| Lambeth | |
|---|---|
 The waterfront of Lambeth including theInternational Maritime Organization and the former HQ of theLondon Fire Brigade | |
  Lambeth Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 9,675 (Bishop's ward 2011 census) |
| OS grid reference | TQ305785 |
| • Charing Cross | 1 mi (1.6 km) N |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | SE1 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°29′24″N0°07′08″W / 51.490°N 0.119°W /51.490; -0.119 | |
Lambeth (/ˈlæmbəθ/[1]) is a district inSouth London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger)London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county ofSurrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south ofCharing Cross, across the river fromWestminster Palace. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011.[2] The area experienced some slight growth in the medieval period as part of the manor ofLambeth Palace. By the Victorian era, the area had seen significant development as London expanded, with dense industrial, commercial and residential buildings located adjacent to one another. By this point, there were distinct localities (likeVauxhall) appearing on the map, and a separate parish ofSouth Lambeth was created in 1861.
The changes brought byWorld War II altered much of the fabric of Lambeth. Subsequent development in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has seen an increase in the number of high-rise buildings. The area is home to theInternational Maritime Organization. Lambeth is home to one of the largestPortuguese-speaking communities in the UK, and Portuguese is the second most commonly spoken language in Lambeth afterEnglish.[3]
The origins of the name of Lambeth come from its first record in 1062 asLambehitha, meaning 'landing place for lambs', and in 1255 asLambeth. In theDomesday Book, Lambeth is called "Lanchei", which is plausibly derived from Brittonic Lan meaning a river bank and Chei being Brittonic for a quay.[4] The name refers to a harbour where lambs were either shipped from or to. It is formed from theOld English 'lamb' and 'hythe'.[5]South Lambeth is recorded asSutlamehethe in 1241 andNorth Lambeth is recorded in 1319 asNorth Lamhuth.[5]
The manor of Lambeth is recorded as being under ownership of theArchbishop of Canterbury from at least 1190.[6] The Archbishops led the development of much of the manor, with ArchbishopHubert Walter creating the residence ofLambeth Palace in 1197.[7] Lambeth and the palace were the site of two important 13th-century international treaties; theTreaty of Lambeth 1217 and theTreaty of Lambeth 1212.[8]Edward, the Black Prince lived in Lambeth in the 14th century in an estate that incorporated the land not belonging to the Archbishops, which also includedKennington (the Black Prince road in Lambeth is named after him).[7] As such, much of the freehold land of Lambeth to this day remains under Royal ownership as part of the estate of theDuchy of Cornwall.[9] Lambeth was also the site of the principal medieval London residence of theDukes of Norfolk, but by 1680 the large house had been sold and ended up as a pottery manufacturer, creating some of the first examples ofEnglish delftware in the country.[10] The road names, Norfolk Place and Norfolk Row reflect the history and legacy of the house today.[11]
Lambeth Palace lies opposite the southern section of thePalace of Westminster on theThames. The two were historically linked by a horse ferry across the river.[6] In fact, Lambeth could only be crossed by the left-bank by ferry orfords until 1750.[12] Until the mid-18th century the north of Lambeth was marshland, crossed by a number of roads raised against floods. This marshland was also known asLambeth Marshe. It was drained in the 18th century but is remembered in theLower Marsh street name. With the opening ofWestminster Bridge in 1750, followed by theBlackfriars Bridge,Vauxhall Bridge andLambeth Bridge itself, a number of major thoroughfares were developed through Lambeth, such as Westminster Bridge Road, Kennington Road and Camberwell New Road.[6] Until the 18th century Lambeth was sparsely populated[12] and still rural in nature, being outside the boundaries of central London, although it had experienced growth in the form oftaverns and entertainment venues, such as theatres andBear pits (being outside inner city regulations).[10] The subsequent growth in road and marine transport, along with the development of industry in the wake of theIndustrial Revolution brought great change to the area.[10]
