88-576: The St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel forms the frontispiece of St Pancras railway station in St Pancras, London . The station is one of the main rail termini in London and the final stop for international trains departing to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and other destinations in mainland Europe. It re-opened in 2011, and occupies much of the former Midland Grand Hotel designed by George Gilbert Scott which opened in 1873 and closed in 1935. The hotel
176-747: A fascist plotting to usurp the throne. Ian McKellen portrays Richard, as well as co-writing the screenplay with Loncraine. The cast also includes Annette Bening as Queen Elizabeth , Jim Broadbent as the Duke of Buckingham , Robert Downey Jr. as Rivers , Kristin Scott Thomas as Anne Neville , Nigel Hawthorne as the Duke of Clarence , Maggie Smith as the Duchess of York , John Wood as King Edward IV and Tim McInnerny as Sir William Catesby . The film premiered in Brazil on 20 August 1995, and
264-473: A Leading Role . It also earned Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design , and McKellen was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama . In a fictitious timeline of England in the late 1930s, a chaotic and bloody civil war (which occurs 450 years later than the actual historical event) ends with Lancastrian King Henry and his son Prince Edward assassinated by Field Marshal Richard Gloucester of
352-472: A carefully staged set piece, the first Class 395 train and two Class 373 trains arrived through a cloud of dry ice in adjacent platforms within seconds of each other. During the ceremony, Paul Day's large bronze statue The Meeting Place was also unveiled. At a much smaller ceremony on 12 November 2007, the bronze statue of John Betjeman by sculptor Martin Jennings was unveiled by Betjeman's daughter,
440-587: A connection to Australia and Scandinavia. The following year, the LTSR began a service from St Pancras to Southend Central . Boat trains continued to run from St Pancras until 1963, after which they were moved to Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street. The Railways Act 1921 forced the merger of the Midland with the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR) into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and
528-556: A reputation of having one of the most recognisable facades of all the London termini, and known as the "cathedral of the railways". In Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins , the station was one of only ten to be awarded five stars. The station has bilingual signs in French and English , one of the few in England to do so. It was considered Europe's most passenger-friendly railway station in an index created in 2020 by
616-483: A tunnel from south-east of London to an underground terminus in the vicinity of King's Cross. However, a late change of plan, principally driven by the then Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine 's desire for urban regeneration in east London, led to a change of route, with the new line approaching London from the east. This opened the possibility of reusing St Pancras as
704-766: Is at the southern end of the London Borough of Camden on a site orientated north–south, deeper than it is wide. The south is bounded by Euston Road (part of the London Inner Ring Road ), and its frontage is the St Pancras Renaissance London Hotel , while the west is bounded by Midland Road, which separates it from the British Library and Francis Crick Institute , and the east by Pancras Road, which separates it from King's Cross station . The British Library
792-476: Is ill and likely to die, intending to marry Elizabeth himself. Lady Anne is found dead sometime later from an apparent drug overdose. Impatient for the promised reward for his loyalty, Buckingham demands the Earldom of Hereford . Richard dismisses this in a high-handed manner, with the line "I am not in the giving vein". Buckingham, also disturbed by the murders of the princes and Hastings, flees to meet Richmond but
880-417: Is later captured and killed by Tyrrell under Richard's orders. Richmond gathers supporters, among them Archbishop Thomas and Richard's mother, the Duchess of York . They are joined by Air Marshal Thomas Stanley. Richmond marries Elizabeth and unites both Houses and political factions against Richard. With the army's loyalty slipping and the legitimacy of his claims to the crown weakened, Richard prepares for
968-494: Is located in the vicinity of Euston, King's Cross and St Pancras railway stations. In 1865 the Midland Railway Company held a competition for the design of a 150-bed hotel to be constructed next to its railway station, St Pancras , which was still under construction at the time. Eleven designs were submitted, including one by George Gilbert Scott , which, at 300 rooms, was much bigger and more expensive than
