General Brixton history - photos, stories etc

[Rushy]

Popped in to the beautiful Trinity Congregational Chapel to have a periodic nosey and came away with this book, just published, on the chapel's history.



Thought it may be of interest. Welcome to The Box Chapel Press

It's a fantastic building in very original condition inside. Alan and Jane super friendly. Well worth dropping in if you see the doors open when passing.

 

[CH1]

I went to the performance of "The Creation" by Joseph Haydn in Christ Church North Brixton on Friday. Hadn't been in there for years - probably since the early 1990s.
The building has been down-sized internally by sectioning off an entrance hall, a "Prayer Pod" on the left hand side, and a vestry on the right hand side, so has lost the original cruciform ground plan it must have had when it opened in 1902.
Church architect Beresford Pite had already provisioned a handsome church hall next to the church in Mowll Street, so these ancillary functions would probably have been available in the hall. Note Pite's signature design feature - the Diocletian window

Former Christ Church church hall - now Lambeth Co-op Centre. This church hall was used for services from its completion in 1898 until the actual church was completed in 1902.
Below is a rare view of Eric Gill's calligraphy on the walls above the church sanctuary. I took this just before the performance of The Creation started, so the low level of ambient lighting was preparatory to the performance. Let there be light doesn't happen until the third verse!

There is of course the issue of "the moral question" of Eric Gill's art (which also applies to Westminster Cathedral and BBC Broadcasting House), but it seems to me ignoring this the calligraphy does emphasise this is an evangelical church with emphasis on "the word" rather than ritual.
Although Christ Church North Brixton has suffered mutilation along the lines of St Matthews Brixton, the difference is that in the case of St Matthews there are immovable slabs of concrete in there. In Christ Church the alterations are wooden structures which COULD be removed without damaging the fabric, should that ever be possible.

 

[Tulster218]

There is of course the issue of "the moral question" of Eric Gill's art (which also applies to Westminster Cathedral and BBC Broadcasting House), but it seems to me ignoring this [ . . . ]

Call me woke, but maybe we shouldn't ignore the fact that he raped his daughters and had incest with his sister. And there was that thing with the dog too.

 

[CH1]

Call me woke, but maybe we shouldn't ignore the fact that he raped his daughters and had incest with his sister. And there was that thing with the dog too.

Maybe you could cut and paste your sources?

 

[Tulster218]

Maybe you could cut and paste your sources?

Wikipedia:
Eric Gill - Wikipedia

 

[CH1]

Wikipedia:
Eric Gill - Wikipedia

I see Bernard Levin is with you on this - I take it he meant Fiona MacCarthy's revelatory biography was not harsh enough.
Easy to derail here - but it is an important issue. I can think of two highly regarded artists who were murderers
Caravaggio - Caravaggio: The Italian Painter Was Also a Notorious Criminal and Murderer
National Gallery exhibition coming up - The Last Caravaggio | Exhibitions | National Gallery, London
Gesualdo - Carlo Gesualdo: composer or crazed psychopath? | Tom Service.
Gesualdo's case was so extreme that Werner Hertzog made a (TV) film about him.

So what do you do when credible accusations of incest, child abuse and bestiality surface about Eric Gill?
Do we finish off the vandalism on Prospero and Ariel on Broadcasting House - and remove the work for moral reasons in the manner that happened to the Cecil Rhodes statue in Cape Town in 2015? - and proposed for Oriel College Oxford?

I looked up some stats on Christ Church Brixton Road
The most recent show Easter Communicants 2011 as 104 and 75 on the electoral roll of the parish.
Not sure whether these good Christian souls ever pondered whether Eric Gills calligraphy ought to be on their walls after this unfortunate discovery about his perversions. I doubt the C of E would be in a position to remove the art to a museum either.

There is of course the Turkish solution, done for the benefit of President Erdogan when he wanted to preach to the Muslim faithful in the Haggia Sophia Basilica - technically a museum rather than a church or a mosque

The mosaics of the Virgin Mary in Hagia Sophia are hidden with white curtains – How Erdogan set up the fiesta (from "Orthodox Times"​

 

[Tulster218]

I see Bernard Levin is with you on this - I take it he meant Fiona MacCarthy's revelatory biography was not harsh enough.
Easy to derail here - but it is an important issue. I can think of two highly regarded artists who were murderers
Caravaggio - Caravaggio: The Italian Painter Was Also a Notorious Criminal and Murderer
National Gallery exhibition coming up - The Last Caravaggio | Exhibitions | National Gallery, London
Gesualdo - Carlo Gesualdo: composer or crazed psychopath? | Tom Service.
Gesualdo's case was so extreme that Werner Hertzog made a (TV) film about him.

So what do you do when credible accusations of incest, child abuse and bestiality surface about Eric Gill?
Do we finish off the vandalism on Prospero and Ariel on Broadcasting House - and remove the work for moral reasons in the manner that happened to the Cecil Rhodes statue in Cape Town in 2015? - and proposed for Oriel College Oxford?

