Elephant & Castle The Area

Elephant & Castle SE1/SE11/SE17, one of the Energy Action Area’s chosen by the Mayor of London, and in the heart of one of Europe’s largest regeneration projects.

The Elephant is home to two linked London Underground stations (Northern and Bakerloo lines) as well as a National Rail station served both by South-East Trains (Kentish Town to Sevenoaks via Catford) and by First Capital Connect (Thameslink suburban loop to Sutton and Wimbledon). Other local buildings include Skipton House (housing the Department of Health), a large part of the London South Bank University campus, the London College of Communication, the Ministry of Sound nightclub. The Imperial War Museum is also nearby.

The "Elephant and Castle" is derived from a coaching inn of that name on the site. The earliest surviving record of this name relating to the area is in the Court Leet Book of the Manor of Walworth. This local court had met at "Elephant and Castle, Newington" on 21 March 1765.

A common folk etymology is that the term "elephant and castle" is a corruption of "la Infanta de Castilla" which may refer to any of a number of Spanish princesses connected to English history including Eleanor of Castile, Catherine of Aragon, and Maria, daughter of Philip III of Spain. This corruption seems to date from the late medieval period as an elephant with a castle on its back appears as a motif in England during that time. Examples carved in wood can be seen at Chester Cathedral and Ripon Cathedral.

The area became increasingly important after the creation of Westminster Bridge in 1750 and the improvements in London Bridge in the same period. These required 'by-pass' roads to connect across the south side approaches to each other and also to the main routes to the south and southeast coasts

The area is now subject to a masterplanned redevelopment budgeted at £1.5 billion. A Development Framework was approved by Southwark Council in 2004. It covers an area of 170 acres (688,000 m²) and envisages restoring the Elephant and Castle to the role of major urban hub for inner South London which it occupied before World War II. Planned features include:

• 800,000 square feet (75,000 m²) of retail space (far larger than the existing shopping centre)
• 5,300 new and replacement homes
• five new open spaces
• an integrated public transport hub
• a new Academy
• a new library.

See www.elephantandcastle.org.uk for more information.