Clerkenwell history

The historic heart of Clerkenwell is the attractive Clerkenwell Green, just north of Clerkenwell Road, with the original parish church of St James. Here streets follow the street plan laid down in mediaeval times, with many twisting streets and alleys. The Clerkenwell was London’s ‘Little Italy’. Much of the design, media, computing and advertising business which was centred in Soho in the early 1990s has moved east to Clerkenwell. Clerkenwell always had a tradition as a centre of crafts and there are still small jewellery businesses scattered around the area, and other small workshops.

Most of the factories and warehouses which were built when Clerkenwell was a light industrial area in the 19th and 20th centuries were converted into lofts during the property boom in the area in the 1990s. So modern Clerkenwell is a mix of residential and commercial buildings.