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#17327729215561056-502: Is managed by Marriott International . The building as a whole including the apartments is known as St Pancras Chambers and between 1935 and the 1980s was used as railway offices. The upper levels of the original building were redeveloped between 2005 and 2011 as apartments by the Manhattan Loft Corporation . Its clock tower stands at 76 m (249 ft) tall, with more than half its height usable. The hotel
1144-467: Is on the former goods yard site. Euston railway station is around ten minutes' walk away along Euston Road. Behind the hotel, the train shed is elevated 5 m (17 ft) above street level and the area below forms the station undercroft which is where most of the shops and restaurants are located, along with the Eurostar departure lounge. The northern half of the station is mainly bounded to
1232-680: The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "the picture never stops coming at you". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four and included it on his Great Movies list. The soundtrack to Richard III was released on 27 February 1996. "Come Live With Me" is a 1930s-style swing song, performed by Stacey Kent at the ball celebrating Edward IV's triumph. It is an original composition by Trevor Jones with anachronistic lyrics adapted from Christopher Marlowe's " The Passionate Shepherd To His Love ",
1320-590: The British Library , the Regent's Canal and London King's Cross railway station , with which it shares a London Underground station, King's Cross St Pancras . The station was constructed by the Midland Railway (MR), to connect its extensive rail network, across the Midlands and North of England , to a dedicated line into London. After rail traffic problems following the 1862 International Exhibition ,
1408-711: The Great Northern Railway (GNR). In 1862, traffic for the second International Exhibition suffered extensive delays over the stretch of line into London over the GNR's track; the route into the city via the L&;NWR was also at capacity, with coal trains causing the network at Rugby and elsewhere to reach effective gridlock. This was the stimulus for the MR to build its own line to London from Bedford, which would be just under 50 miles (80 km) long. Samuel Carter
1496-706: The Lord Mayor of London and members of the House of Lords to acknowledge his claim to the throne and crown him King. Acting on the advice of Archbishop Thomas and Lord Stanley , the Lancastrian heir, Henry Richmond , flees to France. Following his coronation Richard, now King Richard III, seeks to make his throne secure. He employs Tyrrell to murder the princes after failing to convince Buckingham to do so. Aware that Richmond intends to marry Elizabeth , he instructs Sir William Catesby to spread rumours that Lady Anne
1584-467: The Midland Main Line , while platforms 5–13 lead to High Speed 1 ; there is no connection between the two lines, except for a maintenance siding outside the station. There are also a variety of shops and restaurants within the station concourse. The longer international platforms, used by Eurostar, extend into Barlow's train shed, whilst the other platforms terminate at the southern end of
1672-470: The Netherlands to London. It provides East Midlands Railway services to Leicester , Corby , Derby , Sheffield and Nottingham on the Midland Main Line , Southeastern high-speed trains to Kent via Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International , and Thameslink cross-London services to Bedford , Cambridge , Peterborough , Brighton , Horsham and Gatwick Airport . It stands between
1760-545: The Snow Hill tunnel re-opened resulting in the creation of the Thameslink route and the resultant diversion of the majority of suburban trains to the new route. The station continued to be served by trains running on the Midland mainline to Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield, together with a few suburban services to Bedford and Luton. These constituted only a few trains an hour and left the station underused. Following
1848-500: The privatisation of British Rail , the long-distance services from St Pancras were franchised to Midland Mainline , a train operating company owned by National Express , starting on 28 April 1996. The few remaining suburban trains still operating into St Pancras were operated by the Thameslink train operating company, owned by Govia , from 2 March 1997. A small number of trains to and from Leeds were introduced, mainly because
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#17327729215561936-496: The royal pardon and commissions James Tyrrell to execute Clarence, ostensibly in compliance with Clarence's death sentence. Richard informs Edward of Clarence's death at a meeting with Prime Minister William Hastings , and the King dies from a stroke. As Edward's sons are underage, Richard becomes Regent, taking the title of Lord Protector with the support of the ambitious and corrupt Henry Buckingham . To undermine his rivals for
