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Bellenden Road is a street in southeastLondon. The local area around it, situated betweenPeckham,Camberwell andEast Dulwich, is known asBellenden.[1]
Bellenden is claimed by residents to be distinct from any of its surrounding neighbours for a number of reasons, although others argue that it is just part of Peckham, East Dulwich or Camberwell. Named after the 7thLord Bellenden ofBroughton,[2] Bellenden Road was laid out along with neighbouring streets from the 1870s on what had formerly been largely fruit gardens serving theCity of London.
From its earliest days, Bellenden was populated disproportionately byFrench Huguenots, and still retains something of its French flavour, with various streets, pubs and businesses carrying French names such as the Montpelier Public House, Petit Chou cafe and Choumert Road attracting a significant French population to the area. For this reason Bellenden has for some years been known as 'the French Quarter'.
Artists such asAntony Gormley,Tom Phillips andJohn Latham have lived and worked on Bellenden Road and in the area.[3] As part of Southwark Council's Bellenden Area Renewal programme Gormley designedbollards andstreet furniture for the area, Phillips designedlampposts andmosaics, several shop fronts were refitted and Latham installed a major artwork through the front of his house and studio which he namedFlat Time House.[4] Flat Time House is now a publicly accessible art and education space and houses the John Lathamarchive.[5]
Bellenden has a growing spread ofshops andcafes.[6] TheBellenden Road Nature Garden is anature reserve managed byLondon Wildlife Trust.[7]
Bellenden has been home to a number of politically-engaged community groups, such as the Peckham Black Women's Group until 1990,[8][9] and theBlack Lesbian and Gay Centre from 1992 to 1995.[10] The latter was commemorated with aRainbow Plaque in 2024.[11]
51°28′07″N0°04′21″W / 51.4687°N 0.0726°W /51.4687; -0.0726