Public walks to enhance your physical and mental wellbeing

Public walks to enhance your physical and mental wellbeing

The 12 CoolWalk starting points

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Introduction 04

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Contents

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Architecture and Industry Walk 06

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Film Locations Walk 10

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Myths and Legends Walk 14

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Art, Literature and Green Spaces Walk 18

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Eccentric Dulwich Walk 22

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Flora and Fauna Walk 26

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Regeneration Walk 30

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Rebels and Revolutionaries Walk 34

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Country to Council Estates Walk 38

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Freedom Walk 42

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War in Walworth Walk 46

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Food, Fresh Air and Fun Walk 50

Starting at Canada Water Library Starting at J ohn Harvard Library Starting at Nunhead Library

Starting at Peckham Library Starting at Dulwich Library

Starting at Kingswood Library

Starting at East Street Library Starting at Brandon Library

Starting at Grove Vale Library

Starting at Camberwell Library Starting at Newington Library

Starting at Blue Anchor Library

Thank you 54 6 03

Introduction It is our pleasure to introduce you to 12 CoolWalks developed by CoolTan Arts, the Southwark based arts and well-being charity, with many years expertise in developing interesting history walks for health. Each walk starts from one of the 12 libraries in Southwark. The CoolWalks help to unlock the secrets of Southwark’s everyday surroundings and can be accompanied with featured booklets. You can also visit the online Southwark walking hub www.southwark.gov.uk/walking to download individual maps and view the calendar of led walks. We hope you enjoy discovering more about Southwark while you’re getting some fresh air and burning some calories too! Enjoy your walks – one for each month of the year! See you there!

Councillor Barrie Hargrove Cabinet Member for Public Health, Parks and Leisure & Peckham Ward Councillor, London Borough of Southwark

CoolTan Arts welcomes you to our series of 12 CoolWalks showcasing the vibrant and intriguing history of the London Borough of Southwark. Bringing to life invigorating and interesting stories, weaving in and out of the past and present heritage of Southwark. The CoolWalks series is run by CoolTan Arts, but made possible in partnership and with funding from Southwark and Lambeth Public Health, NHS Southwark and Southwark Libraries, with all the walks researched, planned and led by CoolTan Arts volunteers. Since February 2013, CoolTan Arts have run open workshops in Southwark libraries to design and research these inspired guided walks. The CoolWalks volunteer group undertakes local history research on selected themes to create the walks. The project is open to all and aims to make contact with local people, community groups and existing library users, encouraging them to get involved in the project. Project volunteers started their own blog documenting the project, which includes photos and information, research and a calendar of led walks, it can be viewed at www.coolwalksblog.blogspot.co.uk Each walk takes 2 to 3 ½ hours, or you can do shorter sections. They are wheelchair and pushchair accessible. Some may also indicate other detail such as ‘walking on grass’, ‘mostly flat’, ‘some steps’, or ‘alternative stepfree routes’. This is designed to fully inform the walk participant before they arrive. For more information, refer to our website www.cooltanarts.org.uk or please do not hesitate to call the CoolTan Arts offices on 0207 701 2696. CoolTan Arts supports and promotes mental and physical wellbeing through creative and physical activity. We inspire and transform the lives of people enabling them to re-connect with their aspirations, developing professional skills, stay well and have an improved quality of life. CoolTan produces other cultural history walks and provides weekly creative workshops in visual art, poetry, textile design, archival research, media studies (film and sound editing studio), gardening, and a variety of IT classes. In 2014 CoolTan Arts won ‘The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service’.

Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle, MBE Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, the Arts & Culture, Labour Member for Camberwell Green Ward

Michelle Baharier CEO, CoolTan Arts 04

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Along the waterway you will also pass the red Scherzer lift bridge. This would have rolled like a rocking chair to allow ships to enter the dock.

1 Canada Water Library This unusual shape was designed by Piers Gough to “look civic and grand without being pompous”. Inside, the wooden spiral staircase draws visitors up to an expansive top floor. “I was keen that people would really walk up,” says Gough, “from the noisy downstairs to the quieter, more relaxed place above.”

What the walkers say...

“Very nice, learning more about London. Thanks.”

Surrey Quays Housing Estate, photograph by Uschi Klein

Heart-shaped atoll, Surrey Quays Housing Estate, photograph by Vera Dohrenbusch

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The name Canada Water comes from the small lake directly beside the Library. This occupies about a third of the former Canada Dock; the rest was turned into the shopping centre in 1988. It is actually a freshwater lake supplied by a new 80m borehole sunk during the construction of the Jubilee line and powered by a traditional windpump.

3.5 hours

Architecture and Industry Walk

Explore the history and changing architectural face of the Docklands – at one time the world’s largest port.

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Canada Water Library

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END Canada Water Library, photograph by Uschi Klein 2 Surrey Quays Housing Estates You are now walking through an area that shows a mixture of housing styles. Built during the 1980s, before the ‘modernist’ taste of the 1990s, there is a distinctly suburban feel in the heart of the city. Redriff Road is particularly unusual; many of its detached villas are romantically surrounded by shallow water.

Accessibility Mostly flat, the walk is accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs. There are steps up to the final stop on Stave Hill.

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Architecture and Industry Walk 3.5 hours SE16 7AR

Canada Water Library

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Canada Water Library

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3 The Dolphin This isn’t what you might think it is. A dolphin is a structure built to assist ships to manoeuvre and moor while entering or leaving the dock entrance. This one survives from 1860. 4 Rotherhithe Tunnel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (more famous for his railways) oversaw the building of the first ever tunnel under the Thames, based on his father Marc’s design. It took 25 years to complete because the work was incredibly dangerous; many men died in floods or suffered serve mental distress through the fear of imminent death from the river above. 5 Sculpture of Pilgrims by the River Peter McClean’s 1991 sculpture shows a 17th century pilgrim. He is looking with astonishment at a boy reading a 1930s paper with the story of The Mayflower and the modern USA. In his pocket is a London A to Z, dated 1620. Put money in the Pilgrim’s pocket for good luck! 6 St. Mary’s Church Christopher Jones, captain of the Mayflower, is buried here. The memorial to him shows St. Christopher looking back at the Old World while the child in his arms looks towards the New World. The tomb of Mother Rachel decorated with pigs’ heads can also be found here. ‘Dance around it at midnight and she will appear!’ Also buried here is Prince Lee Boo, the son of a Polynesian King who was brought to London to be educated. Across the road is the 18th century watch house built to guard against body snatchers in the graveyard. Next door is Peter Hill School, Rotherhithe’s oldest charity school founded in 1613.

What the walkers say...

“I think it is great that people give up their free time to lead the walks. I have just moved to London and feel like I know a bit of London better.” The Dolphin, photograph by Uschi Klein 7 Rotherhithe Street The name Rotherhithe is Saxon, meaning ‘Mariners’ landing place’, which shows how long seafarers and shipbuilders have been living here. At over two miles, this street is said to be the longest in London, and follows the line of the old river wall that was built to contain flooding from the Thames. 8 Captain Kidd Pub This pub is named after one of the most colourful outlaws of all time. He was found guilty of murder and five counts of piracy, and hanged at nearby Execution Dock in 1701. His body was then doused in tar, left to rot and suspended in a cage over the Thames for three years as a warning to others. 9 Angel Pub and Edward III Manor House The Angel is one of the oldest pubs in the area, recorded since the late 1600s. Captain Cook is said to have prepared for his voyage to Australia here. The tobacco warehouses that once surrounded it have been pulled down to reveal the foundations of Edward III’s 14th century palace.

10 Southwark Park First opening its gates to the public in 1869, the design of this park is attributed to Alexander McKenzie. It boasts London’s first public memorial to honour a working class man: a drinking fountain to commemorate Mr Jabez West, a member of a local Temperance Society. 11 Jubilee Line Vent Vent and escape shafts are needed at stations and at 1km intervals along the Jubilee Line. Ian Ritchie Architects designed six shafts between London Bridge and Canary Wharf. The intention was to create sculptural objects which illustrate ‘flow’. 12 Redriff Road, Dockers’ Shelter Most dock workers were casual labourers, only hired for perhaps a few hours each day. Work was never guaranteed, but employers still wanted to have a large number of men available. This shelter is a replica of one that stood near Lower Road, where hundreds of men would meet every day hoping to work. A mural on the back wall of the building gives a flavour of what it might have looked like.

13 Greenland Dock This was originally a 17th century haven to protect and repair merchant ships. The entrance lock designed by Sir John Wolfe Barry in 1904 has been preserved, although it is now unused. The bascule bridge at the west end allowed ships access to Surrey Commercial Dock from here. 14 Russia Dock Woodland This area was created in 1981 in the former dock basin by the John Stedman Design Group. Look out for remnants of the old dock’s working life: entrance depth gauges, canal sides with bollards, mooring chains and former crane tracks. A compass set in the path hints at the dock’s former trade. 15 Stave Hill On a clear day you can see Wembley Stadium from here. The platform was created from industrial spoil from the Albion Channel (the waterway you walked along between stop 1 and 2). A bronze relief map by Michael Rizzello, which fills with rainwater, shows the docks as they were in 1896.

