View source for Elephant and Castle

{{short description|Area in London, England}}
{{redirect|E&C|the professional wrestling tag team|Edge and Christian}}
{{for|the North American restaurant chain named after the area|Elephant and Castle Pub and Restaurant}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{infobox UK place
| country                  = England
| map_type                 = Greater London
| region                   = London
| population               =
| official_name            = Elephant and Castle
| coordinates              = {{coord|51|29|39|N|00|05|59|W|display=inline,title}}
| london_borough           = Southwark
| constituency_westminster = [[Bermondsey and Old Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)|Bermondsey and Old Southwark]]
| constituency_westminster1 = [[Peckham (UK Parliament constituency)|Peckham]]
| post_town                = LONDON
| postcode_area            = SE
| postcode_district        = SE1, SE11, SE17
| dial_code                = 020
| os_grid_reference        = TQ319789
| pushpin_map              = United Kingdom London Southwark
| static_image_name        = Castle Square elephant.jpg
| static_image_caption     = The Elephant & Castle statue, salvaged from the Victorian pub of the same name
}}

'''Elephant and Castle''' is an area of [[south London]], England, in the [[London Borough of Southwark]]. The name also informally refers to much of [[Walworth]] and [[Newington, London|Newington]], due to the proximity of the [[Elephant & Castle tube station|London Underground station of the same name]]. The name is derived from a local [[coaching inn]].<ref name="BBC News">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19371334 |title=Heygate Estate residents fight compulsory purchase order |work=BBC News |date=29 August 2012 |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref>

The major traffic junctions here are connected by a short road called Elephant and Castle, which is part of the [[A3 road|A3]]. Traffic runs to and from [[Kent]] along the [[A2 road (Great Britain)|A2]] ([[New Kent Road]] and [[Old Kent Road]]), much of the south of England on the A3, to the [[West End of London|West End]] via [[St George's Road]], and to the [[City of London]] via [[London Road, Southwark|London Road]] and [[Newington Causeway]] at the northern junction. [[Newington Butts]] and Walworth Road adjoin the southern junction. It forms part of the [[London Inner Ring Road]] and the boundary of the [[London congestion charge]] zone.

The subterranean [[River Neckinger]], which originates in [[Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park]], flows east under the area towards [[St Saviour's Dock]] where it enters the Thames. The area was significantly remodelled in the 1960s as part of post-war reconstruction. A new wave of redevelopment began in the late 2000s with the demolition of the [[brutalist]] [[Heygate Estate]]. The various phases of the project are due to last until the late 2020s. The demolition of the shopping centre and [[The Coronet]] took place in 2021.

The Elephant has two linked [[Elephant & Castle tube station|London Underground]] stations, on the [[Northern line|Northern]] and [[Bakerloo line]]s, and a [[Elephant & Castle railway station|National Rail]] station served by limited [[Southeastern (train operating company)|Southeastern]] services and [[Thameslink and Great Northern|Thameslink]] suburban loop line services to Mitcham, Sutton and Wimbledon, and services to Kentish Town and St. Albans to Orpington or Sevenoaks via Catford.

==Notable buildings and institutions==
[[Skipton House]], home of [[Public Health England]]; a large part of the [[London South Bank University]] campus; the [[London College of Communication]] (part of UAL), home to the [[Stanley Kubrick Archive]]; the [[Ministry of Sound]] nightclub; the [[Imperial War Museum]], which sits in [[Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park]]; the [[Michael Faraday Memorial]] in [[Elephant Square]]; the [[Siobhan Davies|Siobhan Davies Studios]], an award-winning Victorian school conversion by [[Sarah Wigglesworth]]; [[West Square]]; the original [[Bakerloo Line]] depot; the [[Inner London Crown Court]]; the [[Revolving Doors Agency]]; the [[London School of Musical Theatre]]; the Baitul Aziz Islamic Cultural Centre, the [[Cinema Museum (London)|Cinema Museum]]; and the [[Metropolitan Tabernacle]]. The [[Cuming Museum]] is nearby on Walworth Road. A K2 model phone box from 1927, designed by [[Giles Gilbert Scott]] and located on the southern side of New Kent Road, which was moved a few metres and reinstalled at the entrance of Ash Avenue in 2021, is a Grade II listed structure since 1986.<ref name="k2">{{cite web |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1385717 |title=K2 Telephone Kiosk |publisher=Historic England| access-date=8 June 2021}}</ref>

== Name ==
{{further|topic=Elephant and castle symbol|Howdah#Elephant and castle symbol}}
[[File:Worshipful Company of Cutlers 20130413 013 (2).jpg|thumb|150px|The crest of the [[Worshipful Company of Cutlers]].]]
[[File:Choir carving1.jpg|thumb|150px|The "elephant and castle" from the 14th-century choir stalls in [[Chester Cathedral]]]]

The name "Elephant and Castle" is derived from the name of a pub/[[coaching inn]] located at this major crossroad.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Jacqueline |author-link1= Jacqueline Simpson |chapter=Elephant and Castle |title=Green Men & White Swans: The Folklore of British Pub Names |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ot6AzT3fO6AC |publisher=Random House |date=2011 |pages=90–92 |isbn=9780099520177| access-date=11 February 2015 |quote=The most famous pub of this name has long been demolished, but the area of London where it once stood is still known as the Elephant. [...] In the Middle Ages the elephant was regularly linked with the 'castle' both in the written descriptions in Bestiaries and in visual art, e.g. in church carvings.}}</ref> The earliest surviving record of this name in relation to this area appears in the [[court leet|Court Leet]] Book of the Manor of [[Walworth, London|Walworth]], which met at "Elephant and Castle, [[Newington, London|Newington]]" on 21 March 1765.<ref name="Jack2009">{{cite book |author=Albert Jack |title=The Old Dog and Duck: The Secret Meanings of Pub Names |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2TVeu6eIXEC&pg=PT96 |date=3 September 2009 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-0-14-192991-0 |pages=95–97}}</ref>

The inn was rebuilt in 1816 and again in 1898, and the present Elephant & Castle pub, at the junction of [[New Kent Road]] and Newington Causeway, was part of 1960s comprehensive redevelopment.

[[Newington, London|Newington]], which was the name of the village forming the basis to the neighbourhood before the inn's name took over, is a common place name in England.{{efn|In today's London alone, the other instances are [[Newington Green]] and [[Stoke Newington]]}} London quickly expanded into the northern parts of the parish from 1750 to 1830. By the end of the 19th century ten daughter parishes had arisen in Newington including its secondary manor, Walworth. No notable upper, lower, or hill parts of the ancient parish nor compass points have been used, so to locate businesses and homes without reference to traditional saints divisions, many people popularised the informal name, of the notable public house. Other instances in [[Inner London]] are 'Angel' at [[Islington]] and [[Bricklayers Arms]] at the east end of New Kent Road.

===The myths of the Infanta and the Cutlers' Company===
The popular and enduring idea that the inn itself derives its name from an English corruption of the phrase {{lang|es|La [[Infanta]] de [[Crown of Castile|Castilla]]}}, as a reference to [[Eleanor of Castile]], has been debunked by local historian Stephen Humphrey in his 2013 book ''Elephant and Castle, a History''. However it still remains under dispute a connection with another Princess of [[Castile (historical region)|Castilla]], [[Catherine d'Aragon]], first wife of [[Henry VIII]], who when first arrived into London in 1502, took lodging into a house on South Bank, which would later become the residence of the architect [[Christopher Wren]]. This building is about a mile and a half from where Elephant and Castle [[Roundabout|roundabout]] stands today.
[[File:Christopher Wren Plaque (8290285401).jpg|thumb|The Infanta de Castilla house's plaque in London South Bank]]
[[File:Christopher Wren's house.jpg|thumb|The Infanta de Castilla house in London]]

According to Stephen Humphrey, after examining how the image of an elephant with a castle on its back has been popular for centuries and throughout Europe (the earliest example predating Queen Eleanor by 1,500 years), and pointing out the fact that the sign only begins to be used in the area about 500 years after Eleanor was alive, he states:

