The History of Camden Market’s ‘The Stables’
The 19th Century, an era known as the ‘Industrial Revolution’ was one of the most significant periods for Camden’s history. In 1937, the London and Birmingham Railway was opened, and the Camden Goods Station was built two years later.
Camden Goods Station brought employment and industry to the borough on a huge scale. Horses were used to operate railways by pulling trains, or parts of trains from the main railway line to the canal, as well as for transporting goods and passenger luggage. All the horses worked incredibly hard and they’d rest in the stables blocks within the station, where there were Tack rooms, saddler’s workshops and a horse hospital. These blocks are now known as Camden Market’s ‘The Stables.’
Towards the end of the 19th century, there were about 250,000 horses working in London with thousands and thousands of stables across the city. Today, Camden Market is widely considered as one of the most impressive examples of this. The building of these stable blocks also saw the development of a network of horse tunnels, located below the depot connecting the railway to the canal.
These connections were built to provide a safe walkway for the horses carrying goods to the Regent’s Canal, as well as an easy access route to the Stables Yard. At its peak the network was used by over 500 horses and for the next 100 years horses would remain central to the operation of the station, collecting and distributing goods. The very last shunting horse was withdrawn from duty in 1967 and the depot was closed in 1980.
The area’s incredibly rich history is an essential part of what makes Camden Market the unique, vibrant and is certainly why hundreds of tourists flock to see it every day.