What the walkers say...

“I feel entertained and educated.”

Blue Plaque for Brunel, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

Jubilee Line Vent, photograph by Vera Dohrenbusch 09

Film Locations Walk

Travel through the ancient heart of Borough and Southwark, take in the surroundings and try to spot where some classic cinema was filmed. 1 Red Cross Gardens & Alms Houses At the age of 26, Octavia Hill became a ferocious campaigner for decent social housing in Victorian London. She believed that the poor should have decent houses, reasonable rents and always have access to green spaces. Over 60 years of tireless work she helped thousands of families such as those who lived here from 1887.

3 Cromwell Buildings These are another example of Victorian social housing, built around the same time as Red Cross by the philanthropist and Lord Mayor of London, Sir Sydney Waterlow. As with Octavia Hill’s properties, residents had to be industrious and anti-social behaviour was not tolerated.

Malcolm McDowell watches Helen Mirren from this rooftop in O Lucky Man! (1973).

4 Park Street Although there’s no green spaces here now, this street got its name from the park around Winchester Palace. “This is not a photo opportunity,” was once stencilled by street artist Banksy at no.15.

In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) the main characters live at 15 Park Street; Frank Harper’s gang live next door at no.13. The iconic image of Vinnie Jones with two shotguns was filmed here. No.13 is also where Nicola Duffett and Sam West live in Howards End (1992). In What a Girl Wants (2003) Park Street is dressed as China Town in New York and Brooklyn Bridge is superimposed on the skyline. 15 Park Street, by Robert Larkin-Frost

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John Harvard Library

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Tate Modern

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Red Cross Gardens, photograph by Vera Dohrenbusch

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2 Cross Bones Graveyard From medieval times, those who were not allowed to have a Christian burial in consecrated ground were laid to rest here. They included the ‘Winchester Geese’; prostitutes licensed by the Bishop of Winchester who was the only authority in this area outside of the jurisdiction of the City of London. Today the gates have become a ‘people’s shrine’, adorned by those who come to pay their respects to society’s outcasts. Eventually it is hoped that the space will become a memorial garden.

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Cross Bones Graveyard, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

1 Accessibility The route is pushchair and wheelchair accessible, mostly flat with no steps.

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Film Locations Walk

5 The Market Porter If you’re here very early, you’ll be able to enjoy a pint with the tradesmen and stallholders. They work through the night to stock the incredible range of stalls in Borough Market; by 6am they’re ready for a drink and this pub can oblige.

Featured in Hard Men (1996) and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). It was also transformed into the ‘Third Hand Book Emporium’ in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), and next door at no. 7 was the door to ‘The Leaky Cauldron’.

This dark alley stands in for the streets of Soho in the final scenes of An American Werewolf in London (1981). A chase seen in David Lean’s Oliver Twist (1948) was filmed here. Hugh Grant’s flat is in the second block east of the bridge in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001).

Borough Market, photographs by Robert Larkin-Frost

6 Globe Pub Other market workers might head to this pub on Bedale Street. The market is open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday.

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John Harvard Library

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Tate Modern

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Bridget’s flat in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) was above this pub. Hugh Grant and Colin Firth’s fight starts in and ends outside Bedales Restaurant opposite the pub.

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Golden Hind, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

7 The Golden Hind II All that remains of the original ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in is a chair and ‘cup-board’. This replica was launched in 1973, but has done her fair share on the open seas. She has been across the Pacific, sailed to Canada and toured the East and West coasts of North America.

9 Anchor Inn By the side of the Thames, this pub has witnessed some of the biggest events in London’s history. Originally built in 1615 (and before that allegedly the site of plague pits) Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire burning over the river from here. It was also apparently a great favourite of river pirates and smugglers, as well as actors from nearby theatres such as the Swan, the Rose and the Globe.

Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames relax here at the end of Mission Impossible (1996) and Leslie Phillips and Renee Asherson stroll past the pub when the area was still undeveloped wharves in Pool of London (1951). 10 Shakespeare’s Globe When this area was ruled over by the Bishop of Winchester different rules applied. Pastimes that weren’t allowed over the river in the City could thrive here under special licence, such as bear baiting, bowling alleys, and prostitution. This also became London’s theatre land, with the Globe remaining the most famous because of the in-house writer: William Shakespeare. The original riverside building was actually approximately 750ft from the current site, as the Thames was much wider in the 1600s. Then still under construction, Al Pacino visits in Looking for Richard (1996).

11 Millennium Bridge The steel suspension bridge was opened in 2000, and was initially known as the ‘Wobbly Bridge’. During the first two days after it opened pedestrians reported motion sickness on crossing; the bridge was then closed for two years to remove the wobble entirely.

Daniel Craig crosses to have lunch disturbed by Rhys Ifans in Enduring Love (2004). The bridge is destroyed in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009). 12 Blackfriars Bridge The original bridge on this site was built of beautiful Portland stone in 1769, but was made so badly it had to be rebuilt in iron 100 years later.

Jonathan Rhys Myers throws evidence into the River Thames at Woody Allen’s Match Point (2005) and in The Avengers (1998) the bridge is destroyed by a tornado. 13 Tate Modern Some of the world’s most valuable artwork is now housed in the former Bankside Power Station, which closed in 1981. In 1995 it was announced that the building would be repurposed as a gallery, rather than be demolished. It has the most visitors of any modern art gallery in the world, prompting an extension which will be completed in 2016.

Before its conversion to a gallery, the building serves as the Tower of London in Ian McKellan’s Richard III (1995). The Turbine Hall is used as the entrance to a government minister’s residence in The Children of Men (2006).

Last seen sailing up the Thames in St. Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold (2009). 8 Clink Street Best known for the notorious medieval prison (from which we get the expression ‘in the clink’), you can also find the remains of Winchester Palace here. The Bishop of Winchester ruled over the ‘Liberty of the Clink’ from 1149 until the mid 1800s, but the Palace was destroyed by fire in 1814.

Clink Street, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

Millennium Bridge, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost 13

Myths and Legends Walk 3 hours SE23 1NX

Honor Oak Park Station

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Nunhead Library

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Explore the hidden treasures and symbols in Nunhead cemetery, the Oak of Honour and the possible site of a beheading. Accessibility

1 Nunhead Green

In the 1680s a pub stood here called The Nun’s Head. A legend has arisen that the Green was the site of a convent, and during the reformation Henry VIII’s men executed the Mother Superior and displayed her head on a pike. The current pub, in its present building since 1905, has a representation of her above the door with an unorthodox spiky hairstyle. 2 Linden Grove Charles Dickens had a famous longterm affair with the actress Ellen Ternan. In 1868 he rented Windsor Lodge at 31 Linden Grove for her, where he was a frequent visitor. Indeed it has been said that Dickens actually died there in 1870, but his body was moved to Gad’s Hill to avoid a scandal. The source of this story was said to be the caretaker at Linden Grove Congregational Church, but it is not generally accepted by biographers. 3 Nunhead Cemetery One of London’s “Magnificent Seven” suburban cemeteries created following new laws in 1832, once derelict and now partly managed as a nature reserve. It is also rich with Victorian symbolism. They loved double meanings and secret codes.

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The Old Nunshead (Street Art), photographs by Robert Larkin-Frost

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• Ouroboros/snake swallowing its own tail; found on top of the pillars at the Limesford Road entrance. An ancient Egyptian symbol of eternal life.

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• IHS/ aka ‘dollar sign’; found on the Symes memorial. It stands for ‘Iesus Hominum Salvator’ translated as ‘Jesus the Saviour of Man.’ • Shaking hands; several examples in Nunhead, but a particularly striking example is on the Edward Mullins vault. There are several interpretations: it could mean ‘farewell’, marriage, a close bond lasting until death, reunification or simply ‘see you soon’; not as comforting as it sounds given the Victorians’ high mortality rate.

• Downturned torches; can be found on the Daniels’ monument near the chapel. A Greek symbol which means ‘life extinguished’.

• Celtic Cross; the Mills cross near the Chapel is especially lovely with its fine carving of passion flowers with the motto ‘Thy Will be Done’. The flowers symbolise the Passion of Christ on the cross, with five stamen representing his wounds and filaments said to be the crown of thorns.

• Mourning women; also found on the Daniels’ monument, another symbol borrowed from Ancient Rome.

• Urns; can be found throughout Nunhead. An ancient Roman symbol related to cremation.

Here are the top 10 symbols to be found in Nunhead, with possible interpretations:

The paths around the cemetery are fully accessible for wheel and pushchairs with no steps, although there are some steep inclines. The path up to Honor Oak Park Station via One Tree Hill contains steep inclines, is unpaved and has steps; please follow the dashed red line for an alternative route to Crofton Park Station, which has step free access.

