Kennington 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
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 ...
, 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 south of
Charing Cross in
Inner London
Inner London is the name for the group of London boroughs which form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was u ...
and is identified as a local centre in the
London Plan
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority.
The regional planning document was first pu ...
. It was a
royal manor
The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...
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:
the Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
cricket ground, the
Imperial War Museum, and
Kennington Park. Its population at the
United Kingdom Census 2011
A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...
was 15,106. Kennington is served by Kennington Police Station.
History
Toponymy
Kennington appears in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
of 1086 as ''Chenintune''. It is recorded as ''Kenintone'' in 1229 and ''Kenyngton'' in 1263. Mills (2001) believes the name to be
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
meaning "farmstead or estate associated with a man called Cēna". Another explanation is that it means "place of the King", or "town of the King".
Early history
The presence of a
tumulus
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones bu ...
, 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
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...
. It contained: 1
hide and 3
virgate
The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( la, virgāta was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equa ...
s; 3
ploughs, of
meadow
A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...
. It rendered £3 annually. The manor of Kennington was divided from the manor of
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
by the
River Effra
The River Effra is a former set of streams in south London, England, culverted and used mainly for storm sewerage. It had been a tributary of the Thames. Its catchment waters, where not drained to aquifer soakaways and surface water drains, ha ...
, a tributary of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
. A smaller river, the
River Neckinger
The River Neckinger is a reduced subterranean river that rises in Southwark and flows approximately through that part of London to St Saviour's Dock where it enters the Thames. What remains of the river is enclosed and runs underground and most ...
, 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 the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...
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
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...
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 was the occasional residence of
Henry IV and
Henry VI.
Henry VII was at Kennington before his
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
.
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
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
, Duke of Cornwall: see
Dukes of Cornwall
Duke of Cornwall is a title in the Peerage of England, traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning British monarch, previously the English monarch. The duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in England and was established by a roya ...
). The Duchy of Cornwall maintains a substantial property portfolio within the area.
18th century
![St Mark's Church, Kennington 20 Feb 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/St_Mark%27s_Church%2C_Kennington_20_Feb_2022.jpg)
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
, war =
, image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
, active ...
were hanged, drawn and quartered at Kennington Common.
The area 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
Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side.
The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the ...
was constructed. In 1751,
Kennington Road was built from
Kennington Common
Kennington Common was a swathe of common land mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth. It was one of the earliest venues for cricket around London, with matches played between 1724 and 1785.G B Buckley, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'' ...
(as it then was; now Kennington Park) to Westminster Bridge Road.
![Kennington Road - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Kennington_Road_-_geograph.org.uk_-_175708.jpg)
By 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
Kennington Park Road is a main road in south-east London, England, and is part of the A3 trunk road. It runs from Newington Butts at its Y-junction with Kennington Lane, south-west to the Oval, where the A3 continues as Clapham Road, towards ...
in the 1790s.
A fraudster from
Camberwell, named Badger, was the last person to be hanged at Kennington Common, in 1799.
19th century
The modern street pattern of Kennington 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
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 ...
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 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, 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.
![Walcot Square Lambeth - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Walcot_Square_Lambeth_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1635424.jpg)
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, was built in 1836 for the
Licensed Victuallers' School
The Licensed Victuallers' School (LVS Ascot) is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school for pupils aged 4 to 18, situated near Ascot in the English county of Berkshire. It is operated by the Licensed Trade Charity, and parents w ...
. The first stone was laid by
Viscount Melbourne
Viscount Melbourne, of Kilmore in the County of Cavan, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland held by the Lamb family.
This family descended from Matthew Lamb, who represented Stockbridge and Peterborough in the House of Commons. In 1755 h ...
, in the name of
King William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...
.
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
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
in ''
Das Kapital
''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...
'').
The church of
St John 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
George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccl ...
(architect of the
Royal Courts of Justice
The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...
on
Strand, London), and was built between 1871 and 1874.
![St john divine kennington nave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/St_john_divine_kennington_nave.jpg)
The
Durning Library, at
Kennington Cross
Kennington Cross is a locality in the London Borough of Lambeth.
It is at the junction of two major roads, Kennington Lane that links Vauxhall Cross with the Elephant and Castle and Kennington Road that runs from Waterloo to Kennington Park.
At ...
, was designed in 1889 by S. Sidney R. J. Smith, architect of the Tate Gallery (as it then was; now
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
), and 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 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
Kennington is a London Underground station on Kennington Park Road in Kennington within the London Borough of Southwark. The station is at the junction of the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern line to the north and the Morden and ...
