The ‘Great Wall of Camden’, seen here at its highest (Fay Godwin from Bison in Chalk Farm), symbolised the separation of the Goods Station from the public domain and its impact on the community.
The massive wall ran along the Hampstead Road from just north of the canal bridge to beyond the Roundhouse. It retained up to 15 ft (4.6 m) of fill, the level of the railway lands above street level. David Thompson described it as “..higher and blacker than the wall of Manchester’s gaol ..” (In Camden Town).
The barrier was mental as much as physical, to which the dearth of text and images about the activities behind the wall bears witness.
The Great Wall is far less threatening for today’s pedestrians on Chalk Farm Road, having been much diminished by development. But its earlier impact on the public domain can be imagined from the vestiges that remain. The thickness of the base reaches 6ft 9in (2.1 m).