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Myths and Legends Walk 3 hours

a railway line after 1836, and this now forms part of the line between London Bridge and Croydon. The remains of the embankment of this line can still be seen, forming part of Brenchley Gardens. 7 The Oak of Honour The name originates from Oak of Honour Hill, or One Tree Hill. The legend is that on May Day in 1602, Elizabeth I picnicked with Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris by an oak tree at the summit of a hill in this area. The tree came to be known as the Oak of Honour. The current tree was planted c.1905 as a successor to the historic one.

• Angels; can be found on the Hershel tombstone and the Williams’ vault. There is a whole mythology around angels and what they are carrying in their hands, open to many interpretations. • Broken column; Nunhead has several examples and at first it can look like deliberate vandalism. These could mean mortality, the support of life being broken and maybe the grave of the head of the family. 4 The Leysdown Tragedy In the summer of 1912 tragedy struck for families of Walworth when boys from a local scouting troop died at a camp in Kent. Sailing down to the Isle of Sheppey, they were two miles off-shore when their boat was caught in a sudden gale and capsized. Due to several acts of selfless heroism, especially by Scoutmaster Sydney Marsh, many lives were saved. But eight scouts

Stearns Mausoleum, John Allan’s Sarcophagus, photograph by Uschi Klein drowned. The tragic loss of such young lives struck a chord with the nation, and Winston Churchill MP, then First Lord of the Admiralty, arranged for a destroyer to transport the bodies back to London.

100,000 were reputed to have attended the lying in state of the boys and a bronze scout was put up in 1914, paid for by public donations. Sadly it was stolen in 1969, but this replacement memorial was unveiled in 1992. Sarcophagus and Vincent Figgin’s Tomb This is the only mausoleum in Nunhead Cemetery and a Grade II listed building. Although, as Mrs Laura Stearns’ remains were moved from it and reburied in 1931, it can’t be called a mausoleum anymore.

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John Allan Sarcophagus This elaborate memorial for the shipbuilder John Allan is based on the Payava tomb at Xanthos discovered in 1830. A bronze relief portrait of Allan is on the rear of the tomb.

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Nunhead Library

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John Allan’s Sarcophagus, photograph by Uschi Klein

8 One Tree Hill Summit The beacon at the summit was erected to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George VI in 1935. It was subsequently used for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, her silver and golden jubilees and also at the Millennium. Beacons have been used on this site since at least 1500, used to give warning of invasion by the Spanish and later the French. The Hill was also the site of Watson’s General Telegraph; a relay system established in 1841 linking London with shipping in the English Channel. During World War I a gun emplacement was built against the threat of raids by Zeppelin airships.

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Honor Oak Park Station

• Flowers; the language of flowers is something that we’ve lost but to the Victorians it was of great importance. Ivy is an evergreen and means ‘everlasting memories’ and the weeping willow has obvious meaning in the context of a cemetery.

Entrance to Nunhead Cemetery, photograph by Uschi Klein

6 Brenchley Gardens Between 1809 and 1836, a canal ran through the park as part of its route from New Cross to Croydon. The canal was replaced by

View from One Tree Hill, photograph by Sara Moiola 17

1 Peckham Library This surprising building was designed by Will Alsop and won the Stirling Award in 2000 for architectural innovation. The main reading rooms have been elevated to separate them from the noise of the street. Inside there are ‘pods’ which have meeting rooms and spaces for children. The library has a wide collection of books by black writers. 2 Bellenden Road As you walk along this road you may notice something of a French ‘flavour’. This is because a large group of French Huguenots (Protestant Christians) settled here after fleeing persecution in the early 1700s. Today it is also popular with artists such as Antony Gormley, creator of Angel of the North, who has a studio here. He

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Choumert Square, photograph by Uschi Klein

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has added to the unique nature of the road by designing some of the cast iron bollards, nicknamed the penis, the egg, the peg and the snowman. The exploding book relief poking through the window at no. 210 is by influential post-war sculptor John Latham. Now known as Flat Time House, the artist declared it to be a ‘living sculpture’ in 2003, and it now serves as a gallery and learning space for his work.

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Peckham Library

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3.5 hours

Art, Literature and Green Spaces Walk

See the explosion of art around Bellenden Road, the site of William Blake’s vision on Peckham Rye, a public garden given a famous facelift, and places featured in Muriel Spark’s novella The Ballad of Peckham Rye.

Peckham Library, photograph by Uschi Klein

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This route is fully accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs. Some walking on grass, mostly flat, no steps.

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Art, Literature and Green Spaces Walk 3.5 hours SE15 3UA

Peckham Rye

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Peckham Library

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3 Choumert Square This is actually a walkway, but at the end is a private garden which was originally the toilet and laundry area for the cottages. Rumour has it that it was once also a brothel. Now a gentrified area, it has become a communal space for all the residents, maintained by them together. Once a year the Square opens for people to look around. 4 McDermott Community Gardens The entrance to these gardens is just off Costa Street, opposite the school. They were given a facelift in 2000 by Charlie Dimmock, as part of her show ‘Charlie’s Garden Army’. Previously an unsightly dumping ground, the team landscaped and drew on local artistic talent to install beautiful mosaics, a copper water feature and the lovely iron gates. 5 Goose Green – William Blake Mural

William Blake was a groundbreaking poet and artist of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Revolutionary, reactionary and fairly unrecognised in his lifetime, he moved in the same circles as Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine, William Wordsworth et al. Throughout his life he claimed to see visions, the first of which was here in Peckham Rye as a young boy. Looking up into the branches of an oak, he saw “a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars.” The original tree has now gone but in 2011 the Blake Society planted a sapling at the supposed spot of Blake’s vision. The 1990s also saw a revival of interest in Blake, and artist Stan Peskett was commissioned to paint a mural at Goose Green, in honour of Blake’s 235th birthday. Titled ‘A Vision of Angels’, it was painted with the assistance of local care groups and schools, and was unveiled in 1993.

Peckham Rye Common, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

Goose Green – William Blake Mural photograph by Uschi Klein 6 Peckham Rye Park For centuries Peckham Rye Common was used as a deer park, although local people had rights to graze their animals here too.

7 The Ballad of Peckham Rye There is a legend that Queen Boadicea (Boudicca) took her own life here following her defeat by the Roman Army in c. 60AD. In Muriel Spark’s novel The Ballad of Peckham Rye, published in 1960, it is imagined that this incident happened on the bowling green. It describes the demonic influence of Dougal Douglas on various residents of Peckham Rye in the 1950s and the many Peckham pubs they frequented. 8 Boating Lake The name Peckham Rye refers to the River Peck; ‘rye’ means a watercourse in Old English.

Peckham Rye Park, photograph by Vera Dohrenbusch Traces of this stream can still be seen here near the boating lake, although most of it now runs underground. 9 Peckham Rye Pool and Lido At the top of the park you can still see the remains of the old pool and lido that was demolished in the 1970s. This was formed from an old pond and opened in 1923. 10 The Rye Pub Known over the years as Rye House, Rye Hotel and now simply The Rye, this is one of the many infamous pubs mentioned in The Ballad of Peckham Rye.

The Common was opened as a park in 1894, and a major part of the site was set aside for sports together with an American Garden, an Arboretum, and an Old English Garden. To the south is the Japanese Garden. The main feature is a water garden with an arched stone bridge. The park was used as a prisoner of war camp in World War II and in 1994 the park celebrated its centenary.

What the walkers say...

“Really enjoyable and informative.”

The I Am You Tree (mORGANICo) Peckham Rye, photographs by Robert Larkin-Frost

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Eccentric Dulwich Walk

Explore Dulwich and its unusual architecture and characters including Dulwich College, Dulwich Picture Gallery - the oldest purpose-built art gallery in the world, and Herne Hill Velodrome.

3 Dulwich College Founded in 1619, the school was built by successful Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn. Playwright Christopher Marlowe wrote him some of his most famous roles. Originally meant to educate 12 “poor scholars” and named “The College of God’s Gift,” the school now has over 1,500 boys, as well as colleges in China & South Korea. Old boys of Dulwich College are called “Old Alleynians”, after the founder of the school, and include: Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer; Ed Simons of the Chemical Brothers; the actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor; Raymond Chandler, detective story

writer; Sir Edward George (known as “Steady Eddie”, Governor of the Bank of England from 1993 to 2003); C S Forester, writer of the Hornblower novels; the comedian, Bob Monkhouse, who was expelled, and the humorous writer PG Wodehouse, best known for Jeeves & Wooster. On the opposite side of the road lies The Mill Pond. This was originally a clay pit where the raw materials to make tiles were dug. The picturesque cottages you can see were probably part of the tile kiln buildings that stood here until the late 1700s. In 1870 the French painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) fled the war in Europe and briefly settled in the area. Considered one of the founders of Impressionism, he painted a famous view of the college from here (now held in a private collection).

