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Station name change would honour a legendary mayor
• MAYOR of London Boris Johnson has indicated tentative support for my campaign to re-name Archway Tube station after an even better known London Mayor – Dick Whittington.
For a great many tourists, Whittington is London’s most famous son. To have a Tube station named after him would point many tourists in the direction of this gateway to the North in a way that Archway can never do.
Also Archway is irrevocably linked to the suicide bridge, which is some distance away in Haringey, and the dreadful Archway Tower, loathed by all as one of the worst examples of contemporary architecture.
Calling it Whittington station will remove the confusion that visitors unfamiliar to the area face when they mistakenly alight in the belief that the 300 or more shops and houses in Archway Road after the bridge are near Archway station when they are actually a mile away.
Besides, the Whittington Stone was the earliest landmark in the area, preceding all other local landmarks by about 500 years.
Vast numbers of passengers exiting the Tube station every day head for Whittington Hospital, which employs more than 2,000 workers and has several thousand visitors and patients each day.
Who will also dispute that the area is more representative of Dick Whittington than Archway when there is in eponymous tribute to him a major hospital, an estate, two pubs, an exciting park, a building and the Whittington Stone (despite the loss of the Whittington Almshouse, the junior library and the statue of Dick Whittington).
Nearby Fitzwarren Gardens and Pauntley Street are also named after the legend. It stands to reason, therefore, that the area would benefit commercially and culturally if the station was renamed after him, perhaps as Whittington Cross or Whittington Stone.
Historical records suggest that an ancient medieval cross, no longer extant, mounted on a pyramid was the earliest landmark on this once bucolic hill from which all of London could be surveyed.
Had I lived all those years ago and hoped to escape from a cruel fate I too would have rested at this tranquil and picturesque spot on my way out of London. It would have knocked Richmond Hill off top spot had it stayed as it was.
Dick Whittington’s rags-to-riches story of an impoverished itinerant worker has made an immense contribution to our cultural tapestry. The legend is one of true grit, industry and enterprise. It is also the first great true English romance in the history books, although it ended tragically for London’s most famous son.
But he had not a blemish on his character and all Londoners, regardless of religion, race, creed, gender or political party, can look up to him for inspiration.
WALTER ROBERTS
Henfield Close, N19
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Your comments:
I HAVE just read the letter from Walter Roberts, dated 4th September about renaming the Archway Tube station to whittington Station.
Although I do feel that this is a very good idea, some of his comments were inaccurate. Although I live in Cornwall now, I was born in whittington hospital, and spent my youth in Hornsey Lane in the fifties. I do therefore see myself as an expert on that area as I can remember in my early teens, when there were shops all the way from the Archway Station up the Archway Road to Suicide Bridge and beyond, now all gone of course. The one thing that I found really lacking in his article was the fact that he talked about the Whittington Stone where supposedly Dick whittington stopped and heard the Bow bells, he omitted to explain that this monument has actually been moved and is not in it's original position which was next to Waterloo Park, which is three quarters of a way up Highgate Hill. When I was young I used to walk up Hornsey Lane to catch the 210 bus to go to school. The bus stop was outside Waterloo Park on Highgate Hill. Right by that bus stop was where the Dick Whittington Stone originally was, I used to stand by it every morning. I don't know exactly when it was moved, but some years ago taking my family to the area and the park I was shocked to see that it was not there any more. I noticed that the pavement was made narrower so that people could park. I then found out it had been moved down to the bottom of Highgate Hill.This I feel was an act of gross vandalism. So although I agree that the Archway tube station should be renamed Whittington Station, it is more worthy a cause that a campaign be started to get that stone back to it's original site. I wonder how many people who live in the area now, or tourists that may travel to see this famous monument realise that it has been moved, and the place that it now sits has no relevance at all.
Paul Hough |
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