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64-519: Kennington Park is a public park in Kennington , south London and lies between Kennington Park Road and St. Agnes Place . It was opened in 1854 on the site of what had been Kennington Common , where the Chartists gathered for their biggest "monster rally" on 10 April 1848. Soon after this demonstration the common was enclosed and, sponsored by the royal family, made into a public park. Kennington Common

128-402: A Conservation Area in 1968, the boundary of which was extended in 1979 and in 1997. Lambeth Council's emphasis on conserving and protecting Kennington's architectural heritage and enhancing its attractive open spaces for recreation and leisure is illustrated by restoration of the centre of the listed Cleaver Square in the last decade of the twentieth century. Originally grassed over in the 1790s,

192-639: A borough constituency for Lambeth was established under the Reform Act 1832 . Parliamentary boundaries were redrawn in 1885 with the parish divided into four constituencies: In 1950 the borough's representation was reduced to three seats: Lambeth Town Hall was built in Brixton in 1906 to 1908 to designs by Septimus Warwick and H. Austen Hall. It replaced the Old Town Hall in Kennington Road . The building

256-694: A Neo-Georgian style. In 1922, Lambeth Hospital on Brook Drive was created from a former workhouse. Under the control of the London County Council, Lambeth Hospital, which had a capacity of 1,250 patients in 1939, was one of the largest hospitals in London. After the National Health Service was formed, Lambeth Hospital became an acute general hospital. In 1976, the North Wing of St. Thomas' Hospital opened; services transferred there, and Lambeth Hospital

320-528: A level field which was ideal for grazing animals or playing team ball games. "During the holiday season, Kennington Common in the last (18th) century was an epitome of "Bartlemy Fair", with booths, tents, caravans, and scaffolds, surmounted by flags. It also had one peculiarity, for, as we learn from "Merrie England in the Olden Time", it was a favourite spot for merryandrews, and other buffooneries in open rivalry, and competition with field-preachers and ranters. It

384-466: A local centre in the London Plan . It was a royal manor in the parish of St Mary, Lambeth in the county of Surrey and was the administrative centre of the parish from 1853. Proximity to central London was key to the development of the area as a residential suburb and it was incorporated into the metropolitan area of London in 1855. Kennington is the location of three significant London landmarks:

448-495: A morass of such intolerable poverty that they unite instinctively to save those known to them from falling into it". In an initiative to improve the district, from 1915, the Duchy of Cornwall set about an ambitious project to redevelop land. Courtenay Square, Courtenay Street, Cardigan Street, Denny Street and Denny Crescent were laid out to a design by architects Stanley Davenport Adshead , Stanley Churchill Ramsay and JD Coleridge, in

512-642: A number of pubs and some bars. There are two theatres in Kennington: the White Bear Theatre and the Oval House Theatre and the area has an active residents' association called the Kennington Association. The Friends of Kennington Park is a local organisation, involved with the promotion of Kennington Park as a valuable resource for the community. Kennington is also home of The Cinema Museum –

576-502: A place for executions, a Speakers' Corner for public gatherings for political and religious purposes, and a place for entertainment and sporting events. Lambeth (parish) Lambeth was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London , England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey . The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of

640-493: A popular local venue for watching films and learning about the history of cinema. A weekly farmers' market takes place on a Saturday from about 10 am to 3 pm at St. Mark's Church opposite Oval tube station . The distillery of Beefeater Gin – the only premium gin still distilled in London – is situated in Montford Place, Kennington. The City and Guilds of London Art School , one of the longest-established art colleges in

704-455: A strategic mound or tumulus , and an important fork in the main road from the river crossing which is now known as London Bridge . This made it a sacred place of 'national' assembly which may have related to the jetty or bridge. The mound may have also been used by the locals of the South London marsh community as a refuge from tidal flash floods. As the flood water receded, the river silt left

