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Peckham – Pubs, Shops, AEU And A Fire Station

The previous post on this walk I made on Sunday 29th January 1989 was Windows, A Doorway, Horse Trough and Winnie Mandela.

Camberwell Fire Station,Peckham Road, Peckham, Southwark, 198989-1h-45-Edit — *Camberwell Fire Station,Peckham Road, Peckham, Southwark, 198989-1h-45*

The Grade II listed Camberwell Fire Station by Edward Cresy Junior dating from 1867 is the earliest surviving purpose-built fire station in London, possibly in the country. Two of the three ground floor appliance bays of this gothic building have been converted to windows. It is now South London Gallery Fire Station, a contemporary arts centre for the South London Gallery. It was replaced by a more modern fire station, now demolished, in 1920.

It was only listed in November 2008, and the official listing names it as Former Peckham Fire Station. The h listing text explains that “There are a small number of surviving fire engine sheds dating from the first half of the C19: simple, single cell buildings were designed to house a fire pump and built by local vestries or by public subscriptions. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade stations are of a different order: publicly-funded, multi-storey buildings designed to provide accommodation for the newly-created fire brigade officers and to house engines, horses and equipment. “

*Peckham Lodge, Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Peckham Rd, Grummant Rd, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-31*

The Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers had their headquarters here from 1900 until 1996 when they became a part of Amicus. Their slogan ‘Be United and Industrious’ is above the door in Grummant Rd. The building was threatened with demolition in 2007 but has so far survived.

*Shops, Peckham High St, Sumner Ave, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-32*

The western start of Peckham High Street and a very down at heel side street, a dead end leading around to the back of the shops. Along it can be seen some buildings of St James the Great R C Primary School. There was a school entrance here, and a footpath still leads to Sumner Street along the side of a brick school wall. What was open space here, Jocelyn Street Park, has now become, despite some local protests, Peckham Flaxyard, a council development with a total of 168 homes, of which just over half are for social rent, and a 24 for shared ownership, with around 48 for sale or rent at market prices. Part of this site was formerly occupied by a factory making laundry machines.

The corner shop was built with an entrance to suggest it was a building of some status and it looks as if it dates from around the end of the Victorian era.

*Shops, Peckham High St, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-33*

The rather grandiose building at left, in 1989 an Opticians, is now the Kentish Drovers, a Wetherspoon’s pub. Until the 1990s there was a pub of the same name on the opposite side of the road with the same name. Stockmen on foot driving flocks of sheep and herds of cows up from Kent to Smithfield market might take a rest or a reviving drink in Peckham before continuing their dusty slow journey to London Bridge and on to market.

I think the doorway at No 77 is probably also a part of the pub, though the door isn’t in use. Everything to the right of this – Hyper Records, Francis Chappell & Sons Funerals, Nature Trail Health Foods and the Soujourner Truth Youth Association at 83 Peckham High Street has since been demolished along with other buildings up to 89. This now the large covered space leading to Peckham Library, Peckham Square, Peckham Pulse and the Surrey Canal Walk.

*Shops, The Crown, pub, Peckham High St, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-36*

The Crown pub was at 119 Peckham Hight St. The building is still there, on the corner of Mission Place but no longer a pub. There appears to have been a pub here in 1851 and was advertising drag nights when I photographed it. It apparently morphed into a bizarrely decorated Irish pub, with a tractor in the window and tables and chairs nailed to the ceiling complete with glasses and playing cards, but apparently Sally O’Brien’s was not a success and the pub soon closed, becoming a series of shops and agencies and most recently a Tapas restaurant.

*Junction, Peckham Hill St, Peckham High St, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-21*

The Bun House, a pub at 96 Peckham High St on the left of this picture has the date 1898. It remained in business as a pub until January 2012 but is now a betting shop. There was a pub on this site at least by 1871. The rest of the frontages along the High Street also remain.

At right is M Manze’s Eel & Pie House, still in business, although temporarily closed in 1989. The vacant shop next door has had a number of occupants and is now a clothing shop. The crossing in the centre is still there but has only a short vestigial length of railings in a rather fancier style than those utilitarian ones in my photograph.

This junction is a convenient place for me to end this post which has mainly been on Peckham High Street. More on this walk shortly.

Windows, A Doorway, Horse Trough and Winnie Mandela

I went back to where I had finished my walk on 27th January 1989 two days later on Sunday 29th January, beginning with a couple of pictures of the former St Giles Hospital which I used in the final post on that walk.

*Motor Vehicle Spares, Southampton Way, Rainbow St, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-66*

I walked up Havill St to Southampton Way. Across the road was Rainbow Street with this building with bricked up windows and doorway on a large house converted to commercial use. Rainbow Street was not present in 1870 but appears on the map surveyed in 1893 and this building was almost certainly built between those dates, after the window tax was repealed in 1851 and so the bricking up of windows was for practical reasons – and clearly was the doorway.

This building is now home to a small 24hour supermarket on the ground floor with two of the top floor windows now opended up and a door replacing the right-hand ground floor window presumable giving access to living accommodation above the shop. The large notice area is still there, though without notices when I last saw it.

Rainbow Street was for some time the home of Great Train Robber Buster Edwards who many of us saw regularly at his florists stall near Waterloo after his release from jail in 1975.

