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80-715: The Ledbury Estate is a large estate of social housing, in Peckham in the London Borough of Southwark . The estate is just south of the Old Kent Road , part of the A2 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from both Tower Bridge and the Elephant & Castle it is adjacent to land used by George Livesey for the South London Gasworks . It was found, while making fire safety checks in 2017 in

160-529: A gin palace , and later became a champagne bar and featured DJs such as Steve Walsh and Robbie Vincent . The premises closed in 2004 to become a surgery. The World Turned Upside Down had been on the Old Kent Road since the 17th century, and may have been named after the discovery of Australia, Van Diemen's Land , or Tierra del Fuego in South America. The pub became a music venue in the 20th century and

240-459: A feature also used in contemporary architecture in Brighton . The Licensed Victuallers ' National Asylum (now Caroline Gardens), an extensive almshouse estate off Old Kent Road at Asylum Road, opened in 1827. Its first patron was Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex who was followed by Prince Albert and Prince Edward . The Metropolitan Gas Works, identifiable by its large gasometers ,

320-493: A fire in one flat be contained for one hour without breaching into an adjacent flat. Prior to this process - as far back as 2010, some residents had already complained of cracks in the concrete that would allow a piece of paper to pass to the flat above. Following residents insistence post-Grenfell Ove Arup, was then commissioned by Southwark Council to conduct a structural report. After ARUP initially reported to residents in July 2017 that

400-470: A fire station on the road around 1868. It was subsumed into the London Fire Brigade from its formation and in 1904 was replaced by a new station which was in turn replaced by another on the corner of Coopers Road. The station was demolished for redevelopment in 2014 and reopened the following year. When the Old Kent Road baths were opened in 1905, the then independent Borough of Camberwell became

480-541: A method called large panel system , in which giant concrete sections were bolted together on site. There was no supporting frame. Many companies produced these building systems, including Tracoba, Camus and Sectra in France, and Jespersen, Skarne and Larsen-Nielsen in Scandinavia. British construction firms such as John Laing and Taylor Woodrow-Anglian used these systems, working for local housing authorities to quickly produce

560-507: A pansy". Henry Cooper trained in the boxing club above the Thomas a Becket pub from 1954 to 1968; he unveiled a local blue plaque there in 2007. Draining the Surrey Canal in 1971 uncovered a number of cracked and blown safes that had been thrown in the water. Old Kent Road railway station at the southern end of the road opened in 1866 and closed in 1917. The London City Fire Brigade opened

640-578: A route from the Thames to Portsmouth . The canal was built from Surrey Commercial Docks to Peckham before the builders ran out of funds in 1826. The abbreviated canal was used to ship soft wood for construction and even though the canal was drained and backfilled in 1970, Whitten's timber merchants stood on the site known as Eagle Wharf until it closed in 2019 and the location was designated for development. In 1851 Thomas Tilling started an innovative omnibus service from Peckham to London. Tilling's buses were

720-511: A significant amount of land around Old Kent Road. It included residential development that is now Surrey Square and the Paragon, which were designed by Michael Searles in 1788. The main road route gave rise to ribbon development because of the increasing urbanisation of the expanding metropolitan area. In the early-20th century, social housing was built on land previously held by the family who gave away their interests for public benefit including

800-504: A soap processing plant was built. Older properties occupied by the upper and middle classes were converted into flats for the emerging working class population. By the time Bricklayers Arms goods station opened in 1845, the road was entirely built up and Old Kent Road had one of the highest population densities in Europe, with an average of 280 residents per acre. Sections along the road were commercial with various market stalls and sellers until

880-500: A steady gentrification of some of the areas in the south of Peckham and this has meant an influx of cafés, wine bars , niche shops and artists' studios. Peckham is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the UK. These are the statistics for the ethnic groups in the Peckham ward according to the 2011 Census. This ward is about one-fifth of the place called Peckham, and not representative of

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960-510: A strong sense of identity in the 19th century when Rye Lane was one of the most important shopping streets in south London . The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The area known as Peckham covers a large area of south London and takes in many diverse communities. The British Nigerian community forms a sizeable component of the population of