2024-435: The 1980s when it failed fire safety regulations and was shut down. The exterior was restored and made structurally sound at a cost of around £10 million in the 1990s. Planning permission was granted in 2004 for the building to be redeveloped into a new hotel. The main public rooms of the old Midland Grand were restored, along with some of the bedrooms. The former driveway for taxis entering St. Pancras station, passing under
2112-464: The 2005 extension. The international platforms do not occupy the full width of the Barlow train shed, and sections of the floor area have been opened up to provide natural light to the new ground-level concourse below. Eurostar's arrival and departure lounges lie below these platforms, adjacent to The Arcade , a concourse fashioned from the original station undercroft which runs along the western length of
2200-421: The Barlow train shed. The southern end of The Arcade links to the western ticket hall of King's Cross St Pancras tube station . Richard III (1995 film) Richard III is a 1995 period drama film , based on William Shakespeare 's play of the same name , directed by Richard Loncraine . The film adapts the play's story and characters to a setting based on 1930s Britain, with Richard depicted as
2288-550: The Channel Tunnel Rail Link works did not include work on the fitting out of the station, as these works had originally been part of the separate Thameslink 2000 works programme. Despite lobbying by rail operators who wished to see the station open at the same time as St Pancras International, the Government failed to provide additional funding to allow the fit-out works to be completed immediately following
2376-655: The Consumer Choice Center. From December 2018, as part of the Thameslink programme, services from the East Coast Main Line/ Great Northern Route , also part of the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise, were linked to the Thameslink route, diverting trains previously terminating at Kings Cross into the Thameslink platforms at St Pancras and then through central London to Sussex and Kent. This link
2464-606: The High Speed 1 service was launched on 6 November 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . Services were extended to Rotterdam and Amsterdam in April 2018. During an elaborate opening ceremony, actor Timothy West , as Henry Barlow, addressed the audience, which was also entertained by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the singers Lemar and Katherine Jenkins . In
2552-672: The High-Speed Train sets were maintained there and were already running empty north of Sheffield. During the 2000s major rebuild of the West Coast Main Line, St Pancras again temporarily hosted direct and regular inter-city trains to Manchester, this time via the Hope Valley route (via the Dore South curve) under the title of Project Rio . The original plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) involved
2640-527: The LMS adopted the LNWR's (the "Premier Line") Euston station as its principal London terminus. The Midland Grand Hotel was closed in 1935, and the building was subsequently used as offices for British Railways . During World War II , bombing inflicted damage on the train shed, which was only partially reglazed after the war. On the night of 10–11 May 1941 a bomb fell onto the station floor at platform 3, exploding in
2728-431: The London area services to North Woolwich, St Albans and Bedford. Long-distance trains reached Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester, with famous named trains including The Palatine to Manchester, The Thames-Clyde Express to Glasgow, and The Master Cutler to Sheffield (transferred from King's Cross in 1966, which itself had transferred from Marylebone eight years earlier). On 7 October 1957,
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2816-479: The MR decided to build a connection from Bedford to London with its own terminus. The station was designed by William Henry Barlow , with wrought iron pillars supporting a single-span roof. At 689 feet (210 m) by 240 feet (73.2 m) wide, and 100 feet (30.5 m) high, it was then the largest enclosed space in the world. Following the station's opening 1 October 1868, the MR built the Midland Grand Hotel on
2904-495: The MR, as the major routes to Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Carlisle opened during this time. By 1902, there were 150 trains arriving and leaving the station daily, though this was far less than at Waterloo or Liverpool Street. As well as Midland services, the Great Eastern Railway (GER) used St Pancras as a " West End " terminus for trains to Great Yarmouth , Norwich , Lowestoft between 1870 and 1917. At