<blockquote>The story of Queen Eleanor in relation to the Elephant and Castle is therefore a myth. It is wildly anachronistic both in respect of the sign in general and in its specific use in Newington, and she has no connection with the sign or with the place.<ref name="Humphrey">{{cite book |author=Stephen Humphrey |title=Elephant and Castle, a History |date=15 July 2013 |publisher=Amberley Publishing |isbn=978-1848687806 |pages=21}}</ref></blockquote>

The author also refutes the claim that the pub name derives from the Cutlers' Company. First he notes:

<blockquote> The sign was adopted by the Cutlers' Company of the City of London, because of the use of ivory in the handles of cutlery. The Royal African Company of 1672 likewise used the sign due to the ivory trade. </blockquote>

Prior to the public house's appearance in the records in 1765, John Flaxman had been allowed to build a workshop on the site around 1642. Stephen Humphrey describes him as a smith or farrier. Thirty years later another farrier is cited as lessee of the site, which is now known as the White Horse. The building is first described as a public house called the Elephant and Castle with a licensee called George Frost in 1765, although this may not have been the year of opening. The author adds:

<blockquote> We can only say that the Elephant and Castle pub existed without doubt from 1765 and may have been founded under that name by George Frost as early as 1754. </blockquote>

Stephen Humphrey explains that George Frost's name appears in other manor and vestry records <blockquote> but he made no appearance in the records of the Farriers' Company and was not included among the apprentices of the Cutlers' Company. There is no evidence to connect him with the shoeing of horses, the cutlery trade or with another pub elsewhere before he arrived at Newington. The sudden appearance of the ancient sign under his proprietorship cannot be explained by his career. As with the vast majority of pub names, the choice in this case was probably a random one. </blockquote>

== History ==

=== Medieval and early modern ===
Known previously as Newington (Newington Butts and Newington Causeway are two of the principal roads of the area), in the medieval period it was part of rural [[Surrey]], in the manor of [[Walworth]]. This is listed in the Domesday Book as belonging to the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]; the income from its rents and tithes supplied the monks at Christ Church Canterbury with their clothing, and a 'church' is mentioned.<ref name="SurvLond">{{cite book |last1=Darlington |first1=Ida |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65448 |title=Survey of London: volume 25: St George's Fields (The parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington) |chapter=The manor of Walworth and parish of St. Mary, Newington |publisher=British History Online |year=1955 |pages=81–90 |access-date=16 September 2014}}</ref> The parish was called St Mary, Newington, which church occupied the southwest side of today's southern roundabout, near the Tabernacle, and was first recorded by name in 1222.<ref name="SurvLond"/>

In May 1557, William Morant, Stephen Gratwick and a man named King, known as the [[Marian Persecutions|Southwark Martyrs]], were burnt at the stake in St George's Field on the site of the present Tabernacle during the [[Marian Persecutions]].<ref name="Blanchard1844">{{cite book |author=Amos Blanchard |title=Book of Martyrs: Or, A History of the Lives, Sufferings and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive and Protestant Martyrs, from the Introduction of Christianity, to the Latest Periods of Pagan, Popish, Protestant, and Infidel Persecutions... |url=https://archive.org/details/bookmartyrsorah00foxegoog |year=1844 |publisher=N. G. Ellis |page=[https://archive.org/details/bookmartyrsorah00foxegoog/page/n278 272]}}</ref>

St Mary's Church was rebuilt in 1720 and completely replaced in 1790, to a design of Francis Hurlbatt. Within another hundred years this too was to be demolished, with its replacement on Kennington Park Road ready in 1876.<ref name="SurvStMary">{{cite book |last1=Darlington |first1=Ida |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65449 |title=The Church of St Mary, Newington |chapter=Survey of London: volume 25: St George's Fields (The parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington) |publisher=British History Online |year=1955 |pages=91–94 |access-date=16 September 2014}}</ref> It was destroyed by bombing in 1940 during the [[Second World War]].<ref name="SurvStMary"/> The remains of the tower and an arch were incorporated into its replacement of 1958. The open space is still known as St Mary's Churchyard, and the narrow pedestrian walk at its south end is Churchyard Row.

There is record of a 'hospital' before the Reformation. In 1601 the [[Worshipful Company of Fishmongers]] erected St Peter's Hospital on the site of the present London College of Communication. This expanded and survived until 1850, when it was removed to Wandsworth. The Drapers' livery company created Walters' Almshouses on a site now at the southern junction island in 1640, giving the tower block opposite the name Draper House. The almshouses were relocated to Brandon Street in the 1960s as part of the major redevelopment.

=== Rise to metropolitan prominence (1750–1900) ===
[[File:Elephant and Castle (1898).png|thumb|The Elephant and Castle Hotel as rebuilt in 1898]]
[[File:DISTRICT(1888) p051 - Elephant and Castle (map).jpg|thumb|right|upright|Street layout in 1888]]
The neighbourhood became urbanised and somewhat commercial after the building of [[Westminster Bridge]] in 1751 and the improvements to [[London Bridge]] in the same period. These required 'by-pass' roads across the south side approaches to each other and also to the main routes to the south and southeast coasts. These road improvements – Great Dover Street, Westminster Bridge, New Kent Road, St George's Road and Borough Road – connect to the older [[Kennington]] and Old Kent Roads to facilitate this traffic. In 1769 the new Blackfriars Bridge was connected to this system at what is now St George's Circus and Blackfriars Road (originally Great Surrey Road) and to the Elephant junction with the new London Road.  As a result of these improvements, the area became a built-up part of the metropolis during the late Georgian and Victorian periods.<ref name="idealhomes">{{cite web |url=http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/southwark/assets/histories/borough |title=Southwark |publisher=ideal-homes.org.uk – A History of South-east London suburbs| access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="stgeorgesfields">{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65444 |title=St George's Fields – Enclosure and development |editor=Ida Darlington |publisher=British History Online| access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref>

The railway arrived here in 1863 and the first deep-level tube line, now part of the [[Northern line]]'s City Branch, in 1890. The [[Bakerloo line]] terminus was created in 1906.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/culture-and-heritage/londons-transport-a-history/london-underground |title=London Underground |publisher=Transport for London |website=www.tfl.gov.uk}}</ref> The middle-class and working-class populations increased, the first settling on the major roads, the latter on the streets behind these. The area declined socio-economically in much of the Walworth (south-east) side as work in [[London Docklands]] shifted further east and became more mechanised, and the regional-level railway yard work decreased (see [[Bricklayers Arms railway station]]).

In the 19th century the nationally famed Baptist preacher [[Charles Haddon Spurgeon]] built the [[Metropolitan Tabernacle]] here.<ref name="Richardson2000">{{cite book |author=John Richardson |title=The Annals of London: A Year-by-year Record of a Thousand Years of History |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsoflondonye00rich|url-access=registration |year=2000 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22795-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/annalsoflondonye00rich/page/285 285]}}</ref>  The building, designed by [[William Willmer Pocock]],<ref name="Richardson2000"/> was finished in 1861 and dedicated on 18 March. It was bombed in the [[bombing of London]] but the portico and basement survived. In 1957 the tabernacle was rebuilt to a new, much smaller design, accommodating surviving original features.

The Theatre Royal was built in 1872 and destroyed by fire only six years later. Renovations were initiated by Jethro Thomas Robinson after the fire, and completed by Frank Matcham, to what became the Elephant and Castle Theatre in 1879. The Theater was converted to an ABC cinema in 1928, and became [[The Coronet]] Cinema in 1981.

During the late 19th century there was a cemetery in the vicinity,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19825878 |title=500 skeletons found at Elephant and Castle building site |date=4 October 2012 |work=BBC News}}</ref> but it was built over during London's rapid expansion. A few gravestones remain in St. Mary's Churchyard. At the north side of the churchyard, the church of St Gabriel's Newington was built in 1874 before being demolished in 1937 on what is now a walkway called St Gabriel Walk.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://stmarynewington.church/top/ |title=A History of the Parish of St. Mary Newington|date=25 February 2021}}</ref>

== 20th century ==
=== Peak years: 1900–1939 ===
The area became the location for a thriving shopping area, known as "the Piccadilly (Circus) of South London",<ref name="BBC News"/> with its own department store (William Tarn and Co) and many smaller outlets. Also featured were a shoe factory, a branch of Burton and a renowned hatter.