*Doorway, 201 Southampton Way, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-51*

Further south on Southampton Way was this house with iron screenwork, lions and mosaic path which made it stand out. In the background is the North Peckham estate. Unfortunately this doorway was altered around 2012. The estate was redeveloped under the Five Estates Peckham Masterplan approved by Southwark in 1995, which resulted in the net loss of 1184 social-rented dwellings. The chimney was for the estate heating system.

*Doorway, 201 Southampton Way, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-52*

This house is at the corner with Peckham Grove and I think probably dates from the mid-19th century, possibly from around the time the houses nearby in Peckham Grove (now Newent Close) were developed from 1837 on. Unfortunately this doorway was altered around 2012, although the lions, steps and mosaic are still there. The houses around the corner were built in 1843 and are listed as is a lamp post on the corner outside this house.

House, Peckham Grove, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-54 — *House, 46, Peckham Grove, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-54*

This is now called “Listed House” and is at 46 Peckham Grove although its neighbours are also covered by the listing of 40-46 and attached railings. Built in 1843 and now flats.

*Lamp post, Horse Trough, flats, Southampton Way, Peckham Grove, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-41*

And this is the Grade II listed Gothic Revival late 19th century hand pump converted in the 20th century to an electric lamp post, with a horse trough and drinking fountain beside it. Across Peckham Grove is the London Borough of Southwark’s Samuel Jones Industrial Estate and beyond that the North Peckham Estate.

The lampost and the rest of the corner along with tall chimney are still there, but the rest has been replaced by new housing.

The message on the horse trough, ‘”BLESSED ARE THE PITIFUL” – THE WORK OF ST LUKE’S BAND OF MERCY’ seems a little strange to me. It is a translation of Matthew 5 v7, more normally ‘Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy’ and means that those who show pity are to be blessed rather than those to be pitied. Some translate it as ‘Blessed are the humble’, but in this context it rather seems to me that St Luke’s Band Of Mercy were showing pride rather than humility. But horses need water and were doubtless grateful.

Men and women need water too. In my youth every park had its drinking fountain, providing not only water but also fun for kids as we used them to spray each other. Since then we have had decades of them being removed on grounds of hygiene (and I sometimes wonder how we survived back then.) Recently we have seen a huge fad of ‘hydration’, with people walking and running around our cities clutching water bottles – and the growing provision in a few places of free water bottle filling stations.

*Winnie Mandela House, Peckham Road, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-44*

At the end of Southampton Way I came to Peckham Road and opposite me was Winnie Mandela House. Once described in the Daily Telegraph as a “viciously ugly 1960s office block” with a “shabby façade”, Winnie Mandela House looked more to me a 1930s art deco factory building, and not without its own charm.

Its former name was ‘Pelican House’, the words almost legible on either side of the clock, and now back under that name has been imaginatively converted to provide eighty new affordable housing apartments for shared ownership and rent for Amicus Horizon Group with the lower floors housing an arts café and gallery.

At right of this picture is the frontage of Kennedy’s Sausage Factory. Occasionally on my walks I felt hungry and would stop at one of their shops to buy a sausage roll. But they were closed on Sundays.

I crossed the road to take this second picture from the wide pavement outside.

The factory was was begun by The Surrey Association for the General Welfare of the Blind in 1885, and rebuilt in this form in 1936 (by which time it was the London Association for the Blind – and later became Action for Blind People) with new offices in Pelican House completed in 1952.

The factory employed blind men in the production of handmade baskets, the manufacture of casein and metal knitting needles, and injection moulded plastics. Production moved to Verney Road Peckham in 1974 and Pelican House was sold in 1976.

I find it hard to define a clear boundary between Camberwell and Peckham, and this part of the walk had been on the borderlands. From here on I was clearly walking into Peckham for the next part of my walk.

Art School Nude to Hospital Tower

The final set of pictures from my walk on 27th January 1989. The previous post on this walk is The Workhouse, Town Hall, Council Offices and Art School.

Sculpture, South London Gallery, The Passmore Edwards South London Art Gallery, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-26 — *Nude, South London Gallery, The Passmore Edwards South London Art Gallery, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-26*

A bronze nude by Karel Vogel was at the entrance to the gallery, and in 1989 seemed under threat by the tree emerging behind. I think both the sculpture and the tree behind it have gone although a large tree closer to the road remains. Vogel, (1897-1961) was a Czech sculptor who came to England fleeing the Nazis in 1938 and taught at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts from 1948, and became in charge of the School of Sculpture there.

Perhaps his best-known work in this country is his 1959 Leaning Woman, Grade II listed in 2016, situated close to the A4 by St Peter’s Church in Hammersmith.

*The London Institute, Camberwell College of Arts, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-11*

The Art School and gallery designed by Maurice Adams was built in 1896-8 is Grade II listed. It’s extravagantly baroque exterior includes a number of caryatids in supporting roles. ‘The Buildings of South London’, page 620, describes the 1960 addition at left by Murray, Ward & Partners as “totally unsympathetic” and it is certainly and doubtless intentionally a complete contrast. But it deserves to be seen and judged on its own.

