Archway, London

Archway's name developed in reference to the old bridge carrying Hornsey Lane from Highgate to Crouch End, over the cutting of Archway Road. The original, brick-built, single-arched bridge of 1813 was replaced in 1900 by the current cast-iron Hornsey Lane Bridge.[3] The 1893 Ordnance Survey map shows the bridge simply as "Highgate Archway". A few residents, especially those born and locally raised in the early 20th century, refer to the area with a definite article (as "the Archway").

Seven bus routes in London terminate at 'Archway', the term having become mainstream after the tube station, originally called Highgate, was renamed Highgate (Archway) in 1939, and subsequently Archway (Highgate) in 1941, and Archway in 1947. The ecclesiastical parishes (once having had poor-relief vestries employing highwaymen, for example) before the laws that disestablished their secular components do not mention Archway. Those covering the area are parts of traditional parent parishes named Whitehall Park, Upper Holloway, St John the Evangelist, Upper Holloway and a very small part of a Highgate, Islington parish.[4]

The Archway Road is part of the A1 or Great North Road, one of the original toll roads. From 1813 to 1864, the cutting contained a toll gate, where travellers paid for the next stage of their journey, as is recorded by a plaque at 1 Pauntley Street, an apartment block.[5] Highgate Hill, the road from Archway to Highgate village, was the route of the first motorised cable car in Europe. It operated from 1884 to 1909. Highgate tube station (later renamed 'Highgate Archway' and subsequently just 'Archway') opened on 22 June 1907 as the northern terminus of the Highgate branch of the Northern Line.

The ancient parish of Islington stretched over three miles from its southern boundary to meet with the parish of Hornsey at its north. The area that became Archway is located at the northwestern part of this parish. The parish was government by the St Mary Islington open vestry. The vestry was incorporated by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 as an administrative vestry and the boundary with Hornsey to the north also became the northern limit of the London metropolitan district.

Archway market place and Vantage Point, the tallest building in Archway, are next to the tube station.

The photograph for the cover of The Kinks' 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies was taken in the Archway Tavern.

A legend perpetuated by the name of the hospital and a statue on the older street leading, beside the hospital, to Highgate records Dick Whittington, medieval Mayor of London failing to make his fortune in the city heard the Bow Bells (those of St Mary-le-Bow, a church on Cheapside) from here, a distance of 4.5 miles (7.2 km) leading to the later homage "turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London", inscribed on the supporting stone protected by railings. On top of the thick tablet, his cat of English folklore is cast in stone. A restored 1821 memorial stone topped with a small statue of Whittington's Cat is known as the Whittington Stone and is next to a pub of the same name on Highgate Hill, a street in Archway.[7] The memorial marks the legendary site where 'Dick Whittington' Sir Richard's folkloric alter ego, returning home discouraged after a disastrous attempt to make his fortune in the City, heard the bells of St Mary le Bow ring out, 'Turn again Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London.'[7] Seeing the building of a maternity hospital and drains for the poor of London during his lifetime, he left his wealth to a broad-based charity which continues into the 21st century.[8] Pauntley Street takes its name from the village of Pauntley in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, traditionally regarded as Dick Whittington's birthplace.[9] The Whittington Hospital is named after Sir Richard Whittington (Dick Whittington).

There has been a large Irish community in the area since the 1830s, before the mass migration of the Great Famine. Many of them worked in building railways and roads and became known as navigators. After the Second World War, the Irish community formed in the area continued to grow as the newly-opened Whittington Hospital recruited nurses from Ireland. Although immigration slowed as the country became more prosperous, the Irish influence on the area can still be seen in pubs such as The Mother Red Cap and The Floirin, the supply of Irish newspapers in local newsagents and the naming of the pedestrian precinct as Navigator Square, after the Irish navigators who built many of the roads in the area.[10][11]