In 1930, the Trocadero, a monumental neo-Renaissance style picture house seating over 3000 and fitted with the largest [[Wurlitzer]] organ imported to the United Kingdom, was built at the northern corner of the New Kent Road (a plaque commemorating the building was unveiled in 2008 by [[Denis Norden]], who had worked there in his youth).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trocadero-wurlitzer.org/history/history.html |title=History |publisher=The Trocadero Wurlitzer Trust |access-date=16 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513235523/http://trocadero-wurlitzer.org/history/history.html |archive-date=13 May 2014 }}</ref> This was replaced in 1966 by a smaller cinema (the Odeon, known for a time after closure as an Odeon in 1982 as the Coronet, not to be confused with the Coronet below) which was demolished in 1988.

In 1932, another cinema opened across the street, [[The Coronet]]. From the early to mid 2000s until its eventual closure for impending demolition, The Coronet building was mostly used as a night-club and concert venue.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://coronettheatre.co.uk/ |title=Coronet – The Coronet Theatre London |work=coronettheatre.co.uk}}</ref>

At the time it seated over 2000 people, and was an art-deco conversion of the Elephant and Castle theatre, opened in 1879 on the site of the short-lived Theatre Royal (built in 1872 and burnt down six years later). It was reconstructed in 1882 and again in 1902.

One monument to cinema still remains just off the Elephant, the [[Cinema Museum (London)|Cinema Museum]] is a volunteer-run museum with screenings of classic cinema and a vast collection of cinema memorabilia. It is located in the old workhouse where [[Charlie Chaplin]] spent time as a child.

==== Second World War ====

The Elephant was the centre of the target zone for the German air raids on London on 10 May 1941 and suffered "raging fires".<ref>Mortimer, Gavin. ''The Bombing of London on 10 May 1941''. The Berkeley Publishing Group, 2005. p. 18, 251.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.military-history.org/articles/world-war-2/blitz-ww2.htm |title=Blitz WW2 – The Battle of London |publisher=Military History Monthly |date=22 January 2011|access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref>

==== Post-war rebuilding (1945–2000) ====
[[File:E&Cshoppingcentre.jpg|thumb|322x322px|The Elephant and Castle shopping centre, [[Hannibal House]] and [[The Coronet]] in September 2020]]
The major development of the 1960s consisted of post-war reconstruction to a larger metropolitan plan, much of it replacing properties destroyed by bombing in World War II and creating two infamous roundabouts.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle was reconstructed behind its preserved classical facade to a smaller scale than the original. Alexander Fleming House (1959), originally a group of government office blocks and now [[Metro Central Heights]] residential complex, is a prime example of the work of the Hungarian modernist architect [[Ernő Goldfinger]].

The shopping centre, designed by Boissevain & Osmond for the Willets Group, was opened in March 1965. It was the first covered shopping mall in Europe,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/reinvent-the-high-street/10370532/Reinventing-the-high-street-Elephant-and-Castles-transformation.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/reinvent-the-high-street/10370532/Reinventing-the-high-street-Elephant-and-Castles-transformation.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Reinventing the high street: Elephant and Castle's transformation |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=14 October 2013 |location=London |access-date=29 March 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> with 120 shops on three levels and a two-storey underground car-park. In the sales brochure (1963), Willets claimed it to be the "largest and most ambitious shopping venture ever to be embarked upon in London. In design planning and vision it represents an entirely new approach to retailing, setting standards for the sixties that will revolutionise shopping concepts throughout Britain." When it opened, budget restrictions meant that the proportions and finishes of the building had had to be scaled down and only 29 out of a possible 120 shops were trading. The demolition of the shopping centre and [[The Coronet]] took place in 2021.

The Elephant is the location of the [[London College of Communication]], formerly the London College of Printing, an internationally renowned dedicated college, part of [[University of the Arts London]]. The present structure was constructed during the redevelopment of the area in the early 1960s. It is slated for demolition in the mid 2020s, when the college is due to move to a new campus being built on the site of the Coronet Theatre.

In 1974 the [[Brutalist]] [[Heygate Estate]], designed by Tim Tinker,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/mar/04/death-housing-ideal |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Stephen |last=Moss |title=The death of a housing ideal |date=4 March 2011}}</ref> was completed.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/dec/23/life1.lifemagazine1 |title=The Elephant's grave yard |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=23 December 2001 | access-date=4 May 2010 |first=Michael |last=Collins}}</ref>  It was home to more than 3,000 people.<ref name="youngfoundation.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.planning.ri.gov/documents/comp/Design_for_Social_Sustainability.pdf |title=Design for Social Sustainability : A Framework for Creating Thriving New Communities |publisher=Planning.ri.gov |access-date=28 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304222014/http://www.planning.ri.gov/documents/comp/Design_for_Social_Sustainability.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  The estate was once a popular place to live, the flats being thought light and spacious,<ref name="Walker">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/sep/03/heygate-estate-south-london-hollywood |title=South London's Heygate estate mourned by locals – and Hollywood |work=The Guardian |first=Peter |last=Walker |date=3 September 2010}}</ref> but the estate later developed a reputation for crime, poverty and dilapidation.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/articles/2009/03/05/london_heygate_s15_w8_video_feature.shtml |title=Heygate estate |publisher=BBC London | access-date=2 October 2013}}</ref> It was demolished in the 2010s and replaced with the Elephant Park development, which, the developer claimed, includes "the largest new green space to be created in London for 70 years."<ref name=Morrisroe>{{cite web |url=https://www.morrisroe.co.uk/project/elephant-park |title=Elephant Park |publisher=Morrisroe | access-date=7 June 2021}}</ref>

[[Perronet House]], an award-winning residential block owned by Southwark Council, was designed by [[Sir Roger Walters]]. It was completed in 1970 and extended in 1987.

At the south of the area stood Castle House (an office building now replaced by [[Strata SE1]]), which was part of the Draper Estaste. When Draper House, which still exists, was built in 1964, with its 25 floors, it was the tallest structure in London. The design was by [[Hubert Bennett]] of the London City Council's (LCC's) Architects Department and inspired by Le Corbusier. Well regarded at the time, the building was featured in Architecture Review which said it, 'sets a standard of clarity and vigour'.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.drapertogether.org/history#history-info |location=London |work=Draper Together |title=Elephant And Castle - Local History |date=2019}}</ref>

=== 21st century: gentrification ===
[[File:E&Cregeneration.jpg|thumb|322x322px|Demolition of the [[Heygate Estate]], construction of Elephant Central, and the Artworks – May 2014]]

[[File:ElephantPark2.jpg|thumb|322x322px|Elephant Park – former site of the [[Heygate Estate]]]]
In recent times the area has had a reputation for successful ethnic diversity and centrality. The area's proximity to major areas of employment, including Westminster, the [[West End of London|West End]] and the [[City of London|City]], has meant that a certain amount of [[gentrification]] has taken place.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2013/09/mapping-gentrification |title=Mapping gentrification |newspaper=The Economist|date=9 September 2013 }}</ref>

From the mid-2000s, the area became the subject to a master-planned redevelopment budgeted at £1.5 billion. A Development Framework was approved by [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark Council]] in 2004. It covers 170 acres (688,000 m<sup>2</sup>) and envisages restoring the Elephant to the role of major urban hub for inner London that it occupied before [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lendlease.com/europe/united-kingdom/projects/elephant-and-castle-regeneration |title=Elephant & Castle regeneration|access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref> There have been moves to protect the last of the architecturally important tenement blocks nearby through the creation of a conservation area covering the [[Pullens buildings]].