*Guardians Offices, London Borough of Southwark, Havil St, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-14*

The Havil Street frontage of the Poor Law Guardians building whose frontage on Peckham Road featured in the previous post in this series. It was built in an vaguely Art Nouveau style in 1904. I found the octagonal building with the rectangular blocks behind with its rhythmic patterns of windows and odd towers, together with the odd street wall, its curves echoed by the hood around the doorway quite enchanting.

St Giles' Hospital, Havil Street, Camberwell, Southwark 1989-1g-15 — *St Giles’ Hospital, Havil Street, Camberwell, Southwark 1989-1g-15*

In 1889-90 a new 4-storey ward tower fronting onto Havil Street was opened for the Camberwell Workhouse Infirmary, later St Giles’s Hospital. Circular in design (which was fashionable at that time), it had cost about £14,500. Each storey contained 24 beds radiating around a central shaft, in which heating and ventilation services were located. This Grade II listed building is now flats. The pile of rubble behind the wall is from the demolition of unlisted hospital buildings.

St Giles' Hospital, Havil Street, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-16 — *St Giles’ Hospital, Havil Street, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-16*

Another view of the hospital tower seen from Havil Street. Designed by Robert P Whellock it is Grade II listed. This was the last picture I took on Friday 27th January 1989, but two days later, Sunday 29th I came back here to begin another walk, beginning with more pictures here and a little further along Havil Street and I’ll include these here.

St Giles' Hospital, Havil Street, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-02 — *St Giles’ Hospital, Havil Street, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-65*

Much of the former St Giles Hospital was in 1989 a demolition site with just the listed buildings being left standing. The area is now filled with rather dreary housing with two and three storey solid-looking blocks around ‘St Giles Tower’. I think this picture was taken from the corner of Brunswick Villas, just after I had made a picture (not on-line) of the Grade II listed Bethel Asylum for aged women founded by William Peacock in 1837 at 159-163 Havil Street.

*House, Brunswick Villas, (Brunswick Rd) Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1h-62*

I walked up Havil Street to the corner with Brunswick Villas, formerly Brunswick Road as the stone pillar still asserts. These houses are presumably a part of W J Hudson’s Brunswick Park development begun in 1847, though rather less grand than some.

From here I made my way towards Peckham – where my next series of posts on my walk on 29th January will begin.

My posts on this walk on 27th January 1989 began at St George’s, Camberwell, Absolutely Board & Alberto.

The Workhouse, Town Hall, Council Offices and Art School

More pictures from my walk on 27th January 1989. The previous post on this walk is
Baptist Chapel, Fine Houses, A Queen And A Hospital.

*Guardians Offices, London Borough of Southwark, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-55*

I walked down St Giles Road to the Peckham Road, turning east along it. At the end of the block on the corner of Havill Street is the former Guardians Offices built in an vaguely Art Nouveau style in 1904 for the Poor Law Guardians who ran the workhouse of which it was part. The sundial has the text ‘Do Today’s Work Today‘. The building is Grade II listed.

Under the 1929 Local Government Act the LCC took over the workhouse and infirmary buildings on the site and the same act abolished the Board of Guardians system in 1930. Many workhouses were redesignated as Public Assistance Institutions but Camberwell’s became St James’s Hospital and these offices became the Divisional Health Offices. Southwark Council inherited the building in 1966 but closed its offices here when it moved to Tooley Street in 2009. The building was bought in 2010 by homelessness charity Thames Reach who use it as an Employment Academy. There is also a cafe and tea room on the Havill Street side as well as a Montessori Nursery on the site.

*Guardians Offices, London Borough of Southwark, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-45*

A wider view of the building, still then in use by Southwark Council.

*Camberwell Town Hall, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-56*

On the east corner of Havill Street is the former Camberwell Town Hall designed in a Classical style by Culpin and Bowers and opened in 1934. It became the town hall for the London Borough of Southwark when this was created in 1965 and was still this when I took my picture. They sold it to a developer in 2009 when the council moved to Tooley St and it was converted into student accommodation for Goldsmiths College.

*South House, 30-32 Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-41*

This row of houses are Grade II listed and were built as separate houses ca 1790. Like the council offices across the road they were also in use as council offices until around 2010 with the house and have also been converted into student accommodation, with a total of 125 bedrooms in the three blocks including also listed Central and East Houses on the north side of Peckham Road and South House.. Joined to them the east end of the block (out of picutre at left) is still the Southwark Register Office.

34 Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-33 — *Southwark Register Office, 34 Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989*

Southwark Register Office is also Grade II listed and was built around 1790. At some unknown date it was liked to No 32 at right at second floor level, with the curious rooftop extension you see here. Presumably the tall archway in the middle had some purpose, and was possibly at one time without the lower wall and arch. Perhaps giraffes were kept in the gardens behind? Suggestions are welcome in the comments here or on Flickr.

*The London Institute, Camberwell College of Arts, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-23*

John Passmore Edwards gave money for the erection of the South London Gallery and the College, architect Maurice Bingham Adams, in memory of Lord Leighton. The gallery opened in 1891 and the Technical Institute in 1898. It became one of England’s leading art schools particularly after WW2. The Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts became a part of the London Institute formed by ILEA in 1986 and in 1989 it became Camberwell College of Arts becoming a part of the University of the Arts London in 2004.