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768-526: A substantial property portfolio within the area. The eighteenth century saw considerable development in Kennington. At the start of the century, the area was essentially a village on the southern roads into London, with a common on which public executions took place. In 1746, Francis Towneley and eight men who had taken part in the Jacobite rising were hanged, drawn and quartered at Kennington Common. The area

832-589: A symbol long used to represent the parish. The two shields were those of the Diocese of Canterbury and the Duchy of Cornwall . The first referred to Lambeth Palace , residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury . The second was to show that the Duchy owned estates in the Kennington area of the borough. The design was completed by the cypher of Queen Victoria , and the year of the borough's founding. This device can still be seen in

896-419: A week for a moderate family". The map shows that there existed in the district a great disparity of wealth and comfort between near-neighbours. Two social forces were at work in Kennington at different times during the twentieth century: decline, and – later – gentrification. Decline began in the early part of the twentieth century. Middle-class households ceased to employ servants and no longer sought

960-565: Is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth , running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark , a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the Lambeth and St George's parishes of those boroughs respectively. It is located 1.4 miles (2.3 km) south of Charing Cross in Inner London and is identified as

1024-457: Is a fine example of the Gothic Revival style. The library was a gift to the people of Kennington from Jemina Durning Smith. A men's public convenience, which had been built opposite in 1898, is now preserved as an arts venue and is likely to have been used by a young Charlie Chaplin who writes in his autobiography of a night when he was locked out of the family room and listened all night to

1088-554: Is constructed of red brick and Portland stone , with a 41-metre high clock tower. Since 1965 it has formed the headquarters of the successor London Borough. In the stairwell of the hall is a plaque erected by the Government of Ontario to commemorate the birthplace of John By , who helped create Bytown or Ottawa, Ontario (capital of Canada). The area of the borough in 1901 was 4,080 acres (16.5 km ). By 1961 it had increased slightly to 4,089 acres (16.5 km ). The population of

1152-612: Is essentially a multi-ethnic area with a mixed and varied population, all falling within different geodemographic strands. The area attracts young and affluent incomers who fall within the ABC1 demographic strand of the NRS social grade spectrum. Kennington is within the Division bell zone for the Houses of Parliament . This means that, at least in theory, it is within eight minutes from the division lobbies of

1216-495: Is now in the London Borough of Southwark. The poverty map of London, created by Charles Booth in 1898–99, identifies a mixture of classifications for the streets of the district; Kennington Park Road, for example, corresponds with the description "Middle class. Well-to-do". Most streets are classified as "Mixed. Some comfortable, others poor". There are also several scattered streets which are considered to be "Poor. 18s. to 21s.

1280-607: Is that it means "place of the King", or "town of the King". The presence of a tumulus , and other locally significant geographical features, suggest that the area was regarded in ancient times as a sacred place of assembly. According to the Domesday Book it was held by Teodric (Theodoric) the Goldsmith . It contained: 1 hide and 3 virgates ; 3 ploughs , 4 acres (16,000 m ) of meadow . It rendered £3 annually. The manor of Kennington

1344-539: The County of London in 1889. The parish of Lambeth became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899 , with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council. The ancient parish was divided into the six divisions of Bishop's Liberty, Prince's Liberty, Vauxhall Liberty, Marsh and Wall Liberty, Lambeth Dean and Stockwell Liberty. It covered an area 4,015 acres (recorded in 1851 census) and

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1408-506: The Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the incorporated vestry of St Mary Lambeth was divided into eight wards (electing vestrymen ): No. 1 or North Marsh (18), No. 2 or South Marsh (12), No. 3 or Bishop's (12), No. 4 or Prince's (15), No. 5 or Vauxhall (24), No. 6 or Stockwell (15), No. 7 or Brixton (15) and No. 8 or Norwood (9). The borough council

