Does Colour Matter?
Actually, timing is everything. In February, the Mayor of London announced new names and colours for the six London Overground lines which are currently identified by a drab and dull orange. The new names provide something for everybody – women, football, healthcare, LGBTQ+ community, the Caribbean community, textiles, Huguenots, democracy, freedom and independence. More details on https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2024/february/london-s-overground-lines-to-be-given-new-names-and-colours-in-historic-change-to-capital-s-transport-network
And the colours ? The Lioness line – yellow! Mildmay – blue! Windrush – red! The Weaver line comes in with – Maroon! The suffragettes get – green! And Liberty – grey. GREY? How did that sneak in? Apparently the Liberty line references ‘the historical independence of the people of Havering’. What did Havering do to deserve grey?
We are also disappointed to note that the drab orange is still in evidence. Please note: opinions on orange may differ.
In March, Transport for London (TfL) went green - again - with the launch of the Green Link Walk. This is the eighth route in the Walk London Network (a group of trails which includes the Green Chain and The Capital Ring). Terroir has yet to find out if Walk London green is a significantly different Pantone colour to Suffragette green…
More of the Green Link in a minute, but the timing of these colourful initiatives must surely have some significance? Ah yes: ‘good’ news is always helpful in the run up to an election. Sadiq Khan will be battling for a second term as Mayor of London on 2nd May. Choose your political pantone with care.
Back to the Green Link. It wobbles for 15 miles between Epping Forest and Peckham, somewhat like a banana lying on a roughly north/south axis. It aims to improve Londoner’s health and well-being, be accessible, cycle and wheelchair friendly, sustainable (with the ultimate inclusion of two new rain gardens) and link with a variety of green spaces.
We are also told that it ‘fulfil[s] a mayoral manifesto commitment’. Yes, I think we have already mentioned that election!
To date, the main criticism which Terroir has heard is that the route entails a lot of pavement pounding, suggesting that the Link is more grey than green. Having trialled just one section, we agree that tarmac terrain is hard on the joints but that ‘green’ ocurs fairly frequently and that ‘grey’ can be beautiful.
Follow us on a walk from the Angel to Clerkenwell, probably less than 2 miles but packed with interest. We’ve annotated a section of the Footways map to show our start (the red arrow) and finish, at the yellow arrow. https://footways.london/the-green-link
Our start at Angel Tube is perhaps 200m from the Regent’s Canal and the Green Link. The Link doesn’t use the canal-side paths, however, but sticks to the local roads to ensure good access for wheelchairs. In the image below right, the Link runs behind the trees on the left hand side of the photograph.
The Link crosses the canal (left) over the top of the 960 yard long Islington Tunnel, which was opened in 1816. In March 2024 you can still see something of the canal through the springtime foliage.
The first stop is Colebrook Row Gardens and Duncan Terrace Gardens. These linear spaces were laid out on the route of the New River, an early 17th century water way constructed to bring drinking water from Hertfordshire into London. You can walk the route and admire the green spaces which adorn its route. https://londongardenstrust.org/features/NewRiver.htm
Colebrook Row Gardens (above) and Duncan Terrace Gardens (below) including a spectacular view of some of the nearby ‘grey’ elements.
Crossing City Road reveals the splendid spectacle of the 1903 Angel Hotel (now offices), before going ‘green’ again in Owens Fields. No moans about the lack of apostrophe, please (see below).
Crossing into Chadwell Street we find some more spectacular townscape (I’ll stop referring to it as ‘grey’as I think I think I’ve made the point that it’s anything but)...
… and pass on through into Myddleton Square (below). We presume this is named after the Sir John Myddleton who oversaw the construction of the New River. The square was laid out by William Chadwell Mylne, the second son of Robert Mylne (1733–1811), surveyor to the New River Company (you just can’t get away from it), as well as builder of the first Blackfriars Bridge. Son William constructed the square ‘in a Georgian style’ between 1822 and 1843 (remember that George IV had died in 1830, but I suppose the Victorians hadn’t really got going by then) and set his St Mark’s church (built 1825 - 27) right in the middle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Church,_Myddelton_Square
LLoyd Square comes next, a ‘Garden Square’ constructed between 1828 and 1832 by John Booth and family, surveyors; I can find no connection with the New River but Wikipedia tells me that these sharp suited, clean-shaven, Greek revival style, structures are all Grade II Listed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Square
The pavement pounding is probably taking its toll by now, so we will hurry on to Wilmington Square, for a bit of green and pink relief.
Meant to be the size of Myddleton Square, ambitions for Wilmington Square had to be curtailed for ‘financial reasons’. This one was built by ‘John Wilson (born c. 1780), a Gray's Inn Lane plumber and glazier who had become a builder and developer’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_Square
Rested? We’ll look in on Spa Field Park. History suggests that Spa Field has always been well frequented by the living and the dead, by those seeking a cure at the 18th century spa and those seeking a venue for political rallies. It was well used on the day of Terroir’s visit, but maybe a tad too much Photinia?
And now for the big finale: St James’ Church, Clerkenwell. The current church dates from 1792, built by local architect James Carr and ‘clearly influenced by Wren and Gibbs’ and subsequently altered by many as need arose.
So, does colour matter? Absolutely! We need a world full of colour, in landscapes, in people, in politics, in society, in life. Thankfully, the ‘Green’ link is as varied and rainbow coloured as TfL’s Overground ideas. Although I’m still not convinced by Liberty grey.