1040-423: A vision to open four new Bakerloo line London Underground stations along the road route, beginning at Bricklayers Arms, as well as 20,000 new homes, a further education college, a health centre and a number of primary and secondary schools. Officials have also suggested the development of a "green spine" of parks and green spaces along the mostly disused Surrey Canal. Old Kent Road is the first property square on

1120-453: A wealthy residential area by the 16th century and there are several claims that Christopher Wren had local links. By the 18th century the area was a more commercial centre and attracted industrialists who wanted to avoid paying the expensive rents in central London. Peckham also boasted extensive market gardens and orchards growing produce for the nearby markets of London. Local produce included melons, figs and grapes. The formal gardens of

1200-405: A week for access to something like a modern sports club with facilities for physical exercise, games, workshops and socialising with no mandatory programme. The centre moved into a purpose-built modernist building by the architect Sir Owen Williams in 1935. North Peckham was heavily redeveloped in the 1960s, consisting mainly of high-rise flats to rehouse people from dilapidated old houses. It

1280-416: A £1m SRB (Single Regeneration Budget) grant. The arch is due to be demolished to make way for 19 flats; the decision was made despite public protests. The main shopping street is Rye Lane and the large Peckham Rye Park is nearby. Bellenden Road is an area of small independent shops. Peckham has never been an administrative district, or a single ecclesiastical parish in its own right, but it developed

1360-514: Is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross . At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the village of the River Peck , a small stream that ran through the district until it was enclosed in 1823. Archaeological evidence indicates earlier Roman occupation in the area, although the name of this settlement is lost. The Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names (1991, 1998) gives

1440-595: Is currently operated by London Central and is situated in Blackpool Road. It opened in 1994 and replaced a similar but larger facility in Peckham High Street on part of whose site the present bus station now stands. A viaduct behind it carries the railway east of Peckham Rye railway station. Old Kent Road Old Kent Road is a major thoroughfare in South East London , England, passing through

1520-514: Is largely set in Peckham, and is named for the street there. The film features real-life locations, including the restaurants Coal Rooms and Il Giardino, Rye Lane Market, the Rye Lane branch of Morley's , and the Peckhamplex cinema. Key scenes in the 2023 romantic comedy Love at First Sight take place at the fictional Peckham House. Like most of southeast London, Peckham has never been served by

1600-587: Is the Aquarius Golf Club, which is located over the cavernous Honor Oak Reservoir constructed between 1901 and 1909. When it was completed it was the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and is still one of the largest in Europe. The reservoir now forms part of the Southern extension of the Thames Water Ring Main . Camberwell Old Cemetery , on Forest Hill Road, is a later example of

1680-438: Is where Long John Baldrey gave his first live performance in 1958. It closed in 2009 and is now a branch of Domino's Pizza . The Duke of Kent was converted into a mosque in 1999; in 2021 the building was demolished for a purpose built mosque. The Livesey Museum for Children closed in 2008 owing to council budget cuts and is now used for short term accommodation. Southwark Borough Council do not consider Old Kent Road to fit

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1760-520: The Alton Estate rather than following a pure Le Corbusier brutalist (concrete brut) genre. In front of the flats is a piazza, which forms the roof to a block of subterranean garages which in 2016 were unused. There are other low rise buildings on the estate constructed by the Larsen-Nielsen method. Residents have been raising concerns for a number of years regarding cracks beginning to appear in

1840-468: The Battle of Agincourt heading towards London. John Rocque's Map of London , published in 1746, shows hedgerows along its course. The Kentish Drovers public house opened in 1840 and was so named because the road was a thoroughfare for market traffic. The road was mainly rural in nature, surrounded by fields and windmills and the occasional tavern until the 19th century. The name Old Kent Road came into use in

1920-552: The London Borough of Southwark . It was originally part of an ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and used by the Anglo-Saxons who named it Wæcelinga Stræt ( Watling Street ). It is now part of the A2 , a major road from London to Dover. The road was important in Roman times linking London to the coast at Richborough and Dover via Canterbury . It was a route for pilgrims in

