Vauxhall Station & The Roundabout

Why is it significant?

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.

Key Facts

What to look for?

• 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.

Photo: Google

Listen · 3:03

Why is the Russian word for train station named after Vauxhall in London?

Welcome to Vauxhall... or should I say, welcome to the spot that may have named every major railway station in Russia. That's right. If you speak Russian, the word for a grand railway terminus is "vok-Zal." Say it out loud. Vok-Zal... Vauxhall. 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 Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens... a dazzling entertainment paradise that operated for nearly two hundred years. Fireworks, orchestras playing Handel, 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 Maddox, 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 Pavlovsk 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 Vauxhall 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 Foxhall... and eventually, Vauxhall. 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.