A substantial amount of post-[[World War II]] social housing that was claimed to have failed by the Council has been demolished, including the [[Heygate Estate]], replaced with developments consisting of a mix of social and private-sector housing and a 2-acres green space, Elephant Park, part of rebranding the whole development. This portion of the site is being developed by [[Lendlease]]. The site includes what the developers called "one of the largest new parks in Central London in 70 years",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/council-set-to-sign-off-heygate-plans-34215 |title=Council set to sign off Heygate plans |work=Inside Housing}}</ref> which only became part of the project after protests from local activists to retain as many of the mature trees on the site as possible.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/bf9d750a-cb9f-11e3-8ccf-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/bf9d750a-cb9f-11e3-8ccf-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |title=Hidden forest at the heart of London's Heygate estate regeneration |work=Financial Times|date=2 May 2014 }}</ref> A large water feature and paddling pool, named Elephant Springs, is located in the north eastern quarter of the park.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://londonist.com/london/things-to-do/elephant-springs-water-feature-reopens-for-the-season/ |title=Kids Will Love These Nature-Inspired Play Fountains In Elephant And Castle |work=Londonist|date=7 April 2022 }}</ref>

In 2022, a timber pavilion, called The Tree House, and designed architect studio Bell Phillips, opened. The structure is triangular and is built around a tree. It includes public toilets, a cafe, and a viewing gallery on the roof.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dezeen.com/2022/08/07/bell-phillips-the-tree-house-london-elephant-park/ |title=Bell Phillips creates The Tree House pavilion at London's Elephant Park |work=Dezeen|date=7 August 2022 }}</ref>

Locally, tall, mainly residential buildings have been approved or are under construction since the 148-metre [[Strata SE1]] tower was completed in 2010.  These include:
*[[One The Elephant]] (124m)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/6463 |title=One The Elephant: Lend Lease aims to cash in on Hyde Park effect |work=London SE1}}</ref>
*[[Highpoint (building)|Highpoint]] a residential [[build-to-rent]] building (134m),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/6975 |title=Boris: work starts next year on 44-storey Elephant & Castle tower |work=London SE1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/why-build-to-rent-could-be-a-boon-for-architects |title=Why build-to-rent could be a boon for architects |first=Kate |last=Youde |date=19 May 2016}}</ref> which also includes affordable housing,  Council housing, a café and a theatre space leased to the [[Southwark Playhouse]].
*"Two Fifty One"{{efn|on the site of Eileen House}} Southwark Bridge Road (134m)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7292 |title=Eileen House: Boris Johnson approves Newington Causeway tower |work=London SE1}}</ref>
*"Elephant Central" (three high-rise buildings on a shared podium).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/area-guides/southwark-borough/elephant-and-castle/living-in-elephant-castle-area-guide-to-homes-schools-and-transport-links-a135826.html |title=Living in Elephant and Castle:area guide to homes, schools and transport links |work=Homes & Property|date=10 January 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7208 |title=Tribeca Square: work starts on New Kent Road homes, cinema & supermarket |work=London SE1}}</ref>

Southwark Council opened the new Castle leisure centre in 2016. This replaced the original Castle centre, which closed in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200229/investing_in_leisure/1793/the_castle_leisure_centre |title=The Castle leisure centre |work=southwark.gov.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/8746 |title=Castle leisure centre to open on Saturday 30 April |work=southwark.gov.uk}}</ref>

In 2015, the new owners of the shopping centre, Delancey, announced redevelopment plans for a new "town centre", which is due to be completed by the mid-2020s. The project is in two phases. The first aims to replace the existing shopping centre and the Coronet Theatre, and comprise:
*a new campus building for the nearby [[London College of Communication]] (LCC){{efn|replacing the [[Coronet Cinema|Coronet Theatre]]}}
*a cinema{{efn|originally planned for the "Elephant Central" development}}
*retail units and housing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/8375 |title=New Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre redevelopment plans on show |work=London SE1}}</ref>
*a new underground station entrance, though funding is currently uncertain.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/10550 |title=TfL: Elephant & Castle tube station revamp at risk |work=London SE1|date=19 May 2021 }}</ref>
Once the first phase is completed, the current site of the LCC is to be redeveloped to host residential towers and a live-music venue.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://elephantandcastletowncentre.co.uk/looking-to-the-future/ |title=E&C Town Centre: Looking to the future |work=elephantandcastletowncentre.co.uk}}</ref>

In February 2014, a small shipper-container precinct on three levels, inspired by the [[Boxpark]] concept, was put together at the corner of the Walworth Road and Elephant Road. Baptised The Artworks, the venue hosted small start-up businesses and a library.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7456 |title=£1.2m library to open in Elephant & Castle shipping containers |work=London SE1}}</ref> The project was closed and demolished in 2019.

London's [[Latin Americans in the United Kingdom|Latin American]] population, prominent from this zone to [[Stockwell]], has been an inspiration to aspects of the regeneration. Plans are being made for shops and artwork to emphasise a Latin American corridor.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/4503 |title=Lib Dems promise 'Latin American corridor' from Elephant to Stockwell |date=21 April 2009 |work=London-se1.co.uk |access-date=6 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3846 |title=Latin Americans must take full part in Elephant & Castle regeneration says London Assembly chair |work=London-se1.co.uk |date=21 April 2009 |access-date=6 December 2012}}</ref>

In December 2018, it was announced that London Mayor [[Sadiq Khan]] had approved redevelopment plans, and that Southwark Council had too, after changes to proposals to ensure more windows in the shopping centre, 350 out of 1000 homes for rent at "genuinely affordable levels" and for traders in the current centre with rents capped for 15 years.<ref>E Hopkirk, 'Mayor approves huge Elephant & Castle redevelopment' ([https://www.building.co.uk/news/mayor-approves-huge-elephant-and-castle-redevelopment/5096997.article 11 December 2018]) Building.co.uk</ref> A judicial review of the decision was finally lost by campaigners in May 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/10556 |title=Elephant & Castle housing: campaigners lose appeal court fight |date=29 May 2021 |work=London-se1.co.uk |access-date=8 June 2021}}</ref>

In January 2020, a closure date was set for the centre of 30 July 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/10081 |title=Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre to close after 55 years |date=17 January 2020 |work=London-se1.co.uk}}</ref> The closure date was postponed to 24 September 2020 due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/10264 |title=Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre: closure date postponed |date=12 May 2020 |work=London-se1.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='We're going to miss the community': Elephant and Castle shopping centre closes after 55 years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/24/were-going-to-miss-the-community-elephant-and-castle-shopping-centre-closes-after-55-years |access-date=28 September 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=24 September 2020 |language=en}}</ref> and the centre will be redeveloped. Demolition of the shopping centre, Hannibal House and the Coronet theatre started in January 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2021/02/in-photos-demolition-starts-on-the-elephant-and-castle-shopping-centre/ |title=In photos: Demolition starts on the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre |date=23 February 2021 |work=Brixton Buzz}}</ref>

In November 2023, Elephant Park was the winner of the Public Space – Building Beauty Award, handed out by the [[Royal Fine Art Commission Trust]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://buildingbeautyawards.com/winners-2023/ |title=Winners 2023 - Building Beauty Awards |date=10 November 2023 |work=Building Beauty Awards}}</ref>

==Transport==

=== London Underground ===
[[File:Elephant and Castle station, SE1 - geograph.org.uk - 829116.jpg|alt=A London Underground "roundel" reads "Elephant and Castle." A smaller sign says "Way Out" above it.|left|thumb|256x256px|Elephant & Castle [[National Rail]] station is approximately 100 metres from the nearby tube station. There is an [[Out of station interchange|out-of-station interchange]] between the two stations.]]
[[Elephant & Castle tube station]] serves the area.

The station is served by [[Northern line]] trains on the Bank branch, linking the area directly to [[City of London|the City]], and destinations such as [[London Bridge station|London Bridge]], [[King's Cross St Pancras tube station|King's Cross St Pancras]], and [[Camden Town]] to the north. Southbound trains travel towards [[Morden tube station|Morden]] via key destinations such as [[Kennington tube station|Kennington]], [[Clapham]], and [[South Wimbledon tube station|South Wimbledon]] and [[Battersea]] following the opening of the [[Northern line extension to Battersea|line's extension]] from Kennington as of the Autumn of 2021.

The station is the southern terminus of the [[Bakerloo line]], which runs northbound to [[Harrow & Wealdstone station|Harrow and Wealdstone]]. The line links the area to [[London Waterloo station|Waterloo]], [[West End of London|the West End]], [[Paddington tube station (Bakerloo, Circle and District lines)|Paddington]], [[Willesden Junction station|Willesden]], and [[Wembley Central station|Wembley Central]] along the way.<ref name="railtube">{{Cite web |url=http://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf |title=London's Rail and Tube services |website=[[Transport for London]] and [[National Rail]]}}</ref>

The station is on the boundary between London fare zones [[London fare zone 1|1]] and [[London fare zone 2|2]].