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 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. 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.
20th-century history
![Kennington War Memorial, Kennington Park, London SE11 - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Kennington_War_Memorial%2C_Kennington_Park%2C_London_SE11_-_geograph.org.uk_-_391636.jpg)
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 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
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 t ...
(as it then was) in 1908. The
Old Town Hall
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
* Old, Baranya, Hungary
* Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...
, built on Kennington Road as a vestry hall for 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
The Countryside Alliance (CA) is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as farming, rural services, small businesses and field sports, aiming to "Give Rural Britain a voice".
History
The Countryside Alliance ...
until September 2015.
In 1913,
Maud Pember Reeves
Maud Pember Reeves (24 December 1865 – 13 September 1953) (born Magdalene Stuart Robison) was a suffragist, socialist, feminist, writer and member of the Fabian Society. She spent most of her life in New Zealand and Britain.
Early life
Re ...
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
holive over a morass of such intolerable poverty that they unite instinctively to save those known to them from falling into it".
![Courtenay Square - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Courtenay_Square_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1182357.jpg)
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 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
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
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 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
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...
along with the improvements to the
City and South London Railway
The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...
to form the
Northern line
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...
. Because tram and bus routes converged at Kennington, in the 1920s St. Mark's became known as the "tramwayman's church", and Kennington was referred to as the "
Clapham Junction
Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea.
Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances during ...
of the southern roads".
By 1926, construction of the
Belgrave Hospital for Children, designed by
Henry Percy Adams
Henry Percy Adams, (October 26, 1865 – April 7, 1930) was an Ipswich-born English architect, and member of the FRIBA .
Early life
Adams's father, Webster Adams (1841–1900), was a surgeon in Ipswich, his mother was Alice Heal (1840–1888) ...
and
Charles Holden
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
, 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 the 1930s, the Duchy of Cornwall continued to redevelop its estate in the district and employed architect
Louis de Soissons
Louis Emanuel Jean Guy de Savoie-Carignan de Soissons CVO RA FRIBA (1890–1962) was the younger son of Charles de Savoie-Carignan , Count de Soissons ( with claimed descent, through an illegitimate son, from Thomas Francis of Savoy, Prin ...
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 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 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 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, 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, 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
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
, 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 the people of Kennington. In the summer months many people from Kennington and further afield play
pétanque
Pétanque (, ; oc, petanca, , also or ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports, along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling. In all of these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls ...
in the centre of the square.
21st-century gentrification
In recent years, Kennington has experienced
gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...
, principally because of its location and good transport links to the
West End and the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
. In ''London: A Social History'',
Roy Porter describes "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 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
London stock brick is the type of handmade brick which was used for the majority of building work in London and South East England until the growth in the use of Flettons and other machine-made bricks in the early 20th century. Its distinctive ...
, typically three storeys or higher, fronting 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 the population mix.
Governance
The local authority is
Lambeth London Borough Council
Lambeth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, and one of the 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council meets at Lambeth Town Ha ...
.
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
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
constituency, which includes Kennington, is currently the
Labour Co-operative
Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party.
Candidat ...
MP
Florence Eshalomi
Florence Dauta Eshalomi ('' née'' Nosegbe; born 18 September 1980) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Vauxhall since 2019. She previously served as the Member of the London As ...
, who has been the MP since December 2019. It is within the
Lambeth and Southwark London Assembly constituency.
Geography
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 the district vary. The modern layout of Kennington reflects development as a
linear settlement
A linear settlement is a (normally small to medium-sized) settlement or group of buildings that is formed in a long line. Many of these settlements are formed along a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Others form due to physical re ...
. Within the London
post town
A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...
, 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
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
,
Waterloo,
Walworth
Walworth () is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross.
Major streets in Walworth include the Old ...
,
Newington (usually known as
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...
),
Stockwell,
Camberwell,
Brixton, and
Lambeth North.
Culture and community
Kennington 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
The NRS social grades are a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. They were originally developed by the National Readership Survey (NRS) to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider appl ...
spectrum.
![Brightly Coloured Shops at Kennington Cross - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Brightly_Coloured_Shops_at_Kennington_Cross_-_geograph.org.uk_-_575955.jpg)
Kennington is within the
Division bell zone for the
Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...
. This means that, at least in theory, it is within eight minutes from the division lobbies of the Houses of Parliament. A large number of members of parliament and civil servants live within the area. An article in ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' described Kennington as "the politicians' enclave across the Thames from Westminster"; and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' observed that "Kennington ... is the suburb that has featured the most in the MPs' expenses scandal.