Edward Alleyn, photograph by Sara Moiola

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Dulwich Library

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Brockwell Park

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Eccentric Dulwich Illustration, by Geles Tomas

John Passmore Edwards was a ‘champion of the working classes’ and created 70 major buildings, such as libraries, hospitals, drinking fountains, schools and art houses for the general public. Opened in 1897, the Library is one of them.

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The park originated as a group of meadows known as “five fields” and many of the ancient boundary oaks survive today. The park was given a makeover in 2003 to reinstate the original Victorian planting. What you see today is very similar to what it would have looked like in 1890. Bear right as you walk through the park and exit via the old College Gate.

Accessibility

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This route is fully accessible and is suitable for pushchairs and wheelchair users.

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Dulwich Library

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Brockwell Park

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Dulwich College, photograph by Sara Moiola

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4 Belair Park The landscape of this park is Grade II listed and other listed structures in the park include the park lodge and entrance gate. In 1965 Belair became a public park when the London Borough of Southwark was formed. Walk along the path next to the water, this is a small part of the mostly underground River Effra that flows under Brixton. This ancient river was once wide enough for a boat to pass; Canute the Danish King and conqueror sailed up to Brixton from the Thames in c.1016 AD.

Bel Air Park, photograph by Ishwar Maharaj

5 Dulwich Picture Gallery Opened in 1817, this is the oldest purpose-built art gallery in the world, designed by Sir John Soane (of Bank of England fame). It houses one of the largest collections in the country of Old Masters, from Tudor to 19th century pieces, and was bequeathed by the noted art collectors Desenfans & Bourgeois, on condition that they should be available for the `inspection of the public’ and that a mausoleum be built for their bodies within the picture gallery. The most stolen painting in the world,

What the walkers say...

“A really good walk to learn more about the history of the area – drawing attention to the history of things I’d see everyday and not consider.”

Rembrandt’s Jacob III de Gehyn, has been taken from the gallery four times and is now known as the “Takeaway Rembrandt”. 6 Dulwich Village William Joyce, aka Lord Haw-Haw, held National Socialist League (pro-Nazi) meetings in Dulwich village, addressing crowds on a soapbox. This famous traitor began broadcasting pro-Nazi propaganda to the allies in 1940 in an effort to demoralise them during WWII. He was the last person to be hanged for high treason in the UK. Ironically, his family home in Allison Grove was among the first to be destroyed by German bombs. 7 Herne Hill Velodrome The first cycle track was built here in 1891 and is one of the oldest in the world. During WWII this hidden but historic velodrome was used as a barrage balloon site, but was resurfaced to host cycling events in the London Olympic 1948 games.

After a brief resurgence of interest in the 1980s, the track gradually fell into decline as various attempts at resurfacing wore out. In 2005 it was closed when no one could be found to run it. However its fame and reputation as the home of cycling in the UK won out, and British Cycling agreed to take on the lease along with volunteers from the cycling community. Since then it has gone from strength to strength, with a new, all-weather track laid in 2012. 8 Brockwell Park Created in 1811, the Brockwell Hall Park Estate was purchased by Lord Rosebery in 1892 for the people of Southwark and Lambeth, saying “Whatever happens, this is preserved to you and your descendants forever as an open space”. The park has a huge range of facilities, including sports pitches, a BMX track, and even a miniature railway. 25

Flora and Fauna Walk 3 hours

1 Kingswood House and Library Rather than having any royal connections, King’s Wood probably got its name from Edward King, a tenant back in 1535. The Lodge was built in 1814 and later renamed Kingswood House.

One of the most famous owners was John Lawson Johnston, the inventor of Bovril. A Scotsman who emigrated to Canada in the 1870s, Johnston made a fortune by supplying the French army with his beef drink. In 1880 he sold the business and moved to Kingswood, which became known locally as ‘Bovril Castle’. 2 Dulwich and Sydenham Woods Together, these woods form the largest surviving part of the ancient Great North Wood, confusingly four miles south of central London. At its largest it stretched from Camberwell to Croydon, where it was relatively north and so got its name. Place names like Norwood, Woodside and Forest Hill

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remind us of the former nature of this area. Most of the woodland had been developed by the early 1800s, although apparently there was a hermit, “Matthews the hairyman”, living in the woods up until 1803. His grave can be found in Dulwich cemetery.

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3 Railway Tunnel The path now follows the old railway line that ran from Peckham Rye to Crystal Palace. It operated from 1884 to 1954, and closed because so few people used it after the Crystal Palace was destroyed in 1936. The remaining railway tunnel is now home to the area’s only population of long-eared brown bats. Every evening they fly out to find insects by the open waters of nearby parks. 4 Sydenham Wood Folly

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Turn back on yourself and then turn right. You will come across a Victorian folly – a building that was designed to look like a ruin. It once would have sat in the gardens of David Henry Stone, a former Lord Mayor of London. You may also be able to see the remains of the large houses around this site. They were all demolished by the 1970s and the area was returned to its woodland state. It has been managed by the London Wildlife Trust since 1982.

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Crystal Palace railway station

Discover the plants and animals of Sydenham and Dulwich woods, visit the site of the original Crystal Palace and walk with some dinosaurs!

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Kingswood Library

Accessibility

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Railway tunnel, photograph by Sara Moiola

Most of the route is fully accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs. Some may have difficulty accessing the woods. There is an alternative step-free route marked on the map with a dashed purple line.

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Flora and Fauna Walk

Although there were a number of plans to rebuild it, none ever came to pass.

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Kingswood Library

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Crystal Palace railway station

3 hours

Crystal Palace, illustration by Geles Tomas

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5 Sydenham Wells Park The name of this park refers to 12 natural springs, which were discovered in the 1600s. Their supposed medicinal properties drew large crowds to the area up until the 1830s, including George III. Eventually they became polluted as the area turned into a wealthy suburb, although some are still active. 6 The Crystal Palace This park was created to be the magnificent setting for the relocated and enlarged Crystal Palace, which Joseph Paxton designed for the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. A redesigned building was completed here in 1884 to impress, educate, entertain and inspire, eventually becoming an international attraction. The geological illustrations and the full scale models of dinosaurs were pioneering and the technical engineering of the Palace itself was innovative.

The Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire in 1936. This was followed by a period of dereliction and decay at the park.

7 Athletics Stadium and Race Circuit Although it has now disappeared, this was the site of the first ever London Grand Prix in 1937. The racetrack was built 10 years earlier, was only a mile long and ran along existing paths in the park. It was upgraded for the Grand Prix to two miles, but still only had tarmac on the corners. Race meetings were held up to 1974, (apart from a break in WWII when it was taken over by the Ministry of Defence) and the track was eventually covered over by the growing National Sports Centre. This was the first multi-purpose sports park in the UK, and began in the 1960s. The large athletics stadium and Olympicsized pool were the main facilities for the sports right up until the new park was built in Stratford for the 2012 Olympics.

shown standing on four legs (it would have stood on its hind legs) and with a nosehorn (a misunderstanding of the fossilised remains). Nevertheless, the acceptance and representation of prehistoric life at all was quite revolutionary in the 1850’s. To publicise the opening of the ‘Dinosaur Court’, Hawkins famously held a banquet for Richard Owen and other scientific figures inside the mould for the Iguanodon figure on New Year’s Eve in 1853. After the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire in 1936, the dinosaur figures themselves became increasingly decrepit and were scattered around the park in the 1950s. Between 2001 and 2003 Hawkins’s dinosaurs were restored and reunited in their original position by the Borough, and were awarded Grade I listed status by English Heritage.

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, photograph by Sara Moiola

What the walkers say...

“Happy, friendly and the walk was very informative.”

8 Lower Lake – The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs These creatures are relics of a bygone age – and not just the Mesozoic. They are the only remaining attraction of the original Crystal Palace, and were created in 1853 to sit in the grounds of the newly created park. They were made by artist and sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, with help from famous fossil expert and founder of the Natural History Museum, Richard Owen. The dinosaurs are now recognised as being largely inaccurate; for example the Iguanodon is

Folly in Syndenham Hill Woods, photograph by Sara Moiola

Sir Joseph Paxton, photograph by Sara Moiola

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Regeneration Walk 3.5 hours SE1 6HZ

Imperial War Museum

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East Street Library

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Explore centuries of change in Walworth and Kennington, including Victorian social housing projects, the regeneration of Burgess Park, and artists’ workshops in Iliffe Yard.

In 2012 Burgess Park re-opened after an £8m transformation, establishing it as a park central to the local community and recognised more widely for its heritage, sports facilities, lake, wildlife, design and horticultural excellence and even barbecues.

1 Aylesbury Estate In 2005 Southwark Council was faced with a choice: it could spend £350million updating this 1960s housing to basic living standards, or demolish and start again.

The decision was taken to redevelop the estate to create better and more homes. The old estate provided the backdrop for many TV shows such as The Bill, as well as films on urban deprivation like HarryBrown, starring Michael Caine. Tony Blair chose it as the first place to make a speech as Prime Minister in 1997, in an effort to demonstrate the government’s intention to care for the poorest in society.

