1990 | >Re-PHOTO

St Anne’s and St Ann’s, Wandsworth – 1990

St Anne’s and St Ann’s, Wandsworth: My walk on Sunday 4th March 1990 had begun at Clapham Junction in Battersea with St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea – 1990 and the previous post, More From Wandsworth 1990, had ended with a distant view of St Anne’s Church.

Houses, St Anne's Crescent, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-11 — Houses, St Ann’s Crescent, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-11

This area was towards the end of the 18th century still farmland, part of the Manor or All-Farthing, a small hamlet to the south of Wandsworth. An 1804 map shows there were still no houses here, only fields around what was then All Farthing Lane. The first houses were built here at the same time as the church, in the 1820s, but these are rather later in the century, probably around 1850.

At left is Surrey House, 6 St Anne’s Crescent. The two large semi-detached houses at 4-10 are shown on the 1873 OS map (on what was then St Anne’s Hill) and locally listed.

St Anne's Church, St Anne's Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-12 — *St Anne’s Church, St Ann’s Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-12*

St Anne’s was one of five ‘Waterloo Churches’ in the Southwark diocese built “as monuments to the victories at Trafalgar and Waterloo. Building of Saint Anne’s Church began in 1820 and was completed in 1824. The architect was Sir Robert Smirke. The church was consecrated on 1 May 1824 as a chapel of ease to the Parish Church of All Saints, Wandsworth.“

Smirke was a remarkably prolific architect and “is known to have designed or remodelled over twenty churches, more than fifty public buildings and more than sixty private houses.” These included seven of the the Waterloo Churches, and he was an official government architect and an adviser to the scheme – the only example of government funded church-building which provided a total of £1.5 million to provide 612 new Anglican churches. It was a huge scheme costing equivalent to more than £125 billion allowing for inflation.

Plowden & Smith, St Anne's Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-13 — *Plowden & Smith, St Ann’s Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-13*

I walked past the church to St Ann’s Hill (the church is St Anne’s but the street appears to have lost an ‘e’) and north along this. Plowden & Smith at 190-4, was established in 1966 and is a leading provider of art restoration services but they are now based in purpose-built premises on Morden Road, Mitcham. They left St Anne’s Hill around 2018. The building at 190 had previously been a sorting office and is now called Sorting House.

Plowden & Smith, St Anne's Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-14 — *Plowden & Smith, 190, St Ann’s Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-14*

As well as giving a good view of the frontage of the building I also liked the car parked partly obstructing the large painted sign ‘NO PARKING IN FRONT OF THIS BUILDING’. The development has retained most of the brickwork of the Victorian frontage but with more window area, and behind it and largely unnoticed from street level is a much taller modern structure which includes 9 new flats.

Temporary Housing, St Anne's Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-15 — *Temporary Housing, St Ann’s Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-15*

As I wrote in an earlier post, “The LCC designed temporary housing together with the Timber Development Association as a temporary solution to the then acute housing problem. I think these may have been replaced by new housing on Malva Close built in 1993.

Designed to last 15 years these homes came as two boxes which were craned onto piles of paving slabs and did not need dug foundations. The two boxes were than bolted together. The walls were asbestos covered with plastic and both roof and floor were made from plywood sheets sandwiching polystyrene insulation. They had a hall, living room, two bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom.”

Many seemed to have found them comfortable and were reluctant to leave, often being rehoused in less convenient locations and in pokier flats.

More to follow on this walk around Wandsworth.

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More From Wandsworth 1990

More From Wandsworth: My walk on Sunday 4th March 1990 had begun at Clapham Junction in Battersea with St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea and I had continued into Wandsworth with the post Mont Nod and Old York Road – Wandsworth 1990, ending with a view of York Road from the platform of Wandswoth Town Station.

Wandsworth Tyre Service, Old York Rd, Wandsworth Town, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-52 — *Wandsworth Tyre Service, 543, Old York Rd, Wandsworth Town, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-52*

I didn’t catch a train but came back down the stairs and on to York Road walking west along it. The Wandsworth Tyre Service was on the corner with Tonsley Hill and was one of many shops along the York Road, a kind of minor high street. There are still shops, but their character has changed greatly; this is now Pad Thai Story, the first of three authentic Thai restaurants set up by three Thai friends, here and in Battersea and Hammersmith and apparently highly recommended with, for London, reasonable prices. Back in 1990 I think the culinary peak of Old York Road was probably a fish and chip shop.

Next door, in what was then a doctor’s surgery is now a florist; there are a variety of other food outlets as well as several estate agents and a few more useful shops in a a fairly typical gentrified street.

According to various estate agents, this area, sometimes know as Tonsley for the several streets including this name, is one of Wandsworth’s most sought-after locations. An informative blog tells me “Tonsley Hall, the residence of Sir Richard Blackmore, the physician and poet who died in 1729… was pulled down in about the middle of the nineteenth century” but I cannot find why the house was given the name Tonsley.

The Grapes, Fairfield St, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-53 — *The Grapes, 39, Fairfield St, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-53*

I walked down to Fairfield Street – the fair field was in the area to the north of Old York Road. Merrie England in the Olden Time published in 1841 states:

 "Wandsworth Fair exhibited sixty years ago Mount Vesuvius,
 or the burning mountain by moonlight, rope, and hornpipe-
 dancing; a forest, with the humours of lion-catching;
 tumbling by the young Polander from Sadler's Wells; several
 diverting comic songs; a humorous dialogue between Mr.
 Swatehall and his wife; sparring matches; the Siege of
 Belgrade, &c. all for three-penee!

 On Whit-Monday, 1840, Messrs. Nelson and Lee sent down a
 theatrical caravan to Wandsworth Fair, and were moderately
 remunerated. But the “Grand Victoria Booth” was the rallying
 point of attraction. Its refectory was worthy of the
 ubiquitous Mr. Epps—of ham, beef, tongue, polony, portable
 soup, and sheep's trotter memory!