Hazel Blears
Hazel Anne Blears (born 14 May 1956) is a former British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford and Eccles, previously Salford, from 1997 to 2015.
One of 101 female Labour MPs elected at the 1997 g ...
and
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...
are only two of 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
The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority.
The regional planning document was first pu ...
. There is a range of local shops, restaurants, cafés and estate agents, and there is a post office. There is a
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
supermarket on Kennington Lane.
The area has 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 – a popular local venue for watching films and learning about the history of cinema.
A weekly
farmers' market
A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...
takes place on a Saturday from about 10 am to 3 pm at St. Mark's Church opposite
Oval tube station
Oval is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is on the Northern line between Kennington and Stockwell stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the City and South London Railway ...
.
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
Founded in 1854 as the Lambeth School of Art, the City and Guilds of London Art School is a small specialist art college located in central London, England. Originally founded as a government art school, it is now an independent, not-for-profit ...
, one of the longest-established art colleges in the country, has been at Kennington Park Road since 1879.
Kennington in literature and film
* In 1853, ''
Bleak House
''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...
'', by
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
, was published. Mr Guppy, the law clerk, takes a “commodious tenement” on Walcot Square.
* In 1915, ''
Of Human Bondage
''Of Human Bondage'' is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel is generally agreed to be Maugham's masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although he stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography; though much in i ...
'', by
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
, was published. Philip Carey, the protagonist, finds lodgings in the "vulgar respectability" of Kennington.
* In 1945, ''
London Belongs to Me'', by
Norman Collins
Norman Richard Collins (3 October 1907 – 6 September 1982) was a British writer, and later a radio and television executive, who became one of the major figures behind the establishment of the Independent Television (ITV) network in the ...
, was published. The central setting for the novel is a boarding-house at 10, Dulcimer Street, Kennington.
* Scenes from the film ''
Passport to Pimlico
''Passport to Pimlico'' is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starring Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius and written by T. E. B. Clarke. The story concerns the u ...
'' were filmed in and around Kennington. The film was released in 1949.
* Scenes from the 1990 film ''
The Krays'' were filmed in Kennington.
* A pub, "The Jolly Gardeners", on Black Prince Road, was adopted for
Snatch and cast as "The Drowned Trout", in 2000.
* In 2001, ''
London Boulevard
''London Boulevard'' is a 2010 British independent crime film released in the United Kingdom on 26 November 2010. It is based on Ken Bruen's novel of 2001 of the same name, with screenplay and direction by William Monahan, marking his directori ...
'', by
Ken Bruen
Ken Bruen (born 1951) is an Irish writer of hard-boiled and noir crime fiction.
Biography Education and teaching career
Born in Galway, he was educated at Gormanston College, County Meath and later at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned ...
, was published. Kennington is a setting within the novel, and features in the 2010 film of the same name.
* In the 2008 film ''
Traitor
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
'', Don Cheadle's character Samir Horn is shown exiting Kennington tube station and walking up Kennington Park Road in the direction of Oval.
* In the 2010 film ''
The Ghost Writer
''The Ghost Writer'' is a 1979 novel by the American author Philip Roth. It is the first of Roth's novels narrated by Nathan Zuckerman, one of the author's putative fictional alter egos, and constitutes the first book in his '' Zuckerman Bound ...
'', fictitious former Prime Minister Adam Lang is revealed through old letters to have started his political career while living at an address in Kennington.
* Scenes from the 2011 film ''
The Iron Lady'' were filmed in Kennington.
* The 2011 film ''
Attack the Block'' was set in Kennington.
* Scenes from the 2014 film ''
Kingsman: The Secret Service'' were filmed at The Black Prince pub in Kennington.
Landmarks
Kennington Park
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 a place for executions, a Speakers' Corner for public gatherings for political and religious purposes, and a place for entertainment and sporting events.
In the 1730s,
Methodists John Wesley and
George Whitefield preached to thousands on Kennington Common. In 1746 the Surrey County Gallows at the southern end of the Common was used for the execution of nine leaders of the
Jacobite rebellion of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took pl ...
. The Common was also where the
Chartists
Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, ...
gathered for their biggest demonstration in 1848. "
The Gymnastic Society
The Gymnastic Society was an eighteenth-century London sports club for the pursuit of football and wrestling. It is arguably the first football club.
Background
The club was established in London by gentlemen from Westmorland and Cumberland in ...
