Vauxhall Station & The Roundabout
Vauxhall Station in London is famous for giving its name to the Russian word for a main train station, vokzal. The name originates from 1216, when Anglo-Norman soldier Falkes de Breauté acquired property called Faulkes Hall. Later, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens inspired Englishman Michael Maddox to open a similar entertainment site near Saint Petersburg in 1783, leading to the term's adoption for Russian railway termini in 1838.
London · from the walk “Secrets of Vauxhall: Spies, Pleasure & Hidden London” · audio ~3 min · Generated
Vauxhall Underground Station, London SE1 7NA
- In 1216, Anglo-Norman soldier Falkes de Breauté acquired property in London that eventually became known as Vauxhall.
- Englishman Michael Maddox exported the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens concept to Russia in 1783, opening a site near Saint Petersburg.
- Russia's first railway terminus opened in 1838 at Pavlovsk with a Vauxhall-inspired entertainment pavilion called a vokzal.
Why is the Russian word for train station named after Vauxhall in London?
Welcome to Vaux-hall... or should I say, welcome to the spot that may have named every major railway station in Rus-sia.......... That's right. If you speak Russian, the word for a grand railway terminus is "vok-Zal." Say it out loud. Vok-Zal... Vaux-hall. Hear the echo? That's no coincidence.......... Now, there's a popular legend that a Russian delegation visited this very station around eighteen forty and simply Misheard the place name as the English word for a train station. Could an entire delegation of officials really make such a blunder? The story was even embellished to claim that Tsar Nik-o-las the First himself visited in eighteen forty-four and made the same mistake.......... But the true story is actually More remarkable. The word had already entered Russian Decades before any delegation boarded a train here. You see, this area was once home to the Vaux-hall Pleasure Gardens... a dazzling entertainment paradise that operated for nearly two hundred years. Fireworks, orchestras playing Han-del, masked balls, tightrope walkers, even hot air balloon ascents! It was SO famous that similar gardens across the world simply borrowed the name.......... In seventeen eighty-three, an Englishman named Michael Mad-dox, who had once tutored the Russian heir to the throne, exported the concept to Russia, creating a pleasure garden he called a "vok-Sal" near Saint PE-ters-burg. Then in eighteen thirty-seven, when Russia's First railway was built from Saint PE-ters-burg to Pav-lovsk Palace... guess what sat at the terminus? Those very pleasure gardens. An entertainment pavilion built right at the station in eighteen thirty-eight was named the vok-Zal in homage to this London neighbourhood. Passengers soon called the Station itself a vok-Zal... and the word spread to every major terminus across the empire.......... But the name Vaux-hall itself? It goes back even further... to a medieval warlord. In twelve sixteen, an Anglo-Norman soldier called Faulkes de bre-o-Tay, who served King John, married into property here. His home became known as Faulkes Hall... which locals softened to Fox-hall... and eventually, Vaux-hall. He met a grim end in Rome in twelve twenty-six... allegedly killed by a poisoned fish.......... So next time you hear a Russian ask for directions to the vok-Zal in Moscow or Saint PE-ters-burg... know that the word began right here, beneath your feet, with a medieval mercenary's mansion, a legendary pleasure garden, and a language that borrowed a name and never gave it back.