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Lord Maruga, Portugal Day & Khalistan – 2008

Lord Maruga, Portugal Day & Khalistan: My day on Sunday 8th June 2008 very much reflected the multicultural nature of London, beginning with a Hindu Festival in Thornton Heath, moving on to a Catholic Mass celebrating Portugal Day in Kennington and finally a march by Sikhs remembering the 1984 massacre and calling for an independent Sikh state, Khalistan.

Lord Muruga in Thornton Heath

Hindu God Lord Muruga is particularly popular with the Tamils of southeast India (Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka and Malaysia, and several hundred from the Sivaskanthagiri Murugan Temple in Thornton Heath celebrated him by pulling a chariot carrying his representation through the local streets.

The procession was led by musicians, and by women carrying pots of burning embers on their heads and in their arms. As the chariot made its way along the street, people brought offerings of good to be blessed, and these were returned to them flaming.

Lord Muruga is the son of Agni, the fire god. He also carries a spear and a staff with a picture of a cockerel, and rides on a peacock. He is noted for the help that he gives for devotees who are in distress and the procession in particular visits those who cannot come to the temple because of their poor health or other disabilities

The flames are from camphor, widely used in Indian rituals and thought to eliminate negative energies. This waxy white solid burns with a relatively cool flame and emit little smoke.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at Lord Muruga in Thornton Heath.

Portugal Day in Kennington Park

Also known as Camões Day, Portugal’s National Day marks the anniversary of the death of its greatest poet and writer, Luís de Camões, on 10 June, 1580. He died in the year that Portugal became part of Spain, and the date of his death (the day of his birth around 1624 is not recorded) was celebrated as a national day after Portugal regained independence in 1640.

His great epic poem ‘The Lusaids’ centres on Vasco da Gama’s voyage to discover a sea route to India which was the foundation of the colonial explorations that brought the country great wealth and it made him a symbol of the nation.

Fascist dictator Salazar who ruled Portugal from 1932 to 1968 made the day a celebration of a fictional Portuguese ‘race’, but it is now simply a day for celebration by Portuguese communities around the world – and London has the largest Portuguese community outside Portugal, centred in Stockwell close to Kennington Park. The celebrations in the park includes entertainments and considerable eating and drinking after the initial open-air Catholic Mass I photographed.

Portugal Day in Kennington Park

Sikh Remembrance March and Freedom Rally

Sikhs remember the massacres at Amritsar by the Indian Army and the mob killings encouraged by the Indian government following the assassination of Indira Ghandi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.

Sikh interests were ignored by an ignorant and incompetent British administration led by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India Lord Mountbatten who were responsible for the partition of India in 1947.

This annual rally and march in London calls for the establishment of an independent Sikh homeland, Khalistan in the Punjab and possibly incorporating some nearby areas of India and Pakistan.

Some Sikhs had been calling for an independent state since the 1930s and the movement continued to grow after partition with various militant Sikh groups including Babbar Khalsa, proscribed in the UK. Violent repression by Indian police led to a decline in the 1990s, but repression continues against Sikhs and in particular against those campaigning for separation and has increased in recent years. This makes it very difficult to determine how much popular support there is for the Khalistan movement in the area.

Data in the UK suggests that only a small fraction of British Sikhs support the establishment of Khalistan. In 2018, India asked UK to ban Sikh Federation (UK) who organise these events for its anti-India, pro-Khalistan activities, including proscribing the organisation but this has not happened.

More at Sikh Remembrance March and Freedom Rally.

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Guns & Knives, Pineapple, Orange & Thames 2008

Guns & Knives, Pineapple, Orange & Thames: On Saturday 20th September 2008 after photographing a protest over gun and knife crime, a festival in Stockwell and being assaulted at an Orange March I went to Open House Day at Trinity Buoy Wharf and then crossed the river to walk along the riverside path from North Greenwich to Greenwich.

The Peoples March – Kennington Park

The Peoples March’ against gun and knife crime from Kennington Park was organised by the Damilola Taylor Trust and other organisations and supported by the Daily Mirror and Choice FM and came at the end of London Peace Week.

In 2007 there were 26 teenagers killed on the streets of London, and many of those on the march “were the families and friends of young people whose lives were ended prematurely by violent death, and the grief felt by many of those I photographed was impossible to miss. They were stricken and angry and demanding that something was done to stop the killing.”

