St Giles' Circus

St Giles's Circus is the intersection of Oxford Street, New Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road and Tottenham Court Road in the West End of London. The word "Circus" is arguably a little misleading as the buildings around the traffic intersection are not all rounded, as with for example Oxford Circus. The area was historically known as St Giles's, but can now be seen as the point where the corners of Soho, Covent Garden, Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia meet.

History

From the Roman Period to the mid-19th century, St. Giles's High Street was the main approach to the City of London from the west. In the Middle Ages, the City's Gallows were located at St. Giles's Circus alongside a cage for prisoners. Later, when the place of public execution was moved west to Tyburn Tree, the Angel Inn near the Circus became a stopping point for the condemned on the way to Tyburn where they would be offered a final drink. The Church of St Giles in the field next to the Inn was founded in 1116 by Matilda of Boulogne as a leper church and hospital whose estate ran south as far as today's Shaftesbury Avenue. The current Grade 1 listed church is the third on the site and was re-built in a Palladian style in 1733.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the area became home for migrants and developed in an unplanned manner that became known as 'the Rookery' and was notorious for its crime (the area had its own lock-up, St Giles's Roundhouse and even its own thieves' cant, St Giles's Greek). It also suffered from poverty, overcrowding and disease, with several outbreaks of plague starting there. William Hogarth depicted the area in his celebrated engraving Gin Lane. Peter Ackroyd gives a chapter to the Rookery in his biography of London. The development of New Oxford Street and Shaftesbury Avenue in the mid-19th century broke up the area though the alleys and courts around Denmark Street retain some sense of this character and Denmark Street is one of the few streets in London where original 17th century terraced facades survive on both fronts. The area was bombed during the Second World War and the majority of the commercial development in the area has been of poor character.

The area today is dominated by Centre Point Tower, located on the south east corner on New Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road. As part of the Centre Point project the developer was to have included a modern traffic roundabout and transport interchange but this part of the scheme was not delivered. The Dominion Theatre is close to the north east corner, on Tottenham Court Road just above New Oxford Street. The London Astoria is on the west side. Tottenham Court Road tube station is located beneath the intersection.

Development

Redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road tube station is proposed with the arrival of a Crossrail station. This will coincide with the closure of Andrew Borde Street to the South next to Centre Point to create a new station entrance and a public square known as Centre Plaza.