2000-568: The London Underground . However, if and when the Bakerloo line extension is complete, a new tube station will be built on Asylum Road northeast of the centre of Peckham, near the A2 road and Brimmington Park . It will be located between another new station at Burgess Park and the existing railway station at New Cross Gate . Existing railway stations in the district are as follows: Peckham bus garage

2080-528: The Middle Ages as portrayed in Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales , when Old Kent Road was known as Kent Street. The route was used by soldiers returning from the Battle of Agincourt . In the 16th century, St Thomas-a-Watering on Old Kent Road was a place where religious dissenters and those found guilty of treason were publicly hanged. The road was rural in nature and several coaching inns were built alongside it. In

2160-665: The "great success" of the Turkish and Russian baths. The baths were destroyed in the Blitz just before the end of World War II. Unlike many places in London, the Old Kent Road area did not suffer significant bomb damage during World War II . In 1968, a flyover opened at the northern end allowing access to New Kent Road which catered for the main flow of traffic. During the 1970s, run-down Victorian properties on and around Old Kent Road were demolished to make way for new housing estates. Burgess Park

2240-568: The 'cracks were not a structural concern' a later report in August 2017 recommended the immediate removal of piped gas in the blocks. Southwark Council announced that strengthening work ordered after Ronan Point may not have been carried out. The gas supply to each block was severed until remedial work had been done. Residents remained in their flats but without heating, hot water and cooking facilities. A further ARUP reported in November 2017 confirmed that

2320-525: The 19th century, it acquired the name Old Kent Road and several industrial premises were set up to close to the Surrey Canal and a major business, the Metropolitan Gas Works was developed. In the 20th century, older property was demolished for redevelopment and Burgess Park was created. The Camberwell Public Baths in Old Kent Road opened in 1905 with Russian and Victorian-style Turkish baths . In

2400-470: The 21st century, several retail parks and premises typical of out-of-town development have been built beside it while public houses have been redeveloped for other purposes. The road is celebrated in the music hall song " Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road ", describing working-class London life. It is the first property, and one of the two cheapest, on the London Monopoly board and the only one south of

2480-570: The British Monopoly board, priced at £60 and forming the brown set along with the similarly working-class Whitechapel Road . It is the only square on the board in South London and south of the Thames. The road makes several appearances in literature. In Charles Dickens ' David Copperfield , the titular character runs down the road trying to escape from London to Dover, though in the narrative

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2560-569: The Goose Green playground in East Dulwich . At the beginning of the 19th century, Peckham was synonymous with Peckham Rye : a "small, quiet, retired village surrounded by fields". Since 1744 stagecoaches had travelled with an armed guard between Peckham and London to give protection from highwaymen . The rough roads constrained traffic so a branch of the Grand Surrey Canal was proposed as

2640-494: The Museum Works, Rye Lane, Peckham. The Museum of Firearms was built in 1867. The Ordnance Survey Map of 1868 shows the museum building with a rifle range at the rear extending along the side of the railway embankment for 150 yards. The late 19th century also saw the arrival of George Batty, a manufacturer of condiments, whose main business stood at Finsbury Pavement . The company's Peckham premises occupied 19 railway arches. It

2720-602: The North Peckham Estate. The film used local musicians with an improvised script and was broadcast on Channel 4 in February 1992. The film was written and produced by Russell Newell and directed by Julian Henriques . Peckham was home of the fictional character Rose Tyler , a former leading character in the British TV show Doctor Who . Her flat on a fictional council estate in the area is regularly shown during her time on

2800-462: The Old Kent Road ". It was written in 1891 by Albert Chevalier , who was the lyricist and original performer; the music was written by his brother Charles Ingle . The song was popularised by Shirley Temple 's performance in the 1939 film A Little Princess The street is mentioned multiple times in the Madness song "Calling Cards", a song about running an illegitimate business "in a sorting office in

2880-570: The Peckham Manor House , rebuilt in 1672 by Sir Thomas Bond were particularly noticeable and can be seen on the Rocque map of 1746 . The manor house was sacked in 1688, as its then owner Sir Henry Bond was a Roman Catholic and staunch supporter of James II . The house was finally demolished in 1797 for the formation of Peckham Hill Street, as the Shard family developed the area. Today Shard's Terrace,

