Rufford Street in Kings Cross is one of the last surviving remnants of the  old terraced and tenement housing that used to cover the area between the Caledonian Road and York Way.  When the slums were compulsorily purchased and ‘cleared’ in the late 1960s Rufford and Gifford Streets were inexplicably left standing.  Rufford Street has a rich and varied history, including a necropolis railway (where the concrete plant is now) and model Victorian social housing by Charles Barry junior (the Beaconsfield Buildings) that fared even worse than the 1970s model housing a hundred years later.  The street earned the infamous rating of ‘black’ – ‘vicious semi-criminal underclass’ in Charles Booth’s social surveys (Booth pictured).  Things have looked up a bit in the past few years.  I wrote up the history in a very amateurish way in the time line at the link below – please let me know of any thing you think i have missed or anything i have got wrong – there is sure to be plenty.

Download rufford_street_sketchy_history_v0.3.pdf