Camden lies at the heart of the borough named after itself. The additional 'town' part of
the name as it is often called, came at the time it inaugurated itself into a borough.
Cam from Old English ‘campas’ means enclosure, and Den from the old term ‘denu’ is a
valley.
The title ‘Earl Camden’ was first given to politician Sir Charles Pratt making him
1st Earl Camden. This district was kicked off by and named after him.
Before Pratt got involved, John Rocque had mapped out this sleepy hamlet in 1745 as merely
a couple of humble coaching inns circled by a few farms but the old coaching route running
through it was dangerous since it was plagued by bandits on horseback. A gibbet stood at
the tube station’s location and certain folk ended up as swinging meat for the crow’s
when they ran out of luck.
Pratt had intended to keep it a quiet residential suburb in 1791 as he slowly began piecing
together a handful of houses either side of that old coaching route that we now recognise
as Camden High Street.
The Grand Union canal opened to traffic in 1820 and the incredible Euston terminus of
1837 split the town geographically and culturally by the working class towards St Pancreas,
and the upper class in Regent’s Park.
The emergence of the warehouses and factories, working in tandem with the trains and canal
movements, remoulded this province into a noisy place of steam, soot and grime from
the railways that presented inexpensive accommodation for its workers. Initially, these were mostly
Irish immigrants attracted by the construction work, and later on as a result of the Irish
Famine of 1840.
A hydro-pneumatic lock was installed first at Camden to save the precious water but replaced
with a traditional lock since it continually malfunctioned. The conversion of the Lock's
wharves and warehouses into Camden Market cemented the town's future as one of London's
top tourist attractions. It proffers the wildest, most colourful and bold eclectic displays
from an inexhaustible plethora of shoes, clothes, crafts, trinkets, antiques, art, memorabilia,
street food and restaurants. It has become world famous for its quirkiness and rarity
of stock.
Camden was a prominent piano manufacturer sided by gin distillers, wine merchants and
soft-drink makers. By 1910, a host of theatres and cinemas enhanced its appeal quite a bit
and this concoction of activity led to frequent over-crowding across the region. That kind
of versatility could be how Camden formed a reputation for individuality and zero judgment.
Not much has changed today.
Horses were the source of power for road transport up until the late 1800’s. They’d pull
fully loaded goods carts all over London and a large stable was erected here as a horse
hospital to look after them when they were injured or exhausted. 800 horses were treated
in 1939 alone.
A cultural revolution came about in the 60’s where rock music and psychedelia became popular.
This period was an important reinforcing of the Camden we know today and it started here
in the Roundhouse a circular structure originally built as a repair shed for smaller train engines
and later used as a furniture and gin warehouse. This venue became the spot where the youth
banded together in music culture and rebelled against the politics and rules of society.
The revolutionary fashion movement and subculture of Punk was born in Camden and continues to
remain manifested in various forms throughout the district and well beyond.
Although a trendy place to live nowadays, Camden was filthy, noisy and ridiculously
polluted in the run up to 1900. Many will describe it as ‘edgy’ or ‘alternative’.
TV-AM opened its offices in Camden as Britain’s first breakfast television station and Camden
is now the London home of MTV.