2960-628: The River Thames. The road begins at the Bricklayers Arms roundabout, where it meets the New Kent Road , Tower Bridge Road , and Great Dover Street . It runs southeast past Burgess Park, Christ Church, Peckham and the railway line from Peckham Rye to South Bermondsey . Just east of the railway bridge, the road crosses the boundary between the London boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham , where

3040-544: The Thames at London Bridge. The Inter III was one of the most important Roman roads in Britain, linking London with Canterbury and the Channel ports at Richborough ( Rutupiae ); Dover ( Dubris ) and Lympne ( Lemanis ). Pilgrims , as documented in Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales , travelled along the road from London and Southwark on their way to Canterbury. In 1415, the road was a scene of celebrations for soldiers returning from

3120-478: The area became an archetypal London sink estate . As a result, the area was subjected to a £290 million regeneration programme in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After the beginning of the regeneration, the estate gained nationwide notoriety in the media when 10-year-old Nigerian resident Damilola Taylor was stabbed to death on the estate on 27 November 2000. A gang operating in the area is the Peckham Boys . In

3200-493: The area, with the area being dubbed "Little Lagos" as a result. As of 2011, the whole Peckham area had a Nigerian-born population of 5,250 people. A traditional London working class community now coexists with communities that have their origins in the Caribbean , China , India , Ghana , Zimbabwe , Nigeria , Somalia , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Turkey , Eastern Europe and Vietnam . As well as these communities there has been

3280-579: The areas where riots took place during the 2011 England riots . Peckham was home to the Peckham Black Women's Centre until 1990, and to the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre from 1992 to 1995. In 2024 a Rainbow Plaque commemorating the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre was unveiled on Bellenden Road . Since the 1990s the European Union has invested in the regeneration of the area; partly funding

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3360-605: The award-winning Peckham Library , a new town square and new housing to replace the North Peckham Estate. State funding is being provided to improve the housing stock and renovate the streets. This includes funding for public arts projects like the Tom Phillips mosaics on the wall of the Peckham Experiment restaurant. 1994 saw the completion of the Peckham Arch designed by architects Troughton McAslan and funded in part by

3440-498: The block that contains Manze's Pie and Mash shop, and the western side of Peckham Hill Street represent this Georgian planned expansion. The village was the last stopping point for many cattle drovers taking their livestock for sale in London. The drovers stayed in the local inns (such as the Red Cow ) while the cattle were safely secured overnight in holding pens. Most of the villagers were agricultural or horticultural workers but with

3520-474: The buildings had not been strengthened in the early seventies. The estate is within the Old Kent Road Opportunity Area. A scheme is in place to convert the disused garages into a community and training centre with space for small workshops. Peckham Peckham ( / ˈ p ɛ k əm / PEK -əm ) is a district in south-east London , within the London Borough of Southwark . It

3600-621: The characteristics of an urban town centre, and consequently large retail parks more in character with out-of-town schemes have been developed including a large Asda superstore, B&Q store, Halfords , Magnet and PC World . Southwark Council have begun consultations on plans to redevelop much of the area, known as the Old Kent Road Area Action Plan. This master plan would mimic similar regeneration projects in other London neighbourhoods such as Elephant & Castle , Nine Elms and Canada Water . The consultations centre on

3680-458: The city and the docks. Housing for this socio-economic group filled almost all the remaining fields except the Rye. In 1868 the vestry of Camberwell St Giles bought the Rye to keep it as common land . Responding to concerns about the dangerous overcrowding of the common on holidays the vestry bought the adjacent Homestall Farm (the last farm in the area) in 1894 and opened this as Peckham Rye Park. With

3760-459: The construction of the tramway in 1871. Camberwell Public Library No. 1, which later became the Livesey Museum for Children was designed by Sir George Livesey in 1890. The road's southern section remained residential throughout the 19th century. Nos. 864, 866 and 880–884 were constructed by John Lamb in 1815, and feature Ammonite capitals , ornamental features resembling fossils,

