Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for PENTONVILLE

PENTONVILLE, a sub-district and a chapelry in Clerkenwell parish and district, Middlesex. The sub-district forms a compact portion of the metropolis; lies1¾ mile N N E of St. Paul's; adjoins the King's-Cross terminus of the Great Northern railway; has post-offices‡under London N; comprises all the section of Clerkenwell parish N of Penton-place and New-road, from Hamilton-row to High-street, Islington; occupies ground givenby the Mandevilles to Clerkenwell nunnery; was begun to be built by the Pentons, about 1773-80; consists chiefly of straight and well-built streets; and contains the London Female penitentiary and the White Lion-street Female penitentiary. Acres, 134. Pop. in 1851, 11, 904; in 1861, 13,079. Houses, 1, 574. The chapelrywas constituted in 1854, and is less extensive than the sub-district. Pop. in 1861, 11, 974. Houses, 1, 423. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of London. Value, £300. Patron, the Incumbent of Clerkenwell. The church was built in 1787, after designs by Hurst. Another church, called Christchurch, is associated with it; stands in Penton-street; was built in 1862, at a cost of about £8, 600; is in the decorated English style; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel; has a tower, surmounted by an octagonallantern, terminating in a conical spire; and contains1, 259 sittings. The Claremont Independent chapel was built in 1819. The Pentonville or Model prison is within Islington, and has been noticed in our article on that parish. A church, immediately behind it, was built in 1865, at a cost of nearly £8,000.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a sub-district and a chapelry"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 3rd order divisions")
Administrative units: Clerkenwell Vest/CP/AP       Clerkenwell PLPar/RegD       Middlesex AncC
Place: Pentonville

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