2992-609: The Midland Grand Hotel. The music video was filmed in the entrance and main staircase of the building. The song was to be filmed in Barcelona, Spain. However, permission was not given. In Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins , the Arkham Asylum stairwell was filmed in the hotel. The staircase was also the setting for Mistlethwaite Manor in the 1993 film production of The Secret Garden . In 2003,
3080-518: The Midland Main Line to the St. Pancras branch. Instead, due to the value of the land in such a location the lower area was used for freight, in particular beer from Burton . As a result, the undercroft was built with columns and girders, maximising space, set out to the same plans as those used for beer warehouses, and with a basic unit of length that of a beer barrel. The contract to build
3168-552: The Midland Railway appointing Herr Etzensberger (formerly of the Victoria Hotel, Venice) as general manager. The hotel was completed in spring 1876. The hotel was expensive, with costly fixtures including a grand staircase, rooms with gold leaf walls and a fireplace in every room. It had many innovative features such as hydraulic lifts, concrete floors, revolving doors and fireproof floor constructions, though none of
3256-572: The Soul uses the derelict Midland Grand as the real world alternative to the Norse Gods' Valhalla . He described it as a "huge, dark Gothic fantasy of a building which stands, empty and desolate… its roof line a vast assortment of wild turrets, gnarled spires and pinnacles which seemed to prod at and goad the night sky". The video for the 1996 song Wannabe by the Spice Girls was filmed at
3344-497: The author Candida Lycett Green . Public service by Eurostar train via High Speed 1 started on 14 November 2007. In a small ceremony, station staff cut a ribbon leading to the Eurostar platforms. In the same month, services to the East Midlands were transferred to a new franchisee, East Midlands Trains . The low-level Thameslink platforms opened on 9 December 2007, replacing King's Cross Thameslink. St Pancras has retained
3432-428: The beer vaults underneath. The station was not significantly damaged, but was closed for eight days, with platforms 2–3 remaining closed until June. In 1947 the St. Pancras junction was relaid with prefabricated trackwork, along with associated changes to the signalling system. On the creation of British Railways (BR) in 1948, St Pancras received a significant investment after neglect by the LMS. Destinations included
3520-528: The east by Camley Street, with Camley Street Natural Park across the road. To the north-east is King's Cross Central , formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads and the Regent's Canal . Several London bus routes have stops nearby, including 73 , 205 and 390 . The station's name comes from the St. Pancras parish, whose name originates from
3608-472: The eastern part of the extension immediately adjacent to the entrance. As part of the construction of the western side of the new train shed that now began, an underground "box" was constructed to house new platforms for Thameslink, which at this point ran partially under the extended station. In order for this to happen, the existing Thameslink tunnels between Kentish Town and King's Cross Thameslink were closed between 11 September 2004 and 15 May 2005 while
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3696-476: The entrance to the London tunnel. On 4 September 2007, the first test train ran from Paris Gare du Nord to St Pancras. Children's illustrator Quentin Blake was commissioned to provide a huge mural of an "imaginary welcoming committee" as a disguise for one of the remaining ramshackle Stanley Building South immediately opposite the station exit. St Pancras was officially re-opened as St Pancras International, and
3784-470: The film has an approval rating of 96% based on 51 reviews, with an average score of 8.2/10. On Metacritic the film has an average score of 86 based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Empire magazine gave the film four out of five, calling it "fascinating" and "cerebral". Jeffrey Lyons said the film was "mesmerizing", while Richard Corliss in Time called it "cinematic". Mick LaSalle of
3872-462: The final battle against the Lancastrians, who plan an invasion and an advance on London. Richard's remaining loyal troops, assembling in a marshalling yard, are attacked from the air, revealing Stanley's defection to the Lancastrian cause. The two armies meet soon after at a ruined Battersea Power Station . Richard and Richmond seek each other out but when his vehicle stalls Richard flees into
3960-487: The foundations of the roof interfering with the space beneath, and to simplify the design, and minimise cost, it was decided to construct a single span roof, with cross ties for the arch at the station level. The arch was sprung directly from the station level, with no piers. Additional advice on the design of the roof was given to Barlow by Rowland Mason Ordish . The arches' ribs had a web depth of 6 ft (1.8 m), mostly open ironwork. The span width, from wall to wall