3840-410: The early 1990s Peckham was a centre of underground music partly due to a large squat known as The Dolehouse in a disused, two-floor DHSS building near Peckham High Street. The building was already known for having featured in the cover shot of a 1980s pictorial biography of 1960s' mods, featuring them on their customised scooters outside the then Camberwell Labour Exchange. In 1989 the squatters adopted

3920-528: The early 19th century, with the section from Borough High Street to the Bricklayers Arms junction retaining the name Kent Street until it was renamed Tabard Street in 1877. The bridge at St Thomas-a-Watering over the River Neckinger was at the junction with what is now Old Kent Road and Shorncliffe Road (previously Thomas Street), and marked the boundary of the Archbishop of Canterbury's authority over

4000-475: The early growth of the suburbs an increasing number worked in the brick industry that exploited the local London Clay . In the early 18th century nonconformist preacher Samuel Chandler was minister in Peckham. In 1767 William Blake visited Peckham Rye and had a vision of an angel in a tree. In 1993, at the request of the Dulwich Festival, artist Stan Peskett painted a mural of Blake's vision next to

4080-483: The ethnic and cultural distribution in the other four wards. Muriel Spark 's novel The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) is set in the area. Peckham was the setting of the television sitcom Only Fools and Horses in its run as a regular series from 1981 to 1991, as well as Christmas specials until 2003. The majority of the scenes were filmed in Bristol, and around other parts of London. The spin-off, Rock & Chips ,

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4160-457: The even numbered floors, and a second lift serves floor 12 and the odd numbered floors. They are the form of an H, there are two flats on each of the long (28m) walls connected by a narrow central service area where one finds the lifts and stairs and a disused drying room. The exterior concrete panels are faced with Norfolk flint . The design is in the Scandinavian point block genre, as found on

4240-407: The first London borough to provide municipal Victorian-style Turkish baths in addition to the more usual Russian vapour baths. The building was designed to include two swimming pools, each measuring 75 feet (23 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m). In 1913–4, they were used by 188,336 private bathers, 14,687 of whom used its Russian, Turkish, or special electric baths. The 1923 Municipal Year Book noted

4320-576: The first to use pre-arranged bus stops, which helped them to run to a reliable timetable. His services expanded to cover much of London until his horses were requisitioned for the Army in the First World War . During the mid-19th century, housing had spread north and west of Peckham Rye. The area in the north, towards Old Kent Road , on land previously owned by the Hill family (from whom the name Peckham Hill Street

4400-557: The grandeur of nearby Nunhead Cemetery , which was one of the original London necropoleis , and once nearing capacity it was replaced by Camberwell New Cemetery on Brenchley Gardens. Brenchley Gardens Park follows the route of the old line to the Crystal Palace culminating at the High Level station. The park runs behind Marmora Road and the remains of the embankment then continues along Wood Vale where flats were built on it. The line

4480-412: The influx of younger residents with money to spend Rye Lane became a major shopping street. Jones & Higgins opened a small shop in 1867 (on the corner of Rye Lane and Peckham High Street) that became the best known department store in south London for many years. It closed in the 1980s. In 1870 George Gibson Bussey moved to Peckham and set up a firm described as "Firearms, Ammunition & Shooting” at

4560-540: The library at Wells Way in Burgess Park, the girls grammar school at Bricklayers Arms ( St Saviour's and St Olave's School ) and the Peabody Estate (Dover Flats and Waleran Flats). The last significant remnant of their involvement is the detached White House between the Peabody Estate buildings, built by Searles in the 1790s. The original railings and ironwork survive in the current development at No. 155. The house

4640-543: The manors of Southwark and Walworth . It was the limit of the City of London's authority in 1550, having been ratified in several charters and marked by a boundary stone set into the wall of the old fire station that marked the first resting place for pilgrims while travelling to Canterbury. A nearby public house, the Thomas a Becket, at the corner of Albany Road was named after this. Henry V met soldiers returning from Agincourt at this location in 1415. Charles II 's journey along

4720-525: The name Dole House Crew and along with another local group of squatters called the "Green Circus", held regular gigs/parties in the building. They moved on to many other South East London venues after the Peckham Dolehouse was evicted in late October 1990. A squatted social centre called the Spike Surplus Scheme ran from 1998 until being evicted by the council in 2009. Peckham was one of

