, Master Baker lived with his family in Long Lane.
George was born in Bernbach, Hesse, Germany and came to the UK sometime in the 1840s. In 1849, George married an Englishwoman called Matilda Baker and became a nauralized Englishman. He was given the Freedom of the City of London (by Redemption in the Company of Bakers), in 1853 and was at that time, recorded as living at 3 Long Lane. In the 1861 census, George Gut was living at 11 Long Lane.

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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William Shakespeare
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Transmission
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William Shakespeare
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Trafalgar Square was a former station on the Bakerloo Line before it combined with Strand station on the Northern Line to become the new Charing Cross underground station.
Credit: The Underground Map
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Strand stretches along the River Thames between Trafalgar Square and Aldwych
Credit: The Underground Map
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Waterloo Bridge on an 1810 map.
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Buses outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, early twentieth century
Credit: Stockholm Transport Museum
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The Sea Life London Aquarium is located on the ground floor of County Hall on the South Bank of the River Thames, near the London Eye. It opened in March 1997 as the London Aquarium and hosts about one million visitors each year.
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The Royal Opera House, Bow Street frontage, with the statue of Dame Ninette de Valois in the foreground
Credit: Russ London
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London Hippodrome in 2017
Credit: Ethan Doyle White
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Sectional view of Wyld’s Great Globe, which stood in Leicester Square, London 1851–62
Credit: Illustrated London News
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Trafalgar Square (1905) The steeplejack firm of W. Larkins Co Ltd. are at work cleaning Nelson’s Column for the first time since it was erected in 1843. The firm had been founded by Willliam Larkins in 1897 and he is pictured at the top next to Lord Nelson.
Licence: CC BY 2.0




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