*South London Gallery, The Passmore Edwards South London Art Gallery, Peckham Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-25*

The Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts became one of England’s leading art schools particularly after WW2. It became a part of the London Institute formed by ILEA in 1986 and in 1989 it became Camberwell College of Arts becoming a part of the University of the Arts London in 2004.

My next post will start with a couple more pictures of Camberwell College of Arts before taking a walk up Havill Road.

My posts on this walk on 27th January 1989 began at St George’s, Camberwell, Absolutely Board & Alberto.

Baptist Chapel, Fine Houses, A Queen And A Hospital

More pictures from my walk on 27th January 1989. The previous post on this walk is St George’s Tavern and North Peckham 1989

*Cottage Green, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-01*

Robert Browning the Victorian poet (1812-89) was born in Rainbow Cottage, Cottage Green and grew up in the area – there is a Rainbow Street not far away but the cottage is long gone. But the area still felt a little out of place in the middle of twentieth century London.

The tree is still there on the corner with Wells Way and so too is the chapel down the street and the house beyond on the corner of Southampton Way. At right the brick wall and fence remain, but the site behind, not visible here, has been sold for development. I’m not sure why the foreground railings on the pavement edge were there, but they are now no longer. At left instead of the corrugated iron there is now housing almost up to the pavement and the 11 storey block facing the end of the street has been replaced by flats of half the height.

Browning’s parents – his father was a clerk at the Bank of England on what was for the time a pretty decent salary – moved a few yards to Hanover Cottage on Coleman Rd when he was around 12, and there is a more or less illegible stone plaque on a wall of the shop on the corner of Southampton Way and Coleman Road with a more recent Southwark blue plaque higher up.

*Cottage Green Baptist Chapel, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-61*

The chapel was built in 1844 and became a Baptist chapel ten years later in 1854. Owned by the Copleston Centre, a Peckham Community Church in Copleston Road it has been in use as a Christian nursery, the Destiny Day Nursery registered in 2007.

When I took this picture is still in use as a Baptist chapel. The commercial building beyond the chapel is still there as is the brick building at left, though the fences have been replace by a low brick structure, perhaps a bin store.

*Cottage Green Baptist Chapel, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-62*

A second picture gives a clearer view of the church noticeboard with its message ‘SUNDAY FAMILY SERVICE 11.00AM’. I would like to know more about the windowless building to the right.

*Haulage Yard, Housing, Southampton Way, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-63*

The houses at 73-77 were built in the early 19th century and are Grade II listed. A planning application was made in 2021 for the development of the yard which has an ‘L’ shape behind the houses on Southampton Way to another entrance on Cottage Green, opposite the chapel and next to another listed building, Collingwood House at 1-3 College Green – which I did not photograph.

*Brunswick Park area, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-64*

I think these houses are near Brunswick Park, but cannot identify the exact location. There are a number of houses of a similar mid-Victorian age and style in the area which was developed by W J Hudson who bought the area in 1847, naming the open space in the centre after the estranged wife of George IV, Caroline of Brunswick. Long separated from her husband she had become a very popular figure by the time he became king in 1820 and died (possibly not naturally) shortly after his coronation in 1821.

The garden at the centre of the square was bought by the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell in 1901 and opened to the public as a park in 1907.

*Brunswick Park, St Giles Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-66*

Finding the exact location of photographs I took 33 years ago is much easier when they include street names as this picture of houses on the corner of Brunswick Park does. Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was the daughter of George III’s sister and had a surprising introduction to this country as she first landed at Greenwich at what was then the Royal Hospital for Seamen and asked “Are all Englishman missing an arm or a leg?“

The future George IV married her for her money and for the need to provide the country with an heir. She was “short, fat, ugly and never changed her undergarments, and rarely washed. Her body odour was overwhelming.” George had already made a secret and illegal marriage to the beautiful but Roman Catholic Maria Fitzherbert around ten years earlier, but as he had not had his father’s consent for this, the second marriage was not bigamous. Both George and Caroline got very drunk at their wedding and somehow despite their mutual repulsion a daughter and heir Princess Charlotte was born the following year.

The couple separated shortly after. George made a number of unsuccessful attempt to divorce her, including setting up a Royal Commission called the ‘Delicate Investigation’ which failed to find evidence of adultery, possibly because their heart wasn’t really in it, perhaps due to the overwhelming evidence against George.

Caroline left Britain in 1814 for Europe, shocking people in various countries by her behaviour (which included often appearing in public with her dress open to the waist, dancing topless in Geneva and becoming the mistress among others of Napoleon’s brother-in-law.)

When George became king in 1820 as they were still married she was automatically queen consort and decided to return to Britain. The government tried to bribe her, offering her £50,000 to stay away, but she came back and set up house in Hammersmith. She was very popular with the public (at a distance) many of whom were disgusted by her husband’s immoral behaviour, both towards her and with his various mistresses. A mob surrounded Parliament daily when the House of Lords tried for over 7 weeks to dissolve her marriage, eventually forcing them to abandon the attempt.

Uninvited, she tried to attend George IV’s coronation in 1821, but had the door of Westminster Abbey slammed in her face. She died 19 days later, convinced she had been poisoned. It seems more than likely this was so.