1472-487: The 1770s, the development of Kennington into its modern form was well underway. Terraces of houses were built on the east side of Kennington Road and Cleaver Square (then called Prince's Square) was laid out in 1788. Michael Searles , architect and developer, built semi-detached houses along Kennington Park Road in the 1790s. A fraudster from Camberwell , named Badger, was the last person to be hanged at Kennington Common, in 1799. The modern street pattern of Kennington

1536-483: The 1920s St. Mark's became known as the "tramwayman's church", and Kennington was referred to as the " Clapham Junction of the southern roads". By 1926, construction of the Belgrave Hospital for Children , designed by Henry Percy Adams and Charles Holden , was complete. The hospital was subsumed within the King's College Hospital Group and closed in 1985. It was restored and converted to apartments in 1994. In

1600-456: The 1930s, the Duchy of Cornwall continued to redevelop its estate in the district and employed architect Louis de Soissons to design a number of buildings in a Neo-Georgian style. On 15 October 1940, the large trench air-raid shelter beneath Kennington Park was struck by a 50 lb bomb. The number of people killed remains unknown; it is believed by local historians that 104 people died. Forty-eight bodies were recovered. The Brandon Estate

1664-482: The Black Prince in 1337, and the prince then built a large royal palace in the triangle formed by Kennington Lane, Sancroft Street and Cardigan Street, near to Kennington Cross. In 1377, according to John Stow , John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster came to Kennington to escape the fury of the people of London . Geoffrey Chaucer was employed at Kennington as Clerk of Works in 1389. He was paid 2 shillings. Kennington

1728-595: The Divine, Kennington , which was to be described by the poet John Betjeman as "the most magnificent church in South London", was designed by George Edmund Street (architect of the Royal Courts of Justice on Strand, London ), and was built between 1871 and 1874. The Durning Library , at Kennington Cross , was designed in 1889 by S. Sidney R. J. Smith, architect of the Tate Gallery (as it then was; now Tate Britain ), and

1792-542: The Duchy of Cornwall (the black border charged with bezants or gold discs) and the Archbishop of Canterbury (the mitre and crozier). The red cross in the first quarter was taken from the arms of the London County Council , showing that the borough was in the county. The fourth quarter contained a gold and blue chequered pattern, the arms of the de Warennes, Earls of Surrey. This was included to show that Lambeth lay in

1856-607: The Houses of Parliament. A large number of members of parliament and civil servants live within the area. An article in The Sunday Times described Kennington as "the politicians' enclave across the Thames from Westminster"; and The Times observed that "Kennington ... is the suburb that has featured the most in the MPs' expenses scandal. Hazel Blears and Alistair Darling are only two of

1920-536: The MP since December 2019. It is within the Lambeth and Southwark London Assembly constituency. Kennington has no official boundaries but the ancient manorial boundaries are easily discerned and for historical purposes, this article has confined itself to them although estate agents use the term more loosely so as to promote any particular property they wish to act in disposal of, and modern classifications of which areas fall within

1984-633: The Oval cricket ground, the Imperial War Museum , and Kennington Park . Its population at the United Kingdom Census 2011 was 15,106. Kennington appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chenintune . It is recorded as Kenintone in 1229 and Kenyngton in 1263. Mills (2001) believes the name to be Old English meaning "farmstead or estate associated with a man called Cēna". Another explanation

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2048-406: The centre of Cleaver Square had by the 1870s become a garden circumscribed by a formal path, but by 1898 it had been cultivated as a nursery with greenhouses. In 1927 the centre of Cleaver Square was acquired by the London County Council to forestall a proposal to build on it, and more trees were then planted and the garden was gravelled over as a recreation ground. During the war years, in particular,

2112-480: The church was opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury . In 1852, at the initiative of the minister of St. Mark's Church, the Common was enclosed and became the first public park in south London. Pockets of land between the main roads were built upon in the early nineteenth century. Walcot Square and St Mary's Gardens were laid out in the 1830s on land formerly used as a market garden. Imperial Court, on Kennington Lane,