 Cold beef and ham, hot ribs of lamb, mock-turtle soup that's
 portable,

 Did blow, with stout, their jackets out, and made the folks
 comfortable!"

But this was perhaps one of the last days of the fair.

The pub is still open and is Grade II listed public house described as an early/mid-19th Century building and so was probably there in the closing years of the fair a few yards away.

*Gas Holder, Swandon Way, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-54*

According to the Wandle Industrial Museum, the Wandsworth Gas Company was established at a meeting at the the Spread Eagle Inn in Wandsworth in 1834 and was producing gas by the following year. By the 1920s it had grown into one of the largest London Gas companies, with coal being brought in barges to the canal basin close to the mouth of the Wandle. From 1906 colliers delivered coal to it on the Thames and the company produced some of the cheapest gas in London – making it particularly popular with balloonists.

At nationalisation in 1949 the company supplied an area of 160 square miles and had a fleet of six upriver colliers bringing over half a million tons of coal a year. Gas production ceased in 1970, but the gas holder continued in use for storage for many years.

*Fairfield Court, Flats, Fairfield St, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-55*

Estate agents variously describe this building as being built between 1930 and 1949 or 1967 to 1975, but whatever its date of completion it was built in a 1930s Streamline Moderne style as my picture shows. Its a style which has attracted a large degree of architectural snobbery over the years, including in the great Pevsner Buildings of England series. I suspect it probably dates from the post-war rebuilding of Wandsworth, but would welcome correction.

*Wandsworth Town Hall, Fairfield St, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-42*

By contrast, the to my mind rather pedestrian Wandworth Town Hall is both Grade II listed and described in detail in the listing and on other web sites. I think the architectural details are of far more interest than the overall building, built in 1935-7 to the designs of Edward A Hunt. I turned away to the east and didn’t then photograph the south side of the building on Wandsworth High Street, perhaps the buildings more interesting aspect with a fine “bas relief frieze depicting events in Wandsworth’s history by David Evans and John Linehan.”

*P G Marshall & Sons, Tonsley Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-45*

One of the main Tonsley streets, this had a particular interest for me, as although there are many Peter Marshalls, some rather more famous than me, this was possibly the first time I had been greeted by my initials when walking the streets of London. So far as I am aware this P G Marshall was no relative. But the business ‘Purpose Made Joinery‘ also had some resonance – among his many trades, before my father became self-employed he had worked as a joiner around 1920 when motor vehicle bodies were still often made of wood.

Of course the coincidence of initials was not the only reason I stopped to take this picture. The railings with their spears beside the steps and the jagged edge above the side gate also appealed.

*Gate, Geraldine Rd, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-24*

I crossed East Hill and went down Geraldine Road admiring the brickwork and decoration of the house on the corner (my photo not digitised) which I think was then home to the probation service. I think this wrought iron gate was on the detached house on the corner of Eglantine Road which now has a rather different but still attractive fence and gate and the veranda with slim iron columns.

Houses, Geraldine Rd, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-25 — *Houses, Trees, Rosehill Road, Geraldine Rd, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-25*

On the corner of Geraldine Road and Rosehill Road I found this row of harshly pollarded trees stretching down the road with the tall thin Greek Revival tower of Robert Smirke’s Grade II* listed St Anne’s Church, Wandsworth in the distance down Rosehill Road.

My next post about this walk will begin with two more pictures of this church.

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Mont Nod and Old York Road – Wandsworth 1990

My walk on Sunday 4th March 1990 had begun at Clapham Junction in Battersea and I had ended my first post, St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea – 1990 next to Trinity Road in Wandsworth.

Huguenot Burial Ground, Mount Nod Cemetery, East Hill, Wandsworth,, 1990, 90-2j-46 — *Huguenot Burial Ground, Mount Nod Cemetery, East Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-46*

From 1562 to 1598 France was at civil war between Catholics, supported by the Catholic League including the Pope and Spain, and Protestants – the Huguenots – whose backers included Protestant England under Elizabeth I. Although Henry IV had become King of France in 1589 after the death of his ninth cousin once removed, Henry III, he was not recognised across the whole country.

Henry IV had been born and baptised a Catholic but brought up a Huguenot, and was the first (and only) Protestant King of France, but under pressure and to be recognised in Paris and elsewhere he converted to Catholicism in 1593, though whether he actually said “Paris is worth a Mass” is thought highly doubtful.

One of his first actions as king was the Edict of Nantes which granted the Huguenots – Calvinist protestants – the right to practise their religion while maintaining Catholicism as the established religion of the country. The Catholic authorities were never happy with the edict and Henry survived several assassination attempt before one succeeded in 1610.

*Huguenot Burial Ground, Mount Nod Cemetery, East Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-33*

The Edict gave Huguenots religious toleration in certain towns and cities in France and allowed them to play a part in civil society, including holding public office, running their own schools, organising militia, carry out some trades and professions and to travel freely in France – and to avoid the Inquisition when travelling abroad.

Over the years the various freedoms granted by the Edict were lessened and in 1685, Louis XIV, the grandson of Henry IV, renounced the Edict and declared Protestantism illegal in all of France. Ministers were given two weeks to leave the country, while others were prohibited from leaving, though as many as 400,000 did, many coming to England.

Although Spitalfields is well-known for its Huguenot population, others settled elsewhere in London becoming around 5% of the area’s population. And Wandsworth, then a small village on the outskirts attracted some, probably because there were already some French speakers there, running various small industries on the River Wandle as well as market gardens. They became involved in textile mills and as hat and dressmakers, with Wandsowth becoming famous for hat making.