*St Giles Hospital, Flats, St Giles Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-52*

St Giles Hospital was opened in 1875 as the Camberwell Workhouse Infirmary and blocks were added here on St Giles Rd (then Brunswick Rd) around 1900. In 1913 it became the Camberwell Parish Infirmary and in 1930 it was taken over by the London County Council. On joining the NHS in 1948 it became St Giles’ Hospital. It closed in 1983 and the blocks here were converted into flats.

*St Giles Hospital, Flats, St Giles Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1g-54*

Another picture from the four I made of the former hospital in St Giles Road on the east side of Brunswick Park. I walked down the road back to Peckham Road, where my walk will continue in a later post.

My posts on this walk on 27th January 1989 began at St George’s, Camberwell, Absolutely Board & Alberto.

St George’s Tavern and North Peckham 1989

More pictures from my walk on 27th January 1989. The previous post on this walk is Houses, British Lion & Elmington Estate.

*Wells Way, Coleman Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-31*

From Camberwell Road I hurried along Bowyer Place and New Church Road to take my next pictures along Southampton Way, going past The Brewers pub (since closed and converted to residential use) and then down Parkhouse Street and on to Wells Way. None of the nine pictures I made on this section of the walk seemed worth putting on-line, perhaps I was hurrying too much.

The view in this photograph has not changed radically, with the row of houses along Wells Way at right still much the same. You can still see the St George’s Tavern some way down Coleman St on the corner of Rainbow St, though it has lost the signage on the wall. It has apparently been there since at least 1851, though it was closed and boarded up, but re-opened in April 2021. But the estate towering above the end of the road is no longer there.

*1JKC and St Georges Tavern, Coleman Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-32*

I didn’t expect to see a Bentley with a personalised number plate on the street close to the ‘friendly neighbourhood pub’. I wondered who might own it, and there were certainly some very dubious characters in the area at the time. The registration plate 1KJC would have been expensive to buy – and now probably well into five figures if available, a serious vanity symbol.

The pub at that time was still owned by Taylor Walker whose Barley Mow Brewery in Limehouse and 1,360 pubs and off-licences and were bought by Ind Coope in 1959 – and brewing ceased the following year. The name was revived and used by another pub owning company for its London pubs from 2010 but then they were taken over by Greene King in 2015 and again re-branded.

*Houses, Newent Close, Peckham Grove, Camberwell, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-35*

6-22 Newent Close, Peckham, were Grade II listed in 1972 as in Peckham Grove, Peckham. The nine linked villas date from 1838. This is a remarkable Regency (or rather immediately post-Regency as Victoria came to the throne in 1837) enclave in the area. These houses are on the west side of the street.

*Houses, Newent Close, Peckham Grove, Camberwell, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-36*

The other end of this short row of houses with the blocks of the North Peckham Estate at the right. These houses were clearly rather run-down when I photographed them.

*Houses, Newent Close, Peckham Grove, Camberwell, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-22*

The houses on the east side of the street have these weighty porches. At right is a part of the Gloucester Grove Estate, one of the five estates often known collectively as the North Peckham Estate. Although this gained a terrible reputation, many former residents have fond memories of living there and the quality of their accomodation.

*Houses, Newent Close, Peckham Grove, Camberwell, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-24*

Another view of houses on the east side of Newent Close. The long block at right is I think part of the actual North Peckham Estate, completed around 1972. The five estates were all part of the largest regeneration scheme ever approved in 1994, and were demolished at a cost of £260m over the next ten years or so.

*Houses, Newent Close, Peckham Grove, Camberwell, Peckham, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-26*

Another view of this remarkable street with the Gloucester Grove Estate in the background at left. I did take one picture of Nailsworth House on the North Peckham estate but haven’t digitised that.

*Cottage Green, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-16*

Eventually I managed to drag myself away and stop taking pictures of the remarkable short section of street at the top of Peckham Grove – now surrounded by rather mediocre looking properties from the regeneration of the North Peckham estates. I walked back towards Wells Way and down to Cottage Green – where the next post on this walk will begin.

My posts on this walk on 27th January 1989 began at St George’s, Camberwell, Absolutely Board & Alberto.

Houses, British Lion & Elmington Estate

This post continues my walk in Camberwell on 27th January 1989. The previous post on this walk from January 1989 is St Giles, It’s Churchyard and Wilson’s School.

*Houses, Benhill Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-11*

Benhill Road runs north from Camberwell Church St opposite St Gile’s Church and includes the site of the former vicarage and St Gile’s Parish Hall. These houses are I think mid-Victorian and I admired the slender decorative pillars at the doorways.

Opposite the Parish Hall just inside the property is a small building with a blue plaque which I photographed but have not put online as the lighting was rather poor. It now has a London Borough of Southwark blue plaque with the totally misleading message ‘The Parish Church of St Giles Porch and Doorway Relocated to its current site in the vicarage garden where it was used as a summer house after the church was accidentally burnt down on 7th February 1841.’

While the church was burnt down in 1841 this was never its porch and doorway, though it was largely built with material from the burnt out church and was probably not used as a summer house – and more recently has been used for rubbish bin storage. An article in the Camberley Quarterly by Donald Mason, Old St Giles: blue plaques and history, reveals its true nature and has some excellent illustrations.

*British Lion, pub sign, Elmington Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-12*

On the corner of Benhill Road and Elmington Road I photographed a bicycle and the British Lion pub sign. The pub itself at 112 Benhill Road was a rather boring 1960s building rebuilt at around the same time as the flats around it. But there had been a pub on the site since at least 1871, The Prince Of Prussia, a name that probably became rather unpopular in the First World War.

