[1] Turn right out of the hostel and walk to the corner of Judd Street. At the traffic lights, cross over the main Euston Road and then Midland Road to reach the corner diagonally opposite, outside St Pancras station. Walk past the arched porch and turn left off the main pavement to go up the ramp towards the clock tower. At the top of the slope turn left under the high archway into St Pancras station.
(A) St Pancras station opened in 1868 for the Midland Railway as the southern terminus of its main line, which connected London with the East Midlands and Yorkshire. When it opened, the arched Barlow train shed was the largest single-span roof in the world. Look out for a replica of Rick Buckley’s nose attached inconspicuously to a wall of St Pancras Chambers near the hotel – part of an 1997 art installation protesting at the rise of the "Big Brother" society.
[2] Inside the station turn left past the large statue of a couple embracing ‘The Meeting Place’
(B) The Meeting Place, a 9m tall statue by Paul Day of a couple meeting, has a frieze around the base showing various meetings and scenes from the station and railway.
Follow the glass barrier to the right. Turn left past the Betjeman statue, with a view back to the St Pancras clock.
(C) The Betjeman statue by Martin Jennings shows the former Poet Laureate, Sir John Betjeman. He was also a railway enthusiast whose work includes nostalgic poetry for a bygone 'railway age', He is credited with saving the station buildings from demolition in the 1960s. His statue stands on a flat disc of Cumbrian slate inscribed with lines from his poem Cornish Cliffs.
The St Pancras International Clock with its 18 foot diameter dial is a modern replica. In 1978, the original clock was sold to an American collector for £250,000. Unfortunately, as it was being taken down, it was dropped and smashed into small pieces which were then sold for £25 to a retiring train driver. The original makers Dent worked from the remaining pieces, to re-construct the clock you see today.
Go right to walk the length of the arched station shed, past the longest champagne bar in Europe. Go down the escalators before the East Midland train platforms, turn right at the bottom and leave the station through the exit signed ‘Way Out Midland Road, Buses, British Library”. Cross the road at the pedestrian lights and walk right.
[3] Turn left into Brill Place, ignore the first road leading to a parking area and take the pedestrian path on the right through some black posts alongside Purchase Street Green Space. Follow the path through the Coopers Lane housing estate. At the junction with Chenies Place, cross the road and turn right to the main road, Pancras Road. Cross by the traffic island and walk right, along the side of the church yard.
[4] Go up the steps to
Old St Pancras Church, through the main gate and through the small gate on the right. Follow the path up steps on the left and round to the back of the church. Pass Hardy's Tree which is surrounded by tombstones and a hedge.
(D) St Pancras Old Church is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras. Although the building itself is largely Victorian, it is believed by many to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England, pre-dating the Norman Conquest in 1066.
In the 1860s the Midland Railway line was built over part of the original Churchyard. The novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), who trained as an architect, had to supervise the exhumation of the bodies and the dismantling of their tombs. The displaced tombstones were arranged in a wheel around an ash tree at the back of the church and this has become known as Hardy’s Tree. It is often said that the trauma of having to dig up the remains of many people led to the grim view of life exhibited in his novels.
Feminists may want to visit the memorial to Mary Woolstencaft and William Godwin. She was one of the first English feminists and the author of "A vindication of the rights of women"
Continue past the Soane Memorial and exit the church yard down steps alongside a small red brick building.
The Soane Mausoleum was designed by the architect Sir John Soane, the shape of which provided the inspiration for Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in designing the iconic British red telephone boxes. Soane is perhaps the most underrated architect in London. It is worth visiting his museum which is not far from here.
A short detour right across the road and under the railway bridge takes you to the entrance of Camley Street Natural Park.