View of Aylesbury Estate from Burgess Park, photograph by Sara Moiola

Chumleigh Gardens, photograph by Sara Moiola

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The new development will be more contemporary with nearly double the amount of homes. Of the 4,900 new flats, just under half will be available for social housing and the rest will be sold to fund the whole scheme.

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2 Burgess Park Named after Jessie Burgess, Camberwell’s first woman Mayor, this park is also unique in the way it was created, by gradually carving out land between the 1950s and 80s. The closure of the 19th century Grand Surrey Canal in the early 1970s left several ‘bridges to nowhere’. It transported timber to the Surrey Commercial Docks; the old route is still visible in the Surrey Canal Walk at the top of the park.

The area was in need of change after suffering a great deal of bomb damage in World War Two. However a lot of perfectly good homes were also demolished to build the park, which caused some local controversy. Since the boundaries of the park are still in dispute, there may well be further development and change.

3 Chumleigh Gardens This is a hidden gem of tranquillity at the heart of Burgess Park. Based around three almshouses built in the 1820s, four world gardens provide some unexpected surprises from far corners of the globe. They reflect Islamic, Mediterranean, Oriental and Caribbean, and English garden

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Accessibility

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This route is fully accessible and suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs.

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Regeneration Walk

plants and styles. Almshouses were the original social housing, providing a safe and affordable place for vulnerable people before state welfare was developed in the 20th century. These were built by the Female Friendly Society, founded in 1802, and would have provided essential housing for ‘poor, aged women of good character’.

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Imperial War Museum

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East Street Library

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8 Osborn Water Tower House Originally part of the Lambeth workhouse and infirmary, this Victorian water tower was converted into a private home in 2011. Featured on TV programme Grand Designs, it boasts a 3600 view of London from the top floor (created from the old cast iron water tank) and the largest sliding doors in the UK. It cost the couple who bought it £2million to renovate, and is regularly cited as one of the most unusual homes in the capital.

4 Michael Faraday School As part of the regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate, this school has become a flagship for the new housing project. It is named after the famous chemist and physicist who was born in the area, and whose ground-breaking discoveries enabled the use of electricity in everyday technology.

The unusual circular design is a vast improvement on the cramped 1970s school buildings in the centre of the Aylesbury Estate, and encloses a large open space at the centre.

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community and are rated by iconic designers such as Terence Conran as being a vital force in London’s cultural and artistic life. In 1896 Charlie Chaplin, aged seven, lived here for a short time until he was transferred to a special ‘Poor Law Residential School’ for workhouse children.

5 East Street Market Also known locally as ‘The Lane’, or ‘East Lane’, the market has been running since 1880. Open every day except Monday, it has over 250 stalls, and is a good place to find African and Caribbean fruit and vegetables.

East Street is also famous for being the birthplace of Charlie Chaplin and features in the title sequence to the TV programme Only Fools and Horses. Reflecting dramatic social change, no. 153A East Street was the home of the first birth control clinic. Founded by Dr. Drysdale and Margaret Sanger in 1921, it provided an alternative in an age where there was little choice. Although their motives and belief in sterilising the ‘unfit’ may be maligned today, their pioneering actions undoubtedly helped thousands of women who felt tied to a life of bearing children.

Elephant & Castle Regeneration Plan, Artists impression 6 The former Heygate Estate This is another example of the extensive housing regeneration in the area. Home to more than 3,000 people, Heygate Estate was based on Corbusier’s ideas of a modern living environment. Known as ‘Brutalism’, the concept was to create tall concrete blocks around central communal gardens, with bridges that linked all areas together. Ironically, this created an isolated

East Street Market, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

environment with little sense of community, and a worrying level of violence and crime. The new development has generated controversy over the number of homes that will be available as social housing. Very little of the original buildings remain as work has now started to create the new Elephant Park estate as part of the overall regeneration of the Elephant and Castle area. Over the next 15 years, Lend Lease and Southwark Council’s regeneration of Elephant and Castle will create nearly 3,000 new homes as well as 160, 000 sq ft of retail space. It will also generate around 5,000 new jobs in the local area and will house Central London’s largest new park for 70 years. 7 Iliffe Yard This was originally part of the Pullens Estate, which comprised 600 flats surrounding four working yards, of which about 300 flats and three yards – Iliffe, Peacock and Clements – now remain. The scheme was built with artisans and small traders in mind, so families could live and work on the premises. Today they house a creative

9 Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park Formerly the site of the Bethlehem Hospital and Asylum (popularly known as Bedlam), the park was created when the hospital moved out to Bromley in 1926. The land was purchased by Viscount Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail, who gave it as a public park in memory of his mother, Geraldine Mary Harmsworth. Now surrounding the Imperial War Museum, it houses items from the museum’s collection including a fragment of the Berlin Wall at the front of the building. To the west of the museum is a Soviet War Memorial to the dead of WWII, sculpted in Stalingrad by Sergei Shcherbakov. In May 1999, His Holiness the Dalai Lama opened and consecrated the Tibetan Peace Garden next to the Imperial War Museum.

Iliffe Yard, photograph by Sara Moiola 33

Rebels and Revolutionaries Walk

Find out about your revolutionary neighbours and treasonous former residents. 1 Brandon Estate Brandon is a triangular area bounded by the railway line to the east and two major roads: Kennington Park and Camberwell New Road. The tower blocks that dominate it today were developed in the 1960s, and have been featured in the 2005 series of Doctor Who.

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Brandon Library

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Lambeth Palace

3 hours

The Brandon Estate, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

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A Henry Moore sculpture Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 3 can be found in the park here. Although Moore was widely loved by the time this artwork was donated in 1964, his abstract work in the 1930s was considered the ultimate in extremism. A revolutionary and roundly criticised in the press, he was pushed out of the artistic establishment. It was only in the 1940s that his work gained broader public appeal. 2 Pasley Park Travel back 175 years, and on this spot you would have been standing in a zoo. The ‘Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens’ featured lions, tigers and bears as well as a theatre. Set up by The Surrey Literacy, Scientific and Zoological Society in 1831, the high-minded aims of the public zoo were quickly overshadowed by nightly shows and displays with fireworks, large painted backdrops and models. The popularity proved short-lived, and by

1856 the animals had been sold to pay for the Surrey Music Hall to be built, with capacity for 12,000 people. A fire also led to this venture being abandoned and most of the site was sold in 1877 for residential development. 3 Kennington Park Previously known as Kennington Common, this ground is an ancient place of assembly. Gatherings, demonstrations, fairs and even executions have been recorded here since 1600, but may well have happened long before.

1948 was known throughout Europe as the Year of Revolutions, and this was the site of the greatest demonstration in the UK. On April 10th around 150,000 people gathered in support of the working-class Chartist movement, which campaigned for political reform. The rally was the culmination of a decade of agitation. From Kennington a third and final petition was processed to Parliament. Although the meeting was peaceful, previous violent encounters meant an additional 100,000 special constables were recruited to maintain order. In the end, the government undermined the Chartists’ credibility by stating only a third of the estimated six million signatures were genuine. The movement eventually lost impetus after measures brought in by parliament to ban public meetings and planned insurrections removed the key leaders.

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Accessibility This route is fully accessible and is suitable for pushchairs and wheelchair users.

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5 1 Henry Moore Sculpture, Brandon Estate, photograph by Ishwar Maharaj

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Rebels and Revolutionaries Walk

brief time, the bodies were cut down for disembowelling and finally beheading and quartering. 5 The Oval Cricket Ground Home to Surrey County Cricket since 1845, the Oval has a history of firsts in the game as well as some rebellious activity. Perhaps most famously, in 1882 it witnessed the first English defeat at home to Australia. The next year, England were presented with a small urn containing the remains of that game’s wicket, and so the Ashes tournament was born.

In 1868 there was a ‘rebel’ tour by an Aboriginal Australian Cricket team. Arriving with mixed reception, they were highly regarded by the end of their stay. Sadly on their return to Australia new laws prevented the movement of Aborigines without government approval, and so future tours were abandoned.

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Brandon Library

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Lambeth Palace

3 hours

Oval Cricket Ground, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

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4 Kennington Gallows Just opposite St. Mark’s Church is the site on which public executions took place until 1799. A south London version of Tyburn (now the site of Speakers’ Corner by Marble Arch), the first recorded execution was of Sarah Elston in 1678, burned to death for murdering her husband. Most famously, 17 Jacobite rebels were hanged, drawn and quartered here in 1745, as the standard punishment for high treason. After hanging for a

6 Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens In the 1660s, the newly restored King Charles II ostentatiously did away with puritan austerity. Pleasures such as gambling, dancing and drinking, not freely permitted within London and Westminster, could be enjoyed over the river in Lambeth. The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened in 1661, to provide an area where men and women could meet; it quickly developed a reputation for bawdy and drunken behaviour.