*Edmund St, Elmington Estate, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-14*

I think the’ London County Council’ built the first flats on the Elmington Estate shortly before WW2, but there were four of these large blocks desgned by the LCC Architects department and built around 1956. The winter sun produced a rather elegant repeated pattern of light and shade on the frontage.

I think this large eleven floor slab block and its neighbours on the Elmington Estate, dating from around 1960 were demolished in 1999-2000. The flats passed to Southwark Council, formed in 1965 who lacked the cash to maintain them properly and they were in poor condition by the time I photographed them, and many flats were squatted in the 1990s.

*Edmund St, Elmington Estate, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-01*

In 1999 Southwark Council decided to demolish the whole of the Elmington Estate and these blocks were a part of the first phase of the redevelopment. Southwark Notes gives a great deal of detail about how this progressed.

In the first phase, most of those who lived in the flats were rehoused in council housing built on the site, but not all were too happy with their new homes. The article quotes one: ‘You will never know what privacy is like again. You will hear your neighbours and everything they do. And they will hear you. Your rooms will be smaller. You’ll be paying more for it. One day you’ll wake up and realise that you’d give anything to be back in your old home’.

The council for Phase 2 adopted “a whole new regeneration model premised on partnership with either corporate developers” or housing associations. Their partner here was the large and aggressive Housing Association Notting Hill Housing Trust who would offer zero social rented homes in the scheme (social rent being the equivalent rent of a council home). Some flats were available at so-called “affordable” rents, roughly twice those of council properties in the area, and unaffordable for most previous tenants. It was a process of ‘social cleansing’, forcing most of the poorer residents out of the area.

*Bradbury, Solicitors, 119, Camberwell Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-52*

I walked throught the Elmington Estate and on through Burgess Park to Camberwell Road, turning south where a few doors down on the east side I photographed the railings and doorways of 119 and 121. Numbers 117-129 and attached railings are Grade II listed.

From 1863 to 1887 photographer and portrait painter Henry Death (1820-1900), born in Moulton, Cambridgeshire, had his studio at 119 Camberwell Road, having moved there from nearby Addington Place where he set up a studio in 1856. He sold the house when he had to give up his business through ill health in 1887 and died in Camberwell thirteen years later. In !989 it was the offices of Bradleys Solicitors.

No 121 was the premises of the charity IAS, Independent Adoption Service, first registered in 1982 and voluntarily removed in 2009. I think both properties are now private residences.

*147, Camberwell Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1f-53*

No 147 Camberwell Road is a part of a terrace of around ten houses directly south of Cambridge House on the corner of Addington Square. These house look in rather better condition now and the tree here was removed a couple of years ago. Most of these houses are now divided into flats.

My posts on this walk on 27th January 1989 began at St George’s, Camberwell, Absolutely Board & Alberto. This walk will continue in a later post.

St Giles, It’s Churchyard and Wilson’s School

*St Giles Camberwell, Camberwell Church St, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-42*

I didn’t spend a lot of time photographing old churches, not least because most had already been photographed ad nauseam as I found when opening boxes of photographs in the library of the National Building Record. Vicars back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century had plenty of time on their hands and many became keen amateur photographers, and seem to have spent much of their energy in photographing their churches.

But I made a slight exception for St Giles, largely because it appeared in some rather odd views such as this. Although there had been a church here in the middle of fields in Anglo-Saxon times, its wooden structure later replaced by stone, it burnt down in 1841. The replacement was the first major Gothic building by George Gilbert Scott, who later went on to build the monstrosity of the Albert Memorial. The top part of the spire had to be rebuilt in 2000.

The picture was taken on the usually busy street here and I rather liked the billboard – perhaps an advert for a lager – showing another busy street with a lorry apparently stuck in traffic.

*Churchyard Passage, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-31*

Another image with a little flare from working into the sun, either just out of frame or hidden behind the tree trunks at the right of picture.

*Thos Bourne, gravestone, St Giles Churchyard, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-32*

Parts of the inscripton were difficult to read:

‘Ah Cruel Death could nothing move Thy Pity Awe thy Power
To Spare the Object of my Love of all my Hopes the Flower
Thos Bourne Defuncti Pater Poni Fecit
Thos Bourne (1656- 1729)

The inscription was at some point re-inscribed as the two lines most visible the above picture, having previously been as four, a few words of which can still be made out. The tomb has been restored since I photographed this stone.

*St Giles Churchyard, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-34*

Long shadows from the trees from the low winter sun, and some remarkably wiggly branches on the central tree in the picture. Without any leaves the picture illustrates why I generally prefer trees in winter but meant I was unable to decide on the species.

The building along Wilson Road in the background was built for Wilson’s School in 1882, architect E R Robson. This is an ancient grammar school founded on another site in Camberwell by Edward Wilson, Vicar of Camberwell, in 1615. They left the building in 1975 and moved to Wallington in Sutton to escape becoming a comprehensive school under the Inner London Education Authority and continue there as a boys’ grammar school. The buildings are now a part of the University of the Arts London.