The area grew with an ever-increasing population at this time, many of whom were poor.[10] As a result, Lambeth opened a parishworkhouse in 1726. A parliamentary report of 1777 noted it had 270 inmates. In 1835 the Lambeth Poor Law Parish was formed. Run by an elected board of trustees, it comprised the parish of St Mary, Lambeth, "including the district attached to the new churches of St John, Waterloo, Kennington, Brixton, Norwood".[13] Following in the tradition of earlier delftware manufacturers, theRoyal Doulton Pottery company had their principal manufacturing site in Lambeth for several centuries.[14] The Lambeth factory closed in 1956 and production was transferred toStaffordshire. However the Doulton offices, located on Black Prince Road still remain as they are a listed building, which includes the original decorative tiling.[14]
Between 1801 and 1831 the population of Lambeth trebled and in ten years alone between 1831 and 1841 it increased from 87,856 in to 105,883.[11] The railway first came to Lambeth in the 1840s, as construction began which extended theLondon and South Western Railway from its original station atNine Elms to the new terminus atLondon Waterloo via the newly constructedNine Elms to Waterloo Viaduct. With the massive urban development of London in the 19th century and with the opening of the large Waterloo railway station in 1848 the locality around the station and Lower Marsh became known asWaterloo, becoming an area distinct from Lambeth itself.[5]
The Lambeth Ragged school was built in 1851 to help educate the children of destitute facilities, although the widening of theLondon and South Western Railway in 1904 saw the building reduced in size.[10] Part of the school building still exists today and is occupied by theBeaconsfield Gallery.[10] The Beaufoy Institute was also built in 1907 to provide technical education for the poor of the area, although this stopped being an educational institution at the end of the 20th century.[10]
The current district of Lambeth was part of the large ancient parish ofLambeth St Mary in theBrixton hundred ofSurrey.[15] It was an elongated north–south parish with a two-mile (three-kilometre)River Thames frontage to the west. In the north it lay opposite the cities ofLondon andWestminster and extended southwards to cover the contemporary districts ofBrixton,West Dulwich andWest Norwood, almost reachingCrystal Palace. Lambeth became part of theMetropolitan Police District in 1829. It continued as a single parish forPoor Law purposes after thePoor Law Amendment Act 1834 and a single parish governed by a vestry after the introduction of theMetropolitan Board of Works in 1855.[15] In 1889 it became part of theCounty of London and the parish and vestry were reformed in 1900 to become theMetropolitan Borough of Lambeth, governed by Lambeth Borough Council. In the reform of local government in 1965, the Streatham and Clapham areas that had formed part of theMetropolitan Borough of Wandsworth were combined with Lambeth to form the responsible area of local government under theLondon Borough of Lambeth. The current mayor is Annie Gallop as of May 2021.[16]
Lambeth Walk and Lambeth High Street were the two principal commercial streets of Lambeth, but today are predominantly residential in nature. Lambeth Walk was site of a market for many years, which by 1938 had 159 shops, including 11 butchers.[17] The street and surrounding roads, like most of Lambeth, were extensively damaged in theSecond World War.[17] This included the destruction of the Victorian Swimming Baths (built in 1897) in 1945, when aV2 Rocket hit the street, resulting in the deaths of 37 people.[18]
In 1948, when the first wave of immigrants of Afro-Caribbean descent arrived from Jamaica on theWindrush cruise ship, they were housed in several areas within Brixton, especiallyClapham.[19] TheRoyal Pharmaceutical Society's headquarters were located in Lambeth High Street from 1976 until 2015.[20]
Today, the center of government inBrixton has a strong Afro-Caribbean community. Other significant minorities include Africans, South Asians, and Chinese; they make up one third of Lambeth's population.[12] The borough is a very densely populated area within London with a large young population. One third of its working age population are considered living in poverty. Lambeth ranks 8th out of 22 of the most deprived boroughs in London.[21]
At the2015 general election, theLabour candidateKate Hoey was elected for Vauxhall. At the snap2017 general election, Hoey was re-elected with an increased majority. The Liberal Democrat candidate George Turner finished the runner up in Vauxhall achieving a 5% swing in his favour. Hoey stood down at the 2019 General Election and was replaced with Labour MPFlorence Eshalomi, who was the sitting London Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark. At the next election the boundaries changed to Vauxhall and Camberwell Green and Eshalomi was elected once again.
