General Brixton history - photos, stories etc

[Puddy_Tat]

another couple from Chris Stanley on Flickr today



c. 1950. tram is coming towards the camera - trams had a one-way system here, Morval Road and Dalberg Road towards Herne Hill, Brixton Water Lane towards Effra Road (presume the streets were a bit too narrow for two tracks)

and



Dalberg Road, June 1950

ETA - remains of pub is the 'Rising Sun', 1 Effra Parade. A V1 'flying bomb' fell on Effra Parade 19.7.44 (more here)

Tram 33 ran from West Norwood via Herne Hill, Brixton, Kennington, Wesminster, Kingsway Subway, Bloomsbury, Islington, to Manor House.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

The up 'Night Ferry' passes Brixton on 2 August 1975

 

[editor]

Brixton ten years ago:

Brixton Ten Years Ago: Karaoke Frankie, Steam Train, Green Fair, Wrong Turn Bus and a Flattened Truck, September 2007

 

[lang rabbie]

Somewhat unexpectedly, the talk "up the hill" at the Streatham Society tonight was by Alan Argent, who I now learn has been minister at the Trinity Congregational Church in St Matthews Rd for *40* years!

The topic was 'The Angel's Voice' a self-produced magazine of a century ago - obviously made more poignant by the knowledge that most of the contributors went on to the battlefields of WW1 only a few years later and a proportion did not return.


The evening included some fascinating social history of what was then a self-improving upper working class and lower-middle class congregation, who Alan contrasted to the much socially smarter Congregationalists of the former "Brixton Independent Church" (building now the RC Church Of Our Lady of the Rosary)

 

[Puddy_Tat]

stretching a point slightly, as it's a photo of camberwell green, but it's a damn good picture



some time between 1906 - 1911.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

another one today (think we've had similar but maybe not this particular photo)

the Orange Luxury Coaches depot / coach station - looks like they tried to get a bit of revenue in the winter using the place as an amusement park.

the island arrangement in the middle of the road and odd looking tram track is the tram 'change pit' - where trams coming from Norwood terminus on the overhead wire electric supply would have a 'plough' connected underneath so they could continue towards central London on the conduit electric supply (and vice versa) - the bloke stood in the middle of the road is probably the tram change pit attendant.

 

[editor]

Brixton Road in detail - including a lovely pic of the old Websters shoe shop:

Brixton history in photos – Brixton Road captured just before the First World War

 

[CH1]

Brixton Road in detail - including a lovely pic of the old Websters shoe shop:

Brixton history in photos – Brixton Road captured just before the First World War

Best set of pictures I've seen of Brixton Road/Brixton town centre pre WWI.

In the Buzz article did this "This map shows how Brixton looked in 1985 before the building line was extended closer to Brixton Road." actually mean 1895?

 

[editor]

Best set of pictures I've seen of Brixton Road/Brixton town centre pre WWI.

In the Buzz article did this "This map shows how Brixton looked in 1985 before the building line was extended closer to Brixton Road." actually mean 1895?

Oops! I was up so late researching this article I missed that typo. Fixed it now - thanks.

I get lost in these pieces sometimes and what I thought might be a half hour job turns into hours of research and getting lost in history (which I like, tbh).

 

[Nivag]

I found these postcards in my late dad's collection of random things he saved. Thought they might be of interest some of you.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

what I thought might be a half hour job turns into hours of research and getting lost in history

it tends to.

bonus points if the process also involves online purchase of a book you didn't previously know existed

 

[editor]

How long before these are gentrified out of existence?

Photo feature: the changing face of the railway arches on Brixton Station Road

 

[CH1]

editor looks to me that Brixton Brewery are now using three arches - one being on the Gresham - Barrington Road side. I don't know if this counts as gentrification - but I guess use for storage and brewing counts as a modular non-shop use which is not provided for too much elsewhere.

The trouble is all the premises get pushed up market.

Take Shakespeare Business Centre nearby, which once handled malt and seeds brought in by the railway. This is now all WiFi and white collar co-working start-ups (apart from the SLAM addiction unit).

 

[editor]

editor looks to me that Brixton Brewery are now using three arches - one being on the Gresham - Barrington Road side. I don't know if this counts as gentrification - but I guess use for storage and brewing counts as a modular non-shop use which is not provided for too much elsewhere.

The trouble is all the premises get pushed up market.

