Kensington
Railways
The railways and the Underground system was originally a series of private businesses. The first railway through the Kensington area was constructed by the Metropolitan Railway Company. The first railway line constructed ran from Farringdon Road to Paddington in 1864. Other rail companies were building lines into other parts of London.
A plan was formed to build a railway which would form a circle round Central London and join up the individual rail lines whose hub was London and which then radiated out like spokes. This circular rail line was to become the Circle Line.
Metropolitan Railway was allowed to construct a section from South Kensington to the Tower of London. The District Railway was given the contract to construct the section from South Kensington to Mansion House. The two railway companies jointly constructed the connections between the two systems at South Kensington.
The District Railway built two short links from South Kensington to West Brompton and to Addison Road, to provide a connection to the West London Railway.
These railways were built as a series of underground tunnels. They were created by digging huge trenches. An arched roof of bricks was then constructed and earth put back over the top. Terraces of houses would be pulled down to permit the digging of the trenches. Once the tunnels had been covered, new terraces could be constructed over the top. Since all trains were steam trains, powered by coal, shafts had to be left open to the air at regular intervals between tunnels to discharge steam and smoke. These were often at the back of the new houses.
The first station in the area was at Kensington High Street, where the station was just called Kensington Station. Later South Kensington Station was built. As further connections to it were formed, so more and more surrounding land had to be acquired for its buildings and offices.