4048-466: The fourth-century Christian boy martyr Pancras of Rome . The station was commissioned by the Midland Railway (MR), who had a network of routes in the Midlands and in south and west Yorkshire and Lancashire, but no route of its own to London. Before 1857 the MR used the lines of the L&NWR for trains into the capital; subsequently, the company's Leicester and Hitchin Railway gave access to London via
4136-526: The line blockade. Eventually, on 8 February 2006, Alistair Darling , the Secretary of State for Transport, announced £50 million funding for the fit-out of the station, plus another £10–15 million for the installation of associated signalling and other lineside works. The fit-out works were designed by Chapman Taylor and Arup (Eurostar) and completed by ISG Interior Plc Contractors collaborating with Bechtel as Project Managers. The client
4224-440: The main motivation for the London extension, the Midland realised the prestige of having a central London passenger terminus and decided it must have a front on Euston Road. The company purchased the eastern section of land on the road's north side owned by Earl Somers . The passenger station was designed by William Henry Barlow and constructed on a site that had previously been a slum called Agar Town . The approach line to
4312-424: The main tower of the building, was converted into the hotel's lobby. In order to cater for the more modern expectations of guests, a new bedroom wing was constructed on the western side of the Barlow train shed. As redeveloped the hotel contains 244 bedrooms, two restaurants, two bars, a health and leisure centre, a ballroom, and 20 meeting and function rooms. The architects for the redevelopment were Aedas RHWL. At
4400-561: The office blocks that replaced the Euston Arch. The station offices in the listed former Midland Grand Hotel building were subsequently refurbished in 1993, including a new roof with 275 tonnes of Westmorland Green slate. After the sectorisation of British Rail in 1986, main-line services to the East Midlands were provided by the InterCity sector, with suburban services to St Albans, Luton and Bedford by Network SouthEast . In 1988
4488-461: The original specifications. Despite this, the company liked his plans and construction began. Scott's design was for a hotel with five floors below roof level but in the event it was built with four (which remains the case today) to save on construction costs – although the Midland Railway frequently reproduced Scott's original impression, showing the hotel with its non-existent top floor, in its publicity material. The east wing opened on 5 May 1873, with
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#17327729215564576-495: The outer edge. It was 689 feet (210 m) long, 240 feet (73.2 m) wide, and 100 feet (30.5 m) high at the apex above the tracks. Local services began running to the Metropolitan Railway junction underneath the terminus on 13 July 1868. The station itself opened to the public on 1 October. The first service was an overnight mail train from Leeds. St Pancras was built during a period of expansion for
4664-455: The real King's Cross, the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel also became popular with tourists doing Harry Potter tours. St Pancras railway station St Pancras railway station ( / ˈ p æ ŋ k r ə s / ), officially known since 2007 as London St Pancras International , is a major central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden . It is the terminus for Eurostar services from Belgium , France and
4752-468: The rebuilding of Euston and the consolidation of these services. By the 1960s, St Pancras was seen as redundant, and several attempts were made to close it and demolish the hotel (by then known as St Pancras Chambers). These attempts provoked strong and successful opposition, with the campaign led by the later Poet Laureate , John Betjeman . Jane Hughes Fawcett with the Victorian Society
4840-479: The reconstruction was Alistair Lansley , a former colleague of Nick Derbyshire recruited by RLE. To accommodate 300-metre+ Eurostar trains , and to provide capacity for the existing trains to the Midlands and the new Kent services on the high-speed rail link, the train shed was extended a considerable distance northwards by a new flat-roofed shed. The station was initially planned to have 13 platforms under this extended train shed. East Midlands services would use
4928-431: The rival faction supported by the House of York . Richard's elder brother Edward York becomes King. Richard is determined to take the crown, and pits King Edward against his brother, George Clarence , who is imprisoned under a sentence of death. Richard deceives and marries Prince Edward's widow Lady Anne Neville . Queen Elizabeth intercedes on Clarence's behalf and persuades Edward to spare his life. Richard destroys