In 1728 the park was taken over by Jonathon Tyler, who built pavilions, lodges, groves, grottos, temples and rotundas adorned with pillars, statues and great paintings. Over the

What the walkers say...

“It gave me a real sense of community by meeting other people and finding out about the place and its heritage.”

Lambeth Walk, photograph by Robert Larkin Frost

centuries many different attractions were on offer, and the Gardens remained surprisingly popular all the way up to the 20th century. 7 “Treasonous” Catherine Howard Here is the reputed birthplace of Catherine Howard (c.1523–1541), the fifth wife of Henry VIII. The Howards owned the estate around Lambeth Walk, and so it is supposed that Catherine was born very near here.

Known to Henry as his “rose without a thorn”, she quickly fell from favour after foolish behaviour and previous indiscretions spread to rumours of her adultery. This equated to treason in the 16th century, and so she was beheaded at the Tower of London in December 1541, less than two years after their marriage. Her body was buried near to her cousin Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife who was also executed. 8 Lambeth Palace This is an opportunity to look over the River Thames towards the Houses of Parliament and consider one of the most dangerous acts of rebellion in the history of Great Britain: the gunpowder plot.

On November 5th 1605, a plot to assassinate King James I and members of parliament was uncovered. Led by Robert Catesby, a dozen conspirators had planned an uprising to put James’ Catholic daughter Princess Elizabeth on the throne instead. Guy Fawkes, as an experienced solider, was put in charge of the explosives under the House of Lords, where he was discovered. A letter warning Catholic Lords to stay away had raised alarm bells. The conspirators were executed for high treason, and to this day we “Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. There is no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”

Lambeth Palace, photograph courtesy of Lambeth Palace 37

Country to Council Estates Walk

1 Goose Green This whole area would once have been common land, open to everyone who might want to allow their animals, including geese, to graze on it. Even up to the late 1800s, most of the buildings you see around you hadn’t been built. The major landholders, such as Friern Manor, had hundreds of acres to graze large herds, and the area was still very rural, until the railways arrived. This created a major housing boom, and 5,000 new properties were built in Dulwich in just 10 years, between 1871 and 1881.

Just to the south of Goose Green along Crystal Palace Road are the Dulwich Public Baths (today Dulwich Leisure Centre). These opened in 1892, making them London’s oldest public baths in continuous operation. Up until 1957 you could enjoy a swim here for sixpence.

The Duelling Men by Irish artist Conor Harrington was created for ‘Baroque the Streets’ – Dulwich’s Street Art Festival in 2013.

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“As you can see from the image, it is a very dark and violent depiction,” says Harrington. “My interpretation is a portrayal of global powers turning on themselves (the massacre of the not-so innocent).” 3 Bomb Damage on Lordship Lane

This is East Dulwich’s oldest street. It is an ancient thoroughfare that marked the ownership boundaries (or lordship) of the Manor of Friern and Dulwich Manor. The Victorians turned it into the street we see today in the latter half of the 1800s. Trams ran along it and it had its own railway station: the Lordship Lane station which closed in 1954. Although many of the earlier buildings survive, WWII changed the face of the area,

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Grove Vale Library

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Maudsley Hospital

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2 Duelling Boxers Mural

As collaboration between Street Art London and Dulwich Picture Gallery, a group of international street artists were invited to reinterpret the Gallery’s Baroque works as murals for the 20th anniversary of the Dulwich Art Festival. Harrington chose to use Ruben’s Massacre of the Innocents as inspiration, together with military imagery, a subject he’s entertained for the last five years.

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Accessibility Duelling Boxers Mural, photograph by Uschi Klein

The route is pushchair and wheelchair accessible, mostly flat with no steps.

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Country to Council Estates Walk

4 Dulwich Hospital This hospital was originally built to care for the elderly poor, in one of London’s most overcrowded parishes. Completed in 1887, it had over 700 beds and cost £50,000. The hospital was fiercely opposed by many local residents, including the wealthy Henry Bessemer (see stop 6) whose house overlooked the site. During WWI it became a military hospital and treated between 14,000 – 15,000 men, of which only 119 died. After the Poor Law was abolished in 1930, it became a general hospital. A secret tunnel linking Dulwich Hospital with a workhouse over the road still exists (but it is no longer possible to walk through).

5 Bessemer Estate Henry Bessemer was a man of phenomenal energy. He was best known for the Bessemer converter (which enabled the quick and inexpensive production of high quality steel), but he registered 110 patents in all. In 1863 Sir Henry turned his house into a palatial mansion with a fabulous conservatory, an observatory boasting the world’s second largest telescope, a Pavilion summerhouse, deer park, lakes with ornate grotto, and model farm.

In June 1914, Suffragettes interrupted a meeting with Prime Minister Lloyd George in the grounds of Bessemer House, and threw him into a pond. During the war years the house was used as a hotel. After World War II, the whole site was redeveloped for Council Housing leaving no trace of its former glory but the Bessemer name. 6 Sunray Gardens, Casina House and Homes Fit for Heroes Richard Shaw was a very successful solicitor who earned £70,000 in 1787 for his defence work, making him a multi-millionaire in today’s money. With it he paid the leading

SE5 8AZ

Maudsley Hospital

2 hours

such as this new development opposite the Palmerston pub, which was once the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Store. During the day on August, 5th in 1944, the shop was busy and there were long queues waiting for the tram outside. Without warning, a flying bomb killed 23 people and seriously injured 42.

“Good exercise and saw

lots of London that was new to me – very good.” architect John Nash to create Casina (or Casino) House, and the best landscape gardener, Humphrey Repton, to lay out the grounds. After his death the house was leased out but finally demolished in 1906; the only trace of the grand estate that remains now is the original fish pond in Sunray Gardens. After WWI, the government needed to supply housing for returning servicemen. This was one of the areas developed under the Homes fit for Heroes initiative, but desperate need meant few of the houses actually went to servicemen.

8 William Booth College The imposing building on the crest of the hill is the William Booth Training College; the official headquarters of the Salvation Army.

Booth (1829–1912) was a passionate, dynamic Methodist lay preacher and founder of the Salvation Army. If the building reminds you of the Tate Modern or Battersea Power Station, that’s because it was designed by the same man: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. 9 Maudsley Hospital Completed in 1915, the hospital built by Henry Maudsley didn’t even have the chance to serve its intended patients before it was taken over by the government for the WWI effort. In 1923, it was returned back to public use for those suffering with neuroses and mild forms of psychosis. By 1933 it had the largest outpatient department for mental health in the UK. After WWII the hospital joined the NHS, eventually becoming the South London and Maudsley Trust.

7 Camberwell Grove and Dr. Lettsom When Westminster Bridge opened in 1750, this area suddenly became well connected to the heart of London. Although Georgians saw this as an upmarket, rural area, over the Victorian period the industrialisation of Camberwell made it less desirable. By the 1970s the original grand houses were subdivided into flats and many were abandoned to squatters. It has now been re-classified as a conservation area, once again a very expensive and desirable place to live.

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At the southern end of the road is Grove Hill, where the grand house of Dr. Lettsom once stood. The only part remaining now is the keeper’s cottage, and some of the grounds as Lettsom Gardens.

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Grove Vale Library

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What the walkers say...

Dulwich Hospital, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost

Lettsom was Camberwell’s most distinguished resident in the late 1700s, as a physician, natural historian, philanthropist and founder of the Medical Society of London. He worked tirelessly to give London’s poor access to basic medical facilities, taking no holidays for 19 years.

Booth Hall, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost 41

Freedom Walk

Explore the dark heart of Camberwell and the struggle for freedom in all its many guises, including the Lunatic Asylum and Brixton murals. 1 St Giles Church A church has been here since before 1086. The current church replaced the medieval one destroyed by a fire in 1841, so fierce it melted the stained glass windows and church bell. It suffered extensive damage during WWII, including the loss of William Morris designed window.

Una Marson was a pioneering Jamaican feminist, poet, playwright, campaigner, presenter and producer. She moved to London in 1932 from Jamaica. She earned a fearsome reputation as campaigner for black women’s issues, and was one of the first poets to write in Jamaican patois.

maker. Her work included London Calling, a diary show broadcast around the world on her experiences of the war. 4 Myatt’s Fields Park

The lives of the community have intertwined in this park over centuries, but have all been watched over by the ancient black Mulberry tree by the octagonal shelter. Hardly any small Victorian parks survive now.

In WWII she joined the BBC to become the first black presenter and programme

This one opened in 1889, and you can still stroll down the same paths as its creators. The Minet Estate Isaac Minet was a Huguenot (French Protestant Christian), and in 1686 he fled persecution to become a refugee in England. His family became very prosperous and his descendant James Minet built these houses in the 1860s. Stories from their life are reflected in the street names.

In the 1960s a relief centre for local homeless people opened in the crypt, which became the nearby St Giles Trust. Today the crypt is home to an arts venue and jazz club.

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Camberwell Library

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Windrush Square

3 hours

With St Giles as the patron saint of disabled people (then called ‘cripples’) and springs in the area said to work miracles, it is reputed that a corruption of cripple-well became Camberwell.

