Clerkenwell has a rich history and has been a notable area of London since the Middle Ages.
St Johns Gate was built in 1504 and was the South entrance to the inner precinct of the Priory of the Knights of Saint John - the Knights Hospitallers. The gate still stands to this day, one of the few tangible remnants of Clerkenwell’s monastic history.
In the seventeenth century Clerkenwell was a fashionable location, popular with the rich elite including Oliver Cromwell, who had a house on Clerkenwell Green.
During the Industrial Revolution the area became famous for its breweries, distilleries, printers and clock makers. It also was an area attracting the radical thinkers of the age including Karl Marx who lived just off Clerkenwell Green.
The warehouses and workshops of Clerkenwell’s industrial past still exist, but are now home to a host of architectural practices, design showrooms, film companies and new media agencies.