Somers Town was named after Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers (1725–1806). In 1784, who built upper class housing at ‘the Polygon’ amid fields and market gardens on the northern fringes of London. Mary Wollstonecraft, writer of “A Vindication of the Rights of Womanand”, and Charles Dickens lived and worked here.
However, especially after the chaos caused by the construction in the 1830s of the railway lines into the 3 mainline stations, the area deteriorated rapidly, as the land was sold off in smaller lots for cheaper housing. It turned into one the worst slums in Europe.
Improvement of the slum housing conditions, was first undertaken by St Pancras Council in 1906. Further social housing was built by the London County Council, which began construction of the Ossulston Estate in 1927.
It look a century to turn the area around. During the early 1970s the neighborhood comprising GLC-owned housing awaiting complete refurbishment, Charrington, and adjoining streets, became a national centre for the squatting movement.
Nowadays, it is a good example of the changing fortunes of the area. The east side has tidy early Georgian terraces, now containing a mix of longer term council tenants and more recent in-migrant young professionals; the west side taken up by the recently rebuilt and renamed ‘Regent High School’, working with a culturally mixed intake.
I hope you enjoy this whistle stop tour of Charrington Street and the sleepy Somers Town. Thanks to wiki and many other sites for the information.
Please do not take pictures of the geocache or its location.