4800-477: The new homes that were a political necessity in the 1960s. It was this technique was used at Ronan Point which partly collapsed in 1968 following a gas explosion. The blocks were constructed for Greater London Council using the Larsen-Nielsen method. They are 13 storeys high and contain 56 flats, all except those on the top floor accessible by a lift and stairs, the top floor only by stairs. One lift serves

4880-585: The newly created Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell and County of London in 1889. In 1965, the borough was abolished and the area then fell roughly within of the newly created London Borough of Southwark. Peckham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Pecheham . It was held by the Bishop of Lisieux from Odo of Bayeux . Its Domesday assets were: 2 hides . It had land for 1 plough , 2 acres (8,100 m ) of meadow . It rendered 30 shillings (£1.50). The manor

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4960-441: The origin as from the Old English * pēac and hām meaning ‘homestead by a peak or hill’. The name of the river is a back-formation from the name of the village. Peckham Rye is from Old English rīth , stream. Following the Norman Conquest , the manor of Peckham was granted to Odo of Bayeux and held by the Bishop of Lisieux . It was described as being a hamlet on the road from Camberwell to Greenwich . Peckham came within

5040-420: The ring of Victorian cemeteries that were built to alleviate the overcrowding of churchyards that was experienced with the rapid expansion of London in the 19th century. The Stone House at its main entrance was used as a film location for Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1970), adapted from the Joe Orton play. It was gutted by fire in the mid-1970s and rebuilt some years later. Camberwell Old Cemetery did not have

5120-552: The road ahead becomes New Cross Road. The road appears on a map to form a boundary between Walworth , and Peckham to the south and Bermondsey to the north, although the Bermondsey boundary runs along Rolls Road. Old Kent Road, one of the oldest roads in England, was part of a Celtic ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and recorded as Inter III on the Antonine Itinerary . The Anglo-Saxons named it "Wæcelinga Stræt" ( Watling Street ). It joined Stane Street , another ancient and Roman road, at Southwark before crossing

5200-450: The road on his way to reclaim the throne in May 1660 was described by contemporary writer and diarist John Evelyn as "a triumph of about 20,000 horse and foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with inexpressible joy". St Thomas-a-Watering became a place of execution for criminals whose bodies were left hanging from the gibbets on the principal route from the southeast to London. On 8 July 1539, Griffith Clerke, Vicar of Wandsworth

5280-468: The show. The E4 show Youngers is filmed and set in Peckham. In the television series Foyle's War , Series Eight, Adam Wainright, Samantha's husband, is elected in 1947 as Labour Member of Parliament for the (fictional) constituency of 'West Peckham'. Four of the 12 main characters in Bernardine Evaristo 's novel Girl, Woman, Other are connected to the fictive Peckham School for Boys and Girls as either teachers or pupils. The film Rye Lane

5360-401: The street is still partly rural in nature. A public garden on the New Kent Road is named David Copperfield's Garden to mark a spot where the character stopped on his journey and a quote from his aunt is inlaid on the path through the park. In 1985, the BBC arts series Arena included a documentary about the road. The road is mentioned in the title of the music hall song " Knocked 'em in

5440-494: The wake of the Grenfell Tower fire , that the blocks had not been strengthened, as required after the Ronan Point collapse in 1968. The estate comprises houses and maisonettes on Hoyland Close, Commercial Way, Bird in the Bush Road, Naylor Road, Windspoint Drive, Ethnard Road and Pencraig Way. There are four thirteen-storey H-shaped tower blocks: Bromyard House, Sarnesfield House, Peterchurch House and Skenfrith House. The Ledbury blocks were constructed between 1968 and 1970 using

5520-445: The walls in the tower blocks. The Ledbury Action Group was formed to voice these concerns to Southwark Council , but that little was done until the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower Fire . After the Grenfell fire, authorities across Great Britain performed additional fire safety checks on all social housing tower blocks. In a block like Skenfrith House, this concentrated on fire doors, evacuation procedures and compartmentalisation: could