*Huguenot Burial Ground, Mount Nod Cemetery, East Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-34*

There was religious persecution in England too, although the established church had broken from Rome, but protestants suffered as well as catholics. But it seems that in Wandsworth, French speakers were allowed to set up their own chapel since none of the English would understand their language. A plaque in Chapel Yard suggests that Flemish and French Protestants had set up a house of prayer there as early as 1573, when such chapels were clearly illegal.

The Huguenot Burial Site – also known as Mount Nod Cemetery – between East Hill and Huguenot Place was in use by 1687 and burials continued until 1854. In 1911 a memorial was erected – seen in two of my pictures, remembeing the contribution made by Huguenots to the “prosperity of the town of their adoption.”

The cemetery has recently been given local historic park and garden status has apparently been refurbished, though I’ve not visited it for some years, though I think may do so later this year.

*Book House, 45, East Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-23*

This Italianate locally listed building adjioinig the Huguenot Burial Ground was built in 1888 as County House for the Wandsworth District Board of Works. After the Nation Book League moved into it in 1985 it became Book House, and was also home to the Publishing Training Centre. More recently it has been converted into flats.

*Houses, Fullerton Rd, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-24*

I left East Hill and walked up Alma Road; this area was developed between 1865 and 1895, but the north end of the street dates from soon after the Battle of Alma and appears on Stanford’s 1862 map. Alma was the first major battle of the Crimean War, when the British and the French defeated the Russians close to the mouth of the Alma, a small river which flows into the Black Sea not far from Sevastopol. The war dragged on until February 1856.

Fullerton Road crosses Alma Road and I walked a few yards down it to take this picture of a covered motorbike or scooter in front of Rose Cottage, Lansdown House and Gordon House.

*Shops, Old York Rd, Ferrier St, Wandsworth Town, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-64*

Alma Road joins Old York Road opposite Wandsworth Town station and a few yards down to the left Ferrier Street leads off west, with a view of the Wandwworth gasholder. The superstructure of this was demolished I think over 10 years ago, but its base remains, visible from the railway.

Old York Road still exists, although the shops have shifted significantly upmarket and I’ve been to exhibition openings there, and the area around to the north and west is bristling with new towers of flats.

*Shops, Old York Rd, Wandsworth Town, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-63*

No trace remains of the HOVIS sign on this house on the corner with Edgel Street and Lawrence’s Shoe Repairs are long gone.

*The Alma Tavern, Old York Rd, Alma Rd, Wandsworth Town, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-65*

I went into Wandsworth Town Station and climbed the stairs to the platform to lean over and photograph the Alma Tavern. This was built in 1866 although there appears to be a pub here on the 1862 map. It was acquired by Young’s brewery – nearby in the centre of Wandsworth on the River Wandle – in 1888. Still operated by them it now has a hotel extension on the site of the former 1880s Victorian factory behind the pub in Alma Road, since 1983 occupied by Winstanley Metal Fabrications.

*Old York Rd, Ferrier St, Wandsworth Town, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3a-66*

Further along the platform I took this view looking along Old York Road. This area along to what is now Swandon Way used to be Fairfield, the site of Wandsworth Fair, discontinued in the 19th century. York Road was once called Pickpocket Lane, then Slough Lane and only relatively recently becoming Old York Road. Much of the area was designated a conservation area in 2019.

My next post on this walk shortly.

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St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea – 1990

St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea: My next London walk was on Sunday 4th March 1990 and began at Clapham Junction station, which is not in Clapham but in Battersea. The London and South Western Railway, London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the West London Extension Railway deliberately chose the misleading name for their interchange station as Clapham was so much more respectable than the rather working-class industrial Battersea and so would be more acceptable to the upper and middle class customers they wanted to use their trains.

Shop window, St John's Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-51 — *Shop window, St John’s Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-51*

I walked south through the tunnel under the lines inside the station and made my way out to the exit onto St John’s Hill, Battersea, where I found this shop window with an intriguing range of content. at top left are directions ‘IF YOU NEED AN AMBULANCE’ and in the centre’ AND IN THE CENTRE ‘PLENTY OF MEN’S OVERCOATS ALL SIZES FORM £2.50 to £4=’ followed by the opening hours, the days listed in the rather odd order ‘MONDAY THURSDAY SATURDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY’.

On the bottom at left is a purse with a chain and then an incomprehensible rectangle, perhaps written in some alien language from outer space. Next is what I think could be a collapsed Japanese-style lampshade and then a 12 inch vinyl record cover for Star Wars and other space themes by Geoff Love and His Orchestra, a 1978 LP. Inside the shop – perhaps a ‘charity shop’ – there appears to be another basket full of what look to me like 78’s, but most of what we can see is reflections of the opposite side of the stree – and my body as I made the photo.

*Entrance, Plough Rd, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-53*

A short distance up the Hill I turned right into Plough Road and photographed this rather strange brick wall with an door-less doorway leading into what looks like a rubbish yard. I carefully lined up a block of flats in the aperture for the picture, but can tell you nothing more about it.

Shops, St John's Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-55 — *Shops, St John’s Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-55*

Back on St John’s Hill at No 80 was KEARNS ANTIQUE COPIES, since replaced by a larger block, Langford Mews. The two properties with the roof balustrade are still there but the unnamed 76 now has an extra storey. But to my delight, HAPPY VALLEY is still there, looking much the same and still a Fish and Chicken bar. I think this building probably dates from around the 1850s. To its right is another new block with ground-floor retail which has replaced H J Golding & Co Ltd and the building to its right.

Shops, St John's Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-41 — *Shops, St John’s Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-41*

Shops and houses on the north side of St John’s Hill on each side of Louvaine Rd. These terraces probably date from around 1870 by which time most of the street was built up. The church in the distance, St. Peter and St Paul’s Church (now the LARA community centre and nursery) was built around 1868. These buildings are since 2009 part of the St John’s Hill Grove conservation area.