" met regularly at Kennington Common during the second half of the eighteenth century to play football. The Society – sometimes claimed to be the world's first football club – consisted of London-based natives of
Cumberland and
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
.
![Gathering for a rally in Kennington Park - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Gathering_for_a_rally_in_Kennington_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1039082.jpg)
The tradition of political gathering at Kennington Park in advance of marches upon
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
returned in the 1970s. In 1986, the Park was the location for the
Gay Pride
LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to s ...
march of that year, and for several years thereafter. On 31 March 1990, some 200,000 people amassed at Kennington Park to march upon
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...
, in protest against the
Community Charge
The Community Charge, commonly known as the poll tax, was a system of taxation introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government in replacement of domestic rates in Scotland from 1989, prior to its introduction in England and Wales from 1990. It pr ...
. This, during the course of the day, escalated into mass disturbances: the
Poll Tax Riots
The poll tax riots were a series of riots in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), introduced by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The largest pr ...
. In April 1997, a march organised by
Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim the Streets also known as RTS, are a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterise the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalisa ...
set off from the Park for central London; and in May 2004, the Park was the starting point for a march to the Cannabis Festival at
Brockwell Park
Brockwell Park is a 50.8 hectare (125.53 acres) park located south of Brixton, in Herne Hill and Tulse Hill in south London. It is bordered by the roads Brixton Water Lane, Norwood Road, Tulse Hill and Dulwich Road.
The park commands views of th ...
. In March 2007, the
Archbishop of Canterbury preached at Kennington Park to mark the passing of the
Slave Trade Act 1807
The Slave Trade Act 1807, officially An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not abolish the practice of slavery, it ...
. The Park had been a significant location for important anti-slave trade rallies. In March 2011, the Park was the South London starting point for a feeder march to the
2011 anti-cuts protest in London
The 2011 anti-cuts protest in London, also known as the March for the Alternative, was a demonstration held in central London on 26 March 2011. Organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), it was a protest march against planned public spendi ...
. In November 2012, the Park was the location of the "Demo 2012" student rally against higher tuition fees.
Kennington Oval (The Oval)
![The Oval Pavilion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/The_Oval_Pavilion.jpg)
The Oval, officially currently rebranded as "The Kia Oval", is the home ground for
Surrey County Cricket Club and hosts the final
Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
of the English summer season. The Oval was the first ground in the United Kingdom to host Test cricket, was the location for the
England v Scotland representative matches, the first ever international football match, the first
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
final in 1872, and held the second ever
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
international match between England and Scotland in 1872. England's unfortunate performance against Australia here in 1882 gave rise to
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...
. The Oval has been labelled with the sobriquet "the Grand Old Lady" in recognition of the significant role the ground has played in the development of modern sport.
The presence of the Oval as a large green space available for cricket is down to an unrealised street plan. For many years prior to its use as a cricket ground, this area was used as a cabbage garden.
Stane Street
Kennington Park Road, which continues beyond Kennington as Clapham Road, is a long and straight stretch of road because it follows the old Roman
Stane Street. This ran down from the Roman
London Bridge to Chichester via the gap in the
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...
at
Box Hill near
Dorking. Another Roman road branched off opposite Kennington Road and went through what is now Kennington Park and down the Brixton Road. It carried on through the North Downs near Caterham to Hassocks, just north of the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...
.
Transport
Rail
Kennington is served by several
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
stations.
Kennington tube station
Kennington is a London Underground station on Kennington Park Road in Kennington within the London Borough of Southwark. The station is at the junction of the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern line to the north and the Morden an ...
is on the
Northern line
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...
, providing the area with direct connections northbound to
Central London, the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
and
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
. Some trains terminate at Kennington (on the
Charing Cross branch), but others continue southbound to
Morden
Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester ...
via
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history ...
and
South Wimbledon
South Wimbledon is an area of Wimbledon in south-west London in the London Borough of Merton, England.
History Toponymy
It is marked on an Ordnance Survey map of 1876 as New Wimbledon and on a 1907 map as South Wimbledon. The name is derived fr ...
.
Oval tube station
Oval is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is on the Northern line between Kennington and Stockwell stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the City and South London Railway ...
is also on the Northern line.
Other nearby stations include
Lambeth North on the
Bakerloo line
The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partly ...
and
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
on the
Victoria line
The Victoria line is a London Underground line that runs between in south London and in the north-east, via the West End. It is printed in light blue on the Tube map and is one of the only two lines on the network to run completely underg ...
