Oval tube station

Oval
Station entrance viewed from Kennington Park
Oval Location of Oval in Greater London
Location	Kennington
Local authority	Lambeth
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	5.85 million
2012	6.11 million
2013	5.91 million
2014	6.40 million
Key dates
18 December 1890	Opened (C&SLR)
Early 1920s	Station building rebuilt
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
London Transport portal

Oval is a London Underground station in Kennington of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is on the Northern line between Stockwell and Kennington stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the City & South London Railway. It is named after The Oval, which it serves.

Location

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. 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.

History

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.

Oval tube station was the intended site of one of the attempted London bombings on 21 July 2005.

Station Building

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.

Services and connections

Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally operate every 3–6 minutes between 06:03 and 00:27 in both directions.

London Bus routes 3, 36, 59, 133, 155, 159, 185, 333, 415 and 436 and night routes N3, N109, N133, N136 and N155 serve the station.

In popular culture

The station was mocked up by the 14-21/04/76 BBC1 series Survivors: The Lights of London parts 1 & 2. However, the filmed site was actually at Camden Town deep-level shelter.

See also

• The Oval
• Kennington Park
• Camden Town tube station

Gallery

• 

  Station interior

• 

  Northbound platform looking south

• 

  Southbound platform looking north. It is directly below the northbound platform.

• 

  Station platform roundel

External links

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Oval tube station" article dated 2008-04-19, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Original Oval station
  • Station after 1920s rebuild

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Stockwell towards Morden		Northern line		Kennington towards Edgware, Mill Hill East or High Barnet