Brian J Reed, Silverline Press, St John's Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-42 — *Brian J Reed, Silverline Press, St John’s Hill, Battersea, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-42*

Two businesses both doomed by changes in technology, with electronic components being replaced by integrated circuts and much of the printing business being transformed by computerisation. The works through the gateway is now part of a Sainsbury’s Local with a shop front a little further up the street.

*Gateway, LCC, East Hill Estate, East Hill, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-44*

Further along the street St John’s Hill becomes East Hill and it was here that the London Country Council built their East Hill estate in 1928, having bought the site five years earlier. These Grade II listed gates date from 1851 and were preserved from St Peter’s Hospital (Fishmongers’ Almhouses) formerly on the site and re-used as the main pedestrian gateway to the new estate. The almshouses had been built to house 42 residents along with a chapel, hall and library and rooms for the medical officer, clergyman and paymaster. They replaced those in Newington, South London dating from 1618.

The 1928 LCC estate was demolished in 1981 and replaced by the more modern flats on the site in my photograph.

*Garden, Birdhurst Rd, Trinity Rd, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-2j-45*

The Trinity Road dual carriageway had started to be planned when Wandsworth Bridge was build in the 1930s as a part of extensive road and motorway schemes which included a real South Circular, but only materialised in the 1960s as a rather forgotten part of London’s Ringway schemes, intended at some date to link up north of the river with the West Cross Route at Shepherds Bush.

Fortunately sanity prevailed and after a few disastrous short sections of road were built most of these schemes were abandoned. I’m unsure when this section of Trinity Road was converted to dual carriageway, going under the A3 and East Hill and the famous square roundabout were built, but I think some time around 1970.

This small garden is immediately north of East Hill on the corner of Birdhurst Road and has now lost all of its railings and is surrounded by a ring of rather delicate-looking metal bollards. A board about environmental improvements has a graphic including Battersea’s most famous building.

An Academy, Shops, a House & Pubs – 1990

An Academy, Shops, a House & Pubs: The final post from my walk which ended in Kentish Town on Sunday February 25th 1990. The first post was Around Finsbury Park – 1990 and the previous post is Factories, Flats, Wesley & The Kinks.

*Doorway, Southampton House Academy, Highgate Rd, Gospel Oak, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-46*

Grade II listed Southampton House at 137 Highgate Road was built in the early 19th century and housed the Southampton House Academy run by Captain John Bickerstaffe. The pub adjoining Southampton House is The Southampton Arms, but was built in 1874, and I think took its name from the house, which is now flats. The pub is legendary among beer (and cider) drinkers and apparently only serves beers from wholly independent breweries. I have no idea why Capt Bickerstaffe called his Academy Southampton House, perhaps he was a native of Southampton.

*The Orientalist, 78, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-31*

The Orientalist was a residue from the International Oriental Carpet Centre which I mentioned in my previous post on this walk, where in 1973 Oriental rug dealers moved to Kentish Town from the PLA Cutler Street warehouses. Most moved out of the area in 1994, but some stayed in premises in Kentish Town. The Orientalist rebuilt this building with a more conventional shop front soon after I made this picture and had a closing down sale in 2025.

*Shops, Kentish Town Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-26*

WE STOCK SUPLUS GOVERNMENT CLOTHING NEW & PART·WORN
COMBAT TROUSERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS SHIRTS JACKETS·ETC
ACHOICE OF JEANSFOR ALL·THE.FAMILY STONEWASH·SHRUNK
FOOTWEAR FOR ALL PURPOSES ALSOFULL RANGE DR.MARTENS
INDUSTRIAL CLOTHINGBOILER SUITS BIB-BRACE TEE SHIRTS
SUPPLIERS OF ALL·TYPES OF RAINWEARJACKETSCOATS ETC.
SPECIALISTS IN CAMPATINGEQUIPMENT.THENTSSLEEPBAGGAZ

Who could ask for anything more?

*Shops, Kentish Town Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-11*

‘LOOK IN AT FERME SALES’ states the painting of a man being lifted up by another and pointing with his umbrella on the side of THE BEECH Restaurant – (though why does this have ‘ML’ on its canopy?) This painted has long been painted over and the restaurant is now an estate agents.

*The Assembly House, Leighton Rd, Kentish Town Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-12*

Another large late Victorian pub built in 1896 to designs by Thorpe and Furniss in a style resembling a French Château and Grade II listed. It replaced an earlier pub on the site which in 1788 had as landlord Thomas Wood.

The Assembly House was where people gathered to go together across the dangerous hills to Highgate in groups because of the frequent attacks on travellers on the route. Wood possibly moonlighted as a highway robber – apparently he was tried but acquitted for the offence – but he died insane in Newgate Prison.

*House, Bush, 27, Leighton Rd, Kentish Town,Camden, 1990, 90-2i-15*

Leighton Road was built at the back of the Assembly House pub garden and this Grade II listed house was built around 1828 when the street was called Gloucester Place. The listing text gives more detail than most, including about the street; “In 1804 it was but a pathway leading from Kentish Town to Islington, with a stile at the eastern end and a bowling green on its north side near where No. 27 Leighton Road now stands; this was probably for patrons of the Assembly House inn located at the corner of Kentish Town Road.” and its early residents; “a Mr Crowe (the original freeholder and builder), and then an architect with family and servants. By 1861, the owner was a Mr Pike, with his family but no servants. Pike made various changes to the house in 1870 … and his story is vividly told in Gillian Tindall’s book, “The Fields Beneath: the History of One London Village“, published in 1977.”

*Shops, Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2j-61*

Also the listing text for 27 Leighton Road tells us that “At this time the land was owned by one Joshua Prole Torriano” which explains this street name. In 1990 it was a rather run-down area as this picture suggests. The view here is looking towards from the south towards Leighton Road and the pub on the corner at 140 Leighton Road was the Torriano Arms, closed and sold in 1994 and now residential.

