A Sense of Place

One of the things that constantly surprises me about London is the imperceptible way in which the atmosphere of an area can change over a very short distance. The district may be architecturally or topographically almost identical to its neighbours, yet there is a distinct shift in atmosphere.  One such place is Clerkenwell, wedged between the corporate might of the City, intellectual Bloomsbury and trendy Islington.

Travelling through Clerkenwell on a bus many years ago, I remember being struck by its rather desolate and faded air.  Even in the middle of a sunny working day, there seemed an emptiness about the place in stark  contrast to its neighbouring districts. It has since undergone a spectacular regeneration, its warehouses converted into lofts, its streets dotted with interior design and IT offices, smart restaurants, cafés and delis. And yet you don't have to go far to find evidence of the Clerkenwell of former days.  Just turn a corner or venture down one of the many alleyways and courts and the mood can rapidly change....

Peter Ackroyd describes Clerkenwell as one of those enchanted areas which "remain powerful and visible to anyone who cares to look for them." (1)  Despite the recent spate of redevelopment, it still exhibits what he terms "other signs and tokens of a different city ......examples of the many continuities that charge Clerkenwell and its environs with an essential presence."  Over the centuries it has been home to rebels, outcasts, prostitutes, political dissenters and radicals including Jesuits, Chartists, Lollards, Quakers and Freemasons.  Charles Dickens used Clerkenwell Green as the setting for the scene in Oliver Twist where Fagin and the Artful Dodger teach Oliver the art of pickpocketing.  Lenin set up a socialist printing press in the same place, his office now preserved in the Marx Memorial Library.  Clock and watch makers, jewellers and printers practice their trade in the area as they have done for centuries.   Ackroyd claims that this continued human activity contributes to a kind of melancholy which derives from "the weariness of prolonged human settlement with all the cares and woes which it brings."

Whatever the reason, Clerkenwell exerts a powerful fascination - its melancholy atmosphere still tangible after all these years.  In certain corners, time seems to have veritably stood still....

(1)  Ackroyd, Peter  London The Biography