These deaths continue. They peaked in 2021 when 30 were killed, but most years there have been around 20 such tragic deaths. Despite many marches such as this and projects such as the Violence Reduction Unit set up in 2019 by London Mayor Sadiq Khan these deaths continue.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with victims’ families just a few days after the election and earlier this month held a knife crime summit at Downing Street aimed at halving it over the next decade. Earlier in the year King Charles and actor Idris Elba hosted a mini-summit on knife crime at St James’s Palace in July. A ban on the sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes will come into force in 4 days time.

It remains to be seen if these initiatives will have any effect. Back in 2008 I commented that “Effective action would involve huge cultural shifts and a direction of change that would reverse much of what we have seen over the past 50 or so years” and unfortunately there still seems little chance of this happening.

The Peoples March

Stockwell Festival – Pineapple Parade

My spirits were lifted by seeing so many people taking part in the Pineapple Parade, part of the Stockwell Festival, clearly enjoying themselves taking part with others in the event. As I commented, “Community festivals such as this have an important role in building the kind of relationships that lead to healthy communities.”

John Tradescant the Elder (1577-1638) and his son John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662) had their extensive nurseries a little up the road from where I was taking pictures and brought many exotic species to this country in the seventeenth century, and possibly pineapples were among them, although sources differ on this. Some pineapples were imported here in that era but apparently they were only cultivated here in heated greenhouses in the nineteenth century.

But as I wrote in 2008 “among the dancing and fancy dress I also found a reminder of violent death, Stockwell is probably best known for the brutal shooting by police of an innocent unarmed Brazilian man who had just boarded an underground train at Stockwell Station in 2005.”

More pictures Stockwell Festival – Pineapple Parade.

Apprentice Boys of Derry March – Temple

I shivered a little as I went down the escalator and boarded the tube on my way to Temple to photograph the Apprentice Boys of Derry March in which various Orange Order associations were taking part.

As you can see from my pictures, most of those taking part were proud to be there and happy to be photographed.

“But at one point I found myself being pushed backwards by a large man in dark glasses and instructed very fimly to leave. This kind of intimidation certainly isn’t acceptable and of course I continued to take pictures of the event. But it was a reminder of the darker side of Loyalist Ulster, which I hadn’t expected to see on the streets of London.”

More pictures on My London Diary at Apprentice Boys of Derry March.

Open House at Container City – Trinity Buoy Wharf, Leamouth

I took the tube to Canning Town and then walked down the long way to Trinity Buoy Wharf, cursing that the path beside Bow Creek and long-promised bridge had not been built. Part of the walkway is now open and an new bridge to the redeveloped Pura Foods site now provides more convenient access.

It was Open House Day in London and I took advantage of this to visit Trinity Buoy Wharf and the Container City there, a set of artists studios built using containers. Begun on the site in 2001, this had by then expanded considerably.

Trinity Buoy Wharf is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, but in 2008 as this year there were many extra activities for Open House. And at the end of 2023 the only complete Victorian steam ship in existence, the SS Robin has joined the collection of Heritage Vessels there, though tours for Open House on Sat 21st & Sun 22nd September 2024 are fully booked.

The containers were interesting but I think it was other aspects of the site and the view from it that interested me most, as well as the chance to take the specially laid-on ferry across the Thames to North Greenwich.

Open House at Container City

North Greenwich to Greenwich – Thames Path, Greenwich

The riverside walk is one I’ve done many times and its always of interest although the section at North Greenwich was only opened up in the 1990s and in more recent times parts of the walk have been blocked during the construction of some of the new blocks of riverside flats.

A large aggregate wharf remains although most of the riverside industry has gone, including the silos and the rest of the works at Morden Wharf. And only Enderby House remains of the site from which ships left to lay undersea cables across the world.

Greenwich of course retains its grand buildings, now a part of Greenwich University.

On My London Diary there are also some views across the river, both to buildings Canning Town, Leamouth, Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs. It’s a walk I’ve done several times since and might well do again, probably starting from North Greenwich Station. You can see pictures from a walk in 2018 on My London Diary. And there are still some good pubs when you reach Greenwich on your way to the buses or stations there.

More pictures from September 20th 2008 at North Greenwich to Greenwich.

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On the Road to Brixton

On the Road to Brixton is the second post on my walk in Kennington and Brixton on Sunday 6th May 1889. The posts began with Hanover, Belgrave, Chapel, Shops, Taxis.