5016-504: The rooms had bathrooms, as was the convention of the time. The hotel was taken over by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1922 before closing in 1935, by which time its utilities were outdated and too costly to maintain, such as the armies of servants needed to carry chamber pots , tubs, bowls and spittoons . After closing as a hotel, the building was renamed St Pancras Chambers and used as railway offices, eventually for British Rail . British Rail had hoped to demolish it, but
5104-595: The same time, the upper floors of the original building were redeveloped as 68 apartments by the Manhattan Loft Corporation. The St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel opened on 14 March 2011 to guests; however, the formal Grand Opening was on 5 May – exactly 138 years after its original opening in 1873. The exterior and interior of the hotel were used as locations in the 1995 film Richard III starring Ian McKellen , serving as King Edward's Palace. The 1988 Douglas Adams novel The Long Dark Tea-Time of
5192-480: The signalling at St Pancras was upgraded, replacing the three original boxes with a power box controlling 205 route switches and 33 points over a network of 1,400 relays. From 1960 to 1966, electrification work on the West Coast Main Line between London and Manchester saw a new Midland Pullman from Manchester to St Pancras. These trains and those to Glasgow were withdrawn following the completion of
5280-422: The station by a new concourse at its north end. This original design was later modified, with access to the Eurostar platforms from below, using the station undercroft and allowing the deletion of the visually intrusive bridge. By dropping the extension of any of the Midland platforms into the train shed, space was freed up to allow wells to be constructed in the station floor, which provided daylight and access to
5368-481: The station crossed the Regent's Canal at a height allowing the line reasonable gradients; this resulted in the level of the line at St Pancras being 20 ft (6 m) above the ground level. (By contrast, the lines to the adjacent King's Cross station tunnel under the Regent's Canal.) Initial plans were for a two or three span roof with the void between station and ground level filled with spoil from tunnelling to join
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#17327729215565456-509: The station substructure and connecting lines was given to Messrs. Waring , with Barlow's assistant Campion as supervisor. The lower floor for beer warehousing contained interior columns 15 ft (4.6 m) wide and 48 ft (14.6 m) deep, carrying girders supporting the main station and track. The connection to the Widened Lines (St. Pancras branch) ran below the station's bottom level, in an east-to-west direction. To avoid
5544-476: The station's façade. George Gilbert Scott won the competition to design it, with an ornate Gothic red-brick scheme. St Pancras has been widely praised for its architecture and is now a Grade I listed building . St Pancras came under threat during the 20th century; damaged in both World War I and World War II by bombs, and then in the late 1960s by plans to demolish it entirely and divert services to King's Cross and Euston . A passionate campaign to save
5632-683: The station, led by the Victorian Society , Jane Hughes Fawcett , and Poet Laureate John Betjeman , was successful, and St Pancras was awarded Grade I listed status just 10 days before demolition was due to commence. At the start of the 21st century, the complex underwent an £800 million refurbishment to become the terminal for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link/High-Speed 1/HS1 as part of an urban regeneration plan across East London , and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 2007. A security-sealed terminal area
5720-407: The station. The design and project management of reconstruction was undertaken on behalf of LCR by Rail Link Engineering (RLE), a consortium of Bechtel , Arup , Systra and Halcrow . The original reference design for the station was by Nick Derbyshire , former head of British Rail's in-house architecture team. The master plan of the complex was by Foster and Partners , and the lead architect of
5808-473: The structure. Pursued by Richmond, Richard is forced to exit onto exposed metal beams high above the burning battlefield. Cornered by Richmond and refusing to surrender, Richard falls into the inferno with a maniacal grin, reflected by Richmond. Michael Elphick has an uncredited cameo appearance as the second murderer of George the Duke of Clarence. Richard III was well reviewed by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes
