Lambeth High Street

I was walking in Lambeth High Street the other day and it occurred to me that this road isn’t really like an ordinary high street with the usual small shops and pubs spread along it. Originally in Lambeth there were two streets that ran parallel to the river and were dissected horizontally by Lambeth Butts: Fore Street, and Back Street (the northern section was called Back Lane) as you can see in the photo to the right from www.mapco.net (Lambeth, 1753)

The modern Lambeth High Street follows Back Lane which has a characteristic twist west at its north end towards the river at Horse Ferry (where the Garden Museum is today). Today it is like any small back road in the city, but for the old pub halfway down, the Windmill - one of many small buildings now vanished - it has been rebuilt since the old 19th c. photo below to the right from www.partleton.co.uk. It is in fact the only older building in the street apart from the ornate one on the corner that I think used to house the Royal Doulton pottery. It has some beautiful tiles on the facade. Potteries were once common in Lambeth (as was Delftware).

Lambeth High Street was originally narrower than today. Nearby Lambeth Walk was then named Three Coneys Way after a local pub (coneys are rabbits if you were wondering!). This in turn ran into the wonderfully named Melancholy Walk which is today Boundary Row and Surrey Row (I think?). I wonder who gave it this name and for what reason?

What fascinates me most about London is its rich patina of history and how it makes itself known to us on the surface. Little clues as to the antiquity of roads and streets hint at how old some parts of the city are. Sometimes telltale signs might be in buildings of some considerable age but might also be as simple as the name of the road, its shape, length or location in relation to other streets. At the moment I am especially interested in roads of some antiquity - many of which are known as lanes and have all sorts of interesting bends and turns in them, often split up and dissected by large modern roads.