*Christ Church, Brixton Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-31*

This remarkable Grade II* listed building in a composite of Art Nouveau and Byzantine Revival style was designed by Arthur Beresford Pite who was the brother-in-law of the then vicar, Rev William Mowll, whose name is on the adjoining street. It was completed in 1907, though the design dates from the 1890s and the foundation stone was laid in 1898 and the building consecrated in 1902.

It remains in use as an Anglican Church. Some describe it as an architectural monstrosity, but although I think it has a rather split personality it has an overwhelming impact.

*Christ Church, Brixton Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-33*

The church was built on the site of an earlier chapel, Holland Chapel, built as an Independent Chapel around 1823 and sold to the Church of England around 1835 and renamed Christ Church. This was a simpler building with a central bell turret but of some size, seating around a thousand and was demolished in 1899, with worship continuing in a hall behind while the new church was being built.

The Holland Chapel had no graveyard and Christ Church was at first only a chapel in the parish of St Mark’s Kennington where burials took place. Before 1825 all this area was in the parish of St Mary Lambeth, now the Garden Museum next to Lambeth Palace. Christ Church became a parish church in 1856.

*Christ Church, Brixton Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-21*

The building is often open to the public over the centre of the day and the stained glass is said to be spectacular. The interior (which I’ve not photographed) has more of an Art Nouveau feel than the exterior. The building has been considerably altered since 1907. It was built to seat 1,200.

You can just about see one of the many unusual features of the church at the extreme left of the picture, where there is a bell-shaped roof over an external pulpit, added to the building in 1907 at the insistence of the vicar.

*Terrace, Brixton Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-24*

This terrace is opposite Christ Church and runs from 91 to 115 and was built at Bowhill Terrace. Some of the houses are stuccoed like these with others left as plain brick. I chose this pair partly for the bark of the tree at left, but also because of the different treatment of the two doors at the top of the steps leading up to both. I think the steps and their railings are probably a modern replacement.

Many of the houses along Brixton Road were in poor condition in the 1970s and were refurbished by the Greater London Council, mostly becoming social housing

Brixton Road was a Roman Road leading down to the south coast and was at one time known as ‘The way to Brighthelmstone’. Among other former names was Brixton Causeway, an embanked roadway running along the west bank of the ,. That it was also known as ‘The Washway’ perhaps suggests that it was sometime flooded by the river. The river was lowered and built over in 1880, becoming a sewer below the street and the earth extracted used to provide banking at the nearby cricket ground, The Oval.

Modern development beside the road only gathered pace after the building of Vauxhall Bridge in 1816 and acts of parliament for roads south from that meeting with Brixton Road at the Oval.

“Between 1820 and 1824 the whole of the Manor was let to Henry Richard Vassall, third Baron Holland” and developed piecemeal by “builders and speculators” under building leases as brick houses “of at least the third rate“. According to the Survey of London, “This policy of piecemeal letting, especially in the Brixton Road, resulted in unrelated groups of villas and terrace houses which, in spite of the charm of individual members, gave to the whole an untidy and haphazard appearance.” For me it perhaps enhances the street with many of these varied Regency and early Victorian buildings remaining.

*Brixton Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-12*

No 188 is a Grade II listed early mid C19 house. The listing text fails to indicate why this building, listed in 1981, has any particular architectural or historic interest. Originally this was one half of a pair of houses, the other half having been replaced by a dull 4 storey block of flats, Willow Court. Perhaps it was listed to save it from a similar fate.

*Sheet Metal Works, Robsart St, Stockwell, Lambeth, 1989, 89-5c-13*

I made a short detour from Brixton Road down Robsart St which leads west attracted by this three-story works just a few yards down on the north side.

The Brixton Sheet Metal Works building is still there at No 2, but considerably tidied and now Raw Material Music & Media Education who describe the building as a “purpose-built 3-storey building hosts 2 recording studios, computer suite, DJ, music and video production equipment and a live room for performance, workshops and ensemble work.”

It now has a red plaque with the message ‘This project is proudly funded by Comic Relief – All the silly nonsense of Red Nose Day is about the serious business of helping people change their lives – BILLY CONNOLLY 2003‘.

In 1919 No 2 Robsart St was occupied bys W Mason & Co. I think the building was possibly no longer in use in 1989, though there appears to still be a small shop at the left, firmly shut behind wire grilles in my picture.

This walk will continue in a later post.