5896-536: The television series Most Haunted Live broadcast a live event from the building, the theme being "Peril in St. Pancras". The hotel and train station were chosen to act as King's Cross station 's exteriors for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 , on the filmmakers' reasoning that their Gothic architecture was considered far more impressive. Like
5984-617: The terminus, with access via the North London Line , which crosses the throat of the station. The idea of using the North London line was rejected in 1994 by the transport secretary , John MacGregor , as "difficult to construct and environmentally damaging". However, the idea of using St Pancras station as the terminus was retained, albeit now linked by 12.4 miles (20 km) of new tunnels to Dagenham via Stratford . London and Continental Railways (LCR), created at
6072-488: The throne, Richard has Rivers, the Queen's brother, assassinated and uses the sordid circumstances of his death to damage the Queen's reputation and cast doubt on her sons' legitimacy. Hastings' reluctance to support Richard's claim to the crown so enrages Richard that he manufactures false charges of treason against Hastings, who is sentenced to death by hanging. Having made an example of his only vocal opponent, Richard persuades
6160-517: The time of British Rail privatisation, was selected by the government in 1996 to reconstruct St Pancras, build the CTRL, and take over the British share of the Eurostar operation. LCR had owned St Pancras station since privatisation to allow the station to be redeveloped. Financial difficulties in 1998, and the collapse of Railtrack in 2001, caused some revision of this plan, but LCR retained ownership of
6248-420: The train shed extension was completed. The rebuilding cost was in the region of £800 million, up from an initial estimate of £310 million. In early November 2007, Eurostar conducted a testing programme in which some 6000 members of the public were involved in passenger check-in, immigration control and departure trials, during which the "passengers" each made three return journeys out of St Pancras to
6336-533: The turn of the 20th century, St Pancras had a faster service to Cambridge than from King's Cross, at 71 minutes. GER services were suspended because of World War I and never resumed. The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) began boat train services from St Pancras from 9 July 1894, following the opening of the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway . The trains ran from St Pancras to Tilbury via South Tottenham and Barking . Tilbury Docks then provided
6424-498: The undercroft. The reconstruction of the station was recorded in the BBC Television documentary series The Eight Hundred Million Pound Railway Station broadcast as six 30-minute episodes between 13‒28 November 2007. By early 2004, the eastern side of the extended train shed was complete, and the Barlow train shed was closed to trains. From 12 April 2004, Midland Mainline trains terminated at an interim station occupying
6512-581: The wall of his barn where it still kept good time. Decades later during the stations renewal as 'St Pancras International', Dent of London were able to create an exact replica of the clock by using the original as a template. Hoggard was invited to the 2007 grand re-opening of St Pancras, and able to see the impressive new clock installed exactly where the original had been. Also in 1978, a Private Eye piece claimed that British Rail really wanted to demolish St Pancras but were opposed by "a lot of long-haired sentimentalists" and "faceless bureaucrats" and praised
6600-436: The western platforms, Eurostar services the middle platforms, and Kent services the eastern platforms. The Eurostar platforms and one of the Midland platforms would extend back into the Barlow train shed. Access to Eurostar for departing passengers would be via a departure suite on the west of the station, and then to the platforms by a bridge above the tracks within the historic train shed. Arriving Eurostar passengers would leave
6688-437: The works were carried out. Thameslink services from the north terminated in the same platforms as the Midland Main Line trains, while services from the south terminated at King's Cross Thameslink. When the lines were re-opened, the new station box was still only a bare concrete shell and could not take passengers. Thameslink trains reverted to their previous route but ran through the station box without stopping. The budget for
6776-426: The world renown Dent the unique time-piece was financially valuable, but during removal it was somehow dropped, shattering on the floor below. Now worth far less money, it was sold to Roland Hoggard, a train-guard nearing retirement, for £25. It took over a week for Hoggard to transport the giant broken clock, a few parts at a time, to his Nottinghamshire home, where he diligently pieced it all back together, to hang on
