page_title: Elephant and Castle
section_title: Rise to metropolitan prominence (1750–1900)
hierarchical_section_title: Elephant and Castle / History / Rise to metropolitan prominence (1750–1900)
caption_attribution_description: 1888 plan of the area around Elephant and Castle in London, including Elephant and Castle railway station and the proposed location of Elephant and Castle tube station.
context_page_description: The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. Although the name also informally refers to the areas of Walworth and Newington, the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name has led to the area being more commonly known as "Elephant and Castle". The name is derived from a local coaching inn.
  "The Elephant", as locally abbreviated, consists of major traffic junctions connected by a short road called Elephant and Castle, part of the A3. Between these junctions, on the eastern side, is the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, with the Hannibal House office block above. To the north of this, bounded by Newington Causeway and New Kent Road is the Metro Central Heights. The Strata residential block lies just south of the shopping centre on Walworth Road.
  Traffic runs to and from the south-east of England along the A2, the south of England on the A3, to the West End via St George's Road, and to the City of London via London Road and Newington Causeway at the northern junction. Newington Butts and Walworth Road adjoin the southern junction.
context_section_description: The area became increasingly important after the building of Westminster Bridge in 1751 and the improvements to London Bridge in the same period. These required 'by-pass' roads across the south side approaches to each other and also to the main routes to the south and southeast coasts. These road improvements – Great Dover Street, Westminster Bridge, New Kent Road, St George's Road and Borough Road – connect to the older Kennington and Old Kent Roads to facilitate this traffic. In 1769 the new Blackfriars Bridge was connected to this system at what is now St George's Circus and Blackfriars Road (originally Great Surrey Road) and to the Elephant junction with the new London Road.  As a result of these improvements, the area became a built-up part of the metropolis during the late Georgian and Victorian periods.
  The railway arrived here in 1863 and the first deep-level tube line, now part of the Northern line's City Branch, in 1890. The Bakerloo line terminus was created in 1906. Both the middle-class and working-class populations increased, the first settling on the major roads, the latter on the streets behind these. However, the area declined socially at the Walworth side.
  In the 19th century the nationally famed Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon built the Metropolitan Tabernacle here.  The building, designed by William Willmer Pocock, was finished in 1861 and dedicated on 18 March. It was bombed in the blitz but the portico and basement survived and in 1957 the Tabernacle was rebuilt to a new but much smaller design accommodating surviving original features.
  During the late 19th century there was a cemetery in the vicinity, but it was built over during London's rapid expansion. A few gravestones remain in St. Mary's Churchyard.
caption: Street layout in 1888
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