[[Transport for London]] (TfL) has proposed [[Bakerloo line extension|extending the Bakerloo line]] southwards from Elephant & Castle to [[Lewisham]]. The line would run beneath the [[Old Kent Road]] down to New Cross.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/planning-for-the-future/bakerloo-line-extension |title=Bakerloo line extension |website=[[Transport for London]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103023740/https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/planning-for-the-future/bakerloo-line-extension|archive-date=3 January 2020|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref>

=== National Rail ===
[[Elephant & Castle railway station]] is served by [[Southeastern (train operating company)|Southeastern]] and [[Thameslink]] trains (More so by Thameslink services), which serve destinations across [[London]], the [[South East England|South East]], and [[East England]]. Key destinations include [[Ashford International railway station|Ashford International]], [[Bedford railway station|Bedford]], [[Dover Priory railway station|Dover Priory]], [[Blackfriars station|London Blackfriars]] (in the city), [[Luton railway station|Luton]] and [[Luton Airport]] ({{Rint|air}}), [[St Albans City railway station|St Albans City]], [[St Pancras railway station|St Pancras International]], [[Sutton railway station (London)|Sutton]], and [[Wimbledon station|Wimbledon]].

The station is on the boundary between London fare zones [[London fare zone 1|1]] and [[London fare zone 2|2]].

===Buses===
Elephant & Castle is served by [[London Buses]] routes [[London Buses route 1|1]], [[London Buses route 12|12]], [[London Buses route 35|35]], [[London Buses route 40|40]], [[London Buses route 45|45]], [[London Buses route 53|53]], [[London Buses route 63|63]], [[London Buses route 68|68]], [[London Buses route 133|133]], [[London Buses route 136|136]], [[London Buses route 148|148]], [[London Buses route 155|155]], [[London Buses route 171|171]], [[London Buses route 172|172]], [[London Buses route 176|176]], [[London Buses route 188|188]], [[London Buses route 196|196]], [[London Buses route 333|333]], [[London Buses route 343|343]], [[London Buses route 344|344]], [[London Buses route 360|360]], [[London Buses route 363|363]], [[London Buses route 415|415]], [[London Buses route 453|453]], [[London Buses route 468|468]], [[London Buses route C10|C10]], [[London Buses route P5|P5]], [[London Buses route N1|N1]], [[London Buses route N53|N53]], [[London Buses route N63|N63]], [[London Buses route N68|N68]], [[London Buses route N89|N89]], [[London Buses route N133|N133]], [[London Buses route N155|N155]], [[London Buses route N171|N171]] and [[London Buses route N343|N343]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/elephant-and-castle-a4-290423.pdf |title=Buses from Elephant & Castle |website=[[Transport for London]] |date=29 April 2023 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505185818/https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/elephant-and-castle-a4-290423.pdf|archive-date=5 May 2023|access-date=6 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/elephant-and-castle-night-a4-0921.pdf |title=Night Buses from Elephant & Castle |website=[[Transport for London]] |date=September 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505185819/https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/elephant-and-castle-night-a4-0921.pdf|archive-date=5 May 2023|access-date=6 May 2023}}</ref>

=== Cycling ===
[[File:Cycle superhighway cs6.jpg|alt=A large number of cyclists ride in the sun near Blackfriars Bridge. There are few cars in sight.|thumb|322x322px|[[List of cycle routes in London|Cycleway 6]] meets [[Cycle Superhighway|Cycle Superhighway 7]] at Elephant & Castle. The route runs on traffic-free [[bike freeway]] to [[Farringdon, London|Farringdon]], via the [[South Bank]] and [[City of London]].]]
TfL and the London Borough of Southwark maintain [[cycling infrastructure]] in the area.

In 2014 the northern junction was "Britain's highest cycle casualty roundabout".<ref name="Matthew Beard">{{cite news |author=Matthew Beard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/290m-plan-to-make-london-roundabouts-safer-and-less-threatening-to-cyclists-9154064.html |title=£290m plan to make London roundabouts safer and less threatening to cyclists |work=London Evening Standard |date=26 February 2014 |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref>

Elephant and Castle is the southern terminus of [[List of cycle routes in London|Cycleway 6]], which runs northwards to [[Blackfriars, London|Blackfriars]], [[Farringdon, London|Farringdon]], [[Bloomsbury]], and [[Kings Cross, London|King's Cross]]. The cycleway runs unbroken and signposted along the entirety of its route. The section between Elephant and Castle and Farringdon runs along traffic-free [[bike freeway]]. The northern terminus of C6 is in [[Kentish Town]].

[[Cycle Superhighway|Cycle Superhighway 7]] passes north–south through Elephant and Castle. The route is signposted and carries cyclists from Elephant and Castle northbound to the city, via [[Southwark Bridge]]. Southbound, the route runs without interruption to [[Colliers Wood|Collier's Wood]], via [[Kennington]], [[Stockwell]], [[Clapham]], and [[Tooting]].<ref name="tflmap">{{Cite web |url=https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/cycle |title=Cycle |website=[[Transport for London]]}}</ref>

A [[Shared use path|shared-use path]] for pedestrians and cyclists runs alongside [[New Kent Road]] east from Elephant and Castle, which links the area to the nearby [[Bricklayers Arms|Bricklayer's Arms]].

The [[Santander Cycles]] [[bicycle-sharing system]] operates in Elephant and Castle.<ref name="tflmap" />

=== Road ===
Elephant and Castle is a busy road junction. The [[London Inner Ring Road]] passes through the junction. The [[A3 road|A3]] also passes through the junction, which carries traffic between the city and destinations such as Kennington, Clapham, [[Gatwick Airport]] ({{Rint|air}}), and [[Portsmouth]].

[[Air pollution]] from road traffic in Elephant and Castle has significantly improved in recent years. In 2015, Elephant and Castle exceeded the UK government legal limit on [[Nitrogen dioxide|Nitrogen Dioxide]], with the local borough recording an annual mean concentration of 41 [[microgram]]s per cubic metre (μg/m^3). In 2017, this figure was 34μg/m^3, below the legal limit, and in 2018, the figure was 32μg/m^3. The limit set by the [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs|Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs]] is 40μg/m^3.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s83991/Annual%20Status%20Report.pdf |title=Southwark Air Quality Annual Status Report 2018 |date=June 2019 |website=[[London Borough of Southwark]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422102737/http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s83991/Annual%20Status%20Report.pdf|archive-date=22 April 2020|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref>

The Elephant was to have been served by the [[Cross River Tram|Cross-River Tram]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/transport/cross-river-tram.pdf |title=Cross River Tram |publisher=London Assembly |date=October 2008 |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004113046/http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/transport/cross-river-tram.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2015 }}</ref> which was cancelled in 2008 due to budgetary constraints.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7712002.stm |title=TfL scraps projects and cuts jobs |work=BBC News |date=6 November 2008 |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref>

In 2010, the southern roundabout was converted to traffic light operation, with the creation of new cycle lanes and pedestrian crossings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/4839 |title=Elephant & Castle southern roundabout to be removed by 11 October |work=London SE1 |date=28 September 2010 |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> This included the removal of the pedestrian subways, described as "unpopular and imtimidating" by a local councillor.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12204909 |title=Elephant and Castle's 'intimidating' subways closed |work=BBC News |date=17 January 2011 |access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref>

In 2014 the Elephant & Castle junction was still "Britain's highest cycle casualty roundabout",<ref name="Matthew Beard"/> prompting a [[Transport for London|TfL]] proposal to remove the northern roundabout as part of a £4bn package of road improvements targeting cyclists' safety.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26432725 |title=£4bn plan to revamp London's roads announced |work=BBC News |date=4 March 2004 |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> TfL implemented its proposal in 2015, connecting the roundabout island to the shopping centre, thereby creating a new public space called [[Elephant Square]].