. Vauxhall is also on the
National Rail
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...
network. All trains are operated by
South Western Railway in or out of
Waterloo.
The Northern line, Charing Cross branch is being extended from Kennington to new stations
Nine Elms and
Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned Grade II* listed coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) ...
. The extension is due to open in September 2021.
Bus
London Buses routes
3,
36,
59,
133,
155
Year 155 ( CLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 908 ''Ab urbe condita'' ...
,
159,
185
Year 185 (Roman numerals, CLXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lascivius and Atilius (or, less frequently, year 938 ...
,
196
Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita ...
,
333,
360,
415
__NOTOC__
Year 415 ( CDXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, year 1168 ' ...
,
436
__NOTOC__
Year 436 ( CDXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Isodorus and Senator (or, less frequently, year 1189 ' ...
serve Kennington. Routes 36 and 159 operate 24 hours, daily.
Routes
N3,
N109,
N133,
N136 and
N155 also serve the area at night.
Road
Several major routes pass through the area, including:
*
A3 (
Kennington Park Road
Kennington Park Road is a main road in south-east London, England, and is part of the A3 trunk road. It runs from Newington Butts at its Y-junction with Kennington Lane, south-west to the Oval, where the A3 continues as Clapham Road, towards ...
): northeast towards
Elephant & Castle
The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...
,
London Bridge and the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
; southwest towards
Stockwell,
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history ...
,
Guildford and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
.
*
A23 (
Kennington Road/
Brixton Road): northbound towards
Lambeth,
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
and
Waterloo; southbound towards
Brixton,
Streatham and
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...
(via the
M23).
* A202 road, A202 (Kennington Oval/Camberwell New Road): northwest towards
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
, Victoria, London, Victoria and Hyde Park Corner; southeast towards
Camberwell, Peckham, New Cross and destinations in Kent.
* A3204 road, A3204 (Kennington Lane): northeast to the A3 and Elephant & Castle; southeast to Vauxhall.
Cycling
![140-162, Kennington Park Road Se11](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/140-162%2C_Kennington_Park_Road_Se11.jpg)
Cycling infrastructure in the area is managed by Transport for London (TfL) and the
London Borough of Lambeth. Kennington is linked to other areas of London by several List of cycle routes in London, cycle routes, including:
* List of cycle routes in London, Cycle Superhighway 5 (CS5): Kennington Oval to Pimlico via
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
. The route is unbroken, signposted and runs on segregated cycle track. As the route intersects with List of cycle routes in London, CS8, Kennington is linked to
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
and Battersea on an entirely traffic-free cycle route.
* List of cycle routes in London, Cycle Superhighway 7 (CS7): unbroken, signposted cycle route running alongside the
A3/
Kennington Park Road
Kennington Park Road is a main road in south-east London, England, and is part of the A3 trunk road. It runs from Newington Butts at its Y-junction with Kennington Lane, south-west to the Oval, where the A3 continues as Clapham Road, towards ...
primarily on cycle lanes. The route runs northbound to Southwark Bridge, linking the area to
Elephant & Castle
The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...
,
Waterloo and the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
. Southbound, the route runs directly to Colliers Wood via
Stockwell,
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history ...
and Tooting.
* Quietway, Quietway 5 (Q5): Cycle route on residential streets from Norbury to Waterloo, via
Streatham,
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history ...
, Stockwell, Kennington and
Lambeth. The route is unbroken, but indirect.
* Camberwell New Road: Cycle lanes run in both directions either side of A202 road, A202/Camberwell New Road.
Santander Cycles, a London-wide bicycle-sharing system, operates in Kennington.
Education
There are seven primary schools within the Kennington area:
*Archbishop Sumner School (Church of England)
*Henry Fawcett Primary School
*St. Anne's Primary School (Roman Catholic)
*St. Mark's Primary School (Church of England)
*Vauxhall Primary School
*Walnut Tree Walk Primary School
* Keyworth Primary School
There are two secondary schools within the Kennington area:
*Archbishop Tenison's School (admits boys and girls aged 11-19)
*Lilian Baylis Technology School (admits boys and girls aged 11–16)
Notable people
* William Hogarth, artist, lived in Kennington in the early part of the eighteenth century.
* David Ricardo, the celebrated political economist, lived in Kennington in the 1790s.
* William Blake, artist and visionary, occupied a house at Hercules Road, at the boundary of Kennington and Lambeth, between 1790 and 1800.
* Eliza Cook, author, Chartism, Chartist poet and writer, lived in Kennington in the first half of the nineteenth century.
