Claremont Square, square and reservoir on Pentonville Road in the London Borough of Islington
Claremont Square is a residential square in the London Borough of Islington, enclosed by rows of Georgian terraced houses from the early 1800s. At the center sits a raised grassy mound ringed by a path and lined with mature trees, with the houses facing inward around it on all sides.
The square was laid out in the 1820s on land owned by the New River Company, which used the site for a large open water reservoir. By the mid-1800s the reservoir was covered over for safety reasons and turned into an underground brick structure that still holds water beneath the central mound today.
The square takes its name from a nearby country house that once stood in the area before the terraces were built. The rows of Georgian houses around the central mound are still privately owned and lived in, which gives the square the feel of a real residential neighborhood rather than a tourist site.
The square is a short walk from Angel station on the Northern line, making it easy to reach from central London. It sits in a residential area, so it is worth being considerate of the people who live there during a visit.
The square was used as the filming location for 12 Grimmauld Place in the Harry Potter films and later appeared in the Netflix series Lockwood and Co., which has made it a stop for film fans. The original open pond on the site dates back to 1709, predating the square itself by over a century.
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