I looked up some stats on Christ Church Brixton Road
The most recent show Easter Communicants 2011 as 104 and 75 on the electoral roll of the parish.
Not sure whether these good Christian souls ever pondered whether Eric Gills calligraphy ought to be on their walls after this unfortunate discovery about his perversions. I doubt the C of E would be in a position to remove the art to a museum either.

There is of course the Turkish solution, done for the benefit of President Erdogan when he wanted to preach to the Muslim faithful in the Haggia Sophia Basilica - technically a museum rather than a church or a mosque

The mosaics of the Virgin Mary in Hagia Sophia are hidden with white curtains – How Erdogan set up the fiesta (from "Orthodox Times"​

View attachment 419235
View attachment 419236

Nah. A little sign in the corner saying he was a wrong'un would suffice.

 

[editor]

Brixton 1975

 

[jakejb79]

This just popped up as a suggested video for me on YouTube.

 

[CH1]

This just popped up as a suggested video for me on YouTube.

The touching part for me of this Thames News footage is
1 the dancing man. At 36 seconds in there is a white guy stripped to the waist - he used to dance to reggae hits all day at the Atlantic Road entrance to Granville arcade, where there was a Jamaican music stall. This has been discussed before. Can't remember if anyone knew what happened to him

2 Pearls! 2m 37s in this was a basement gay club run by Pearl Alcock - who later became know as a naive artist. The door was on the right and the club was in the cellar under the shop.
The club may have closed down by the time Thames TV shot this footage. Licensing in Railton Road had been a bit like the wild west in the late 1970s, but in the 80s police crack downs started - especially after the 1981 riots.
1982 - nightclub/shebeen customers' door on the right in your YouTube clip @ 2m 37s


103 Railton Road as it is now after residential conversion,. Unrecognisable!

 

[CH1]

Talk about a blast from the past. Photo of the Lambeth Archive opening - feat Rt Hon Keith Hill
(picture copied from the Streatham Society newletter)

I always liked Keith Hill - very positive attitude, and never forgot a name. Even though he retired years ago he's still around!

 

[CH1]

One finds information in the most obscure places sometimes.
Here are the church-going statistics for Lambeth churches - mornings and evenings in 1888.

The most amazing thing is the attendance at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Elephant and Castle. At over 10,000 attendance per Sunday this was clearly the London megachurch of its day.
Even so the C of E was doing well in places - look at St Paul West Brixton - the old church in Santley Street (now belonging to the Seventh Day Adventists) had nearly a thousand morning and evening.
Source of the info - a library book from Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey.

 

[dbs1fan]

The preacher at the Metropolitan Tabernacle was Rev. Spurgeon- an amazing crowd puller, apparently. He's buried in West Norwood cemetery and has at least one road named after him.

 

[lang rabbie]

One finds information in the most obscure places sometimes.
Here are the church-going statistics for Lambeth churches - mornings and evenings in 1888.
View attachment 424513
The most amazing thing is the attendance at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Elephant and Castle. At over 10,000 attendance per Sunday this was clearly the London megachurch of its day.
Even so the C of E was doing well in places - look at St Paul West Brixton - the old church in Santley Street (now belonging to the Seventh Day Adventists) had nearly a thousand morning and evening.
Source of the info - a library book from Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey.
View attachment 424514

Have you got the equivalent pages for the historic Streatham and Clapham areas now in Lambeth?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Have you got the equivalent pages for the historic Streatham and Clapham areas now in Lambeth?

the whole thing is online here

 

[CH1]

Have you got the equivalent pages for the historic Streatham and Clapham areas now in Lambeth?

See Puddy_Tat post above. That is where I got it. I did download it all - but the archive reader is quite user friendly. Especially as you need to take a screenshot to put it up here.

 

[CH1]

One finds information in the most obscure places sometimes.
Here are the church-going statistics for Lambeth churches - mornings and evenings in 1888.
View attachment 424513
The most amazing thing is the attendance at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Elephant and Castle. At over 10,000 attendance per Sunday this was clearly the London megachurch of its day.
Even so the C of E was doing well in places - look at St Paul West Brixton - the old church in Santley Street (now belonging to the Seventh Day Adventists) had nearly a thousand morning and evening.
Source of the info - a library book from Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey.
View attachment 424514

Footnote on 1888 church attendance.
Second bottom in the left hand column is Loughborough Park Congregational Church.
This was a church for Jewish converts run by Rev. Herschell, and had a higher congregation than Trinity Congregational in Brixton at that time.
The church (from drawings) seems to have been quite imposing - and was directly opposite the Loughborough Junction station entrance.
Seems that it went out of use before the war and post WWII was demolished and replaced by an industrial estate (Higgs) part of which was a warehouse for an evangelical publisher.
Excellent illustrated article here Loughborough Park Congregational Church