* William Bligh, Captain of , against whom the Mutiny on the Bounty was brought, occupied a house at Lambeth Road, near the Imperial War Museum. He died in 1817, and was buried at St. Mary's, Lambeth.
* William Hosking, architect and civil engineer, who claimed to have formed the design for the British Museum Reading Room, and was the first Professor of Architecture at King's College London, occupied a house in Walcot Square in the 1840s.
* William Chandler Roberts-Austen, Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen metallurgist – after whom austenite is named – was born in Kennington in 1843.
* William Booth, founder and General of The Salvation Army, found work and lodging at a pawnbroker shop in Kennington Park Road in 1849.
* E. Nesbit, children's author, best known for ''The Railway Children'', was born in Kennington in 1858.
* Samuel Prout, watercolorist, lived from 1849-50 in Kennington Road.
* Felix Slade – a lawyer and philanthropist, who endowed three Slade Professorships of Fine Art at Oxford University, Cambridge University and University College London, and bequeathed most of his art collection to the British Museum – lived and died in Walcot Place, off Kennington Road. He donated a large fountain to Kennington Park – the Slade Memorial Fountain.
* Roy Redgrave, actor, and patriarch of the Redgrave family, Redgrave acting family, was born in Kennington in 1873.
* Vincent van Gogh, artist, lived at Ivy Cottage, 395 Kennington Road, from August to October 1874, and from December 1874 to May 1875.
* Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, British Army Officer (armed forces), officer. Montgomery was born into an Ulster Scots people, Ulster Scots family in Harleyford Street in 1887.
* Charlie Chaplin, actor, born in 1889, grew up in Kennington, and lived in several different houses at different times, Methley Street and Kennington Road.
* Harry Roberts (murderer), Harry Roberts, who was jailed for life for murdering three policemen in the Massacre of Braybrook Street in 1966, was born in Kennington in 1936. He spent 48 years in prison.
* Don Letts, film director and musician, born in 1956, was educated in Kennington.
* Bob Marley, Jamaicans, Jamaican musician, stayed at a property in St. Agnes Place on occasions in the 1970s.
* James Callaghan, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1976, insisted that he did not want to inflict upon his wife the "discomforts" of living at 10 Downing Street, and elected to stay at his flat on Kennington Park Road. He was eventually persuaded, in the interests of security, to move to 10 Downing Street.
* William Tallon, Steward and Page of the Backstairs in the household of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, typically referred to by newspapers as "Backstairs Billy", moved from Clarence House in 2002 to a Duchy of Cornwall flat in Kennington. He died in 2007.
* David Laws, politician, was involved in a controversy concerning a property which he occupied in Kennington.
* Lembit Öpik, politician.
* Kevin Spacey, actor.
* Ted Rogers (comedian), Ted Rogers, comedian and host of 3-2-1
* Sarah Waters, author, who wrote (among other novels) ''Tipping the Velvet''.
* Oliver Letwin, Member of Parliament, who was the victim of a confidence trick at his Kennington home.
* Michael Connarty, Member of Parliament.
* Jack Straw, Member of Parliament; former Home Secretary; former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Foreign Secretary; former Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons; former Lord Chancellor, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice.
* Anthony Steen, politician.
* Stephen Hesford, politician.
*
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...
, Member of Parliament and former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
*
Hazel Blears
Hazel Anne Blears (born 14 May 1956) is a former British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford and Eccles, previously Salford, from 1997 to 2015.
One of 101 female Labour MPs elected at the 1997 g ...
, Member of Parliament and former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
* Charles Kennedy, Member of Parliament and former leader of the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat Party.
* Phil Willis, Baron Willis of Knaresborough, politician.
* Kenneth Clarke, Member of Parliament, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor.
* Ronnie Campbell, Member of Parliament for Blyth, Northumberland.
* Florence Welch, musician and frontwoman of Florence & The Machine.
* Karen Gillan, actress
* David Ball (electronic musician), David Ball electronic musician, member of Soft Cell
* Lady Colin Campbell, socialite, author, TV/radio personality.
* Alan Kitching (typographic artist), Alan Kitching, typographer
* Rory Kinnear, actor
* Jadon Sancho, footballer
* Harlem Spartans, UK drill group
* Loski, rapper
* Blanco (British rapper), Blanco, rapper
* MizOrMac, rapper
Notes and references
External links
Vauxhall, Kennington and the Oval — community website
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Kennington,
Areas of London
Districts of the London Borough of Lambeth
Duchy of Cornwall