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The church ofSt Mary-at-Lambeth is the oldest above ground structure in Lambeth, the oldest structure of any kind being the crypt of Lambeth Palace itself.[22] The church has pre-Norman origins, being recorded as early as 1062 as a church built by Goda, sister ofEdward the Confessor. It was rebuilt in flint and stone between the years 1374 and 1377. The tower is the only original part still to survive, as much of the church was reconstructed by 1852. The church was de-consecrated in 1972 and since 1977 it has been the home of theGarden Museum.[22]
Lambeth Palace is the home of theArchbishop of Canterbury and has been occupied as a residence by the Archbishops since the early 13th century.[23] The oldest parts of the palace are Langton's Chapel and its crypt, both of which date back to the 13th century. Although they suffered greatly from damage in theSecond World War, they have seen been extensively repaired and restored.[23] Morton's Tower, the main entrance to the palace, was built in 1490.[23] The Great Hall, rebuilt over different centuries but primarily following damage during theEnglish Civil War, contains the vast collections of the Lambeth Palace Library.[23] Later additions to the palace including the Blore Building, a newer private residence for the Archbishop, which was completed in 1833.[23] TheAlbert Embankment, finished in 1869 and created by the engineerSir Joseph Bazalgette under theMetropolitan Board of Works, forms the boundary of Lambeth. The embankment includes land reclaimed from the river and various small timber and boatbuilding yards, and was intended to protect low-lying areas of Lambeth from flooding while also providing a new highway to bypass local congested streets. Unlike theThames Embankment on the opposite side of the river, the Albert Embankment does not incorporate major interceptor sewers. This allowed the southern section of the embankment (upstream from Lambeth Bridge) to include a pair of tunnels leading to a small slipway, namedWhite Hart Draw Dock, whose origins can be traced back to the 14th century.[24] Centuries later, Royal Doulton's pottery works used the docks to load clay and finished goods for transport to and from thePort of London. The refurbishment of White Hart Dock was carried out as part of a local art project in 2009, which included the addition of wooden sculptures and benches to the 1868 dock boundary wall.[14]
Located on the Albert Embankment is the purpose-built headquarters of theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO).[25] The IMO is aspecialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulatingshipping.[26] The building was officially opened byQueen Elizabeth II on 17 May 1983.[25] The architects of the building were Douglass Marriott, Worby & Robinson.[27] The front of the building is dominated by a seven-metre high, ten-tonne bronze sculpture of the bow of a ship, with a lone seafarer maintaining a look-out from Lambeth to the Thames.[27]
From 1937 until 2007 the headquarters of theLondon Fire Brigade were in Lambeth, on Albert Embankment.[28] The headquarters building, constructed in anart deco style, was designed by architects of theLondon City Council and opened in 1937.[28] Occupying a prominent position on the Thames it is, however, still an operating fire station, although future plans have been submitted which may see redevelopment of the listed building.[29] A planning decision is expected by July 2023.[30]
The Lambeth Mission is a church of theunited Methodist Anglican denomination, located onLambeth Road.[31] The original church was founded in 1739 but was entirely destroyed by a bomb in theSecond World War. A new church for the mission was constructed in 1950 and continues to function as an active church today.[31]
TheBeaconsfield gallery is a public contemporary art gallery in Lambeth, which was established in 1995 and specialises in temporary exhibitions and art classes.[32]Morley College is anadult education college, founded in the 1880s, that occupies sites on either side of the boundary between the London boroughs ofSouthwark and Lambeth.[33]
From 1790 to 1800, William Blake lived in North Lambeth, London, at 13 Hercules Buildings, Hercules Road. In his epicMilton: A Poem in Two Books, the poetJohn Milton leaves Heaven and travels to Lambeth, in the form of a falling comet, and enters Blake's foot. This allows Blake to treat the ordinary world as perceived by the five senses as a sandal formed of "precious stones and gold" that he can now wear. Blake ties the sandal and, guided byLos, walks with it into the City of Art, inspired by the spirit of poetic creativity. The poem was written between 1804 and 1810.
Liza of Lambeth, the first novel byW. Somerset Maugham, is about the life and loves of a young factory worker living in Lambeth nearWestminster Bridge Road.[34]
Thyrza, a novel byGeorge Gissing first published in 1887, is set in late Victorian Lambeth, particularly Newport Street, Lambeth Walk and Walnut Tree Walk. The novel was intended by Gissing to "contain the very spirit of London working-class life". The story tells of Walter Egremont, anOxford-trained idealist who gives lectures on literature to workers, some of them from his father's Lambeth factory.
Lambeth has several areas of public parks and gardens. This includesOld Paradise Gardens, which is a park occupying a former burial ground on Lambeth High Street and Old Paradise Street. A watch-house for holding the 'drunk and disorderly' existed on the site, from 1825 until 1930 and is today marked by a memorial stone.[35] Lambeth Walk Open Space is a small public park to the east of Lambeth on Fitzalan Walk and includes several open spaces and play areas.[36] Pedlars' Park is another small public park in Lambeth, which was created in 1968 on the site of the former St. Saviour's Salamanca Street School.[37]Archbishop's Park is open to the public and borders the edge of Lambeth Palace and the neighbouring area of Waterloo and the hospital ofSt Thomas.
The nearestLondon Underground stations areWaterloo,Southwark andLambeth North.London Waterloo is also aNational Rail station as isWaterloo East which is located in-between both Waterloo and Southwark stations.Vauxhall station is also nearby in Vauxhall, situated more towards the South Lambeth area nearKennington as isOval station nearby. TheSouth West Main Line runs through Lambeth on theNine Elms to Waterloo Viaduct.
The principal road through the area isLambeth Road (the A3203).Lambeth Walk adjoins Lambeth Road. The currentLambeth Bridge opened on 19 July 1932. It replaced an earliersuspension bridge which itself was built between 1862 and 1928, but was eventually closed and demolished following the1928 Thames flood.[38]
