Camden Town began as rolling fields, transformed into a bustling transport hub then evolved into a cultural epicentre.
Tracking the Heritage is a project by the Camden Highline, telling the story of the local area.
The Camden Highline
The Camden Highline is a registered charity which will transform the disused railway viaduct between Camden Town and King’s Cross into a new green artery for London. One of the aims of the Camden Highline is to reveal, explain and celebrate the heritage of its surroundings. Find out more here.
The Area
The area around the Camden Highline has a rich industrial and transport heritage. It’s the intersection of three main rail lines, Regent’s Canal, and the North London Railway to London’s docks. New models of freight distribution, and the Clean Air Act meant these sectors underwent a rapid decline in the 1950s.
The vacant industrial spaces went on to serve as low-cost space for small businesses, which evolved into today’s Camden Market and King’s Cross estate. This means that many significant heritage assets have survived the transformation of the area, but their form, function and surroundings have changed dramatically.
The Process
Tracking the Heritage emerged from the thousands of local people we’ve taken on walking tours of the Highline route. Many said that it was the first time they had really stopped to admire the physical heritage surrounding them; we want to provide this feeling to the millions of people who visit, work, study or live in Camden.
There’s a huge amount of fantastic heritage resources out there; an overwhelming amount really. To deal with this we enlisted the help of nine young people from the local area. These Heritage Trainees worked with experts to collect, collate and distil these resources. Their work was then showcased in an exhibition in Camden. This body of work formed the basis for a new walking tour, online map, physical interventions and a mural.
In partnership with Urban Learners, we also delivered an ambitious education programme to almost every state school in the borough. Students learnt about heritage, architecture and had an active role in shaping the future Camden Highline.
Throughout the project, we interviewed individuals with a strong connection to Camden’s industrial past. Listen to their stories here.
We worked with 9 local people aged 18-25 to uncover Camden’s heritage. With guidance from Authentic Futures, and research and resources from Camden Local Studies and Archive Centre, the trainees distilled the information in to pieces of artwork and research using various mediums.
We led over 18 walking tours following multiple routes. Our original Camden Highline walking route had a heritage content enhancement, and the Heritage walk took shape over time, with the input of our heritage trainees, local people, heritage experts and professional walking tour guides.
This incredible work meant we were fortunately able to unlock some further funding from Just Streets, via Cross River Partnership. We then brought the walking tours in to the public realm with some physical heritage plaques that are now permanently installed around Camden Town.
If you’d like to attend a walking tour, sign up to the Camden Highline newsletter.
Project Elements
Camden Highline, in collaboration with Urban Learners, ran a series of day-long, off-site education days for KS2 and KS3 students, as a continuation of their education programme. These workshops aimed to introduce students to their local heritage through a an interactive walking tour and creative outputs.
Download our Open Resources to deliver the workshop yourself!
To explore all the heritage info we discovered both around Camden Town and along the route of the Camden Highline (at ground level), check out our online map!
Throughout the project, we spoke to individuals with a strong connection to Camden’s industrial past. These added incredible depth to the project.
You can listen or read all their interviews here.