== Notable residents ==

* Playwright and associate of Shakespeare [[Thomas Middleton]] lived in the area in later life and was buried in St Mary's Churchyard when he died in 1627.
* The [[Forty Elephants]] or Forty Thieves were an 18th to 20th century all-female London crime syndicate who specialised in shoplifting. They operated from the Elephant and Castle and were allied to the Elephant and Castle Mob led by the McDonald brothers. [[Shirley Pitts]] was "educated" by the gang, while [[Alice Diamond]] was one of its leaders, in the first half of the 20th century.
* Fanny Blood, a friend of [[Mary Wollstonecraft]]'s, met in 1775, lived in Newington Butt. In 1777, Wollstonecraft persuaded her family to move to Walworth. She soon became a lodger of philosopher [[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Thomas Taylor]] and his family, in Manor Place. Taylor became her tutor and by 1778, she was working as a paid companion for him. She moved in with the Blood family in 1782.<ref name="Wollstonecraft">{{cite web |url=https://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/a-brief-history/wollstonecrafts-walworth/ |title=Wollstonecraft's Walworth |publisher=elephantandcastl.org.uk|access-date=5 May 2021}}</ref> 
* The mathematician [[Charles Babbage]] was born in [[Walworth]] in 1791 and was baptised at St Mary's Newington. The family lived at 44 Crosby Row, which is now called Larcom Street. A blue plaque is visible at the corner of Larcom Street and Walworth Road.
* In the middle of [[Elephant Square]],{{efn|Formerly a second, namely, the northern roundabout}} is the [[Michael Faraday Memorial]], a large stainless steel box built in honour of [[Michael Faraday]], who was born nearby in 1791. It contains an [[electrical substation]] for the [[Northern line]]. Alternative DJ [[Aphex Twin]] has long been rumoured to have lived for some time inside the monument, although this story has been debunked. He is also rumoured to have lived in a disused bank building on Newington Causeway (now demolished) in the 1990s.<ref name="twin">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/30/aphex-twin-elephant-and-castle-mystery-logos |title=Mystery images at tube station hint at new Aphex Twin album |work=The Guardian|date=30 July 2018 |access-date=5 May 2021}}</ref> 
* [[Elhanan Bicknell]] was a businessman and shipowner. He became one of the leading collectors of contemporary British art. Around 1809, he entered into partnership with his uncle John Walter Langton who was a tallow chandler at Newington Butts. The firm, which was located opposite St Mary's Church, become the leading oil merchants and [[spermaceti]] refiners in London by 1835.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clarencebicknell.com/images/downloads_news/elhanan_bicknell_oil_trade_mark_howard.pdf |title=Mark Howard, "Elhanan Bicknell, oil merchant and shipowner." |publisher=}}</ref> A friend and close business associate there at Newington Butts was fellow oil merchant and shipowner, [[Thomas Sturge]], who was also a cement manufacturer, railway company director, social reformer and philanthropist. [[Thomas Sturge the elder]] had founded what was to become Thomas Sturge & Sons in the early 1780s. The business remained there until the 1840s.
* The inventor of the periodic table, [[John Newlands (chemist)|John Newlands]], was born on 26 November 1837, in West Square, just behind the Bethlem Hospital, which now houses the [[Imperial War Museum]].
* On 18 March 1861, renowned [[Particular Baptist]] preacher [[Charles Spurgeon]] moved his congregation to the newly constructed purpose-built [[Metropolitan Tabernacle]], which seated 5,000 people with standing room for another 1,000. It was the largest church edifice of its day. Spurgeon remained in charge of the church until his death in 1892.
* [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] politician, [[banker]] and [[City of London|City]] merchant [[James Daniel Gilbert]] was born on 5 February 1864 and subsequently brought up in the ward of West Newington, which he later came to represent at the [[London County Council]].
* Communist militant and trade union leader [[Jack Dash]] was born in Southwark on 23 February 1907, and grew up on Rockingham Street.
* Gangster "Mad" [[Frankie Fraser]] was born on Cornwall Road in [[Waterloo, London|Waterloo]], [[London]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thetimes.com/#section-news |title=The Times & The Sunday Times |website=[[The Times]]|access-date=16 May 2017}}</ref><ref name="Morton2">{{cite news |last=Morton |first=James |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/26/frankie-fraser |title=Frankie Fraser obituary |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=28 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewhitehartwaterloo.co.uk/findus/ |title=Find & contact The White Hart in Waterloo |work=The White Hart |access-date=28 November 2014 |archive-date=4 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204132334/http://www.thewhitehartwaterloo.co.uk/findus/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Morton">{{cite book |last=Morton |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0753512750 |title=Mad Frank's Underworld History of Britain |year=2007 |publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |isbn=978-0753512753 |access-date=28 November 2014}}</ref> At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on the Walworth Road.
* Actor [[Tod Slaughter]] took over the Elephant and Castle Theatre from 1924 until several months before its closure in 1927. His company revived Victorian "blood-and-thunder" melodramas to enthusiastic audiences. Slaughter also staged other types of production such as the annual Christmas pantomime, where he would cast prominent local personalities in bit-parts for audience recognition.
* By at least 1924, Barbadian-born physician, [[Pan-Africanist]] and co-founders of the [[League of Coloured Peoples]] [[Cecil Belfield Clarke]] practised at 112 [[Newington Causeway]], as he would do for the rest of his professional career.<ref>In 1924 he gave his address as 112 Newington Causeway on a ship's manifest. {{Cite web |url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=TNA%2FBT27%2F1039%2F00%2F0052%2FP%2F0004F&parentid=TNA%2FBT27%2F1039000052%2F00066 |title=Find My Past: Van Rensselaer|access-date=12 January 2021}}</ref> He may have practised there as early as 1920.<ref name="Bourne">{{Cite book |last=Bourne |first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Bourne (writer) |title=Under Fire: Black Britain in Wartime, 1939-45 |publisher=The History Press) |year=2020 |isbn= |location= |pages=91–92}}</ref>
* English comedian, actor, writer and singer [[Charlie Drake]] was born there on 19 June 1925.
