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One of the most fascinating things about the history of the London Underground is the way the names of stations have changed over time. Often stations you thought you knew have gone through two or three iterations throughout the years and sometimes the quirky names they had in the past were a whole lot more appealing.
Sometimes different names were also considered when stations were being planned and then later thrown out. London Paddington for example – one of the earliest stations on the entire Underground – was opened as Paddington Praed Steet in 1868 and only renamed Paddington in 1948.
The first ever London Underground station, Farringdon, was opened as Farringdon Street in January 1863, it then became Farringdon & High Holborn in 1922 and finally just Farringdon in 1936.
READ MORE: The Tube station that was never built that would’ve been right next to the M1
But perhaps one of the most interesting changes in name is a station that once was called simply “Post Office”. Can you guess which station we are talking about?
Well, we’ll give you some clues. The station was originally supposed to be called Newgate Street but instead opened as Post Office in July 1900. It seems like a strange name given that the obvious name of St Paul’s was right there on a plate in the form of the giant cathedral that stood next to it.
In fact, it was rumoured St Paul’s was once the site of London’s great lost Roman temple – though that has now been questioned. There was certainly an early Christian church here since the 7th Century which was later destroyed by fire. Another cathedral followed which was also destroyed during the Great Fire of London and of course the current great cathedral designed by Christopher Wren was built from 1675.
So why on earth was all this history ignored and the station simply called Post Office? Well the station was opened by the Central London Railway in 1900 and was actually named after the nearby headquarters of the general Post Office at St. Martin’s Le Grand.
The Post Office of the Kingdom of England had been established by Charles II way back in 1660. After 1707 it became the General Post Office covering the whole of the United Kingdom. The postal service was known informally as the Royal Mail because it was built on the distribution system for royal and government documents.
Britain’s first purpose-built mail facility building, the General Post Office, was built between 1825 and 1829 on St Martin’s-le-Grand. Sadly it was later demolished after the Post Office felt it was too small to accommodate its needs.
In 1874 a new building was opened on the western side of the same street, and the General Post Office North was built immediately north of the telegraph building in the 1890s on St Martin’s le Grand and King Edward Street in the City of London. It’s now called Nomura House. When the Central London Railway built the Tube station in 1900 it was therefore named “Post Office” after this building.
Well confusingly, right nearby was a South Eastern Railway station called St Paul’s. This mainline station had been opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway with the name St Paul’s in 1886, as a replacement for the earlier Blackfriars Bridge station.
It was decided to rename this station Blackfriars in 1937 and so the Underground station called Post Office took over the much more eloquent-sounding name of the cathedral which it has kept ever since. It was basically a move that was made to avoid the two stations being confused.
So there we have it, one of London’s most iconic names wasn’t used for a Tube station that opened right next to it. Instead it was given the rather functional name of Post Office.
Do you have a story you think we should be covering? If so, please email martin.elvery@reachplc.com