(E) Camley Street Natural Park was created in 1984 from an old coal yard. Its two acres of wild green space lie between the railway lines from St Pancras and the Regent's Canal, providing a natural habitat for birds, butterflies, amphibians and a rich variety of plant life. The reserve has a visitor centre
and individuals are welcome to drop in during opening hours or call for details of holiday play activities. Perhaps surprisingly, the Kings Cross/St Pancras area is the home to a large number of little parks and growing initiatives including the Kings Cross County show organised by the local community association
From the bottom of the steps, turn left, cross Granary Street and follow the road up beside the railway lines and over the Regent’s Canal. Immediately go down the steps leading to the canal tow path.
(F) The Regent’s Canal was opened 1820 and links the Grand Union canal at Paddington with the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames to the east. St Pancras Lock is one of 13 locks along the canal. The railway lines from St Pancras pass over the canal while those from Kings Cross go under, leading to a big difference in platform height in the two stations. 400 kV electricity cables run below the towpath forming part of the National Grid and are cooled by pumped canal water.
[5] Turn left along the tow path to walk under the road bridge and then the railway bridge carrying the lines out of St Pancras. Walk past St Pancras Lock with Camley Street Natural Park across the canal and continue until you reach concrete terraces just before the next bridge. Go up these steps to Granary Square. Watch out for cyclists along the canal.
(G) Granary Square square is part of the first phase of the Kings Cross regeneration project. In the centre of the square are over 1,000 choreographed fountains - each individually lit at night. The Granary Building behind them houses Central Saint Martins arts college, part of the University of the Arts London. See below for more information.
To visit the London Canal Museum (I), continue along the canal, under the next bridge and take the steps up to York Way. Cross over the canal and past Kings Place Arts centre, turn down Crinan Street. Follow this left then turn left and left again into New Wharf Road. The Canal Museum is housed in a former ice warehouse built in about 1862-3 for Carlo Gatti, the famous ice cream maker, and features the history of the ice trade and ice cream as well as the canals. To re-join the main route, retrace your steps. If you don’t want to walk back along the canal, cross the road opposite Kings Place and walk along Goods Way to Kings Boulevard.
[6] Turn right to go over the bridge over the canal and go straight ahead across the pedestrian crossing. Continue ahead along Kings Boulevard towards Kings Cross station.
When you reach the station, enter the station through the entrance to platforms 9 to 11, labelled “Kings Cross” on left of the underground entrance. Slightly to your right on the opposite wall is the entrance to platform 9¾ made famous by the Harry Potter films. This was the platform only accessible to magicians.
Sadly, platforms 9 and 10 are in the suburban section of the station, not the dramatic main line shown in the film. It may be significant that, at about the time the films came out a new "platform 0" was opened, at roughly the point where the films show Harry getting on the train, although the filming was actually done on platforms 4 and 5.
(H) The area of King's Cross was previously known as Battle Bridge, traditionally, the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica early in the first millennium. Few records exist but legend has it that she is buried under one of the platforms although it is more likely she is buried in the Midlands. Her ghost is also reputed to haunt passages under the station. The station was designed by the architect, Lewis Cubitt, in 1852 with a new concourse added in 2012. Kings Cross currently handles upwards of 47 million passengers a year making it one of Britain's biggest transport hubs
Go right past departure boards to the exit at the far end.
[7] Once out of the station, cut diagonally to the left across the square in front of Kings Cross Station. Cross Pentonville Road and Grays Inn Road and go down Birkenhead Street just to the right. Turn first right and then left to go down the side of Argyll Square. Continue ahead at the end of the square to Argyll Walk on the right. Follow this pedestrian walk across the ends of several streets until it ends on Tonbridge Street. Turn right to cross the road at the pedestrian lights and continue to Hastings Street. Turn down here to reach Judd Street. Turn right to walk to the traffic lights on Euston Road and go left back to the hostel.
In this last section of the walk you can see Victorian housing and squares. The area around Kings Cross became very run down in the last part of the 20th century, partly because the big company P & 0 bought up a lot of property in the area as a speculation, and let it run down. The area became a place to pick up sex workers and many of the hotels around catered for paid sex rather than regular guests. The coming of Eurostar has made it far more profitable for the hoteliers to let to tourists rather than sex workers, so the trade has moved on.