Borough in London, England
Lambeth
Lambeth is where the Archbishop of Canterbury lives, the Ashes were born and Electric Avenue got its name, all within a few miles of the Thames.
Key information
- County
- Greater London
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 318,000, 2021 Census
- Area
- about 27 square kilometres
- Known for
- Brixton, the South Bank, Lambeth Palace, the Oval, Vauxhall
- What locals are called
- Lambeth folk; Brixtonians in Brixton
- Famous people
- David Bowie, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin, William Bligh
About Lambeth
The borough where the Ashes were born
Cricket fans know Lambeth for one patch of Kennington: the Oval. In 1882 Australia beat England here by seven runs, and the Sporting Times printed a mock obituary announcing that English cricket had died and that "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". A legend, and a trophy-shaped urn, followed. The Oval was busy long before that. It hosted the first FA Cup Final in 1872, when Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers, and the first Test match played in England in 1880. A ground that started life as a market garden ended up helping to invent modern sport. It is still home to Surrey County Cricket Club, and a London Test summer is hardly complete without a day under the gasholders.
A palace, a tomb and a fig-loving gardener
Lambeth's name probably comes from "lamb hithe", a landing place on the Thames where lambs were unloaded. Across the river from Westminster, it became a natural home for the Church. Lambeth Palace has been the London residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury since around 1200, and its red-brick Tudor gatehouse still faces the river. Next door, the old church of St Mary-at-Lambeth now houses the Garden Museum. In the churchyard lies the tomb of John Tradescant, the royal gardener and plant collector, and nearby is Captain William Bligh of the Bounty, who died in 1817. That odd mix, archbishops, plant hunters and a famously mutinied-against sea captain, is typical of Lambeth.
Why Electric Avenue made the charts
Brixton is Lambeth's loudest, most famous corner. Electric Avenue earned its name as one of the first market streets in London to be lit by electricity, in the 1880s. Eddy Grant sang about it in 1983, after the 1981 unrest had put the area in the headlines. Brixton's identity was shaped by the Windrush generation. The Empire Windrush docked in 1948, and many of its passengers were first sheltered in a deep wartime shelter beneath Clapham before settling nearby. Caribbean food, music and markets followed, and Brixton Market is still the place to go for plantain, saltfish and goat curry. The Brixton Windmill, built in 1816, still stands in a small park. Brixton launched its own local currency, the Brixton Pound, in 2009, though its original paper and pay-by-text schemes are no longer operating. The area is also home to the Brixton Academy, which has hosted many of London's biggest gigs. David Bowie was born here in 1947, on Stansfield Road. His mural near Brixton Tube is now one of the borough's best-known sights.
From pleasure gardens to Vauxhall's griffin
Vauxhall Gardens was London's greatest pleasure ground from the 17th century until it closed in 1859, with fireworks, concerts and lantern-lit walks. Today Vauxhall is better known for its bus station, nightlife and the green-and-cream MI6 building by the river. The name travels further than you might think. Alexander Wilson's Vauxhall Iron Works, founded in 1857, gave its name to Vauxhall Motors, which took the griffin on its badge from the coat of arms of Falkes de Breauté, the medieval owner of the manor. Lambeth was also a pottery town. Doulton's works made stoneware and drainpipes for the world from the 19th century.
Concrete, culture and a very big wheel
The 1951 Festival of Britain turned the South Bank into a showpiece, and the Royal Festival Hall is the survivor. The National Theatre followed, and the Southbank Centre now makes a hub of concert halls, galleries and book stalls. Underneath, the undercroft has been a skateboarding spot for decades. The London Eye, 135 metres tall, opened for the millennium and was meant to be temporary. Nearby is Waterloo, which has been one of Britain's busiest stations since it opened in 1848. The Imperial War Museum on Lambeth Road is another big draw. The people who have lived here are just as striking. William Blake lived in Hercules Buildings in the 1790s, Vincent van Gogh lodged in Brixton in 1873, and Charlie Chaplin spent a hard childhood around Kennington. The Cockney song "The Lambeth Walk", from the 1937 musical Me and My Girl, became a national dance craze.