When a civilization ends, it does not leave behind a tombstone. Instead, it leaves stackings of stones (i.e. buildings.) We lose the remembrance of individual people, the things they said, did, and wrote, but we remember what they built because those things endure for much longer. The Ancient Greeks and Romans tell us about themselves through their Classical Architecture. We remember the Medieval period in Europe from its castles and Gothic Cathedrals. We remember the early 20th century from the Art Deco buildings it left behind. The style tells us something about their priorities, what they believed, what they knew, and what their hopes were. In a sense, the buildings a culture leaves behind are a kind of epitaph.
Let’s look through the structural epitaphs of our ancestors.
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St Pancras Railway Station (London)
I am American. If a Brit looks at me sideways, I am culturally (and maybe legally – I haven’t checked recently) obligated to empty my tea into the nearest large body of water. However, sometimes, I have very boisterously British reactions to certain things. And when those certain things happen, it’s as if 1776 never happened and King George is forgiven. This railway station building makes me want to sing.
St. Pancras is MAJESTIC! London has so much ugly modern architecture, that it kind of stands apart from much of the rest of “tourism Europe,” (or I guess “tourism U.K.” depending on whether the U.K. is Europe or not) but despite the blight of modernism in all directions, the city still has still some beautiful buildings, too.
Before I get into the building itself… who is St. Pancras? The station is named after St. Pancras parish, and St. Pancras parish gets its name from the 4th century Christian martyr, St. Pancras of Rome. (via wiki)
Pancras (Latin: Sanctus Pancratius) was a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity and was beheaded for his faith at the age of fourteen, around the year 304. His name is Greek (Πανκράτιος Pankrátios), meaning ‘all-powerful’.
Since 1969, Pancras has been venerated separately, still on 12 May. He is traditionally the second of the Ice Saints. In the Syriac traditions he is known as Mor Izozoel (Mar Azazael), remembered on 12 May and 12 August. He is the patron saint of children.
Because he was said to have been martyred at the age of fourteen during the persecution under Diocletian, Pancras would have been born around 289, at a place designated as near Synnada, a city of Phrygia Salutaris, to parents of Roman citizenship. When Pancras was nine years old, his mother Cyriada died during childbirth; his father died of grief not long after. Pancras was entrusted to his uncle Dionysius’ care. They both moved to Rome to live in a villa on the Caelian Hill. They were converted to Christianity by one Marcellinus, and Pancras became a zealous adherent of the religion. Dionysius subsequently died, leaving Pancras on his own.
During the persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, around 303 AD, he was brought before the authorities and asked to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods. Diocletian, impressed with the boy’s determination to resist, promised him wealth and power, but Pancras refused, and finally the emperor ordered him to be beheaded on the Via Aurelia, on 12 May 303 AD. This traditional year of his martyrdom cannot be squared with the saint’s defiance of Diocletian in Rome, which the emperor had not visited since 286, nor with the mention of Cornelius (251–253) as Bishop of Rome at the time of the martyrdom, as the most recent monograph on Pancras’ texts and cult has pointed out.
A Roman matron named Octavilla recovered Pancras’ body, covered it with balsam, wrapped it in precious linens, and buried it in a newly built sepulchre dug in the Catacombs of Rome. Pancras’ head was placed in the reliquary that still exists today in the Basilica of Saint Pancras.
Naming your district / train station after an oddly named saint whose name means “all-powerful” is a thing you must strive to live up to, and the Victorian Londoners clearly did. For more on the station itself (via wiki):
The station was constructed by the Midland Railway (MR), to connect its extensive rail network, across the Midlands and North of England, to a dedicated line into London. After rail traffic problems following the 1862 International Exhibition, the MR decided to build a connection from Bedford to London with its own terminus. The station was designed by William Henry Barlow, with wrought iron pillars supporting a single-span roof. At 689 feet (210 m) by 240 feet (73.2 m) wide, and 100 feet (30.5 m) high, it was then the largest enclosed space in the world. Following the station’s opening 1 October 1868, the MR built the Midland Grand Hotel on the station’s façade. George Gilbert Scott won the competition to design it, with an ornate Gothic red-brick scheme. St Pancras has been widely praised for its architecture and is now a Grade I listed building.
St Pancras came under threat during the 20th century; damaged in both World War I and World War II by bombs, and then in the late 1960s by plans to demolish it entirely and divert services to King’s Cross and Euston. A passionate campaign to save the station, led by the Victorian Society, Jane Hughes Fawcett, and Poet Laureate John Betjeman, was successful, and St Pancras was awarded Grade I listed status just 10 days before demolition was due to commence.