Hanover, Belgrave, Chapel, Shops, Taxis

Hanover, Belgrave, Chapel, Shops, Taxis: Two days after my previous walk, on Sunday 6th May 1989 I was back on the streets with my cameras, this time getting off the bus at Oval station in Kennington.

*Hanover Arms, House, Hanover Gardens, Kennington Park Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-64*

A few yards down Kennington Park Road from the Oval Station is Hanover Gardens, and on the corner the Hanover Arms. The pub has been here at least since the 1850s and is still open, getting rather more custom when there is cricket at the Oval a short walk away. Its Grade II listing calls the house ‘Early-mid C19’ but describes the ground floor pub as early C20. I’ve never been inside, but used to walk past it occasionally when a friend had a flat in Hanover Gardens in the 1970s.

The six monarchs of Britain from George I in 1714 to Victoria were known as Hanoverians, but after Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha they took over his family designation, changing the name to Windsor in 1917.

My interest was more in the splendid house of the same period on the opposite corner, 324 Kennington Park Rd. I don’t think this is listed, though much of Hanover Gardens is.

*Hanover Arms, Belgrave Hospital for Children, Kennington Park Rd, Clapham Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-52*

Turning around from almost the same spot I made a photograph of the pub sign with its coat of arms and beyond, on the opposite side of the road, the fine Grade II* listed Belgrave Hospital for Children.

This voluntary hospital was founded in 1886 in Pimlico, and moved to this building in 1903, though the building, begun in 1899 was only completed in 1926. Part of the money for its building came in a donation by music hall star Dan Leno of £625 made after his last show and a few days before his death in 1904.

*Belgrave Hospital for Children, Clapham Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-53*

The building is in red brick by Henry Percy Adams and Charles Holden and bears some resemblance to a Scottish castle. Its foundation stone was laid by the oddly named Princess Henry of Battenberg in June 1900. It became part of Kings College hospital on formation of the NHS in 1948 and closed in 1985. Left empty it was squatted for some time and then converted to expensive flats in the 1990s.

The building was designed in a roughly cruciform plan with separate ward wings that could be isolated in case of an outbreak of a highly infections disease.

*Belgrave Hospital for Children, Clapham Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-54*

Kennington Park Road changes its name to Clapham Road at the junction just north of the hospital, something which has often confused me. The two previous pictures were taken from Kennington Park Road, but this was definitely made on Clapham Road.

The lettering in the sign ‘THE BELGRAVE HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN SUPPORTED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS’ has a playful Arts & Crafts font, very much of the time the building was commenced and perhaps more suitable for a children’s hospital than the more stern architecture

*Claylands Road Chapel, Claylands Road, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-55*

Claylands was a mansion built in the area of marshy land often flooded by the River Effra aournd 1800 by brick merchant John Fentiman who drained the land around. In 1836 he let his son, also John Fentiman, erect this excellent example of a Congregational Chapel on the corner of Claylands Raod and Claylands Place.

It prospered for some years and in 1899 a Sunday School was built behind it. Both went out of use, probably in the 1930s and were being used to store building materials when it was bought in the late 1960 by a firm of architect who restore it to use as their offices, renaming it ‘Old Church Court’.

*Shop Window, Brixton Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-42*

I walked though from Clapham Rd to Brixton Road along Handforth Road, taking this picture of a shop window on Brixton Road. I was attracted by the clutter of tools and other objects, but also by two posters in the window.

One showed a dynamic young woman and was advertising dance workouts, but the other had the stark word ‘MURDER’, a poster from the Metropolitan Police asking for assistance in a recent murder outside a public house.

*Works, Kennington Park Estate, Cranmer Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-43*

This 1906 factory building on the north side of Cranmer Road has since been converted as part of Kennington Park Business Centre with Salisbury House, Norfolk House, Worcester House and Winchester House.

The buildings on the northern part of this site were once the garage for London’s first motor taxi fleet, the General Cab Company Ltd, with 1,500 taxis based here, and I think these buildilngs may have been workshops for the company. Some time in the 1990s I took a very small part in the industrial archaeology recording of this site, but can’t find the details.

*Shops, Brixton Rd, Kennington, Lambeth, 1989 89-5c-43*

From the corner of Cranmer Road I made this picture of the terrace of shops at 26-36 on the west side of Brixton Road. The River Effra once ran along the centre of the road here – and possibly still does in a sewer.

The central shops seem to have been built first first with those on both ends being added with a different design later. The houses at 22-4, beyond the shops, are Grade II listed.

My walk will continue along Brixton Rd in a later post.