Following completion of Thames Water’s sewer works, steps are being taken to remodel the Dexter Adventure Playground in Railton Road. Ashvin de Vos of Erectarchitecture has sought our help in tracing the foundations of the old houses which it replaced.

The SW side of Railton Road up to No.56, together with a terrace forming Dexter Road (now Montego Close) were developed by John Roycroft of Brixton Hill in 1873, on land previously owned by Benedict Angell. Roycroft also laid out Somerleyton and Geneva Roads, Vining Street, and most of Atlantic Road.

During the Second World War, some of the houses were bombed and the cleared site was used to lay out a sunken water tank for fire- fighting purposes. This left No.46, the Dexter Cafe, at the corner of Dexter Road, and Nos 2- 30 as two-storey houses nearer Kellett Road. In the early 1970s, Brixton Neighbourhood Community Association (BNCA) acquired use of the empty water tank as a playground – though it still tended to flood after heavy rain! At the time of the original Brixton Riots in April 1981, most of the buildings fronting this part of Railton Road were being demolished. Soon after, as an interim measure, the rubble was used to fill in the old water tank to form a ball games area. Around 1986, the playground was extended along the whole frontage and given a new boundary fence. The playground is now managed by LYSADA, but during the recent sewer works, Thames Water’s contractors occupied nearly half.