2176-512: The circular hall of Lambeth Town Hall. In 1922 the borough obtained an official grant of arms from the College of Arms . The lamb was moved to the crest, on top of the helm. It was transformed into a paschal lamb supporting a pennon of St George . As a number of other crests featured a paschal lamb, a silver and blue wave, for the River Thames , was added. The arms themselves retained references to

2240-571: The class of family for whom they had first been built"; and "Chambers London Gazetteer" observes the "reuniting of formerly subdivided properties" as "decline is being reversed". It is difficult to identify a single defining reason for this change. The principal factors are location and transport. The good architectural and structural quality of many properties in Kennington ;– characterised by Georgian and Victorian terraces of yellow London stock brick , typically three storeys or higher, fronting

2304-501: The country, has been at Kennington Park Road since 1879. Kennington in literature and film Kennington Park , laid out by Victorian architect James Pennethorne , and St Mark's Churchyard now cover the site of Kennington Common. The Park was originally designated one of the Royal Parks of London (today, management of the Park is undertaken by Lambeth Council). The Park, historically, was

2368-546: The county of Surrey until 1889. The ermine patterning in the other quarter was said to stand for "purity and honour". The motto adopted was Spectemur Agendo , a motto common to several local authorities in England. Although this is generally rendered in English as Judge us by our deeds , the official translation in Lambeth has traditionally been the more ponderous Let us be regarded according to our conduct. On 22 February 1966

2432-627: The district vary. The modern layout of Kennington reflects development as a linear settlement . Within the London post town , the postcode district for Kennington is SE11. The SE11 postcode captures most of the district, although the peripheries of Kennington are within the SE17, SE1, SW8 and SW9 postcodes. The south-western part of the district – Kennington Oval – protrudes towards Vauxhall. Nearest places: Vauxhall , Waterloo , Walworth , Newington (usually known as Elephant and Castle ), Stockwell , Camberwell , Brixton , and Lambeth North . Kennington

2496-410: The eighteenth century, by the nineteenth century, the Common was no longer used for grazing cattle and other agricultural purposes. It became a rubbish dump, a meeting place for radical crowds and an embarrassment to the area. Common rights were extinguished over one corner of the land and in 1824, St. Mark's Church was built on the site of the gallows. One of the four "Waterloo Churches" of south London,

2560-420: The first inner London community cricket ground, sponsored by Surrey County Cricket Club whose home, The Oval , is close to the park. Casual games of both cricket and football are regularly held in the park. In the 1970s, the old tradition of mass gatherings returned to the park which was host to the start of many significant marches to Parliament . Today, a number of commercial and community events are held in

2624-466: The large houses of Kennington, preferring the suburbs of outer London. Houses in Kennington were suited to multiple occupation and were divided into flats and bedsits, providing cheap lodgings for lower-paid workers. Kennington ceased to be the administrative centre for the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth (as it then was) in 1908. The Old Town Hall , built on Kennington Road as a vestry hall for

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2688-596: The local parish, was not large enough for the Council to properly carry out its functions and a new town hall was built in Brixton. The Old Town Hall was the registered office of the Countryside Alliance until September 2015. In 1913, Maud Pember Reeves selected Kennington for Round About a Pound a Week , which was a survey of social conditions in the district. She found "respectable but very poor people [who] live over

2752-585: The main roads and squares – has unquestionably contributed to the gentrification of the area. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of housing in the area is council-owned, including some council estates adjacent to Kennington Lane, leading up to Elephant and Castle, and around the Kennington Park area. In the twenty-first century there has been an ongoing programme by Lambeth Council of upgrading its stock of housing and in many cases improving its external appearance. The area's varied social texture demonstrates

2816-401: The metropolitan borough as recorded at each census was as follows: Lambeth Vestry 1801–1899 Metropolitan Borough 1900–1961 When the borough was created in 1900, the corporation adopted a seal which was used in place of a coat of arms. The device was derived from that of the borough's forerunner, Lambeth Vestry . At the base of the seal was a lamb, a play on the name "Lambeth", and

