Corbett's Lane, Bermondsey

I am particularly interested in the origin of older roads and streets in London, many of which are recorded today as lanes. Corbett's Lane near Southwark Park is an interesting example.

The map to above is perhaps the earliest image (1795) from www.mapco.net I could find of the lane and its strange dogleg bend - why is it this shape? What boundary does it follow? This road (formerly spelled Cobbetts Lane) from pre-industrial Britain is still a pleasant country byway free from later railway lines and terraces and is reasonably important as a small thoroughfare. It winds its way through fields and meadows on the south side of the Thames - St Helena's Tavern and Tea Gardens are on its southern side along with the interestingly named Lemon Valley. It is interesting that Lemon Valley is a well known location on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic ocean. Is there some travelling connection with this? Or does this name hold some other significance?

In 1882 the lane is still free from urban sprawl and is still an important(ish) road, but in 1895 up springs WestLake Road to the North, Silwood Street to the right and Eugenia Road to the south - as the image below shows (from www.old-maps.co.uk). The surrounding terraced roads seem to follow the shape of Corbett's Lane closely, but the Lane itself remains untouched and it becomes little more than a narrow path. It is interesting that this redundant part of the lane has shrunken but not completely disappeared. But it is still a shadow of its former self and is much smaller than the western part of the lane that became Rotherhithe New Road. Many lanes in London take this form - small parts of them retain their original name and other sections become main roads that are numbered or include 'New' in the title.

Modern roads are all about saving time and money, and the older Corbett's Lane fails to provide a straight and efficient route from Southwark Park Road to Rotherhithe New Road and thus has been bypassed. The map below is from 1920-22 (www.old-maps.co.uk).

So what remnants of Corbett's Lane can still be found today, if any? The dogleg part of the lane can still be found at the northern edge of the Silwood estate which is undergoing a process of regeneration - it retains its old name which is unusual. It is a cul de sac but in theory it still runs parallel to Silwood Street and then twists up between Westlake Road and Eugenia Road, past St Katherine's church and Rope Walk (which once provided rope for nearby docks), where it is a small path. A small straight road parallel to the railway arches and lined with small businesses has also been named Corbett's Lane (originally Corbett's Passage) - it does not follow the ancient route but links up with where the dogleg bend used to be. It is nice that the old name has stuck to the area and thus gives an air of continuity to the estate even if many of the streets have since changed. Below is a modern map from www.google.maps.co.uk with the original plan from the 1851 map overlaid onto it - this might not be accurate, so it may be that the eastern side of the lane matches better with the modern road than it appears to. The green part of the road is Manor Road and Rotherhithe New Road. The red part of the lane is Corbett's Lane. To the left of Corbett's Lane, Debnams Road was originally called Prospect Place, which gave it a somewhat prosperous sounding air. Derelict old tower-block Gillam House, between Silwood Street and the railway line has just been demolished.

Who is the Cobbett of this particular road (as it was originally spelled)? William Cobbett (1763-1835) was a radical politician and one of the foremost political journalists of his age. The St Helena tavern and tea gardens that were to the south of the lane were open from c.1770 and must have provided a welcome relief from the squalor of the city. This was a neighbourhood known to be frequented by footpads or highwaymen, especially around Trundley's Lane. - hopefully not still the case!