Oval tube station in Kennington is
a station on the Northern line of the London Underground between Stockwell
and Kennington stations. Oval station is in Travelcard Zone 2. It is named
after The Oval, which it serves.
The station is located at the junction of Kennington Park Road (heading
north-east), Camberwell New Road (south-east), Clapham Road (south west) and
Harleyford Street (north west) and is about 500 yards from the Oval cricket
ground. It opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the City & South London
Railway. Also close by are Kennington Park and the imposing St Mark's
Church. The station has cricket-themed decorations, with murals, statues and
banners all celebrating the illustrious game.
The City and South London railway opened to passengers between Stockwell and
King William Street on 18 December 1890, and was both the first standard
gauge tube and the first railway to employ electric traction in London. To
avoid disturbance of surface buildings the tube was shield-driven at deep
level, and much of the work was done via shafts at station sites which later
contained the passenger lifts. The Oval station, opened as Kennington Oval,
was designed by Thomas Phillips Figgis with elements of early Arts and
Crafts and neo-classical detailing. The structure was made distinctive by a
lead-covered dome with cupola lantern and weathervane which housed some of
the lift equipment; the main part of the building was of red brick. The
station building was rebuilt in the early 1920s when the line was modernised
and was refurbished during late 2007/early 2008 at street level with a
modern tiling scheme inside and out, giving the station a more modern look.
Reflecting its proximity to the cricket ground, the internal decorative
tiling features large images of cricketers in various stances.
Oval tube station was the intended site of one of the attempted London
bombings on 21 July 2005.
London Bus routes 3, 36, 59, 133, 155, 159, 185, 333, 415, 436 and Night
routes N109, N133, N136 and N155 all serve the station and its surrounding
areas.
It is the only station on the Morden branch of the Northern line whose name
begins with a vowel and is one of only two stations on the London
Underground with only four letters in its name (the only other being Bank).
Additionally, it is one of only three stations on the Underground whose name
alternates vowels and consonants.