Oval tube station

Oval is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is on the Northern line between Kennington and Stockwell stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2.^[7] The station opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the City and South London Railway and is named after The Oval cricket ground, which it serves.

Oval
Station entrance
Oval Location of Oval in Greater London
Location	Oval, London
Local authority	Lambeth
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019	7.17 million[1]
2020	3.31 million[2]
2021	3.13 million[3]
2022	5.36 million[4]
2023	5.62 million[5]
Key dates
18 December 1890	Opened (C&SLR)
29 November 1923[6]	closed for rebuilding
1 December 1924	reopened
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
Coordinates	51.4819°N 0.1125°W / 51.4819; -0.1125
London transport portal

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.^[8] Also close by are Kennington Park and the imposing St Mark's Church.^[8]

History

The City and South London Railway opened to passengers between Stockwell and King William Street on 18 December 1890,^[9] and was both the first standard gauge tube and the first railway to employ electric traction in London.^[10] To avoid disturbance of surface buildings the construction of the tube was shield-driven at deep level,^[11] and much of the work was done via shafts at station sites which later contained the passenger lifts.^[12]

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^[13] 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 the late 1990s at street level with a modern tiling scheme inside and out, adding a full-length glazed canopy and 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.

In 2004, station staff started to use a whiteboard to display a handwritten "thought of the day" from the Tao Te Ching for the benefit of passengers. This idea then spread to other Underground stations such as North Greenwich, where the content relates to events at the nearby O2 Arena.^[14]

Services

Oval station is on the Morden branch of the Northern line between Kennington to the north and Stockwell to the south. Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally operate every 3–6 minutes between 06:03 and 00:27 in both directions.^[15][16]

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

Connections

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.^[17][18]

In popular culture

The station was mocked up by the television series Survivors: The Lights of London parts 1 & 2, broadcast on BBC One on 14 and 21 April 1976. However, the filmed site was actually at Camden Town deep-level shelter.^[19]

Gallery

• 
  Station interior
• 
  Northbound platform looking south
• 
  Southbound platform looking north. It is directly below the northbound platform.
• 
  Station roundel