Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
past tense has a blog post today about smuggling in to the London area in the 1700s - mentions Stockwell as being "a smugglers village" at the time.
General Brixton history - photos, stories etc
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lang rabbie
Je ne regrette les gazebos
Not just gin and brandy that was being smuggled as contraband:
Stockwell: The centre of tea smuggling in the 18th Century
The Swan Public House, Stockwell in the 1780s. Image courtesy of London Borough of Lambeth: archives department
Can you imagine a tax on a cuppa – our most sacred drink?
Tea used to be highly taxed, running at 119 per cent of the price of the goods. But who would think of attacking our national drink? None other than the merry monarch, King Charles II. Fearful of the political intrigues that took place when people met in the beverage houses of London to drink tea and coffee, the government of the day decided a tax would prevent this. So in 1676, the humble cup of tea felt the heavy hand of the taxman. However, the people loved the drink. No tax would stop the sipping of a cup of tea. A black market in the leaf soon developed and bootlegging became a part of everyday trading.
Tea was so popular that big money could be made illegally, while pretending it was free trading. By the early 18th century the smuggling of tea into the country had become big business.
Much of it came from Holland and was distributed from the south coast of England along a network of secret routes to the main market in the capital. The smuggling involved hundreds of people, usually organised in gangs. Ruthless in their pursuit of profit, all opposition to their smuggling was normally met with violence.
Naturally London was the biggest market. With its fashionable and wealthy society, it was the centre of the official tea trade. But many of these dealers were not above working with the smugglers, meeting with them secretly in Lambeth at the small village of Stockwell to strike deals. Here among the cottages lay a number of warehouses, owned or leased by the smuggling gangs, where tea was stored awaiting the dealers. The smugglers’ route to Stockwell ran across Clapham Common, then a wild and unfriendly place and, on a Thursday in 1743, Custom and Excise officers were tipped off about a gang that would be crossing the common with horses loaded with tea.
The armed revenue men lay in wait to ambush the gang. The smugglers – said to number more than 20 – arrived and stood their ground when confronted by the revenue men. Outnumbered, the officers retreated as the smugglers fired their guns and moved on with their contraband, cheering as they went.
The smuggling of tea into London continued until the mid-18th century when the tax was dropped to popular acclaim. It established the cuppa as our national drink.
Stockwell History
Stockwell has a long and fascinating history. See our Links page for suggestions of good history sites to visit. History Shorts A short history of Stockwell by Jim Nicolson c1285 The manor of South…
www.stockwell.org.uk
lang rabbie
Je ne regrette les gazebos
The copy of this (uncredited) photo in Lambeth Archives is described as
"Lambeth Carnival, 1961. The parade of floats moving south down Effra Road, seen here crossing Rushford Road. The Esso petrol station and the Orange Luxury Coach garage next to it have since been demolished."
felonius monk
Well-Known Member
Rushcroft Road surely, or was there a change of name?
lang rabbie
Je ne regrette les gazebos
You are right. It is one of an awful lot of typos in both the original records and the digitisation of the images on the former "Lambeth Landmark" database of the archives collection that makes online searching more random than it should be!
editor
hiraethified
Worth a repost
www.bygonely.com
A Photographic Tour of Brixton, London in the 1980s by Peter Marshall
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth. It's one of 35 major centers in Greater London. With a large Afro-Caribbean population, Brixton is primarily residential with a prominent street market.
www.bygonely.com
In the recently released 1921 Census, my Great Grandfather is listed as the Manager of the Brixton BMG (or BMC) Garage, which I believe was a Taxi Company. Anyone know where this may have been located in Brixton or have any history on the company. He appears to have been a proprietor of the company. Any assistance would be gratefully received.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
This one?
Pickets outside the British Motor Cab Company's garage at Brixton,...
Pickets outside the British Motor Cab Company's garage at Brixton, London, during the taxi cab drivers' strike.
www.gettyimages.ae
Many thanks, excellent. Just found this one from 1905 when it was the General Motor Cab Company. I wonder where this was?This one?
Pickets outside the British Motor Cab Company's garage at Brixton,...
Pickets outside the British Motor Cab Company's garage at Brixton, London, during the taxi cab drivers' strike.www.gettyimages.ae
GENERAL MOTOR CAB COMPANY, BRIXTON ROAD, BRIXTON NORTH - Landmark Getting somewhere now.
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
i'm on the move at the moment so can't do searching etc, but if it's the place i think, it's right at the north end of brixton road, on the east side, just before it reaches the kennington junction.
Yes, found it on old maps and have seen it on google maps. Much of it is still there. Thanks, that answers my question perfectly.
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
hmm.
the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (technically joint management rather than a legal merger) didn't happen until 1899. Would still have been the London Chatham and Dover in 1897.
Wonder what they were celebrating? King Edward VII's coronation? End of the Boer War?
nick
Pleomorphic Adenomas R us
Have never had Military Pickle (apparently it ceased in 1996) - I wonder what it tasted like, and if it was really "better than a salad"?
Perhaps it was killed off by the Advertising Standards people?
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
Out of curiosity, I have done a bit of research - I also managed to avoid it.
and
Hayward Brothers - Graces Guide
have more. I'm not sure we missed much.
it was made in South London (Kennington) - The 'pickle works' is marked on Montford Place on the 1951 OS Map
Production got moved to Bury St Edmunds in the mid 50s, and the works is now home to Beefeater Gin.
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
on flickr today
think it's taken from the platform at brixton station, facing east-ish, with what's now (or until recently?) sports direct (looks like you're not allowed to park on the roof any more) and brixton fire station practice tower at centre of picture
think it's taken from the platform at brixton station, facing east-ish, with what's now (or until recently?) sports direct (looks like you're not allowed to park on the roof any more) and brixton fire station practice tower at centre of picture
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
and looks like a chimney or something above 4th / 5th carriages - can't place that.
(i did go up the salvation army tower one london open house weekend a few years back - the weather was dismal so not that much of a view
)
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Kings Hospital.
and looks like a chimney or something above 4th / 5th carriages - can't place that.
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
at me
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
That was when it was Tesco - look at the Green Shield Stamps banners. (Double stamps on Friday for some reason)