5600-463: Was acquired by the H. J. Heinz Company in 1905 as their first UK manufacturing base. The southern end of Peckham was the location for the railway line that once served the Crystal Palace in Sydenham . Though the line was eventually dismantled due to the collapse of the embankment into the gardens of Marmora Road it is still possible to see large sections of it. The flats on Wood Vale and the full length of Brenchley Gardens trace its route. Close by

5680-399: Was also set in Peckham in the 1960s. The television situation comedy Desmond's , made by Channel 4 , as well as its spin-off, Porkpie , were filmed and set in Peckham. Also, the comedies Meet the Adebanjos and The Tboy Show (both directed by Debra Odutuyo) were set in Peckham. A 30-minute musical called We The Ragamuffin was set in Peckham, and filmed in the area, mainly on

5760-573: Was closed in 1954 following a decline in its use after the destruction of the Crystal Palace in 1936 and due to slippage in the structure of the embankment. In the 1930s George Scott Williamson and Innes Pearse opened the Pioneer Health Centre in Queens Road. They planned to conduct a large experiment into the effect of environment on health. ' The Peckham Experiment ' recruited 950 families who paid one shilling (equivalent to £4 in 2023)

5840-450: Was created as part of the County of London Plan in 1943, which recommended new parkland in the area. Several tower blocks were built along the road, although some earlier 19th-century buildings, such as Nos. 360–386, survived. Public houses on Old Kent Road have been closing since the 1980s. At one point, there were 39 pubs. The Dun Cow at No. 279 opened in 1856 and was well known as

5920-468: Was derived) was initially known as Peckham New Town , although it would later become synonymous with Peckham in general (and the "New Town" was abandoned). In the area west of Peckham Rye Common and Peckham Rye Park , many large houses were built. Peckham Rye railway station was opened, in 1865. With the arrival of the railway and the introduction of horse-drawn trams about ten years later, Peckham became accessible to artisans and clerical staff working in

6000-424: Was founded in 1833. It serviced an area of more than 13 square miles (34 km ), including parts of Southwark, Croydon , Newington , Lambeth and Streatham . Expansion of the gas works in 1868 required the demolition of Christ Church, Camberwell, which was built in 1838 and rebuilt on the opposite side of the road by Livesey. The gas works was managed by Livesey from 1840 until his death in 1908. A statue of him

6080-499: Was hanged and quartered here along with his chaplain and two others, for not acknowledging the royal supremacy of Henry VIII . The Welsh Protestant martyr John Penry was also executed here on 6 April 1593; a small side street nearby is named after him. The Catholic martyrs John Jones and John Rigby were executed in 1598 and 1600 respectively. In the early-18th century, the Rolls family of The Grange in nearby Bermondsey acquired

6160-582: Was later occupied by Searles and became the management office of the Rolls family trust estates. The last of the male Rolls's was the Hon Charles Stewart Rolls who was the pioneer motorist and aviator who formed the Rolls-Royce partnership with Henry Royce . The opening of the Surrey Canal in 1811 changed the character of the road from rural to industrial. Tanneries were established along it and

6240-456: Was owned by King Henry I , who gave it to his son Robert, Earl of Gloucester . When Robert married the heiress to Camberwell the two manors were united under royal ownership. King John probably hunted at Peckham and local anecdotes suggest that the right to an annual fair was granted to celebrate a particularly good day's sport. The fair grew to be a rowdy major event lasting three weeks until its abolition in 1827. Peckham became popular as

6320-460: Was popular on its completion for offering a high quality and modern standard of living. However, high unemployment and a lack of economic opportunities led to urban decay and a period of decline in the late 1970s. The North Peckham Estate became one of the most deprived residential areas in Western Europe. Vandalism, graffiti, arson attacks, burglaries, robberies and muggings were commonplace, and

6400-431: Was sited in the rear courtyard of Livesey Museum, opposite the works. During the 19th and 20th century, the industrial and working class makeup of Old Kent Road made it a haven for organised crime and violence. The notorious Richardson Gang operated in the area, and boxing clubs became popular. Lennox Lewis ' manager Frank Maloney grew up in the area and recalled, "If you weren't into crime, people thought you were

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