Unusually the pub’s name lived on, being taken over by the Rose and Crown, a few doors down Torriano Aveven. A long fight saved this from being converted in turn into flats. In 2014 the Camden New Journal published “Torriano pub closes but will reopen with its original name as The Rose and Crown”.

I made four more pictures on my way back to Kentish Town station, on Leighton Rd and Montpelier Grove but haven’t digitised these. The pictures in these posts are generally around a quarter or so of those I took on my walks.

My next walk was in South London – coming shortly.

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Factories, Flats, Wesley & The Kinks – 1990

Factories, Flats, Wesley & The Kinks: More from my walk on Sunday February 25th 1990 which began with Around Finsbury Park – 1990. The previous post was More Kentish Town – 1990.

*Flats, Elsfield, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-61*

When the London Borough of Camden was formed in 1965 its architects department was set up headed by Sydney Cook and included many of the leading architects of the day, working for a council that was determined to build better homes for those living in the borough. Over the next 15 or so years they produced a huge number of well-designed and architecturally significant buildings until government cuts brought an end to what has been described as “their golden age of social housing.”

As well as large estates such as Neave Brown’s Alexandra Road, there were also a number of smaller sites such as Elsfield, designed by Bill Forest and built in 1966-70. Most of Camden’s schemes were built “in-house” which had the advantage of better quality work than many private contractors but sometimes led to lengthy delays and cost overruns.

*Flats, Elsfield, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-36*

Later in the day I walked back past these flats and made another picture which shows the whole frontage on Highgate Road with its stepped back profile and prominent painted railings. The wall in front gives ground-floor residents privacy.

*Linton House, Carkers Lane, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-62*

Once Carkers Lane was just “a footpath across fields and watercress beds and a farm belonging to Mr Corker“. Much of those fields became tracks and engine sheds for the Midland Railway, leaving just a short section of the path to become Carkers Lane.

In 1881 Thomas William Read and John Walter Read bought land here and began bottling spirits and beer; by 1906 they were “the largest buyer and bottler of Bass Ale in the world.” The ‘Dog’s Head Bottling’ adopted its famous Bull Dog trademark as its Company Logo. All this bottled beer was for export, mainly to “Australia, New Zealand, France, the West Indies and South Africa.” The company amalgamated with Kings Cross brewers Robert Porter in 1938 as Export Bottlers Ltd.

The building at the left of my picture on the corner of Highgate Road, then called Linton House (with parking for Norman Linton Only) was built around 1900 as a factory for furniture makers Maple & Co, suppliers of furniture to the royal family, palaces and expensive hotels worldwide as well as selling to the wealthy public through their Tottenham Court Road shop and in Paris and elsewhere. After they moved it it became home to a number of smaller companies, mainly as offices. Developers The Linton Group acquired it and converted it into 50 luxury flats and seven penthouses they lanched on the market in 2016 as Maple House.

Wallpaper manufacturer Shand Kydd moved to the site in 1906 to mass produce their wallpapers and around 1920 Sanderson’s wallpaper joined them. Both had moved out by around 1960.

The estate also became home in 1973 to the International Oriental Carpet Centre, formed by Oriental rug dealers who had previously been in the Cutler Street warehouse complex owned by Port of London Authority but were given notice to quit when the PLA decided to sell this for redevelopment. The IOCC lease expired in 1994 and most of the dealers left.

Carkers Lane is now home to Highgate Studios, a huge largely office development and the Highgate Business Centre.

*Factory, Carkers Lane, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-33*

Again as I walked back past Carkers Lane later in the day I made another picture

*Houses, Little Green St, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-66*

Little Green Street is a short street between Highgate Road and College Lane which takes you back to the 1780s. The ten Georgian houses here were seen even in the 1890s as “old-fashioned cottages” by Charles Booth in his Life and Labour of the People in London. The street provided the background for The Kinks dressed as old-fashioned undertakers carrying a coffin in the 1966 official music video for Dead End Street, one of the earliest music videos.

The wooden post at left has gone and the cobbled area at its left is now a walled garden for the house on the corner of the street.

*Houses, Little Green St, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-53*

These Grade II listed cottages were in something of a dead end street, leading only to College Lane, on the other side of which was the Staff Hotel for the London Midland and Scottish Railway until this was replaced by Camden Council’s Ingestre Road Estate, designed by John Green for Camden Architects’ Department and built in 1967–71, a small part of which you can see at the left edge of this picture.

*Tyre swing, Highgate Rd, Dartmouth Park, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-55*

At the end of Little Green Street I think I turned left and walked along under the railway bridge which also features in The Kinks video to Denyer House, a large 1930s London County Council block set back from Highgate Road. The tree is still there but the swing is long gone.

*Wesleyan Place, Gospel Oak, Camden, 1990, 90-2i-45*

Crossing Highgate Road I went down Wesleyan Place. This street was laid out in 1810 and was the site of a Wesleyan Methodist chapel in a converted farm building from Richard Mortimer’s farm here. The Methodists moved out in 1864 to a new chapel in Bassett Street.

This early/mid nineteenth century terrace of four houses was Grade II listed in 1974. The street leads to Mortimer Terrace.

I’ll write and post the final part of this walk shortly.

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More Kentish Town – 1990

More Kentish Town: More from my walk on Sunday February 25th 1990 which began at Around Finsbury Park – 1990. The previous post was Tufnell Park and Kentish Town – 1990

*Raveley St, Fortess Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-31*

This substantial house on the corner of Raveley St and Fortess Road is at 112 (and 114) Fortess Road, with a shop on the corner and behind this in Raveley Street a rather grand doorway to the housing (now flats) above, with a rear extension being 1 Raveley Street.

