This trail follows a pleasant route through some lesser known parts of north Brixton like the Myatts Fields and Vassall Road districts. More a stroll than a straight walk. This residential area of Brixton housed many of the music hall stars of their time, including Dan Leno.

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Starting from The Oval Tube Station, cross Clapham Road at the traffic lights immediately outside the station.

The large church facing you is St. Mark’s, which was built at the same time as St.Matthew’s in the centre of Brixton. St. Mark’s was designed by D.R.Roper and opened in June 1824. It was built on a corner of Kennington Common. Most of the old common was enclosed in 1852 to form Kennington Park, but to the left of the church, a triangle of open land remains where Brixton Road joins with Clapham Road. These both began as Roman Roads and from 1717 they were maintained by a turnpike trust, whose toll booth stood there until 1865 to collect charges from road users.

Ahead, Camberwell New Road runs straight to Camberwell Green. It was laid out in 1818 to provide a direct route from the new Vauxhall Bridge, via Harleyford Road behind us. The new road was quickly lined with houses, though the surrounding area of market gardens became built up more gradually.

Turn right and pass the front of the church, then turn left at the corner of the churchyard into Prima Road. The large red-brick building on the opposite corner was opened in 1903 as the Belgrave Hospital for Sick Children. It closed in the 1980s and is now converted into flats.

 

Halfway along Prima Road on the right-hand side, notice that one house (No.5) is set back a little further from the road. This is a survivor from the earliest stage of development, begun in 1801.

INTO BRIXTON ROAD

At the end of the street, turn right to continue southwards along Brixton Road. The group of brick buildings on the far side of the road were built c.1914 as the first development completed by Brixton Estate, who are still active developers and managers of industrial estates.

Near the start of our walk, the right-hand side of the road is generally lined with small shops and cafes dating from the end of the 19th century, though a pair of houses (22 & 24) survive from c.1802.

In following Brixton Road - the A23 to Brighton - you are walking where a road has existed since at least Roman times. In the 18th century it was a turnpike road, a toll road used by horse-drawn coaches. Later it carried cable-drawn trams starting from Kennington and then electric trams from Westminster.

Somewhere below the pavement on the left-hand side of the road, the River Effra is flowing towards the Thames. It was once an open stream running under little bridges at the gates of the long gardens which the houses on that side of the road had before the road was widened.

CHRIST CHURCH

Beyond Mowll Street lies Christ Church, unusual for its Byzantine style and outdoor pulpit. Erected about 1900 to replace an earlier chapel, its architect was Professor Beresford Pite, brother-in-law of the then vicar and for many years head of architecture at the Brixton School of Building. The outdoor pulpit was added (without his approval) in the days before traffic noise was significant!

The original church is now flanked by modern extensions in matching style, designed by Peter and Bridget Ansdell-Evans. On the left is the vicarage and to the right is the Cafe Van Gogh with meeting rooms above. The church interior has also been successfully adapted, and should not be missed.

HOLLAND TOWN

On both sides of the road beyond the church, there are fine examples of early 19th century terraces, survivors of the estate developed by Lord Holland and originally known as Holland Town or North Brixton. We shall see other parts of his estate towards the end of this trail.

Continue along Brixton Road, crossing Caldwell Street at the traffic lights, then take the next turning on the right, into Southey Road. Take the second turning on the left, into Hackford Road. Most of this area was rebuilt early in the 20th century, but a few earlier houses survive. Among those on the left-hand side, No.87 bears a blue plaque, to record where the young Vincent Van Gogh took lodgings in 1873, before he became active as a painter.
On the opposite side of the road are two schools originally built for the London School Board in 1887-88, with later additions. Turn left into Hillyard Street, then turn right at the end to rejoin Brixton Road.

Continue south to the junction with Loughborough Road, marked by traffic lights, and cross to the forecourt of the public house opposite. There has been a public house on the corner site for some 250 years, until recently known as the Old White Horse, though the present building is only just over 100 years old.

Hereabouts was also an important local shopping centre, until the shops on the east side of the road were demolished in the early 1970s to make way for the Angell Town Estate. Above the older commercial buildings on the east side of the road, you may be able to pick out the inscription on the former Eagle Printing Works, 1864.

Now turn left and proceeed along the left-hand side of Loughborough Road. On the right-hand side are pairs of early Victorian houses in a restrained classical style. Facing them are cheerier mid-Victorian pairs with round-arched windows and more colourful brickwork. As you pass the entrance to Crowhurst Close (on your right) stop and take a good look at the Loughborough Hotel - a striking specimen of a large public house with adjoining public rooms, dating from 1900.