Take Shakespeare Business Centre nearby, which once handled malt and seeds brought in by the railway. This is now all WiFi and white collar co-working start-ups (apart from the SLAM addiction unit).
View attachment 120571

There's a great little recording studio in there too which is affordable and well used by local acts.

 

[CH1]

There was a very brief appearance on BBC Four last night of Prince Kumali (Gordon Petrie) the wrestler who was landlord at the George Canning in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

This was in the course of a Spike Milligan Q5 sketch sending up the tendency of people to stand up as soon as they hear "God Save the Queen"

I have posted the clip of Prince Kumali's bit below and the link to the whole programme, which is a compilation dating from 1969-1982.
Spike Milligan: Assorted Q - Episode 1

 

[editor]

There was a very brief appearance on BBC Four last night of Prince Kumali (Gordon Petrie) the wrestler who was landlord at the George Canning in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

This was in the course of a Spike Milligan Q5 sketch sending up the tendency of people to stand up as soon as they hear "God Save the Queen"

I have posted the clip of Prince Kumali's bit below and the link to the whole programme, which is a compilation dating from 1969-1982.
Spike Milligan: Assorted Q - Episode 1

I've been meaning to write up about the boxing at the Canning for ages...

 

[editor]

This was really difficult to research - please tell me if anything needs amending.

Brixton History: 100 years of Dumbarton Road, Brixton

 

[editor]

Here's a rare postcard view of the Prince Of Wales:

 

[editor]

Some Brixton history

Brixton Ten Years Ago: Electric Avenue, street markets, foggy streets, and Christmas scenes, December 2007

 

[Puddy_Tat]

on tweeter today, picture of linton kwesi johnson from the black music research unit collection

i'm taking a guess that it's somewhere brixtonish but don't know the patch well enough to be sure...

 

[teuchter]

Looks a bit like Mayall Rd...but I don't think it is.

 

[MissL]

It is Mayall Road with the Windsor Castle in the background

 

[teuchter]

Somewhere about here?

The reason I'd decided it wasn't Mayall Rd was that the houses on the right don't have the distinctive fancy bits on the parapet which they do now. So those must have been added on at some point? Which is surprising because they run the whole length of the street. This suggests that all those houses are in the same ownership?

 

[Pickman's model]

Somewhere about here?

The reason I'd decided it wasn't Mayall Rd was that the houses on the right don't have the distinctive fancy bits on the parapet which they do now. So those must have been added on at some point? Which is surprising because they run the whole length of the street. This suggests that all those houses are in the same ownership?

no it doesn't, but it may be that the same builder built them. the same developer may have owned the land but then the houses likely to have been sold individually.

 

[Pickman's model]

Somewhere about here?

The reason I'd decided it wasn't Mayall Rd was that the houses on the right don't have the distinctive fancy bits on the parapet which they do now. So those must have been added on at some point? Which is surprising because they run the whole length of the street. This suggests that all those houses are in the same ownership?

Spoiler

/spoiler]
1893 map - i'd go same developer

 

[Pickman's model]

Somewhere about here?

The reason I'd decided it wasn't Mayall Rd was that the houses on the right don't have the distinctive fancy bits on the parapet which they do now. So those must have been added on at some point? Which is surprising because they run the whole length of the street. This suggests that all those houses are in the same ownership?

and i'd be right Why is Mayall Road so called?

 

[Pickman's model]

It is Mayall Road with the Windsor Castle in the background

so this stretch of it

 

[teuchter]

no it doesn't, but it may be that the same builder built them. the same developer may have owned the land but then the houses likely to have been sold individually.

Read more carefully. Obviously the same developer built them. The point is, they currently have the ornamental scroll on the parapet. In the photo on the Brixton Society page they have it too. However, in the Linton Kwesi photo they appear to be missing. So, it appears they disappeared and were then reinstated more recently, along the entire terrace. With all the houses in separate ownership it would seem unlikely that this would happen.

 

[teuchter]

View attachment 122997
so this stretch of it

No, not that stretch. It is taken from the position I indicated with the google link above, close to the junction with Shakespeare Rd.

 

[Pickman's model]

Read more carefully. Obviously the same developer built them. The point is, they currently have the ornamental scroll on the parapet. In the photo on the Brixton Society page they have it too. However, in the Linton Kwesi photo they appear to be missing. So, it appears they disappeared and were then reinstated more recently, along the entire terrace. With all the houses in separate ownership it would seem unlikely that this would happen.

yes. go back and reread my post. i only said i thought it was likely they were in separate ownership, not that they were in separate ownership.