At the start of the 21st century, the complex underwent an £800 million refurbishment to become the terminal for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link/High-Speed 1/HS1 as part of an urban regeneration plan across East London, and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 2007. A security-sealed terminal area was constructed for Eurostar services to mainland Europe via High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel, with platforms for domestic trains to the north and south-east of England. The restored station has 15 platforms, a shopping centre, and a coach facility. London St Pancras International is owned by HS1 Ltd and managed by Network Rail (High Speed), a subsidiary of Network Rail.
International station
Design
The original plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) involved a tunnel from south-east of London to an underground terminus in the vicinity of King’s Cross. However, a late change of plan, principally driven by the then Secretary of State for the EnvironmentMichael Heseltine‘s desire for urban regeneration in east London, led to a change of route, with the new line approaching London from the east. This opened the possibility of reusing St Pancras as the terminus, with access via the North London Line, which crosses the throat of the station.
The idea of using the North London line was rejected in 1994 by the transport secretary, John MacGregor, as “difficult to construct and environmentally damaging”. However, the idea of using St Pancras station as the terminus was retained, albeit now linked by 12.4 miles (20 km) of new tunnels to Dagenham via Stratford.
London and Continental Railways (LCR), created at the time of British Rail privatisation, was selected by the government in 1996 to reconstruct St Pancras, build the CTRL, and take over the British share of the Eurostar operation. LCR had owned St Pancras station since privatisation to allow the station to be redeveloped. Financial difficulties in 1998, and the collapse of Railtrack in 2001, caused some revision of this plan, but LCR retained ownership of the station.
The design and project management of reconstruction was undertaken on behalf of LCR by Rail Link Engineering (RLE), a consortium of Bechtel, Arup, Systra and Halcrow. The original reference design for the station was by Nick Derbyshire, former head of British Rail’s in-house architecture team. The master plan of the complex was by Foster and Partners, and the lead architect of the reconstruction was Alistair Lansley, a former colleague of Nick Derbyshire recruited by RLE.
To accommodate 300-metre+ Eurostar trains, and to provide capacity for the existing trains to the Midlands and the new Kent services on the high-speed rail link, the train shed was extended a considerable distance northwards by a new flat-roofed shed. The station was initially planned to have 13 platforms under this extended train shed. East Midlands services would use the western platforms, Eurostar services the middle platforms, and Kent services the eastern platforms. The Eurostar platforms and one of the Midland platforms would extend back into the Barlow train shed. Access to Eurostar for departing passengers would be via a departure suite on the west of the station, and then to the platforms by a bridge above the tracks within the historic train shed. Arriving Eurostar passengers would leave the station by a new concourse at its north end.
This original design was later modified, with access to the Eurostar platforms from below, using the station undercroft and allowing the deletion of the visually intrusive bridge. By dropping the extension of any of the Midland platforms into the train shed, space was freed up to allow wells to be constructed in the station floor, which provided daylight and access to the undercroft.
The reconstruction of the station was recorded in the BBC Television documentary series The Eight Hundred Million Pound Railway Station broadcast as six 30-minute episodes between 13‒28 November 2007.
By early 2004, the eastern side of the extended train shed was complete, and the Barlow train shed was closed to trains. From 12 April 2004, Midland Mainline trains terminated at an interim station occupying the eastern part of the extension immediately adjacent to the entrance.
As part of the construction of the western side of the new train shed that now began, an underground “box” was constructed to house new platforms for Thameslink, which at this point ran partially under the extended station. In order for this to happen, the existing Thameslink tunnels between Kentish Town and King’s Cross Thameslink were closed between 11 September 2004 and 15 May 2005 while the works were carried out. Thameslink services from the north terminated in the same platforms as the Midland Main Line trains, while services from the south terminated at King’s Cross Thameslink.
When the lines were re-opened, the new station box was still only a bare concrete shell and could not take passengers. Thameslink trains reverted to their previous route but ran through the station box without stopping. The budget for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link works did not include work on the fitting out of the station, as these works had originally been part of the separate Thameslink 2000 works programme. Despite lobbying by rail operators who wished to see the station open at the same time as St Pancras International, the Government failed to provide additional funding to allow the fit-out works to be completed immediately following the line blockade. Eventually, on 8 February 2006, Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, announced £50 million funding for the fit-out of the station, plus another £10–15 million for the installation of associated signalling and other lineside works.
St Pancras Renaissance London Hotel extension under construction
The fit-out works were designed by Chapman Taylor and Arup (Eurostar) and completed by ISG Interior Plc Contractors collaborating with Bechtel as Project Managers. The client was London and Continental Railways who were advised by Hitachi Consulting.
