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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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St Pancras
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One of London's main railway termini for trains to the north. The station, with an exceptionally broad span and high roof, was built in 1863–7 for the Great Northern Railway, to the design of William Henry Barlow (1812–1902). The Midland Grand Hotel, one of the most striking of London's Victorian buildings, was built in 1868–72 by George Gilbert *Scott. It closed as a hotel in 1935 and was used as railway offices, but in the 1990s British Rail undertook a major programme to restore it as a five-star hotel. The station, like the surrounding district, takes its name from that of a nearby church of St Pancras, an early 4C Roman martyr. He became part of British tradition after St *Augustine dedicated a church to him in Canterbury.
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