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2 Camberwell House Lunatic Asylum In an age known for the brutal treatment of the mentally ill, Camberwell House was considered kind and enlight-ened. In the 1900s it pioneered ideas such as sports therapy. Today the buildings have been bought and divided between the local council, Camberwell Arts College, and student accommodation.

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3 The Blue Plaques of Brunswick Park

Two amazing women have lived in this quiet square.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste was the first black British woman to be nominated for an Oscar. An actress, singersongwriter, composer and director, she is best known for her roles as Hortense Cumberbatch in “Secrets & Lies” (1996), and Vivian Johnson in “Without A Trace” (2002).

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Accessibility This route is fully accessible and is suitable for pushchairs and wheelchair users.

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Freedom Walk

The picture portrays local workers – the policeman, the vicar, a school dinner lady – and neighbourhood children. As the playground now looks completely different, the mural offers a glimpse of people and their life here in the 1980s. 6 Rotunda – Bronze Woman, Mural and War Memorial Bronze Woman is thought to be the first public monument in England depicting a black female, erected as a lasting tribute to Caribbean women. The child held aloft is a symbol of women’s strength and of their aspirations for the next generation. It was inspired by local resident Cecile Nobrega’s poem. She conducted a 10-year campaign to see her words given physical form; aged 89, she took part in its unveiling.

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Camberwell Library

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Windrush Square

3 hours

Rotunda If enemy bombs were falling, you’d be relieved to see this building. It marks a deep-level WWII shelter for 1,600 people. The paintings by local artist Brian Barnes show local people who gave their lives defending family, friends and neighbours.

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The Bronze Woman, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost Cormont Road is named after the Minet family’s home village. The first imposing block of mansion flats, Calais Gate, is where Isaac escaped from to come to England. Look up towards the roof see stone cats, a pun on the name Minet, which means ‘little cat’ in Old French.

War Memorial Clock Tower The words around this memorial read ‘To the Stockwell Men who served in the Great War. These were our sons who died for our lands.’ It was unveiled in 1922, with thousands looking on. Every single person in the crowd would have known someone who died in the war. Some, such as Dr. Foord Caiger who donated the clock, had lost their only child. The figure above the wooden doors is Remembrance.

The final building on Cormont Road is the smaller mansion block Dover House, named after the English town that gave sanctuary to the Minet family in the 1680s. 5 Slade Gardens Mural An artist called Gordon Wilkinson once lived in Stockwell. This mural of the adventure playground at Slade Gardens is his only surviving work.

Rotunda Mural, photograph by Ishwar Maharaj

Stockwell War Memorial Clock Tower and Rotunda Mural, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost 7 Stockwell Tube Station In the tense aftermath of the London terrorist attacks of July 2005, the entire capital was on high alert. Two weeks after those tragic events, copycat bombers attempted and failed to detonate more devices. Police wrongly identified Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes as one of the suspects, and shot and killed him here at Stockwell Tube Station.

Unveiled on 7 January 2010, this permanent memorial to de Menezes was created by local artist, Mary Edwards. 8 Brixton Murals,Bellefields Road This abstract artwork goes to show that not all murals need to have a hard hitting message. In 1987 residents asked for ‘birds, flowers and something non-political’. Lots of references to the local area can be found if you know what you’re looking for. The demolished Empress Theatre makes an appearance, as does an abstract impression of the local church. Names are played with too – what do you think the bell and pile of bricks represent?

Beach Mural was intended to match the Bellefields Road art in tone and colour. Again, local residents were consulted as to what they would like to see in the space. Together they create a vibrant yet peaceful environment for residents, improving the daily lives of those who live around them. Even on the rainiest day in Brixton, it’s possible to look at this mural and find the world a more peaceful place.

Nuclear Dawn Mural, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, photograph by Ishwar Maharaj 9 Brixton Academy This mural could have shown a very different scene. Created in 1981 when the infamous ‘Brixton Riots’ had just taken place, it could have commemorated those awful days. But the community decided it would be better to depict friendship and harmony. 10 “Nuclear Dawn” Coldharbour Lane In 1981, Britain was still in the depths of the Cold War. Ordinary people were threatened with global meltdown if political leaders decided to launch a nuclear strike. This mural expresses the very real risk of doom hovering over the country at the time.

The mural holds a lot of detail, and it’s worth getting up close if you can. There’s even a mini version of this mural depicted amongst other landmarks of Brixton, political figures and images of peace. 45

War in Walworth Walk 2.5 hours SE1 6HZ

Imperial War Museum

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Newington Library

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Walk the war-torn streets of Newington; blitzed by bombs, divided by ramparts, but the scene of victories for social support. 1 The Cuming Museum This treasure trove was designed to be a ‘British Museum in miniature’. It opened in 1906 as a specially built extension onto the public library, to show off the collections of Henry Syer Cuming (1817-1902). The first phase of the museum’s existence was ended when it was bombed in 1941, and it was not reopened until 1959. Sadly the museum suffered another major fire in 2013, and is still undergoing restoration work. The surviving objects have been moved to other locations.

3 Faraday Gardens – Octavia Hill If you stood here in the mid 1800s, you would have been in the midst of squalid, overcrowded slums. The campaigning force of Octavia Hill swept through here in the early 1900s, transforming 22 acres into 600 homes for the poor. Her philosophy was that the needy should not only have good housing for reasonable rents, but a nice place to live, with encouragement to work and be self-reliant. She was particularly

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4 St Peter’s Church During WWII, there were relatively few air raid shelters in Walworth, and those that were available were overcrowded and unpleasant to sleep in. The crypt of St Peter’s seemed the ideal alternative, and on the evening of the 29th of October 1940 over 900 people crowded in.

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2 Stead and Browning Street – ‘The War on Want’ This area was part of the Robert Browning Settlement, a religious organisation that was dedicated to improving the lives of the poor. It provided free meals and legal advice, social and education activities, paid for trips to the seaside for poor children, and had a popular ‘Goose Club’ to save up for a goose at Christmas. At the end of the street is Herbert Morrison House, which was the Browning Club. This provided an alternative to the bars and taverns of the area, serving only coffee.

Herbert Stead was a social reformer and campaigner who started the battle for a state pension. He wrote: “Respectable, sober, honest, hardworking men and women... find themselves destitute in old age. They are flung aside as worthless.” After 10 years campaigning and holding meetings in these streets, the first Old Age Pensions of five shillings were given to people over 70 in 1909.

adamant about the need to have gardens and open spaces, and when she persuaded the owners of this land to redevelop it, she also managed to secure these gardens as a park.

St Peter’s Church, photograph by Andrew Black

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3 4 Accessibility The route is pushchair and wheelchair accessible, mostly flat with no steps.

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War in Walworth Walk

5 Merrow Street – Records Office Another victim of WWII bombing was the Records Office that used to stand at the end of this street. Nothing was ever seen going in or out, and the rumour is that it held top secret paperwork from WWI. When it was hit by an oil bomb in 1940 the whole building went up in smoke, and large pieces of partly burned paper from its vaults rained down on nearby streets. One large piece had the words ‘SS Egypt’; referring to a ship sunk in WWI that was said to carry a huge amount of gold.

In what is now the forecourt of the Imperial War Museum (founded during WWI and moved here in the 1960s) a section of the Berlin Wall can be found. The colourful side of the wall was on the west, whereas the reverse side – facing east – is dull grey and forbidding. The wall physically divided the

city for 28 years from 1961 to 1989 and came to symbolise the ideological divisions between east and west during the Cold War. 8 St. George’s Fields – Checkpoint Charles I During the English Civil War of 1642-1651, King Charles I fled the capital, leaving it to his opponents, the Parliamentarians. In 1643 they began to build defences against attack extending some 11 miles (18km) around the city. Up to 20,000 men, women and children worked as volunteers to build what became known as the Line of Communication, which was the largest in Europe at the time.

The defences were mainly a strong rampart made of earth, reinforced with a series of 23 fortifications. One of these was in St. George’s Fields, and was still visible in 1724 when Daniel Defoe wrote about the moat and the fort “so undemolishe’d still, that a very little matter would repair and perfect them again.”

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Newington Library

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Imperial War Museum

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6 Kennington Park Road – Guinness Trust buildings These imposing buildings represent another scheme to help with affordable housing before the invention of the welfare state. Established in 1890 by the great-grandson of the Guinness brewery founders, the Trust is still going strong and owns over 60,000 homes in Ireland and the south of England. These were the first government-funded Trust buildings.

7 Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park – St. George’s Fields and Berlin Wall A large area of land just past the north edge of the park used to be known as St. George’s Fields; quite marshy and poor to build on but close to London, it was the site of Southwark Fair in the 1700s, and some of the most dramatic political demonstrations of the age. The most serious were the antiCatholic Gordon Riots in 1780, when around 40,000 marched from here to Parliament and attacked MPs, as well as prisons and the Bank of England. The army were called in and given orders to fire upon groups of four or more. About 285 people were shot dead, with another 200 wounded.