It appeared to have been an antique shop and although it looks as if it had shut down and its name was no longer legible had the rather strange almost circus-like construction and what appeared to be a stained glass panel above the window on the corner, with some of its stock visible inside. All of this is long gone, with the corner being rebuilt with a plainer frontage. For some years it was the Café de la Paix, and then became the Cinnamon Village café.

*Doorway, 10, Lady Somerset Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-34*

A short distance down Lady Somerset Rd, on the west corner with Oakford Road is this doorway up a few step from the street with at left a strangely grinning ghoul-like face rather at odds with the more delicate decoration. The house and the door are still there, with a railing now on top of the concrete beside the steps, but the face has gone.

*Fortess Grove, Fortess Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-24*

I went back to Fortess Road. As I walked I thought again about one of the pictures I had taken in Fortess Grove. Of course I was shooting on film so had no way of actually reviewing the image, but I didn’t feel happy about an image I had taken of a house there with two artificial birds, so I went back to retake it. Unusually I took another four frames until I was satisfied, with that row of white fence posts against the black background creating an optical tension.

Shops, Fortress Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-13 — *Shops, Fortess Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-13*

I liked the unusual roof line above these shops at 14-18 Fortess Rd. These were described on the draft local list as a “Terrace of four late 19th century houses with shops at ground floor and a gated carriage entrance at the end” and it mentions the “Unusual architectural approach with the restrained elevations separated by terracotta pilasters, and a tall roof parapet surmounted by two broken pediments located on the party wall line between the pairs“. The “historic shop front” at No 14, now the NW5 Theatre School, is still in place.

*Kentish Town Parish Church, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-14*

At the end of Fortess Road I turned sharp right up Highgate Road to photograph the Grade II listed Kentish Town Parish Church of St John the Baptist at 23 Highgate Road. The Kentish Town Chapel, a small chapel-of-ease dating from 1449, was pulled down to built a new church to the designs of James Wyatt in 1783. That in turn went, though some of its walls were retained when the church was rebuilt and extended by J H Hakewill in 1843-5.

It’s always seemed a little threatening and spiky to me, slightly sinister. Three years after I made this picture the churchby then in poor condition, was declared redundant and stood empty for some months, apart from being used for occasional all-night raves. In 1994 it was bought by the Nigerian-based Christ Apostolic Church UK who continue to worship there.

*Town & Country Club, Highgate Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-15*

Immediately south of the church in 1990 was the Town & Country Club, now the O2 Forum Kentish Town.

This was built as a cinema, The Kentish Town Forum Theatre, designed by John Stanley Beard & Alfred Douglas Clare and opened at the end of 1934 but months later was taken over by Associated British Cinemas, though it was only in 1963 it took the ABC name. It had a single screen and seating for over 2,000. In 1970 it closed to become a bingo hall, and later it was a ballroom and a concert hall/theatre named the Town & Country Club, This closed in 1993 and it became the Forum Theatre again and later it was yet again renamed as the O2 Forum Kentish Town. The building was Grade II listed a couple of months after I took this picture.

My walk continued – another post shortly.

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Tufnell Park and Kentish Town – 1990

Tufnell Park and Kentish Town: More from my walk on Sunday February 25th 1990 which began at Around Finsbury Park – 1990. The previous post was Toys, Taverns, Timber & More – 1990.

*Flats, Pemberton Gardens, Archway, Islington, 1990, 90-2h-64*

This long run of flats – numbered 1-64 is St John’s Park Mansions.

Sir James Pemberton was a goldsmith and Lord Mayor of London in 1611, and was one of the eight freeholders of the Manor of Highbury. The street was developed around 1870 on land owned by the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy, a charity set up in 1655 by merchants of the City of London and priests of the Church of England to support clergy who had lost their livings thanks to Oliver Cromwell – and which still (now as the Clergy Support Trust) supports Anglican clergy and they named it after him. The street was renamed Pemberton Gardens in 1895.

These flats were built in 1899-1900 and have nine blocks extending out to the rear to accommodate 32 flats as well as the 32 in those in the buildings on the street.

*House, Cathcart Hill, Tufnell Park, Islington, 1990, 90-2h-66*

I continued my walk down Junction Road, turning briefly into Cathcart Hill to photograph this house where considerable building work was taking place. The house probably dates from the 1860s and I think is 1 Cathcart Hill. Although the web page for the Cathcart Hill Historical Society is dedicated to the history of numbers 1-16 Cathcart Hill, it has as yet no information about No.1.

Boston Arms, pub, Junction Rd, Tufnell Park, Islington, 1990, 90-2h-54 — *Boston Arms, pub, 178 Junction Rd, Tufnell Park, Islington, 1990, 90-2h-54*

This pub designed by Thorpe and Furniss was built in 1899 for Bass & Co Ltd replacing an earlier earlier building, there in 1860, the Boston Arms Tavern on the corner with Dartmouth Park Hill. A few years later it changed its name to simply ‘The Boston’ and this was the name when it was rebuilt, though it is now ‘Boston Arms. It was Grade II listed in 1994 and remains in use.

*Boston Arms, pub, Junction Rd, Tufnell Park, Islington, 1990, 90-2h-56*

Attached to the pub – but not in my pictures – is the Boston Music Room, also Grade II listed. It was built in 1884 with a ground floor 60ft swimming bath and above this an assembly hall. In 1909 the swimming bath was converted into a second assembly hall and used as a cinema, called the Electric Theatre, later the Stanley Theatre. After this closed in 1916 it became the Tufnell Park Palais, used for wrestling and concerts.

It reopened in 1981 as an independent music venue, with the upstairs called The Dome and downstairs The Boston Music Room. Among those appearing there have been Coldplay, Bring Me the Horizon, Blur, Primal Scream, Noel Gallagher,Madness, The White Stripes, U2, Florence & The Machine, and Cradle of Filth.