6864-447: Was 245 ft 6 in (74.83 m), with a rib every 29 ft 4 in (8.94 m). The arch was a slightly pointed design, with a reduced radius of curvature at the springing points. The Butterley Company was contracted to construct the arches. The total cost of the 24 rib roof and glazing was over £53,000, of which over half was for the main ribs. The cost of the gable end was a further £8,500. The single-span overall roof
6952-401: Was London and Continental Railways who were advised by Hitachi Consulting . In 2005, planning consent was granted for a refurbishment of the former Midland Grand Hotel building, with plans to refurbish and extend it as a hotel and apartment block. The newly refurbished hotel opened to guests on 21 March 2011 with a grand opening ceremony on 5 May. By the middle of 2006, the western side of
7040-464: Was constructed for Eurostar services to mainland Europe via High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel , with platforms for domestic trains to the north and south-east of England. The restored station has 15 platforms, a shopping centre, and a coach facility. London St Pancras International is owned by HS1 Ltd and managed by Network Rail (High Speed), a subsidiary of Network Rail . St Pancras
7128-533: Was instrumental in its preservation, and was dubbed "the furious Mrs. Fawcett" by British rail officials. Many of the demonstrators had witnessed the demolition of the nearby Euston Arch a few years previously and were strongly opposed to the distinctive architecture of St Pancras suffering the same fate. The station became Grade I listed building in November 1967, preventing any drastic modifications. The plans were scrapped by BR in December 1968, realising that it
7216-528: Was made in the hope that a high-speed service could connect the two stations and was announced at a ceremony headed by Claude Solard, Director General of SNCF . St Pancras contains four groups of platforms on two levels, accessed via the main concourse at ground level. The below-surface group contains through platforms A and B, and the upper level has three groups of terminal platforms: domestic platforms 1–4 and 11–13 on each side of international platforms 5–10. Platforms A & B serve Thameslink, 1–4 connect to
7304-684: Was made possible by the construction of a pair of single-track tunnels, named the Canal Tunnels ; these tunnels start immediately off the St Pancras Thameslink platforms, dive under the Regent's Canal , and join the East Coast Main Line where the North London Line and High Speed 1 pass over the top. In October 2019, St Pancras was twinned with the Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean , Bordeaux , France. The association
7392-473: Was more cost-effective to modernise the hotel instead, though they disliked owning it. In the 1970s, the train shed roof was in danger of collapse, and the newly appointed Director of Environment Bernard Kaukas persuaded the company to invest £3m to save it. In 1978, British Rail attempted to raise funds with the sale of the impressive 18 foot diameter station clock, allegedly to a wealthy American collector for £250,000. Custom made for St Pancras station by
7480-545: Was released in the United States on 29 December 1995, and in the United Kingdom on 26 April of the following year. While unsuccessful at the box office , it received critical acclaim, and won several accolades. At the 50th British Academy Film Awards , it won the awards for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design , with nominations for Best British Film , Best Adapted Screenplay , and Best Actor in
7568-513: Was solicitor for the parliamentary bill, which was sanctioned in 1863. The main economic justification for the MR extension was for the transport of coal and other goods to the capital, which was hindered by a 1s 9d toll on GNR lines. A large goods station was constructed between 1862 and 1865, sited to the west of the King's Cross coal depot between the North London Railway and the Regent's Canal . Although coal and goods were
7656-399: Was the largest such structure in the world at the time of its completion. The materials used were wrought iron framework of lattice design, with glass covering the middle half and timber (inside)/slate (outside) covering the outer quarters. The two end screens were glazed in a vertical rectangular grid pattern with decorative timber cladding around the edge and wrought iron finials around
7744-555: Was thwarted in a high-profile campaign by Jane Hughes Fawcett and her colleagues at the Victorian Society , a historic preservationist organisation founded in part to preserve the Victorian railways and other buildings. Officials dubbed Jane Fawcett the "furious Mrs Fawcett" for her unceasing efforts, and in 1967, the Hotel and the St Pancras station received Grade I listed status. The building continued its use as rail offices, until
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