Bear left into Evandale Road, to emerge onto Akerman Road. Take a few more steps to the left and you will see opposite you another house with a blue plaque. This was “The Lodge” where music hall star Dan Leno (1860-1904) lived from 1898 to 1901.

Cross here and go back a little way to turn left into Burton Road (roughly opposite Evandale Road). Three houses on the right-hand side have historical connections.
No.76 was the house where the novelist George Gissing lived in 1893/94. He lived with his wife and child in the upper part of this house when he was working on his novel “In the Year of Jubilee” which describes life in the Grove Lane neighbourhood of Camberwell - though for peace and quiet he wrote in a rented room nearby!

John Major (Prime Minister 1990-97) first became involved in politics while living with his parents on the ground floor of No.80 Burton Road in 1959, though he had moved to nearby Templar Street by the time of his election to Lambeth Council in 1968.

The last house on the right-hand side, No.94, was established by the Minet family as a home for District Nurses, before a purpose-built hostel was built in Halsmere Road, which we will see a little later.

MINET COUNTRY

You are now in what was the Minet Estate until it was sold to Lambeth in 1968. The Minets, originally a French Huguenot family, had owned the surrounding land for a long time and in the 19th century they began to carefully lay out a residential estate.

LAMBETH ARCHIVES

At the end of Burton Road is the Minet Library (on right). This library building replaced the one given in 1890 by William Minet which was bombed in the second world war. William Minet also gave to the public his personal collection of Surrey archives which became the core of the present Lambeth archives housed in this library. (Tel 020 7926 6076 to check opening hours) At the back of the library you can see an older red-brick house, part of the original complex which escaped destruction. Another building which William Minet provided for the community was the rounded Longfield Hall on the corner of Burton Road opposite the library. The original library building had a similar look.

 

BLACK ROOF HOUSING

Turn left into Knatchbull Road. A few yards further on a gate leads into Myatts Fields Park. But before going into the park have a look at the buildings around you and especially at the church across the road. This used to be St. James the Apostle which was built at the expense of James Minet, William's father, in 1870. After it ceased to be used as a church it was fully restored and skilfully converted into 18 maisonettes for the Black Roof Housing Co-operative with Lambeth support and Housing Corporation finance. A success story.

MYATTS FIELDS PARK

Now go into the park. Here, or nearby, was once a market garden managed by Joseph Myatt who cultivated strawberries and rhubarb for the London market. The land you are on was given by William Minet for a public park, which was opened in 1889. Follow the path, keeping left. A fenced tree on the right of the path is a good example of the fine great London plane trees which surround the park

Go out by a gate and turn right into Cormont Road, walking along the pavement beside the park railings. Across the road is an imposing building considered an outstanding example of a school built by the old London School Board. You can see two dates on the walls of this "elementary school" which, recently restored, is now used as an annexe by girls of Charles Edward Brooke School.

CALAIS GATE

To the right of this is the former St. Gabriel's College. Built about 1900 as a teacher training college, it served briefly as a hospital in the first world war and has recently been converted into "Luxury Apartments". The next, and last, building in Cormont Road is "Calais Gate", an Edwardian block of flats. Ancestors of the Minets came from Cormont, a village in Pas-de-Calais. Note the two terracotta cats sitting on top of the end gables of the block. There is a fine Turkey oak just inside the park opposite the entrance to 9-18 Calais Gate. At the end of Cormont Road turn back into the park.

The trail follows the wide path keeping left and will leave the park through the wrought iron gates at the corner of Knatchbull Road and Calais Street, at a roundabout. But first enjoy the park.

A GROVE OF TREES

Two Victorian features meriting a look are the bandstand and an eight sided shelter. The grass area between them has been planted with several young trees, including silver birches and a blue atlas cedar . The shelter is flanked by two weeping ash trees. Close by is an Indian bean-tree; look out for the runner bean-like pods which stay on the tree right through the winter. Between the shelter and Knatchbull Road is a gnarled black mulberry tree said by some to be 300 years old.

FRENCH CATS

On leaving through the gates turn sharp left into Calais Street. At the first crossroads notice Henry Wood House a few yards along the left side of Halsmere Road on your right, with a pair of white cats on the roof. The cats here and on Calais Gate remind you that "minet" is French for "pussy". This house was once the Mary Minet Nurses' Home, a hostel for District Nurses provided by Miss Susan Minet in 1939 and named to commemorate her mother Mary, William's wife. When the Minet estate was sold this house, not needed by Lambeth, was sold to the Henry Wood Trust and with its extension on the left is now a hostel for music students. Through the kindness of the Minets all the income from the sale of the estate, including this house, goes to charity.