*Surroundings Ltd, Burghley Rd, Tufnell Park, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-55*

Opposite the west side of the pub on Dartmouth Hill Road (and so in the London Borough of Camden) is Burghley Road where a few yards down at No 118 I photographed Surroundings Ltd, a company which appears to have disappeared without trace. The building is now residential.

*Montrose Products, Fortess Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-44*

Turning back to Dartmouth Hill Road I walked the few yards down to the junction and then continued down Fortess Road to photograph Montrose Products at Nokeener House, No. 28-34. This private limited company, L.& M.(MONTROSE PRODUCTS)LIMITED was incorporated in 1954, moved its registered office from here in July 1990 and was finally dissolved in 2024. A mail order company it occupied the first floor while at street level was Everbond Limited, who I can find nothing about. More recently the ground floor was occupied by Major Travel.

This was built as a factory for piano makers T & G Payne who began here in 1891 and it has has some interesting decorative detail. In 2012 permission was granted for its conversion into luxury flats as The Piano Works, retaining most of its external features.

*Fortess Grove, Fortess Rd, Kentish Town, Camden, 1990, 90-2h-45*

Fortess Grove is at the north side of the old piano factory and twists here around the side of the Fortess Works, then occupied by L C Bennett (Mechanical Handling) Ltd. Later it became home to vehicle repair shop M. & A. Coachworks but since the end of 2015 has been transformed into “a modern, flexible, and contemporary work environment” called Fortess Grove and some housing.

The street still continues past it more or less as in my photograph, a charming little curved cul-de-sac of early Victorian (or possibly late Georgian?) small houses.

This walk continues in later posts.

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Toys, Taverns, Timber & More – 1990

Toys, Taverns, Timber & More: More from my walk on Sunday February 25th 1990 which began with Around Finsbury Park – 1990. The previous post was Along Hornsey Road, Holloway 1990.

*Works, Nugent Road, Spears Rd, Crouch Hill, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-34*

A factory here was established here next to the house in Lambton Road of William Britain (1828-1906). The company grew greatly and the factory expanded after in 1893 his son William Britain Jnr found a way of casting three-dimensional hollow-cast soldiers in 1893 using an alloy of lead, tin and antinomy. Previously toy soldiers had been flat, two-dimensional.

Sales slumped during and after the Great War for Britains Ltd and at Christmas 1921 they introduced Britains Model Home Farm, which became a big seller; later they also made zoo and circus figures.

In 1931 they expaned with a new factory, the North Light Building in Walthamstow. They finally left this Crouch Hill factory and moved completely to Walthamstow in 1968. That closed in 1991 with production being moved to Nottingham.

*Shops, 471, Hornsey Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-35*

This building on the corner of Hornsey Road and Fairbridge Road offering timber, building materials and electrical supplies to the trade and for DIY use clearly had had a rather different past with this rather grand entrance. I had photographed the building the previous year and commented on it but had not found out much about its history.

According to Edith’s Streets it was orginally a coffee tavern, the Jubilee Hall, and from 1905 until 1937 was the premises of Newton and Wright, electrical and scientific instrument makers. They were the makers of The British Snook Machine, a “1920s gas filled or cold cathode medical X-ray tube with a collimator extension of the anticathodeode“. If like me you are totally mystified you can find out more and see pictures on The Hornsey Road blog.

*E D Elson, Timber, Fairbridge Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-22*

E D Elson had a yard at 169 Fairbridge Road for 43 years from when they were founded by Eddie Elson in 1968, along with branches in north London and Hertfordshire – presumably including Barnet. They relocated to St Albans in 2011 and were quickly replaced by a new block of ground floor shops with flats above.

Geo F Trumper, Perfurmer, Sussex Way, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-23 — *Geo F Trumper, Perfurmer, Fairbridge Road, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-23*

Although the street sign is Sussex Way, the doorway at right is 166 Fairbridge Road and Geo F Trumper‘s perfumery is on Fairbridge Road. This is the head office of the company which was established in 1875 by George Francis William Trumper as a gentlemen’s barber shop in Curzon Street, Mayfair. It sells a range of men’s fragrances and personal grooming products, none of which I have ever tried.

*Works, Boothby Rd, Ethorne Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-11*

This building was the Holloway Mills dating from around the 1870s as a steam saw mills for W Betts, the son of J.T. Betts who had founded the company in Bordeaux in 1804. They made boxes and packaging and later became specialists in metal packaging. The company was taken over in 1960 and other businesses moved in. More recently the building has been in use by a a number of artists organisations.

*Byam Shaw School of Art, Ethorne Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-12*

The Byam Shaw School of Art was opened as an independent school of fine art in Kensington in May 1910 by John Liston Byam Shaw and Rex Vicat Cole, and was at first called the Byam Shaw and Vicat Cole School of Art.

It moved to these larger premises in 1970 and in 2003 was absorbed into the art establishment as a part of Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.

According to a Facebook post by Matt Crandall, this 1920s building was the factory for G Leonardi Ltd, Leonardene Co, and Leonardene Art Models, all founded by Giuseppe Leonardi, an ex-pat Italian, in the 1920s. They were “primarily makers of Art Deco pieces in the 1920s and 1930s including figures, lamps, and wall masks. Their quality far surpassed the usual plasterware items produced at the time, highly detailed and beautifully painted. Many Leonardi designs were reproduced by other companies into the 1970s.” They apparently had a Disney licence from “sometime in the 1940s, which ran at least through 1953“

*Archway Tavern, Archway Rd, Archway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-13*

Where I was standing to make this picture is now called Navigator Square , part of a new gyratory road system. The Archway Tavern is still standing and opened again as a pub after being closed in 2014 over licencing issues. There has been a pub on this site since the 1700s. It was rebuilt in 1860, and then this larger building replaced it in 1888.