* On 17 January 1932, agriculturalist and Labour Co-operative politician [[Denis Carter, Baron Carter|Denis Carter]] was born in Elephant and Castle, where his parents, Albert and Annie Carter, worked in a tea warehouse and as an office cleaner, respectively. 
* Speedway rider [[George Barclay (speedway rider)|George Barclay]] was born in Elephant on 1 April 1935. 
* Actor [[Alan Ford (actor)|Alan Ford]], who was born in Camberwell on 23 February 1938, grew up on the area.
* Rock singer [[Terry Dene]] was born in Lancaster Street on 20 December 1938.
* Actor [[Windsor Davies]] taught English and Maths at a school in Elephant and Castle.
* Journalist and war correspondent [[David Blundy]] grew up near Elephant and Castle in a house that was also the location of his father's antique store.
* DJ, club promoter and music producer [[Jeff Dexter]] was born 15 August 1946 in [[Lambeth Hospital]] and grew up in [[Newington Butts]], moving to Camberwell Road when he was ten years old.
* In 1956, [[Austin Osman Spare]] moved to a flat situated above the loading bay of a [[Woolworths (United Kingdom)|Woolworths]] store at 56a Walworth Road. Aged 17, in May 1904, he had held his first public art exhibition in the foyer of the Newington Public Library on the same road.{{cite book |title=Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of London's Lost Artist |last=Baker |first=Phil |year=2011 |publisher=[[Strange Attractor Press]] |location=London |isbn=978-1907222016}}
* [[Charlie Chaplin]]<ref name="workhouses">{{cite web |url=http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Chaplin/ |title=Charlie Chaplin |publisher=The Workhouse|access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref> and [[Michael Caine]], who were born and grew up locally.<ref name="elephanttohollywood">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/8037074/Michael-Caine-interview-for-his-autobiography-The-Elephant-to-Hollywood.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/8037074/Michael-Caine-interview-for-his-autobiography-The-Elephant-to-Hollywood.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Michael Caine interview – for his autobiography The Elephant to Hollywood |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |date=4 October 2010 |access-date=2 May 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* [[Charlie Mullins]] OBE, the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, was born 28 October 1952 and grew up on the Rockingham Estate.
* Footballer [[Tommy Langley]] was born in Elephant on 8 February 1958.
* In December 1962, [[John Major]] started work at the [[London Electricity Board]].
* Actress and television presenter [[Lisa Maxwell (actress)|Lisa Maxwell]] was born in the area on 24 November 1963, where she was raised by her single mother and her grandparents.
* Trade Unionist [[Steve Turner (trade unionist)|Steve Turner]] grew up on the now demolished [[Heygate Estate]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/unite-leadership-candidate-steve-turner-labour-mps-b948046.html |title='Get down the pub to win back voters', Unite leadership candidate Steve Turner tells Labour MPs |date=28 July 2021 |access-date=29 July 2021}}</ref>
* Irish writer and novelist [[Darren O'Shaughnessy]], who was born in 1972, spent the first six years of life in Elephant, going to the English Martyrs' RC Primary School from the age of three. 
* Actress [[Nicola Stapleton]] was born in Elephant on 9 August 1974, grew up near East Street and attended Townsend Primary School.
* In 1975, in his mid-twenties, gay American artist and writer [[Philip Core]] settled permanently in London, living in a flat in Elephant and Castle that was painted completely black.
* Rapper [[Jahaziel (rapper)|Jahaziel]] was born on 26 July 1976 and was raised in the area.
* In 1979, [[David Bruce (brewer)|David Bruce]] started his first [[Firkin Brewery]] [[brewpub]] in Elephant and Castle.<ref name=Boak>{{cite web |title=Peter Austin is dead |url=http://boakandbailey.com/2014/01/peter-austin-dead/ |work=Boak & Bailey |date=2 January 2014 |access-date=1 February 2014}}</ref>
* During the 1980s, [[Mark Ashton]] lived in a council flat in Claydon House on the [[Heygate Estate]], which is where he formed with his friend Mike Jackson the group [[Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners]] in 1984.
* Horse racing announcer [[Mark Johnson (announcer)|Mark Johnson]] attended the then [[London College of Printing]], receiving a bachelor's degree in television, film, and theatre studies, and a postgraduate diploma in radio journalism.
* [[Joy Crookes]] was born in the [[Lambeth]] district of [[South London]] on 9 October 1998 and grew up in the area of Elephant and Castle,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/joy-crookes-on-the-rise |title=On The Rise: Joy Crookes |last=O'Shea |first=Clare |date=22 March 2019 |website=[[The Line of Best Fit]] |language=en|url-status=live|access-date=5 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322125745/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/joy-crookes-on-the-rise |archive-date=22 March 2019 }}</ref> where she spent eight years at a Catholic state primary school.<ref name="Fishwick">{{Cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/joy-crookes-the-soulful-singer-whos-taken-over-2019-a4268781.html |title=Joy Crookes: the soulful singer who's taken over 2019 |last=Fishwick |first=Samuel |date=23 October 2019 |website=[[Evening Standard]] |language=en|url-status=live|access-date=5 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025163618/https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/joy-crookes-the-soulful-singer-whos-taken-over-2019-a4268781.html |archive-date=25 October 2019 }}</ref>
* In October 2004, Richard Reynolds, a then resident of [[Perronet House]], launched GuerrillaGardening.org as a record of his solo attempts at [[Guerrilla gardening#United Kingdom|guerrilla gardening]]. The site launched the trend in the UK and world. 
* Gay rights activist [[Peter Tatchell]] lives on the Rockingham Estate, where the Council installed a blue plaque in his name in 2010.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11440301 |title=Human rights protester Peter Tatchell gets blue plaque |work=BBC News |location=London |date=29 September 2010 |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>
* In 2012, Anglican priest, journalist and broadcaster, [[Giles Fraser]] became the priest-in-charge at St Mary's, Newington.
* [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] footballer [[Reiss Nelson]] was born in Elephant and Castle.
* Circuit Judge Sir (Anthony) Mark David [[Havelock-Allan baronets|Havelock-Allan]], 5th Baronet, QC, FCIArb, lives in the area with his second wife Alison née Foster, whom he married 1986.
* Academic, author, and broadcaster [[Kieran Maguire]] was born in the Elephant and Castle to Irish parents.

