Harrington Square

Harrington Square
Map
TypeGarden square
LocationLondon, NW1
United Kingdom
Coordinates51°31′59″N 0°8′20″W / 51.53306°N 0.13889°W / 51.53306; -0.13889
Area0.5 hectares (1.2 acres)
Created1843
Public transit accessLondon Underground Mornington Crescent
The Ampthill Square Estate as pictured from Harrington Square.
The Carreras Cigarette Factory as pictured from Harrington Square.

Harrington Square is a garden square in the Camden Town area of London, England. It is located at the northern end of Hampstead Road and next to Mornington Crescent tube station.

Despite its name, Harrington Square is a triangle, bordered to the west by Hampstead Road and bordered to the north-east by south by properties addressed as 'Harrington Square' itself. In the middle is Harrington Square Gardens which is a public green space. Numbers 15 to 24, which form the entirety of the north-eastern side except Hurdwick House, are grade II listed buildings.[1] The south side of the square is dominated by the Ampthill Square Estate.

The square was laid out in 1843 as part of the Bedford Estate.[2] Soon after being built, it was home to William Mudford and to Margaret Oliphant.[3] Alexander Graham Bell lived in Harrington Square with his grandfather when a teenager, in what Bell called "the turning point of my whole career".[4] Oliver Lodge lived in the square.[5]

Harrington Square was originally part of a pair of squares, with Mornington Crescent Gardens on the other side of Hampstead Road, but Mornington Crescent Gardens were built on to create the Carreras Cigarette Factory, which fronts on to Harrington Square, in the 1920s. The south side of the square originally had terraces similar to the listed north-eastern side, but was bombed in World War II and replaced by the modern Ampthill Square Estate.[2]

Harrington Square has been the location of a number of murders recently, including one in 2012,[6] one in 2018[7] and one in 2020.[8]

  1. ^ "NUMBER 15 TO 24 AND AREA RAILINGS, Camden - 1378736 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
  2. ^ a b Costella, John (12 July 2014). Walk With Me Charles Dickens. Author House. ISBN 9781491889121 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Oliphant, Margaret (13 March 2015). Delphi Works of Margaret Oliphant with Complete Stories of the Seen and Unseen. Delphi Classics. ISBN 9781910630822 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Bruce, Robert V. (15 March 2020). "Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude". Plunkett Lake Press – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Lodge, Oliver (12 July 2012). Past Years: An Autobiography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108052702 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "London stab central: Check how many knife attacks were reported in your postcode". International Business Times UK. 20 November 2015.
  7. ^ "Hundreds join march against knife violence in wake of Camden murders". Camden New Journal.
  8. ^ "Man dies after suffering stab injuries". Camden New Journal.