A sad tale of a man with a religious conscience and a fearful load of sins.
SUICIDE ON JUNCTION ROAD STATION
AFTER ABSTENTION FROM EVENING
COMMUNION IN NORTH LONDON
With the roar of the gas my heart gives a shout -
To Jehovah Tsidkenu the praise!
Bracket and bracket go blazon it out
In this Evangelical haze!
Jehovah Jireh! the arches ring,
The Mintons glisten, and grand
Are the surpliced boys as they sweetly sing
On the threshold of glory land.
Jehovah Nisi! from Tufnell Park,
Five minutes to Junction Road,
Through grey brick Gothic and London dark,
And my sins, a fearful load.
Six on the upside! six on the down side!
One gaslight in the Booking Hall
And a thousand sins on this lonely station -
What shall I do with them all?
John Betjeman (1937)
Note: Junction Road railway station (originally Junction Road for Tufnell Park) was opened by the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway on 1 January 1872. It was located at the corner of Junction Road and Station Road in N19, at the northern tip of Islington, London.
It was initially very heavily used, mainly due to the nearby cattle market; at its peak in 1902 over 140,000 passengers used the station.
Following the opening of the nearby Tufnell Park tube station in 1907, which provided direct links to the West End and the City, passenger levels dropped dramatically.
The station was closed on May 3, 1943 and demolished in the early 1950s; the only remaining sign of the station is the name "Station Road".
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