 

[CH1]

Footnote on 1888 church attendance.
Second bottom in the left hand column is Loughborough Park Congregational Church.
This was a church for Jewish converts run by Rev. Herschell, and had a higher congregation than Trinity Congregational in Brixton at that time.
The church (from drawings) seems to have been quite imposing - and was directly opposite the Loughborough Junction station entrance.
Seems that it went out of use before the war and post WWII was demolished and replaced by an industrial estate (Higgs) part of which was a warehouse for an evangelical publisher.
Excellent illustrated article here Loughborough Park Congregational Church

PPS to this. On the last page (page 4) of the LJ Blog relating to this church - the blogger posted a YouTube clip for a film "The Intruder" 1953 starring Michael Medwin and Jack Hawkins.There is a scene shot outside the chapel 8m 40s seconds in.
Unfortunately Studio Canal have blocked this on copyright grounds.
Question 1 - who are Franco American media giants to suppress access to our history?
Question 2 - do any of our media ferrets have alternative courses (Puddy_Tat ?)

 

[CH1]

PPS to this. On the last page (page 4) of the LJ Blog relating to this church - the blogger posted a YouTube clip for a film "The Intruder" 1953 starring Michael Medwin and Jack Hawkins.There is a scene shot outside the chapel 8m 40s seconds in.
Unfortunately Studio Canal have blocked this on copyright grounds.
Question 1 - who are Franco American media giants to suppress access to our history?
Question 2 - do any of our media ferrets have alternative courses (Puddy_Tat ?)

There is a marvellous site here: Reelstreets | Intruder, The
This has a still from the scene described in the Loughborough Junction blog I have been referring to:



Nice rose window there - a credit to Loughborough Junction.
The whole story of this church seems a bit like "Abandoned Engineering".

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Question 2 - do any of our media ferrets have alternative courses (@Puddy_Tat ?)

The whole film seems to be uploaded a few times to ok.ru (russian social media site) - which i'm not sure i want to touch with the proverbial.

It has been on Talking Pictures TV a few times, but they only keep films on their 'encore' (on demand via web / smart TV) for a short time. Expect it will be round again sometime.

at reelstreets. they post (or used to at least) on teh tweeter - i've identified a few locations for them.

 

[editor]

Atlantic Road, 1982.

Source: London (Lambeth), 1982: Atlantic Road,... © Ben Brooksbank

 

[mx wcfc]

View attachment 425216

Atlantic Road, 1982.

Source: London (Lambeth), 1982: Atlantic Road,... © Ben Brooksbank

That's when I was living on Stockwell Road.

 

[madolesance]

View attachment 425216

Atlantic Road, 1982.

Source: London (Lambeth), 1982: Atlantic Road,... © Ben Brooksbank

Not much has changed in terms of parking apart from the cars being much smaller.

 

[thatguyhex]

This was on the BBC website today - might be of interest?

View attachment 397657

Brixton village: How the 'Oxford Street of South London' evolved

Brixton market has stood at the heart of this multicultural community for over 160 years.

www.bbc.co.uk

The amusement arcade next door with its "Water Roundabout" and "Simian Temple", along with rifle range and speedway is intriguing to say the least.

 

[thatguyhex]

View attachment 402954View attachment 402955View attachment 402956

Replying very late here (after logging into the board for the first time in 8 years) but it's shown as an engine house on the 1915 Inland Revenue map at Layers of London.

 

[CH1]

Replying very late here (after logging into the board for the first time in 8 years) but it's shown as an engine house on the 1915 Inland Revenue map at Layers of London.

View attachment 425547

Was this the original generator for the electricity of Electric Avenue?
I think up thread there is stuff about the power station at Bengeworth Road - or maybe on the LJ thread.
In the 1890s electricity became the responsibility of the Vestry (now the local council)

South London Electric Supply Corporation - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Puddy_Tat]

In the 1890s electricity became the responsibility of the Vestry (now the local council)

not sure - that page implies that the company took on the vestry's electricity interests.

councils had (if you'll pardon the expression) powers to get in to doing electricity supply, but not a duty to, so it was something some councils did and others didn't.

 

[CH1]

not sure - that page implies that the company took on the vestry's electricity interests.

councils had (if you'll pardon the expression) powers to get in to doing electricity supply, but not a duty to, so it was something some councils did and others didn't.

when did electric avenue open?
If before Bengeworth Road it seems likely this was t's own generator.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

when did electric avenue open?

1888, according to this and a few other things on the web

 

[CH1]

1888, according to this and a few other things on the web

Must check the article about Bengeworth Rd. Does seem likely Electric Av had their own generator.
Same thing in the West End if you check it out.
Regents Park had a DC generator. The dispute between Edison's DC and Ferranti's AC was another feature of these early schemes.