*St Giles Churchyard, Churchyard Path, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-36*

Another view of the churchyard and Churchyard Path between the railings at the right, looking directly towards the sun. My position in the shadow of some of the bare trunks enabled me to greatly reduce the amount of light flare in the picture. The grass was I think covered with drops of water from frost which had recently melted, giving it a slightly unnatural pale tone.

*Camberwell College of Arts, Wilson Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-23*

After taking a couple more frames of the remarkable tree shown above I walked on to Wilson Road to photograph the Grade II listed Wilson School building and the west-facing terrace along the street beyond. Above the school doorway is the Wilson coat of arms, which includes a wolf salient – leaping up – and above it a Fleur de Lys and two gold coins.

Camberwell College of Arts, whose main buildings are on Peckham Road later became a part of the University of the Arts London.

My posts on this walk on 27th January 1989 began at St George’s, Camberwell, Absolutely Board & Alberto. This walk will continue in a later post.

Coal Drops, Libraries and Housing – 2018

On Saturday 3rd Novemeber I got to London earlier than anticipate and had time for a little walk before photographing the first protest I had come to cover, over the cuts to public libraries. Later I went to photograph another protest about the plans to demolish many London council estates under so-called ‘regeneration’ plans which involve demolition and rebuilding by developers with little social housing.

Euston to Kings Cross Coal Drops – Sat 3 Nov 2018

Problems on my railway journeys into London are rather common, often involving considerable delays. Last weekend a replacement bus for part of the way meant that my usually slow journey scheduled to take 35 minutes to travel 20 miles instead took an hour and a half. But on Saturday 23rd November 2018, there was something of a miracle. When I arrived at the station a train which should have arrived half an hour earlier was just pulling in and an announcement told me it would be running non-stop to Waterloo.

Where possible I like to arrive at events perhaps 10 or 15 minutes before the advertised start time make sure I don’t miss anything. Travelling across London is often a little unpredictable, with odd holdups so I usually allow plenty of time. I’d arrived at my station a few minutes early, and with the non-stop service got me to Waterloo around 25 minutes before I expected. The normal timetable schedule gives a 5 or 10 minutes slack to make it less likely that train operating company has to pay fines for late running, and without stops the journey is significantly faster. Together with an Underground train that came as I walked onto the platform I arrived at Euston with around three quarters of an hour to spare.

This gave me time for a walk to the newly opened retail development in the former King’s Cross coal drops. I’d photographed the disused coal drops many years earlier, taking pictures of the demolished bridges across the Regents Canal and the still standing drops on the north side where coal brought from the North in railway goods waggons was transferred into carts for delivery across London. At first the waggons were lifted and tipped, later waggons had opening doors in their bottoms to dischage directly in the waiting carts and lorries.

My walk also took me through Somers Town, which has some of inner London’s more interesting social housing and past the new Francis Crick Institute before reaching the canal and a new walkway to Coal Drops Yard and Granary Square, and gave some views of the gasholders relocated across the canal from Kings Cross, some of which are now filled with flats. I made my way back with just enough time to visit the toilets in St Pancras Station before going to the meeting point for the Library protest at the rear of the British Library in Midland Road.

Euston to Kings Cross Coal Drops

Save Our Libraries march – British Library, Sat 3 Nov 2018

The march and rally against cuts in library services, which are a vital part of our cultural services, especially for working class schoolchildren and young people was organised by Unison and supported by PCS and Unite, but they seem to have done very little publicity and the numbers were far fewer than expected.

Unfortunately the march clashed with another event I wanted to cover and I had to leave a few minutes before it was due to start. Perhaps more joined the protest for the rally at the end of the march outside Parliament.

Save Our Libraries march

No Demolitions Without Permission – City Hall, London. Sat 3 Nov 2018

‘Axe the Housing Act’ had called a protest to demand an end to the demolition of council estates unless these were approved by a ballot of all residents, and for public land to be used to build more council homes rather than being turned over to developers to make huge profits from high-priced flats.

Most of those who came were from London council estates under threat of demolition by Labour London councils and speaker after speaker from estate after estate got up and spoke about the lies, evasions and often illegal activities of London Labour councils bent on demolishing their council estates.

*Green Party co-leader and London Assembly’s Housing Committee chair Sian Berry*

Instead of looking after their working class populations Labour councils are time and time again forcing through demolition of council estates, enabling developers to make huge profits by building flats for sale largely at market rent, with a small proportion of high rent ‘affordable’ homes and a miserably small number of homes at social rent, promoting schemes which cut by thousands the number of council homes.

*Tanya Murat, Chair of Southwark Defend Council Housing*

Although a new policy was about to come in to insist their should be residents ballots, London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan had responded to this by fast-tracking 34 demolition schemes by Labour councils before it was implemented. He allowed some schemes to go forward without a ballot, and had failed to insist that all residents were allowed to take part in such ballots.

*Former Lambeth Council leader and veteran Labour politician Ted Knight*

Among the groups taking part in the rally were Class War and the Revolutionary Communist Group, both very much involved in campaigns across the capital on housing, and among the most effective at raising the issues involved in London’s housing. For some reason the rally organisers would not allow representatives of either of these to speak at the event, which led to a loud confrontation when Labour supporter Ted Knight came to speak. More below on this.

At the end of the rally people marched around City Hall with their banners.

No Demolitions Without Permission.

