London Major Area Walks 2: Walking Among Scholars—Bloomsbury/St. Pancras

Focus: The area around Bloomsbury and St. Pancras

Historical Context

• Medieval Era:Bloomsbury, the property of William Blemford, becomes the property of the Carthusian Monks.
• Tudor Era: In the Dissolution, Bloomsbury is deeded to the Lord Chancellor.
• Stuart Era: Bloomsbury becomes a fashionable area of London, especially for those who work in the city during the week and vacation in the country on the weekends.
• Georgian Era: British Museum created and opened in 1759, later acquires the Rosetta Stone (1802) and the Elgin Marbles (1816). Creation of the Thomas Coram Foundling Hospital.
• Victorian Era: The British Museum moves to its present location with the construction of the current building. In 1880s, all natural history material is moved from the British Museum to its new home in the South Kensington Natural History Museum (see South Kensington Museum walk). New Oxford Street is created to connect Bloomsbury with High Holborn. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) forms in Bloomsbury. University College is created. St. Pancras station built.
• Modern Era: Bloomsbury Group forms. Parts of the British Museum evacuated temporarily during World Wars I and II. British Library is constructed in 1996, and the Great Elizabeth Court is created in 2000. Celebration of the 250th anniversary of the British Museum in 2003.
  

Places to Visit in This Area When You Have More Time

British Museum, University College campus, British Library, St. Pancras Station, King’s Cross Station, London Canal Museum, Dickens’ House Museum, Thomas Coram Foundling Hospital