London's Alleys: Wesleyan Place, Kentish Town, NW5

"This short L-shaped passage next to the London Overground at Gospel Oak is one of the oldest passages in the area, but was once about twice as long as it is today. Leading off Highgate Road, which was once Green Street, Wesleyan Place was a U-shaped road that ran around the backs of the houses facing onto the main street."

"As is so often the case in this part of London, the passage was sliced in half by the arrival of the railways, and then it got worse. Initially, the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway opened a line in 1868 from a new station built next to this passage, at Highgate Road, running to Fenchurch Street via Tottenham. That railway sliced through the middle of Wesleyan Place, demolishing some houses, but the passage through a railway arch retained the link to both sides."

Wesleyan Place is an L-shaped passage beside the London Overground at Gospel Oak, originally part of a U-shaped road that ran around the backs of houses on Highgate Road. The Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway opened a line in 1868 that sliced through and demolished parts of Wesleyan Place, briefly closed, then reopened with a curved link to Kentish Town that destroyed the southern half. The northern half remained, with its far end renamed Mortimer Place. Two adjacent Highgate Road stations opened in 1868 and 1900 and later closed; no station structures remain. The passage is entered from Highgate Road, paved with stone setts, has white-stucco terraced houses on the north side, a partially covered south side, and original street lamps now electrified.

Read at ianVisits