Class War protest Labour Housing record – City Hall, Sat 3 Nov 2018

Although Class War supporters were one of the larger groups taking part in the ‘No Demolitions Without Permission’ rally at City Hall they and others were denied any opportunity to speak as a part of the official rally.

Class War have been the most active group in supporting and raising the profile of campaigns in London against estate demolition mainly by London Labour councils who are responsible for the great bulk of estate sell-offs and demolition involving over 160 council estates – social cleansing on a massive scale. Among those protesting at the rally with Class War was Leigh Miller, recently illegally evicted from Gallions Point Marina under orders from the Labour Mayor of London.

*Leigh Miller, recently illegally evicted from Gallions Point Marina and Lisa McKenzie hold the banner high*

It was no surprise that when a prominent Labour politician got up to speak, Class War erupted, shouting him down to make clear that it was Labour who was responsible for estate demolitions. It was perhaps unfair on Ted Knight, a former Lambeth Labour leader who together with other councillors defied Thatcher and was surcharged and banned from holding public office for 5 years.

*Ted Knight (right) and Martin Wright (left) shout at each other*

Knight has supported Central Hill Estate residents in their fight against Lambeth Council’s plans for demolition, singing from much the same hymn sheet as Class War on housing issues. As Lambeth council’s leader he was clear that “Nothing is too good for the working classes” and estates such as Central Hill reflect this. And there was a little of old scores in the verbal attack on him by Whitechapel anarchist Martin Wright.

*Finally at the end of the rally, Leigh Miller did get a chance to speak.*

As a number of those estate residents allowed to speak at the rally pointed out, homes will only be saved if people become more militant and engage in the kind of direct actions which Class War advocates – and not by rallies like today’s outside a closed City Hall.

Class War stood to one side at the end of the rally when most of the rest taking part marched around the empty offices, they were calling for a rather different revolution.

Class War protest Labour Housing record

Court, Wash-House, Baths and Camberwell Grove

The previous post on the walk I made on 27th January 1989 was Camberwell Green to Addington Square 1989

Brisbane St: Camberwell Green Magistrate's Court, D'Eynsford Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-61 — *Brisbane St: Camberwell Green Magistrate’s Court, D’Eynsford Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-61*

I walked back down from Addington Square towards Camberwell GGreen stopping to photograph this view of the back of the Camberwell Green Magistrate’s Court, hiding the sun behing a large tree on the corner of the path and the road, though some of its bright winter light has caused some flare which I find rahter atmospherice.

Camberwell Green Magistrate's Court, D'Eynsford Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-62 — *Camberwell Green Magistrate’s Court, D’Eynsford Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-62*

Moving forwards and into some shade enabled me to eliminate any flare but still to take advantage of the light and shade to clearly show the three-dimensional nature of the building. Little has yet changed, though there may well be some differences as the building is redeveloped.

*Camberwell Public Wash-Houses, Harvey Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-63*

Camberwell Public Wash-Houses in Harvey Rd are at the back of the Camberwell Public Baths, an early public baths, designed by Henry Spalding and Alfred WS Cross and completed in 1891. Although much around them has changed they remain much the same and are now in use as part of Arco Academy, a sports specialist alternative provision school.

*Camberwell Public Baths, Artichoke Place, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-64*

I walked around the block down Kimpton Rd into Camberwell Church St and then went up the delightfully named Artichoke Place to photograph the front of the Camberwell Public Baths, designed by Henry Spalding and Alfred WS Cross in a Flemish Renaissance style and completed in 1891. Now called Camberwell Leisure Centre the Grade II listed baths were saved from closure by a local campaign, refurbished and reopened in 2011.

Camberwell Green Magistrate's Court, D'Eynsford Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-65 — *Camberwell Green Magistrate’s Court, D’Eynsford Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-65*

The lighting with low winter sun was very different to when I had photographed the Magistrates Court earlier in the day, so I decided to go back and take another picture from D’Eynsford Rd.

*7-11, Camberwell Grove, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-52*

I walked back to Camberwell Church St and along it to Camberwell Grove where these well-proportioned nineteenth century houses were also in a good light. Something that particularly caught my eye was a blind window. It was not just the bricked up window often found in properties built before window tax was abolished, but had rudimentary columns and a keystone of a doorway. The recessed doors and window of the property to the right were also of interest. The street was originally called Walnut Tree Grove but the name was soon changed.

*Chamberlain Cottages, Camberwell Grove, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989 89-1e-55*

Chamberlain Cottages off the east side of Camberwell Grove between Nos 15 and 17 is described by estate agents as peaceful gated mews and a beautifully kept enclave of enchanting period cottages.

Joseph Chamberlain (1796–1874) was a successful manufacturer who lived 188 Camberwell Grove. His son, also Joseph, was born there and at 18 moved to Birmingham to work at the screw factory owned by his father and uncle John Nettlefold, helping the business to become England’s most successful screw makers, producing two-thirds of those made in this country. Later he became one of the country’s best known politicians and a radical social reformer.

St Giles Camberwell is a little further to the east and can just be glimpsed over one of the cottages where the alley turns to the right. Another picture of it in the next post.

My posts on this walk on 27th January 1989 began at http://re-photo.co.uk/?p=14008 St George’s, Camberwell, Absolutely Board & Alberto. This walk will continue in a later post.