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Octavia Hill Houses, Portland Street, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost Then tragedy struck; three high explosive bombs came straight through the building and exploded in the packed crypt. At least 100 people were killed immediately and many more were seriously injured. In fact it was a miracle that the floor of the church did not collapse as well. When the church was inspected by engineers the reason for this became clear – the arches continued below ground to form a complete circle of brickwork. When the bombs detonated, the entire building jumped into the air and re-settled onto its foundations with surprisingly little damage.

Guinness Trust Flats, photograph by Ishwar Maharaj

Imperial War Museum Berlin Wall, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost 49

Food, Fresh Air and Fun Walk 3 hours

Imagine the long-gone smells and sounds of the “Pantry of Bermondsey”, stroll through the market and spot a genuine Banksy. 1 Shuttleworth Park Shuttleworths Chocolate Factory It is every child’s dream to have a chocolate factory on the doorstep, but here it was a reality. Shuttleworths was famous for animal shapes, Christmas specials and Easter eggs. They even developed new recipes like Brazil whirls, truffles, fruit creams and toffees. But it was the owner’s concern for his staff that made it a really great place to work.

A sample of his tinned beef was sent to Kensington Palace, and he received a letter of thanks stating, “Your patent beef was tasted by the Queen, the Prince Regent and several distinguished personages and highly approved”. 4 St James’ Church Slide The ‘Joy’ slide was a gift from Arthur Carr, Chairman of Peek Freans, to the children of Bermondsey in 1921. It was fantastically popular with young children; many older residents remember the slide, the mats, and the “fearsome Superintendent” with great affection. The slide remained until 1990, but fell into disrepair and was replaced by the playground.

Peek Freans, photograph by Ishwar Maharaj

Along with gardens and a pool, staff had their own canteen, on-site nurse, a chiropodist and a sunray treatment. The progressive attitude did not stop there – they had shift patterns suited to the needs of working mothers too. Despite all this, the factory was demolished in the late 1970s when Shuttleworths merged into the Rowntree Group.

Joyslide, Gary Magold collection

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Blue Anchor Library

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Bermondsey Spa Gardens

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Along with the Victorian bandstand, this park has a cafe, a wildlife garden, a boating lake and an art gallery. Sports facilities include an athletics track run by Fusion, a bowling green, football pitches and tennis courts. 3 Peek Freans Factory

The famous factory was in Bermondsey from 1857 to 1989, and invented favourites such as Garibaldi and Bourbon biscuits. In fact this whole area became known as “The Pantry of Bermondsey”, and the wharves and warehouses along the river north of here are said to have contained three quarters of London’s butter, cheese and canned meat, with tea clippers (like the Cutty Sark) regularly docking there too. Tinned food began in Bermondsey, invented in 1811 by Bryan Donkin who had a factory on Grange Road.

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Food, Fresh Air and Fun Walk 3 hours SE1 3AH

Bermondsey Spa Gardens

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Blue Anchor Library

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of Bermondsey. Jacob’s Island – Fagin’s lair in Dickens’ Oliver Twist – was a muddle of medieval houses, secret passages and rickety galleries overhanging muddy creeks. The ditches were filled in the early 1850s, and the area later redeveloped as warehouses. These were bombed during WWII, and today only one Victorian warehouse survives. Over the past 30 years the Island area has undergone considerable regeneration and gentrification.

Jacob’s Island, photograph by Robert Larkin-Frost 5 Wilson Grove and the Salters In Bermondsey, Ada Brown met Dr Alfred Salter, and together they transformed this area of London with their legendary work amongst the poor. Alfred was famous for treating his poorest patients for free with the latest methods. He created an ‘NHS before the NHS’. Ada’s Beautification Committee covered the borough in trees, flowers and playgrounds. Both were equally involved in politics; in 1922 Ada made history by becoming mayor of Bermondsey, making her the first female mayor in London. In the same year Alfred became Labour MP for Bermondsey West.

Together, Ada and Alfred cleared away thousands of tenements and built model housing which both improved health and minimised housework. The Salter’s houses can still be seen in Wilson Grove. 6 Jacob’s Island When Dickens described “the filthiest, the strangest, the most extraordinary of the main localities that are hidden in London”, he was referring to this forgotten (or unacknowledged) corner

7 St Mary’s Church and Rolls Tomb A tomb in St Mary’s commemorates a great family from this area. Apparently John Rolls, a cow keeper, made a good marriage to a wealthy lady in Camberwell in the early 1700s. The land they acquired made even more money from the huge urban expansion in the 18th century. Eventually the Rolls family had so much money they had a castle in Wales, peerages, and had started supporting the community with schools and libraries. The last of the Rolls was the Hon Charles Stewart, the pioneer motorist and aviator who formed the partnership with Henry Royce. 8 Bermondsey Antiques Market, Bermondsey Abbey Recent excavations have found evidence of a Saxon palace below the site of Bermondsey Abbey, first founded in the 700s. It was the only high point in the marshes, and would have been above water during high-tide. After Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, the abbey was sold and practically destroyed; only some fragments remain, built into Nos. 5 to 7 of Grange Walk.

What the walkers say...

“After the walk I am connected to the Borough and its history..”

The Bermondsey Banksy, photograph by Sara Moiola

On the former site of the abbey you will now find Bermondsey Antiques Market. For a long time it was known to be a ‘marché ouvert’ (open market). Under this ancient law, only abolished in 1995, the provenance of anything sold here between sunrise and sunset could not be questioned, so stolen goods could be traded. 9 M. Manze’s Pie and Mash shop Eel pie, mash and liquor signal the ‘real’ East End to many people. Michele Manze opened this shop in 1902, moving with the trend to take traditional pies indoors from roadside stalls. Over the 19th and 20th centuries eels thrived in the dirty waters of the Thames and became a common dish for the working class people who dominated this area of London. Now the river is cleaner though, eels have all but disappeared and the fillings for today’s pies have to be imported from Holland. 10 Alaska Building and Banksy Although Bermondsey was mainly known for the number of leatherworks and tanneries, the fur trade also had a home here up until the

early 1900s. The Alaska Factory at 61 Grange Road did a roaring trade processing fur seal skins for the hat industry. It later expanded to include the production of Russian hare, Tibetan lamb and Chinese goat. Just over the road you will see some art by Banksy. His distinctive stencilling style and witty, anarchic statements have made him one of the best known and most popular street artists in the world, although his graffiti does not always stay up for long. This mural appeared in 2010 and has been preserved. The dog is a deliberate nod to the late artist and social activist Keith Haring. 11 Bermondsey Spa Gardens Around the corner are the gardens where you might have once spotted 18th century London’s rich and famous. In 1770 land owner Thomas Keyse exploited a natural spring that came up from the River Neckinger, which flows underneath here to the Thames. Alongside the healthy natural waters, patrons could enjoy pleasure gardens, a concert hall and even firework displays. 53

Thank you CoolWalks is a health and well-being project run in partnership by Southwark and Lambeth Public Health, NHS Southwark, Southwark Libraries and CoolTan Arts. All the walks were researched, planned and led by volunteers, the production of the walks and this book would not have been possible without their time, dedication, enthusiasm, professionalism and creativity.

Volunteers: Julia Davidson, who wrote the copy for this booklet Stephen Eastwood (copy writer) Roger Endacott (production of maps and researcher) Uschi Klein (photographer) Penny Newell (researcher, poet and blogger) Gari Sparling (researcher and walk leader) Sandor Burslem (researcher and walk leader) Andrew Black (researcher, walk leader and photographer) Sara Moiola (walks leader and photographer) Ishwar Maharaj (researcher, walk leader and photographer) Ellen McKenzie (researcher and walk leader) Tom de Ferry (researcher and walk leader) Helen Shaw (researcher and walk leader) Sophie Boyd (researcher and walk leader) Vera Dohrenbursch (researcher, walk leader and photographer) Geles Tomas (graphic designer) Robert Larkin-Frost (researcher, walk leader and photographer) David Harrington (researcher) Bianca Race (researcher, walk leader and photographer) Rose Ades (researcher and walk leader) Amanda Hone (researcher, writer and blogger) CoolTan Staff: Michelle Baharier (Cheif Executive Officer) Georgina Rodgers (CoolWalks Project Coordinator) Joanne Wainewright (CoolWalks Project Assistant) Susan McNally (Development Manager) Tom McCabe (Development Manager) Partners: Rosie Dalton-Lucas (Health Improvement Partnership Manager, Southwark Council) David Watkins (Skills for Life Manager, Southwark Library Service) Sylvia Livett (Senior Public Health Officer, Southwark Public Health Department)

Funders:

The CoolWalks blog can be found here: www.coolwalksblog.blogspot.co.uk 54

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CoolTan Arts 224-236 Walworth Road London SE17 1JE Tel: 0202 7701 2696 www.cooltanarts.org.uk