2880-405: The ministers with Kennington second homes". Kennington Road and Kennington Lane, south of Kennington Cross, could properly be described as the "shopping area" of Kennington. This area is identified as a "Local Centre" in the London Plan . There is a range of local shops, restaurants, cafés and estate agents, and there is a post office. There is a Tesco supermarket on Kennington Lane. The area has

2944-532: The music in the newly opened White Hart pub, now The Tommyfield. When his mother fell on hard times he was taken with his brother Sydney to another Kennington landmark the old Lambeth Workhouse now the home of the Cinema Museum . Kennington station was opened as "Kennington (New Street)" in 1890 by the City of London and Southwark Subway, but is in fact on the boundary of Newington, Surrey and Kennington and as such

3008-484: The other empty properties and established a Rastafari temple. The street became London's longest-running squat. From 1977, Lambeth Council sought to evict the squatters and eventually succeeded at the High Court in 2005. The houses and the temple were declared to be unfit for human habitation and were pulled down in 2007. The Kennington Park Extension now covers much of the site. Lambeth Council designated much of Kennington

3072-430: The parish were tidied up: The ancient parish, dedicated to St Mary , was in the Diocese of Winchester until 1877, then the Diocese of Rochester until 1905, and then finally in the Diocese of Southwark . From 1824, as the population of Lambeth increased, a number of new parishes were formed: In addition, as the population of neighbouring areas increased, parts of Lambeth parish were included in new parishes: Under

3136-479: The park each year and recently the Flower Garden was restored with a Heritage Lottery grant. The Friends of Kennington Park, FoKP, was founded in 2002 and provides a local forum for park issues as well as fundraising for improvements. Although there are no available written records of the area before 1600, analysis of the area's archaeology and landscape reveals its earlier history. Recently discovered post stumps in

3200-664: The people of Kennington. In the summer months many people from Kennington and further afield play pétanque in the centre of the square. In recent years, Kennington has experienced gentrification , principally because of its location and good transport links to the West End and the City of London . In London: A Social History , Roy Porter describes how "Victorian villas in ... Kennington, long debased by use as lodging-houses, were transformed into luxury flats for young professionals or snips for first-time buyers – or were repossessed by

3264-547: The population mix. The local authority is Lambeth London Borough Council . Kennington is a standalone ward itself represented by three Labour Party councillors. Council elections take place every four years, with the next one scheduled in 2026. The Member of Parliament for the Vauxhall constituency, which includes Kennington, is currently the Labour Co-operative MP Florence Eshalomi , who has been

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3328-489: The recreation area became somewhat derelict but during the 1950s Cleaver Square's inherent charm was recognised anew and its fortunes once more began to rise. In 1995, Lambeth Council resolved, with the backing of English Heritage, a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund , and donations from residents of Cleaver Square , to restore the centre of the square to provide once again an attractive and peaceful public space for

3392-460: The south Thames foreshore near Vauxhall Bridge point to a ritual jetty or possibly the first London bridge, by the outlet of the River Effra , from around 1500 BC. The Effra formed the southerly boundary to the common. Three closely related geographic features defined the area of Kennington Common as sacred in ancient times: the sharp bend in the river Effra before it flowed into the Thames,

3456-660: Was 7 miles (11.3 km) north to south, but only 2.75 miles (4.4 km) at its widest east to west. In addition to the historic riverside area of Lambeth , this included Kennington , Vauxhall , Stockwell , Brixton , the western part of Herne Hill , Tulse Hill and West Norwood . As the population was increasing, in 1824 the ancient parish was subdivided into ecclesiastical districts of Brixton, Kennington, Lambeth Church, Waterloo Road and West Norwood. These districts were adopted for census reporting in 1841 with Lambeth Church and Waterloo Road further subdivided into first and second divisions. In 1900 some irregular boundaries of

