Ramp

Circular Ramp at West Smithfield

This is a circular ramp at the centre of West Smithfield, providing access to the subterranean goods yard beneath the Central Market. Designed in 1860 and built between 1862 and 1865, it has undergone later alterations.

The ramp is constructed of stock brick retaining walls and is paved with courses of granite setts and kerbstones. The structure has an outer diameter of 75 metres, comprising a 10-metre-wide roadway that descends in a spiral from an entrance marked by a wooden kiosk and entrance barrier. The roadway is cobbled with rectangular granite setts and has a narrow pavement on the inner side, with generous granite kerbs on both sides. It curves gently downwards in a clockwise direction, describing almost a complete circuit before ending at three arched entrances to the subterranean former sidings. The central and western arches are set back behind a twentieth-century concrete bridge that supports the road, and twentieth-century pedestrian stair access. The side walls of the ramp are of stock brick, with sections pierced by alcoves with relieving arches that provide structural support. Both the inner and outer walls are topped with low walls containing simple railings of later twentieth-century date. The inner wall is of stock brick, whilst the outer wall is of red brick and ashlar.

Modern additions including the railings, kiosk, pedestrian steps, road bridge and an underground lavatory against the outer east side of the ramp lack special interest. The built elements of the park within the centre of the ramp are not included in this listing; the fountain in the park is separately listed at Grade II.

The ramp was conceived as an integral part of the development of Smithfield Market from its inception. In 1860, Parliament passed an Act to establish a metropolitan market for meat, poultry and other provisions at Smithfields, responding to a Royal Commission of 1849 which had identified problems with accommodating a livestock market in a heavily populated part of the city. The Smithfield Market Removal Act of 1852 had relocated the livestock market to Copenhagen Fields in Islington, where the Caledonian Market opened in 1855. Plans were then made for a new wholesale market at Smithfield. The Caledonian Market had benefited greatly from its proximity to Camden Station, which allowed livestock to be driven straight from cattle trucks into the market. A similar arrangement was therefore proposed for the new Smithfield Market, made viable by the fact that the Metropolitan Railway Company was laying track from Paddington to nearby Farringdon Street. This line, the world's first underground railway, was completed in 1863 under the supervision of John Fowler, the Metropolitan's Engineer in Chief. Between 1862 and 1865, Fowler constructed a four-acre subterranean goods station at Smithfield, complete with loading platforms for both the Metropolitan and Great Western Railways. Above it, the new Central Market was built to designs by Sir Horace Jones, opening in 1868. Hydraulic lifts linked the market to the basement goods station, and the ramp provided vehicular access, connecting the goods station to London's roads. A plan of the proposed market site published in June 1860 by the Corporation of London showed the proposed inclined road leading to the railway beneath the market in the form it was completed.

In 1872, the centre of the spiral roadway was laid out as a circular garden with tall trees and paved paths. The fountain in the middle of the garden, a draped classical bronze figure of Peace by J Birnie Philip, was unveiled in 1873. The goods yard remained in use until the 1930s, and the station until the 1960s. The area under the market has been used for parking since 1970.