London Guide
Clerkenwell
Situated slightly uphill from the City and, more importantly, outside its jurisdiction, Clerkenwell (pronounced "Clarken-well") began life as a village serving the local monastic foundations (two of which survive to some extent). Following the Great Fire, the area was settled by craftsmen, including newly arrived French Huguenots, excluded from the City guilds. At the same time, the springs that give the place its name were rediscovered (and are still visible through the window of 14–16 Farringdon Lane), and Clerkenwell became a popular spa resort for a century or so.
During the nineteenth century, the district's population trebled, mostly through Irish and Italian immigration; the springs and streams became cholera-infested sewers, and Clerkenwell became an overpopulated slum area and the setting for Fagin's Den in Oliver Twist. Victorian slum clearances and wartime bombing took their toll, the population declined and the area's traditional trades – locksmithing, clockmaking, printing and jewellery – all but disappeared. The overall trend, now, is towards designer furniture and media companies, with trendy bars and restaurants catering for the area's new loft-dwelling residents.