In 2005, planning consent was granted for a refurbishment of the former Midland Grand Hotel building, with plans to refurbish and extend it as a hotel and apartment block. The newly refurbished hotel opened to guests on 21 March 2011 with a grand opening ceremony on 5 May.
By the middle of 2006, the western side of the train shed extension was completed. The rebuilding cost was in the region of £800 million, up from an initial estimate of £310 million.
There are several works of art on public display at St Pancras. A 9-metre (29.5 ft) high 20-tonne (19.7-long-ton; 22.0-short-ton) bronze statue titled The Meeting Place stands at the south end of the upper level beneath the station clock. It was designed by the British artist Paul Day to evoke the romance of travel through the depiction of a couple locked in an amorous embrace. Controversy was caused by Day’s 2008 addition of a bronze relief frieze around the plinth, depicting a commuter falling into the path of an Underground train driven by the Grim Reaper. Day revised the frieze before the final version was installed.
One of the pianos in the St Pancras concourse
On the upper level, above the Arcade concourse, stands a bronze statue of John Betjeman, depicted gazing in apparent wonder at the Barlow roof. A work of the British sculptor Martin Jennings, the statue commemorates Betjeman’s part in a successful campaign to save the station from demolition in the 1960s. The 2-metre (6 ft 7 in)-high statue stands on a flat disc of Cumbrian slate inscribed with lines from Betjeman’s poem Cornish Cliffs:
And in the shadowless unclouded glare / Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where / A misty sea-line meets the wash of air.
— John Betjeman, Cornish Cliffs,
Public piano
There are a number of upright pianos in the main St Pancras concourse that are available for anyone to play. In 2016, Elton John gave an impromptu performance here on a piano he subsequently donated to the station as a gift.
As the wiki article does not do full justice to this grand old station, I will give you some links to a virtual tour below.
Now if you will excuse me, I have some more “Rule Britannia” to sing while I prepare for tea time.
♫When Britain first, at heaven’s command Arose from out the azure main Arose arose from out the azure main This was the charter, the charter of the land And Guardian Angels sang this strain:
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves
Still more majestic shalt thou risе More dreadful from each forеign stroke More dreadful, dreadful from each foreign stroke As the loud blast that tears the skies Serves but to root thy native oak
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves
Thee haughty tyrants ne’er shall tame; All their attempts to bend thee down All their, all their attempts to bend thee down Will but arouse, arouse thy generous flame But work their woe and thy renown
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves
The Muses, with freedom found Shall to thy happy coasts repair Shall to thy happy, happy coasts repair Blest isle! with matchless With matchless beauty crowned And manly hearts to guard the fair
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves♫
Yeah, I enjoy figuring out strange English terms, names, etc. A lot of who they are did not make its way across the pond with the founding of the U.S. I think a lot of that is that England still carries a lot of vestiges of its former Catholicism (or High Anglicanism if you want to give credit there) background. But the Brits who settled here were not only Protestant, they were also of the vintage that were breaking away from the Church of England. So there was even more separation.
But the more fun things are usually food-related. I’d like to make “bangers and mash” a term we use in the U.S.
I stayed at a B&B next to that station in the early 1970s – it was a scary area then. The metro stop attracted a lot of men who liked to expose themselves! Sounds like it’s changed!
“ sittin’ in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
On a tour of one-night stands
My suitcase and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one-man band…” Homeward Bound, Simon and Garfunkel 1966. 🚉
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Great post. I’ve visited England and so many of their words, idioms, customs fascinate me. I’ve gotta go back and see more.
Wow, poor kid, head chopped off at 14? 🫤
Now by all means, go and have a “spot of tea” whilst humming “Rule, Britannia.” 😉😎
Yeah, I enjoy figuring out strange English terms, names, etc. A lot of who they are did not make its way across the pond with the founding of the U.S. I think a lot of that is that England still carries a lot of vestiges of its former Catholicism (or High Anglicanism if you want to give credit there) background. But the Brits who settled here were not only Protestant, they were also of the vintage that were breaking away from the Church of England. So there was even more separation.
But the more fun things are usually food-related. I’d like to make “bangers and mash” a term we use in the U.S.
I stayed at a B&B next to that station in the early 1970s – it was a scary area then. The metro stop attracted a lot of men who liked to expose themselves! Sounds like it’s changed!
I hope so! None of that was mentioned in the tourism reviews I read while writing this post. Lol.
“ sittin’ in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
On a tour of one-night stands
My suitcase and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one-man band…” Homeward Bound, Simon and Garfunkel 1966. 🚉
That’s a great song!