Addington Square is a Georgian and Regency garden square in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

which is named after the early 19th century prime minister

Henry Addington Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (30 May 175715 February 1844) was an English Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804. Addington is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, an ...

History

Addington Square is an unusually well-preserved

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

with the houses that make up the east, south and west sides of the square listed Grade II. On the north side is the Southwark City Tennis Club / Burgess Park Tennis Centre. Because three sides of the square back onto

Burgess Park Burgess Park is a public park situated in Camberwell the London Borough of Southwark, and is close to Walworth to the north, Bermondsey to the east and Peckham to the south. At , it is one of the largest parks in South London. Unlike most ot ...

and there is no through traffic, it is a peaceful space popular with lunchtime office workers. This controlled access, period buildings and proximity to central London also make it popular with film crews. In the 1960s, the square was the base of the

Richardson Gang The Richardson Gang was an English crime gang based in South London, England in the 1960s. Also known as the "Torture Gang", they had a reputation as some of London's most sadistic gangsters. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth ...

, a south London rival to the

Kray twins Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...

. They ran a private drinking club from the square, which had "Mad"

Frankie Fraser Frank Davidson Fraser (13 December 1923 – 26 November 2014), better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences.

and two dancing bears in residence. According to the gang's

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

trial in 1967, the club was used to kangaroo court and torture rivals. The bears escaped onto Camberwell Road one night. More than a century earlier, one of the founders of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, Robert Hunter had been born in the square in 1844, and it was also the home of Liberal politician

Charles Masterman Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters. He worked closely with such Liberal leaders as David Lloyd George and Winston Church ...

. Construction of the square in the early 1800s came with the

Grand Surrey Canal The Grand Surrey Canal was a canal constructed in south London, England during the early 19th century. It opened to the Old Kent Road in 1807, to Camberwell in 1810, and to Peckham in 1826. Its main purpose was to transport cargo, primarily ti ...

which terminated at Camberwell Wharf lying on the north side of the square. The first house in the square (now number 48) was completed by 1810 and owned by Nathaniel Simmons who was the engineer to the Grand Surrey Canal Company. Most of the rest of the square was built by 1827, and the square was complete by 1844. The 1851 census shows 32 houses with 179 residents and 33 servants, an occupancy rate of 6.2 persons per house.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

points out in his ''

The Buildings of England ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' that as the construction was completed over a period of time (unlike most North London squares) "uniformity was abandoned" leading to "the pleasant irregular early c19 houses and terraces around Addington Square." It was completed as a private square in 1855. By 1897 the square had become derelict, but was renovated and opened for public use; the

Metropolitan Public Gardens Association The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association (also known as the MPGA) is a charity in London for the purposes of the preservation of public parks and gardens, established in 1882. It facilitated the creation of new public open spaces, including f ...

donated six seats in 1898. There were also public baths and a swimming pool on the north side until the turn of the 19th/20th centuries, and a scandal involving a parson in bathhouse activities is commemorated in a rare satirical poem found in the library of Cornell University. In the late 1930s the King George's Fields Foundation gave a grant of £1,000 towards the cost of £5,363 of acquiring the former swimming pool and turning it into a public garden.''King George's Fields Foundation, Final Report'', 1965, p. 27 In 2008 it was used as the location for the electronic duo

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, their ...

's music video for their single "

Happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

", which features on their fourth studio album, ''

Seventh Tree ''Seventh Tree'' is the fourth studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp, released on 22 February 2008 by Mute Records. It was named after a dream Alison Goldfrapp had about a "very large tree". Taking inspiration from paganism and ...

''. The video focused on a young man in a white suit joyfully jumping down the streets in Addington Square, and featured the duo in a variety of cameos.

References

{{Coord, 51.481, N, 0.092, W, display=title, dim:500 Streets in the London Borough of Southwark Camberwell