Moorgate Tour
The ‘Metropolitan Maze’ Hidden London tour was an evolution of an earlier tour around the disused parts of Moorgate station, incorporating some new areas to visit, as well as excluding some areas that did feature originally. Therefore, this page features images from both the original tour that I was on in March 2022, along with the subsequent tour from July 2025.
The first incarnation of Moorgate was as the first extension of the original Metropolitan Railway, opening on the 23rd December 1865 (and known as Moorgate Street at the time), with additional platforms being added a year later that would serve the so-called City Widened Lines. The Widened Lines were then extended to King’s Cross in 1868, paralleling the existing Metropolitan tracks. The Met itself then extended from Moorgate to Liverpool Street in 1875. At the time, the platforms were in the open air - nothing of the original platform arrangement remains, following the opening of new realigned subterranean platforms in the 1960s, which were located beneath the then-new Barbican development. The world’s first deep-level Underground line, the City and South London Railway, opened in 1890, but a decade later, it was extended northwards to Angel, and southwards to Clapham Common; the Angel extension incorporating a new (but completely separate to the existing) Moorgate Street station. This new station served as a temporary terminus from its opening in February 1900 until through-running along the section to Angel began on the 17th November 1901. Further extension saw the C&SLR continuing to Euston in 1907, Camden Town in 1924 (to link with the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway), and finally, down to Morden in 1926. Only in 1937 did the two lines lose their individual identities and become the single Northern line, as we know it today, despite the two companies having merged in 1922. This helpful diagram shows how the C&SLR extensions progressed.
Unlike the Leslie Green-designed stations on the lines financed by Charles Yerkes that opened in the mid-1900s, which used thick ceramic tiles on their passageways and platforms, the C&SLR used much thinner white glass tiles instead, with black tiling bands providing some decoration. This passage last saw use in 1924, when two new escalators linking the platforms with a sub-surface booking hall came into use, rendering the old lifts obsolete.
This vertical shaft used to house two of the lifts; a second parallel shaft housed the remainder.
This passageway would have led to the lifts - one of the empty shafts is to the left, out of view. A partition wall was constructed in the passageway, with the area beyond being used to house electrical switchgear.
Traces of an old ‘No Smoking’ sign applied to the tiles were still extant. These post-date the passageway’s closure, and were added when the area was used for staff sleeping accommodation during the Second World War.
The tiling above head height was covered with a brown substance. Our guide explained that this was a sand-based coating that had been applied after discovery that the glass tiles did not adhere well to the passageway ceilings, particularly with passing trains causing vibrations.
This diagram was produced after the lift area had become disused, with much of this area being depicted as such, and only the corridor where we were standing being labelled as a staff dormitory.
Some original wooden stair treads still survived on an offshoot passageway that led to the former emergency spiral staircase. The wood used was imported from Australia, and offered superior anti-slip properties. Sadly, water ingress has resulted in a section of these stairs becoming rotten.
This is the view after turning 90 degrees to the left of the above steps.
An old Moorgate roundel sign was propped up at the top of the steps
Part of the spiral staircase structure remains in place.
A third railway line arrived at Moorgate Street in 1904 - this was the Great Northern & City Railway, and the ticket hall was shared with the C&SLR. Three lifts linked this area with the GN&CR, which was built to provide a link between the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at Finsbury Park and Moorgate, enabling mainline trains to run directly to the City of London without causing additional congestion at King’s Cross. Unlike traditional 12ft (3.7 m) diameter Tube tunnels, the GN&CR tunnels were built to a diameter of 16 ft (4.9 m) instead, allowing larger trains to be used.
With two station buildings serving three lines having no direct link between them, passengers wishing to change were heavily inconvenienced. As a way of improving the interchange, in 1909, the three companies sought powers to construct a passageway to link the two stations. This opened in September 1912, and accommodated ticket offices for the three underground lines, as well as the City Widened lines. The GN&CR would become the Northern City line in 1934, with access to these platforms being improved two years later thanks to escalators opening here too. This passageway also then became surplus, and was closed, though very faint remnants of posters still remain attached to the walls to this day - the one here is for Lifebuoy soap.
In 1902, before the line had even opened, the company received permission to extend the line further south to Lothbury, with Greathead tunneling shields being constructed at the end of the running tunnels, only for the GNR to withdraw funding for this venture, and work to cease. The Greathead shield was left in place, and is still there to this day.
With the GN&CR running at a loss, it ended up being acquired by the Metropolitan Railway in 1913. In 1935, plans were produced that would have seen the Northern City line merging with the GNR at Finsbury Park, with the line continuing through Highgate and terminating at Alexandra Palace, High Barnet or Bushey Heath, via Edgware. Although construction began in 1937, the start of the Second World War halted progress, with the project being shelved initially, before being abandoned completely after the war was over, owing to a lack of funds, along with the tightening of Green Belt planning restrictions. By 1971, an agreement was reached between London Transport and British Railways for the Northern City line to be transferred into BR ownership, with the 1930s’ plans to link the line to the mainline platforms at Finsbury Park being resurrected. On the 28th February 1975, mere months before the line was closed to allow it to be converted for use by BR, a train of 1938 Tube Stock failed to stop at the other terminal platform (i.e. not the one pictured above and below), and continued at full speed into the overrun tunnel, crashing into the tunnel wall. The additional diameter of the tunnel resulted in the cars behind the front Driving Motor riding over it, and gradually, becoming wedged between it and the tunnel ceiling. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 43 people (including the driver), with another 74 passengers suffering injuries. One positive that emerged from the disaster was the introduction of a safety system that prevents trains from exceeding a low speed limit (typically, 10 mph) as they enter terminal platforms - a friction-based train arrestor is seen here that would ensure that any train colliding with it stopped safely before reaching the tunnel wall.
Following the 1936 closure of the Northern City line passageway, the area gained a new use as a ventilation corridor, with the floor level being lowered as part of these alterations.
The City Widened lines ceased to run into Moorgate after 2009, with the area that these lines occupied now lying dormant, as although there are plans to re-use this area for stabling Surface Stock trains, the cost of making these alterations is prohibitive at present.
The running rails are still in place, but the overhead 25 kV AC wiring has been decommissioned.
On the night of the 29th / 30th December 1940, Moorgate suffered heavy damage caused by enemy bombing. Further bombing raids occurred in 1941 and 1944. The archival photographs reveal the extent of the devastation following the 1940 attack - a train of O / P Stock that was in the station at the time was destroyed. Limited post-war repairs were undertaken, awaiting a decision on redeveloping the area. Finally, in the early 1960s, agreement to realign the route between Barbican and Moorgate was reached, in conjunction with the construction of the Barbican development on the land above.
The 2022 tour ended at the still-to-be-opened Elizabeth line station; the fourth line to have platforms at Moorgate (though these platforms are so long that they span the distance between Moorgate and Liverpool Street, and are designated as being part of Liverpool Street station officially), with the escalators being cordoned off to passengers at the time. Fast-forward to 2025, and the cordons were gone, and the Elizabeth line formed the latest chapter in Moorgate’s long and varied history.