3520-404: Was a site of public executions until 1800 as well as being an area for public speaking . Some of the most illustrious orators to speak here were Methodist founders George Whitefield and John Wesley who is reputed to have attracted a crowd of 30,000. The common was one of the earliest London cricket venues and is known to have been used for top-class matches in 1724. Kennington Park hosts

3584-700: Was built in 1836 for the Licensed Victuallers' School . The first stone was laid by Viscount Melbourne , in the name of King William IV . The Oval cricket ground was leased to Surrey County Cricket Club from the Duchy of Cornwall in 1845, and the adjacent gasometers (themselves an international sporting landmark) were constructed in 1853. Dense building and the carving-up of large houses for multiple occupation caused Kennington to be "very seriously over-populated in 1859, when diphtheria appeared" (recorded by Karl Marx in Das Kapital ). The church of St John

3648-611: Was closed. A substantial part of the site has today been redeveloped for apartments, although some buildings are occupied by the Lambeth Community Care Centre. Kennington station was substantially remodelled in 1925 to accommodate the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line along with the improvements to the City and South London Railway to form the Northern line . Because tram and bus routes converged at Kennington, in

3712-479: Was divided from the manor of Vauxhall by the River Effra , a tributary of the River Thames . A smaller river, the River Neckinger , ran along the edge of the northern part of Kennington, approximately where Brook Drive is today (i.e. the brook) still forming the borough boundary. Both rivers have now been diverted into underground culverts. Edward III gave the manor of Kennington to his oldest son Edward

3776-403: Was endowed in 1962 by the London County Council with Reclining Figure No. 3 : a sculpture by Henry Moore . St Agnes Place was a street of mid-Victorian terraces built for the servants of Buckingham Palace . Lambeth Council had decided to demolish the street to extend Kennington Park and the houses were empty by the late 1960s. In 1969, squatters moved into one of the houses and later entered

3840-593: Was established in 1900. The metropolitan borough was divided into nine wards for elections: Bishop's, Brixton, Herne Hill, Marsh, Norwood, Prince's, Stockwell, Tulse Hill and Vauxhall. The borough council was controlled by the Municipal Reform Party (allied to the Conservatives ) until 1937, when the Labour Party gained power. Labour retained control until abolition in 1965. For elections to parliament ,

3904-462: Was formed by the early nineteenth century. The village had become a semi-rural suburb with grand terraced houses. In the early nineteenth century, Kennington Common was a place of ill-repute. Various attempts were made by the Grand Surrey Canal to purchase the land to build a canal basin, but all of these failed. Because the area had been so rapidly developed and populated in the second half of

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3968-459: Was here that Mr. Maw-worm encountered the brickbats of his congregation, and had his "pious tail" illuminated with the squibs and crackers of the unregenerate." "Inclosure, thou'rt a curse upon the land, And tasteless was the wretch who thy existence plann'd" John Clare the peasant poet from Peterborough (1793–1864) By now there were more people in cities than country. London's population had reached 2.5 million. Kennington Kennington

4032-497: Was significant enough, however, to be recognised in the Peerage of Great Britain and in 1726, the title Earl of Kennington was assumed by Prince William, Duke of Cumberland . The development of Kennington came about through access to London, which happened when, in 1750, Westminster Bridge was constructed. In 1751, Kennington Road was built from Kennington Common (as it then was; now Kennington Park) to Westminster Bridge Road. By

4096-626: Was the occasional residence of Henry IV and Henry VI . Henry VII was at Kennington before his coronation . Catherine of Aragon stayed at Kennington Palace in 1501. In 1531, at the order of King Henry VIII, most of Kennington Palace was dismantled, and the materials were used in the construction of the Palace of Whitehall . The historical manor of Kennington continues to be owned by the current monarch's elder son (the Prince of Wales , Duke of Cornwall: see Dukes of Cornwall ). The Duchy of Cornwall maintains

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