VASSALL ROAD AND DISTRICT

At the end of Calais Street turn left for a few yards. You will notice ahead of you a short stretch of dual carriageway linking two much narrower streets. This wider stretch was the first section of an intended Brixton bypass which was never completed. You may wonder what is the odd looking concrete structure in the middle of the "motorway"; it encloses the boilers for heating the housing estate alongside. Turn right into Patmos Road and take the second on the right into Myatt Road and then turn left into Frederick Crescent. This attractive and homely looking yellow brick development was built by Lambeth in the 1980s. It includes, on the right Lambeth Wel-Care Family Centre, Help Project, Social Work Service and St. John's Community Centre.

Strolling along the right hand side of Frederick Crescent you get a good view of the Church of St. John the Divine. This famous church was built by G.E.Street who designed many churches and the Law Courts in the Strand. Built in 1870-1874, it was restored after severe war damage.

 

 

VICARAGE

Coming to the traffic lights turn right into Vassall Road. Most of the original houses in this road date from around 1840. The tall, slightly oppressive house (no. 86) next to the church became the vicarage when the church was built, but the present vicarage is a smaller but tasteful house on the same side of the road. Nos. 88 and 90 are two other good specimens of Vassall Road quality. So is no. 98.

SALISBURY PLACE

Turn right into Langton Road to see the "Salisbury Place" private residential development on the left. At first sight it looks like a refurbished Victorian industrial building but it is quite new according to the date stone over the entrance arch (1988).

Walk back to Vassall Road where you see facing you a terrace built by Lambeth in character with the early Victorian survivors like nos. 129 and 91-123. Most of these old houses have been rehabilitated. Nos. 112-120 are marked "Union Place" with an inset stone.

FOXLEY ROAD

Turn left into Vassall Road. At the lights turn right and walk up the right hand side of Foxley Road. On the left is a line of nine large detached villas, gracefully austere. No. 34 has a blue plaque; David Cox senior, the landscape painter, lived there from 1827 to 1841. On the right hand side notice the new development in Kendall Close and further on in Foxley Road a neat modern terrace of 2-storey homes. Cross Foxley Road and walk back towards Vassall Road, noting a good terrace of houses on what is now your left. A few yards before the lights turn right on to a concrete path that runs behind the houses in Vassall Road.

As you come out into a road (Holland Grove) look up the road to your right. You see some different kinds of building. On your right are some pleasant looking groups of solid Council housing of the inter-war period. Further along can be seen the red roofs of more adventurous Lambeth one- and two-storey accommodation. Above this in the distance is the white cupola of St. Mark's Church, Kennington and on your left begin the large four and five storey blocks of flats built by the Church Commissioners in the 1960s.

MAX MILLER

Of the same period is the pub at the corner of Holland Grove and Vassall Road, formerly named the Cheeky Chappie after the music hall comedian Max Miller. Anyone needing a break from street tramping will find the saloon comfortable and spacious - an interior done up to look in keeping with the older houses around.

RESTORED VILLAS

Coming out of Holland Grove turn right into Vassall Road. Facing the pub is a line of carefully restored and adapted villas of about 1830 - originally single houses. Past them are a group of four plainer houses coming up to the pavement. Cross Vassall Road at this point and go down a passage between garages and 52 Vassall Road. To right and left are attractive little leafy courts. Walk ahead along a short street (Russell Grove) and turn left, walking a hundred yards or so along Cancell Road.

On your left is early 20th century housing behind privet hedges. On the right is the Primary School of Christ Church, North Brixton. The housing behind the school is part of Lambeth's Myatts Fields North Estate. Turn back. Notice next to the school three delightful old two-storey houses.

COWLEY ROAD

At the end of Cancell Road turn right into the pedestrianised section of Cowley Road. The terrace of little houses on the right, built in 1824, is exquisite. The street paving and the sycamores set the scene which is unlike anything else in Brixton.

The Vassall Road neighbourhood, much of it owned by Lambeth, shows what careful and sensitive restoration, coupled with good new housing, can do to preserve and improve the urban environment.

From this point, the final section of Vassall Road takes you back to Brixton Road. Turning left will take you towards Brixton Town Centre. Alternatively, The Oval underground station can be reached by turning right and following Brixton Road northwards.

NOTES:
Please record comments, additional points of interest you have noted, or changes which have recently taken place. Please forward any comments to the Brixton Society Secretary: Alan Piper

 

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