Kings Cross is an area in the London Borough of Camden in the north of central London, England. The area was previously a village known as Battle Bridge, which referred to a bridge also known as Broad Ford Bridge, which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet. The bridge was said to be the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Iceni tribe led by Boadicea who is buried, legend has it, under platform 9 at King's Cross station.
In 1835 a monument was built to King George IV at the junction of Gray's Inn Road, Pentonville Road, and New Road, which later became Euston Road. The monument wasn't very popular and was taken down 10 years later, though the area has kept the name of Kings Cross. Kings Cross railway station now stands at the junction where the cross stood. The station was opened in 1852 and was designed by architect Lewis Cubitt.
Model showing the current redevelopment of the King's Cross area with the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link terminal behind the barrel vaulted St Pancras station on the left.
The area has extensive construction sites with development of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link behind St Pancras station. The Eurostar trains are due to enter St Pancras station in 2007 and the construction project has led to the demolishing of several buildings, including the Gasworks. (Built in the 1860s and rebuilt in the 1880s was still in use until 1999). Several gaswork tanks that had dominated the area behind station for over a century have been taken down during the building works and placed in storage.
For readers of Harry Potter, platform 9 3/4 is where Potter boards the train for Hogwarts. Kings Cross and its surrounding streets was also the setting for the Ealing comedy, 'The Ladykillers'.
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