Climbing The Caledonian Clock Tower: Islington’s Big Ben

You may well know that you can do tours of Big Ben (the Elizabeth Tower), climbing up to the top and behind the clock faces. Did you know though that Islington has its very own clock tower, that you can also climb up?

When constructed in the mid 19th century, the Caledonian Clock Tower was the grand centre point for a huge new cattle market. It also has lots of other interesting elements to its history, as well as spectacular views from the top. 

‘Filth and Mire’

From at least the 12th century, but likely earlier, London’s livestock market took place at Smithfield. The name Smithfield coming from the ‘smooth fields’ that once lay outside the City walls to the North-West, on the banks of the now ‘lost’ River Fleet. 

In 1174 William Fitzstephen described the areas as “A smooth field where every Friday there is a celebrated rendezvous of fine horses to be sold… swine with deep flanks, and cows and oxen of immense bulk.’ 

Over the centuries, as the city grew and the population grew, the market became increasingly unsanitary, cruel and ultimately unsustainable. There is a fantastic description by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist describing the ‘ground covered nearly ankle deep with filth and mire’ and a ‘a stunning and bewildering scene which quite confused the senses’. 

In 1852 the city authorities voted to move the livestock market to Islington, an area then known as Copenhagen Fields. Smithfield was transformed, Horace Jones designed the Smithfield Market building in 1868 to sell just meat, rather than live animals.

Smithfield Market is also closing soon sadly, bringing an end to an over 800 year old market on the site. Part of the building is currently being turned into the new Museum of London.

Copenhagen Fields 

Copenhagen Fields was the area that once surrounded a manor house called Copenhagen House. It was built in the 17th century and its name seems to have come either from it being used for a time by the Danish Ambassador to England, or possibly because it was used as a hostelry for Danish visitors when the King of Denmark came to England in 1606. 

In the 18th century it became a tea house and its grounds a pleasure garden for Londoners looking to escape the city for some revelry and relaxation. A tavern was set up and bowls, cricket and bear-baiting all took place here, as well as it becoming a hotspot of the sex trade. 

It also became a popular spot for large protests and demonstrations to gather. 

In 1834 around 100,000 protesters gathered at Copenhagen Fields to march through London in solidarity with the Tolpuddle Martyrs. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of six agricultural labourers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset. They had been arrested and were facing deportation to Australia for essentially forming a trade union and demanding better wages.

There is a mural on the nearby Edward Square to them, which I have written about before here. 

Copenhagen House was demolished in the 1850s the make way for the new cattle market. 

The New Livestock Market

The new site, designed by James Bunstone Bunning, at 30 acres was three times the size of Smithfield, as well as facilities being vastly improved. 

The new market was called the Metropolitan Cattle Market, later ‘Caledonian Market’, named after the nearby Caledonian Road. Caledonian Road in turn was named after the Royal Caledonian Asylum that was constructed on the road in 1828 to care for the orphans of Scottish soldiers who had died in the Napoleonic Wars.

There was room to accommodate 7,000 cattle, 35,000 sheep, 1,500 calves and 900 pigs all at one time.

Manure was washed away, the animals had troughs to drink from and animals arriving before market days had ‘lairs’ with straw and water to stay in. There were also better facilities for the workers including toilets and hostels/pubs in the corners. 

It had space for tens of thousands of animals that would be sold every Monday and Thursday. 

The whole site was enclosed by iron railings, the columns of which displayed cow heads. The iron railings largely survive but the cow heads sadly have gone.

\The timing for the market’s establishment was not ideal. The introduction of ice-cooled railway wagons in the 1860s allowed animals to be slaughtered and the meat delivered to London the same day and the number of live animals sold in London therefore dropped steeply from the 1860s.

The livestock market was stopped eventually in the 1930s. Meat was sold here until the 1960s. 

Horses and Bric-a-Brac

On Fridays a market for working horses would take place. Horse tackle such as bridles, saddles and second-hand items to repair cabs, carts and wagons started to be sold as well.

As the motor cars and lorries started to take over from horses in the 20th century, horse sales declined but the second-hand element of the market expanded.

By the 1920s ‘Cally Market’ was world-famous as a treasure trove where you could buy anything from Egyptian antiques to silverware to human skeletons. 

On a good day around 100,000 people visited the market. The gates opened at 10 and the sellers without a permanent pitch would sprint in to get their spot.

The Queen and Greta Garbo are both known to have visited. There were various entertainments and characters in the market, such as the ‘Nigerian Prince’ who would give out racing/betting tips. 

The Clock Tower

The clock tower was built as a central focal point for the market. It also naturally was useful in telling the time when personal watches were still fairly rare and expensive. The clock was made by Moore and Sons in Clerkenwell, London’s watch and clock-making area. Its main bell was the largest bell in London before Big Ben was cast. 

The tower also contained the offices of the superintendent and various administrative offices around the outside. 

Climbing up the tower today you can see the mechanism for the pendulum clock.

The clock is powered by three heavy weights that are, every week, wound to the top of the tower. As gravity does its work and they drop down the tower, they keep the pendulum swinging and, in turn, the hands of the clock. The clock inside the Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben), is also a pendulum clock, but the weights are today raised back with electrical motors rather than by hand. 

The Views And Visiting

You get spectacular 360 degree views from the top of the tower. 

You can clearly see that icon of the London skyline for over 300 years: the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.

The park today is just ⅛ of the size of the original market. The Market Estate was built on the Northern end of the site in 1964. 

One of our guides had to go up the tower before the tour to clear out the pigeon carcasses because peregrine falcons that nest nearby at London Met university use the tower to bring and eat their prey. 

The university actually have a live camera for their peregrine falcon nest (they nest from March). 

There are 178 steep steps (mostly step ladders) up to the top, but, if you are able, it is well worth the effort.

There are a couple of tours a month and they can be booked on the Islington Guided Walks website. It is a real historic gem and, considering the history, deserves to be better known I think!

Thank you for reading, more of London’s hidden history below…