Behind at right is the Holborn Union Building, another historic landmark, designed by Henry Saxon Snell which opened on Archway Road as the The Holborn and Finsbury Union Workhouse Infirmary with 625 beds on 1879. More recently it was a campus for University College London and Middlesex University. Vacant since 2013, controversion plans for redevelopment including a 23 storey student housing tower were turned down by Islington council but the called in by London Mayor Sadiq Khan whose decision is still awaited.

*The Royal London Friendly Society, Insurance, Junction Rd, Archway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-14*

The Royal London Friendly Society was launched by Henry Ridge and Joseph Degge in 1861 and in 1908 became a mutual, owned by its customers. Now just Royal London, it “is among the top 30 mutuals globally, and is the largest mutual life, pensions and investment company in the UK.”

This fine building for the society at 32 Junction Road dates from 1903, architects Holman & Goodham and was still in used by Royal London Insurance in 1990. Later it became solicitors offices, but since around 2015 has housed a series of cafés, and is currently Dune Brasserie and offices above.

Along Hornsey Road, Holloway 1990

Along Hornsey Road, Holloway 1990: More from my walk on Sunday February 25th 1990 which began with Around Finsbury Park – 1990. The previous post on this walk was Houses, a Club, Ghost Sign, Blouses and Baths – 1990.

DON'T BE SCARED OF FREEDOM, Andover Medical Center, Hornsey Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-65 — *DON’T BE SCARED OF FREEDOM, Andover Medical Center, Hornsey Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-65*

The Andover Medical Centre is at 270-282 Hornsey Road a short distance north from the Hornsey Road Baths and I made my picture from the corner of Hornsey Road and Newington Barrow Way which leads to the Andover Estate, a large council estate begun in 1938 but greatly enlarged in 1973-9.

The graffiti ‘DON’T BE SCARED OF FREEDOM’ which attracted my attention is of course long gone. So too is the sprawling bush and there are no some car parking spaces in its place.

Bavaria Rd, Hornsea Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-66 — *Bavaria Rd, Hornsey Rd, Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-66*

I continued walking up Hornsey Road for well over a quarter of a mile before making my next picture looking across the road and down Bavaria Road. Here a sign high on the wall at 395 Hornsey Road announces the Alexandra Coffee Tavern and above the modern street sign is the former name of the street, Blenheim Road. Before becoming a temperance tavern this had been a pub, the Blenheim Arms, opened (and built) probably in 1869, but by 1881 it was the Alexandra Coffee Tavern, part of a then growing temperance movement.

The name Alexandra probably came from Princess Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg who married the son and heir of Queen Victoria in 1863 and became a popular royal very much involved in charity work as Princess of Wales until 1901 when she became queen.

I was also attracted by the signage for the locksmiths then in the former pub, particualr the four different types of keys shown above the shop at right. The Victorian building had been incorporated into a more modern structure both on Hornsey Road and Bavaria Rd. Since 1990 an extra storey has been added to the building which now houses The Pelvic Academy offering Physiotherapy and Wellness.

*Replica House, 37, Bavaria Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-51*

I walked a short distance down Bavaria Road to photograph Replica House, built in 1883 as a chapel to seat 450 on what was then Blenheim Road to the designs of architects Lander & Bedells, possibly replacing an earlier chapel here. By 1916 it was known as Blenheim Congregational Mission Hall. According to British History Online it had closed by 1954. The street had become Bavaria Road in 1938.

Replicards Limited who occupied it at the time of my picture had renamed the building Replica House. They were a graphics design studio incorporated in 1967. At the right of their sign are the letters ‘Exhibitic’, perhaps where the end of the sign had been at some time truncated with that ‘c’ really being part of an ‘o’. Had it been moved from a slightly wider building where it had once said ‘Exhibitions’?

*Hanley Arms, Hornsey Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-52*

Back on Hornsey Road I photographed a long terrace of shops with The Hanley Arms pub at the left, roughly opposite Bavaria Road looking to the south. This Grade II listed pub was apparently in place here by 1827 although the ground floor frontage dates from around 1900. It closed as a pub around 2007 and 440 Hornsey Road is now an Islamic mosque, Masjid-e-Yusuf.

*Marlborough Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-54*

I continued up Hornsey Road to Marlborough Road where I made this picture close to the corner, but I think this building with its flower motifs above the doorway has been demolished.

*Crash Repairs, Marlborough Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-43*

Marlborough Service Station, Marlborough Rd, Upper Holloway, — *Marlborough Service Station,* *Marlborough Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-54*

A little further down is a splendid garage building I think from the 1920s or 30s, Marlborough Service Station, still there and very much in business in 2025.

*Megatron Photometers, Marlborough Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-45*

The building at 165 Marlborough Rd is still there and has been sympathetically remodelled on the ground floor with a extra door and two new windows in what was then a blank area of brick.

Megatron was a company that I had some dealings with, as from 1984 until the company was liquidated in 2010 they made – among many other products – the legendary Weston Master photographic exposure meters. When I broke the very thin glass over the needle on mine I sent it back to Megatron for repair. It wasn’t cheap, and when I broke it again I decided instead to replace the glass with a thin sheet of acrylic, superglued in place.

As well as still photographs, many professional movies were shot with the aid of a Weston light meter in various models since the 1930s. Later models came with a white plastic ‘Invercone‘, an inverted cone which fitted over the metering cell to allow accurate measurement of incident light – the light falling onto a scene – as well as the more normal reflected light measurement. The Weston meters have a large selenium cell which generates an electric current when light falls on it and do not need batteries.

*Car Breakers, Grenville Rd, Upper Holloway, Islington, 1990, 90-2g-46*

Grenville Road is a turning on the east side of Hornsey Road a short distance north from Marlborough Road, just before the bridge over what is now the Suffragette Line of the Overground, then known as the Gospel Oak to Barking or Goblin line. I’m unsure exactly where on the road Astoria Auto Breakers was, but I liked the skeletal nature of the racked cars and the leafless tree.