[[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] and [[Fanny Cornforth]], who apparently took her nickname "elephant" from the place,<ref name="raphaelites">{{cite news |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41615066 |title=Re-presenting Fanny Cornforth: The makings of an historical identity |work=The British Art Journal |date=Spring–Summer 2001 |jstor=41615066 |access-date=5 May 2021}}</ref> as well as [[Elizabeth Siddal]], [[Samuel Palmer]], [[George Tinworth]], [[Robert Browning]], [[Sarah Elizabeth Wardroper|Sarah Wardroper]] and [[Octavia Hill]] are also thought to have lived in the area.<ref name="more">{{cite web |url=https://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/a-brief-history/ |title=Elephant and Castle - A Brief History |publisher=elephantandcastl.org.uk|access-date=5 May 2021}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{in popular culture|section|date=February 2024}} 
* A "Fancy Toy Dog Show" is held at Elephant and Castle in 1834.<ref>{{cite book |title=The World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows |first=Bo |last=Bengtson |year=2012 |publisher=Fox Chapel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_asKBgAAQBAJ&q=dog+show+elephant+1834&pg=PA30 |isbn=978-1620080535|access-date=22 January 2019}}</ref>
* On 19 October 1856, during the first sermon by [[Charles Spurgeon]] at the [[Surrey Music Hall]], seven were killed in a stampede and many injured.
* ''Don John of Seville,'' a blank verse work by [[Edgardo Colona]] was first performed at the Elephant and Castle Theatre in 1876.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1UM5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA411&dq=edgardo+colonna William Davenport Adams, ''A Dictionary of the Drama,'' 411]</ref>
* In her 1929 book, ''[[A Room of One's Own]]'', [[Virginia Woolf]] imagines that her fictional version sister of Shakespeare, Judith, kills herself after becoming pregnant out of wedlock and that "she lies buried where the omnibuses now stop, opposite the Elephant and Castle." (Being buried under crossroads was common 'punishment' for suicides)
* On 26 October 1932, the BBC's Home Service broadcast a performance by [[Alick_Maclean#Quentin_Maclean|Quentin Maclean]] from the organ of the Trocadero cinema. Maclean had been Chief Organist there since 1930.<ref name=Radiotimes>{{cite news |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/565b9080c05a4a2ea3e208facf18f0b5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608194322/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/565b9080c05a4a2ea3e208facf18f0b5 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 June 2021 |work=Radio Times |title=Issue 473, Southern |date=23 October 1932}}</ref>
* In the early scenes of the 1944 musical film [[Champagne Charlie (1944 film)|Champagne Charlie]], the hero Joe Saunders and his brother Fred arrive in London from Kent, and go to the Elephant and Castle pub, the haunt of [[Tom Sayers]], a leading boxer. While his brother, an aspiring boxer, is having a trial bout with Sayers, Joe Saunders is persuaded to sing a song to entertain the bar's customers.
* In 1949, [[R.C. Hutchinson]] published ''Elephant and Castle: A Reconstruction'', a fictionalised account of his investigation into a murder that took place in the area in 1938.
* Photographer [[Bert Hardy]]'s documentary series on the area was published in ''[[Picture Post]]'' magazine, under the title 'Scenes From The Elephant' on 8 January 1949. They depicted everyday life in the area.
* There is a short film, from 1953, about the demise of London's trams, entitled ''[[John Krish|The Elephant Never Forgets]]''. The elephant shown alongside the title is the model elephant from the Elephant and Castle. Although trams ran across all of London, the film focuses on south London.
* In 1971, Unity Hall published ''Emily, A Biography of the Moroccan Princess from the Elephant and Castle'', which tells the story of Emily Keene. {{ISBN|028562010X}}
* The music video for the 1982 song ''[[Come on Eileen]]'' by the [[Dexys Midnight Runners]] was filmed on Brook Drive and Hayles Street, then known as Austral Street and Holyoak Road.
* The 1983–1985 [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] sitcom ''[[Up the Elephant and Round the Castle]]'' starring [[Jim Davidson]] was set in Elephant and Castle, with the title being a reference to the area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guide |first=British Comedy |title=Up The Elephant And Round The Castle - ITV1 Sitcom |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/up_the_elephant/ |access-date=2025-06-13 |website=British Comedy Guide |language=en}}</ref>
* The 2000 book ''Elephant Boys, Tales of London and Los Angeles Underworlds'', by Brian McDonald, tells the story of the author's family. {{ISBN|9781840182958}}
* Hannibal House was the location for the influential Macpherson Inquiry into the [[murder of Stephen Lawrence]], ordered in 1997,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stephen Lawrence Day: We want to give a young person a chance, in Stephen's memory |url=https://www.voice-online.co.uk/opinion/2021/04/22/stephen-lawrence-day-we-want-to-give-a-young-person-a-chance-in-stephens-memory/|access-date=24 April 2021 |website=The Voice |date=22 April 2021|language=en}}</ref> and of the inquiry into the [[Murder of Victoria Climbié]] in 2001.
* On Christmas 2002, performance artist [[Mark McGowan (performance artist)|Mark McGowan]] rolled along the pavement from the Elephant and Castle to Gallery 1,000,000&nbsp;mph in [[Bethnal Green Road]], a distance of four and a half miles, wearing yellow rubber marigold cleaning gloves and singing ''[[We Wish You A Merry Christmas]]''. He did this in an attempt to "get people to be kind and polite to cleaners for Christmas",<ref name=BBCartistrolls>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2571847.stm |work=BBC News |title=Artist rolls with it |date=13 December 2002}}</ref> inspired by a time he had worked as a cleaner and had not received a kind comment or a thank you.
* Scenes for the 2002 BBC sitcom ''[[15 Storeys High]]'' were filmed in the shopping centre, featuring notably the bowling alley and the Sundial restaurant.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://todayuknews.com/entertainment/tributes-pour-in-for-comedian-sean-lock-who-has-died-of-cancer-at-the-age-of-58/ |work=Today UK News |title=Tributes pour in for comedian Sean Lock who has died of cancer at the age of 58 |date=18 August 2021}}</ref>
* A lead character of the 2003 BBC sitcom ''[[The Crouches]]'', Natalie, played by [[Jo Martin]], managed Poundkickers, a discount store in the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
* ''[[The Walworth Farce]]'' is a 2006 play by Enda Walsh set in a council flat on the Walworth Road.
* Part of the action of the 2007 film ''[[The Contractor (2007 film)|The Contractor]]'' is set in a safe house in Elephant and Castle (at the fictitious address 1212 Statton Road), though the filming does not appear to have taken place in the area.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
* In December 2007 Hollywood actress [[Daryl Hannah]] made a surprise visit to Perronet House. Her arrival made the front page of the [[South London Press]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150205204039/http://www.goodatmagic.com/ggmedia/gg_southlondonpress7dec07.pdf See a scan of the article here]
* Several scenes of the 2007 music video by [[David Guetta]] and [[The Egg (band)|The Egg]] ''[[Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)]]'' are shot in the Heygate Estate, featuring [[parkour]] performances by [[Daniel Ilabaca]]. 
* Some of contemporary artist and ornithologist [[Marcus Coates]]' work has focused on housing in Elephant and Castle, including a film (''Vision Quest – a Ritual for Elephant & Castle'') and an on-stage trance in 2009.<ref name=observereeandc>{{cite news |author=Tom Lamont |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/apr/08/marcus-coates-artist-elephant-castle |title=Marcus Coates: 'Eventually something serious comes through' |work=[[The Observer]] |date=8 April 2012 |access-date=13 December 2015}}</ref> 
* In 2011/2012 social documentary photographer and university lecturer [[Paul Reas]] completed ''From a Distance'', a year-long commission on the regeneration of the Elephant and Castle in part of ''The Elephant Vanishes'' project, directed by Patrick Sutherland, for London College of Communication. He photographed people candidly, showing fraught and tense emotions (with the aid of an assistant with a [[Boom operator (media)|boom mounted]] flashgun); portraits; cans of incense intended to provide help under specific social pressures; and discarded furniture. The photographs were exhibited in 2012 and published by [[Photography and the Archive Research Centre]] (PARC) in ''Fieldstudy 16: From a Distance''.{{efn|''Fieldstudy 16'' is available [http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/6261/1/Fieldstudy_Distance3.pdf here] (PDF) within the UAL Research Online website.}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/oct/19/distance-utilitarianism-moral-architectural-fail |date=19 October 2012 |access-date=26 April 2014 |first=Giles |last=Fraser |work=[[The Guardian]] |title=Because it sees us from a distance, utilitarianism will always fail}}</ref>
* Despite some general opposition from residents to the estate being used as a dystopian backdrop on film, scenes for the 2011 British science fiction comedy horror film ''[[Attack the Block]]'', and for 2013 American action horror film ''[[World War Z (film)|World War Z]]'' were shot on the Heygate Estate.<ref name="Heygate">{{cite web |date=3 February 2012 |title=South London housing estate residents say no to film-makers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16858535 |website=BBC News |access-date=8 June 2021}}</ref>
* Some of the interior and exterior scenes of the 2013 British action thriller film ''[[Welcome to the Punch]]'' were filmed at London College of Communication in Elephant and Castle in August 2011.
* The 2011 novel by Matthew Fuller takes its names from the area and is set there. {{ISBN|9781570272257}}
* Several scenes of volume four of [[Ben Aaronovitch]]'s ''[[Peter Grant (book series)|Rivers of London]]'' series, titled ''[[Broken Homes]]'' (2013), take place in a fictionalised version of the area, which also features on the cover of the book.
* The rock band [[The Maccabees (band)|The Maccabees]], who has its studio nearby, released its 4th album, ''[[Marks to Prove It]]'', on 31 July 2015, which pays tribute to the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-33776415 |title=The Maccabees: Why we love Elephant and Castle |work=BBC News |date=4 August 2015 |access-date=19 October 2015}}</ref>
* Part of the action of the 2012 post-apocalypse novel ''Ice Diaries'' by Lexi Revellian, published by Hoxton Press, is set in [[Strata SE1]]. {{ISBN|0956642276}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Elephant & Castle Strata tower features in post-apocalyptic novel |publisher=SE1 Direct |url=https://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/7132|access-date=2 March 2021}}</ref>
* ''[[Teddy]]'' is a 2015 musical set in the Elephant and Castle in London in 1956.
* The area gives its name to a 2017 screenplay by gay writer [[Samuel Bernstein]]. Elephant and Castle is also the name of the [[EastEnders]]-style soap opera starring the hero of the story. The screenplay won awards and citations at The British Independent Film Festival, the London Independent Film Awards and the New York International Screenplay Awards.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
* The images on both sides of [[Aphex Twin]]'s 2005 record ''[[Analord]] 11'' feature the [[Michael Faraday Memorial]]. In 2018, The artist also used [[stealth marketing]] to trail the release of his latest album by posting a logo associated with him in the corridors of the Tube Station.<ref name="twin"/>
* Scenes from the 2019 music video for the song ''London Mine'', by local girl [[Joy Crookes]], were shot in the shopping centre, and around the area, including the Walworth Road and Wansey Street.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
* The 2021 novel, ''The Elephant, The Oik and a Ginger Pussy'', by Richard Humphries in set in the area in the 1950s and 60s. {{ISBN|9798777421180}}

== See also ==
* [[Elephant and Castle Pub and Restaurant]], a restaurant chain in North America named after this area in London

== References ==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* [http://www.elephantandcastle.org.uk/ Elephant and Castle regeneration masterplan]
* [https://elephantandcastletowncentre.co.uk/ Elephant and Castle Town Centre] – redevelopment of the shopping centre site
* [http://www.elephantandcastleroundabout.org Elephant and Castle Roundabout] "Making a Space a Place" – campaigning site against the changes in the road layout.

{{London Borough of Southwark}}
{{University of the Arts London}}
{{London Districts}}
{{Major Development Projects in London}}

[[Category:Areas of London]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Southwark]]
[[Category:Districts of the London Borough of Southwark]]
[[Category:London South Bank University]]
[[Category:Redevelopment projects in London]]
[[Category:Road junctions in London]]
[[Category:Eleanor of Castile]]