Elephant and Castle

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The Elephant and Castle, commonly shortened to the Elephant, is a major road intersection in inner south London, and is also used as a name for the surrounding district. The Elephant consists of two fairly large roundabouts connected by a short road called Elephant and Castle, part of the A3. Adjacent to the northern roundabout is the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, with an office block called Hannibal House on top, and a residential block called Metro Central Heights, formerly Alexander Fleming House — now both widely derided as "ugly". "Elephant and Castle" has largely replaced the original name of the area — Newington.

The roundabouts direct traffic arriving from and heading to the south-east of England along the A2 — called here the New Kent Road and then the Old Kent Road — and towards the south of England on the A3 as well as splitting traffic into the West End and the City of London via St George's Road, London Road and Newington Causeway from the northern roundabout. Newington Butts and Walworth Road adjoin the southern roundabout. The two roundabouts form part of the London Inner Ring Road and as such form part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone.

In the middle of the northern roundabout is the Michael Faraday Memorial, a large stainless steel box built in honour of Michael Faraday who was born nearby. The structure also contains an electrical transformer for the Northern Line.

Famous former residents include Charlie Chaplin and Michael Caine who were born and grew up locally. Electronic musician Aphex Twin lives in a converted bank in the area .

The Elephant is also home to Elephant & Castle station, Skipton House (housing the Department of Health), London South Bank University, London College of Communication, the Ministry of Sound nightclub and the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

History

An elephant and a castle

The name of the area derives from a pub of the same name in the area. The earliest surviving record of the pub's name is in the Court Leet Book of the Manor of Walworth. The court had met at "Elephant and Castle, Newington" on 21 March 1765.

The name itself predates this account. Apocryphally, it is a corruption of the Spanish Infanta de Castile, meaning the eldest daughter of a monarch, who had supposedly landed by Royal Barge in Newington (renamed Elephant and Castle in honour of Catherine) sometime during 1501, as the betrothed to Arthur, Henry VIII's elder brother who died leaving Catherine a widow. Another explanation is that the land belonged to the Cutlers' Company, who had an elephant and a castle on their coat of arms. The elephant referred to the ivory used to make handles for expensive cutlery.

The elephant and castle symbol was also used in a trade that made a far more important contribution to the London economy. It was the symbol of the Royal African Company, a group of slave-traders headed by the Stuart royal family when it retook the throne in 1660. Between the 1660s and the 1720s the company's symbol was used on British guinea coins to indicate that the source of the gold was the company's activity in Africa.

In recent times, the area has had a reputation for successful ethnic diversity and centrality. The area's proximity to the major areas of employment, including Westminster, the West End and the City, has meant that a certain amount of gentrification has taken place.

Regeneration project

Elephant and Castle from above, looking North. The low building on the right is the shopping centre

The area is now subject to a masterplanned redevelopment budgeted at £1.5 billion. A Development Framework was approved by Southwark Council in 2004. It covers an area of 170 acres (688,000 m²) and envisages restoring the Elephant and Castle to the role of major urban hub for inner South London which it occupied before World War II. Planned features include:

800,000 square feet (75,000 m²) of retail space (this is far larger than the existing shopping centre)
5,300 new and replacement homes
five new open spaces
an integrated public transport hub and two tram routes
a new City academy

There will be major changes to the road intersection designed to make the area more pedestrian friendly. Walworth Road will be expanded to the north through the site of the former shopping centre, creating a pedestrianised boulevard to what is now the northern roundabout. This roundabout will be turned into a public square. Two skyscrapers will flank the boulevard. A substantial amount of post World War II social housing which is deemed to have "failed" will be demolished, including the Heygate Estate. This will replaced with new housing developments comprised of a mix of social and private sector housing.

The current timetable, which like any large development project may be subject to delays, is as follows:

The current shopping centre, scheduled for demolition in 2010

2005 Selection of commercial development partner.
2006 First residential projects commence/ Removal of round-abouts and subways.
2005–2010 Development of the southernmost section of the regeneration area including the Walworth Road extension, the Heygate Boulevard and St Mary's Churchyard.
2006–2011 Phased demolition of the Heygate Estate and relocation of tenants to new social housing in and around Elephant & Castle.
2010 Demolition of the Elephant and Castle shopping centre.
2010–2014 Construction of the Civic Square and start of development on the Heygate footprint.
2014 Completion.

External links

[Elephant and Castle regeneration masterplan]
[Map of Elephant and Castle and surrounding districts]
[Save the Elephant Shopping Centre]
[What is the origin of Elephant and Castle?]
[Multiplex unveils Elephant skyscraper plan], 5 December 2005
[Elephant subways to be removed], 24 January 2006

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