3-011-678 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The works of the Metropolitan extension railway in Smithfield, [London], 1864. View from the bottom of Cow-cross and St. John-street towards the south-west. 'The Finsbury Extension of the Metropolitan Railway, a line of three quarters of a mile, from the present terminus near the head of Farringdon-street to the proposed City station at Finsbury-pavement, is making rapid progress with its excavations and brickwork, under the direction of Mr. Armstrong, whom the contractor, Mr. Kelk, has placed in charge of these operations...The Metropolitan Extension of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, diverging from that line at the bottom of Skinner-street, before it reaches the intended approach to the Farringdon-street station, will pass up Snow-hill, beneath King-street and West-street, to join the Finsbury Extension of the Metropolitan Railway...The brickwork shown in our Illustration, and now greatly advanced, is to form a basement for the new meat market, which will be situated directly over the railway in the western part of Smithfield...St. Bartholomew's Hospital, with St. Paul's Cathedral behind, and the pinnacles of St. Sepulchre's Church, may easily be recognised'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.