Railton Road runs between Brixton and Herne Hill in the

London Borough of Lambeth Lambeth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as ''Lambehitha'' ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as ''Lambeth''. The geographical centre of London ...

. The road is designated the B223. At the northern end of Railton Road it becomes Atlantic Road, linking to

Brixton Road Brixton Road is a road in the London Borough of Lambeth (south London, England), leading from the Oval at Kennington to Brixton, where it forms the high street and then forks into Effra Road and Brixton Hill at St Matthew's church at the junction ...

at a junction where the

Brixton tube station Brixton is a London Underground station on Brixton Road in Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth, South London. The station is the southern terminus of the Victoria line. The station is known to have the largest London Underground roundel o ...

is located. At the southern end is

Herne Hill railway station Herne Hill railway station is in the London Borough of Lambeth, South London, England, on the boundary between London fare zones 2 and 3. Train services are provided by Thameslink to London Blackfriars, Farringdon, St Pancras International a ...

History

The

1981 Brixton riot The 1981 Brixton riot, or Brixton uprising, was a series of clashes between mainly black youths and the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, London, between 10 and 12 April 1981.J. A. Cloake & M. R. Tudor. ''Multicultural Britain''. Oxford Unive ...

started here. The George public house was burnt down and a number of other buildings were damaged, and the area became known as the "Front Line". The George was replaced with a Caribbean bar called Mingles in 1981, which lasted in one form or another (later called Harmony) as a late-night mostly Caribbean-British attended club/bar until the 2000s. Despite its reputation as run-down, violent and racially tense – a "no-go" area – it was a hotbed of Afro-Caribbean culture, radical political activity and working-class community. On 30 October 2022, two people, including the 21-year-old Deliveroo driver Guilherme Messias Da Silva, were killed as a result of a gang-related shooting on Railton Road. Da Silva's moped collided with a vehicle being driven by another man who was able to escape his car before being chased down and fatally shot and who is also believed to have been the intended target of the attack. Unable to be resuscitated, both died at the scene. As of 31 October 2022, no arrests have been made in connection with the killings; the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

have appealed for witnesses.

Notable people

* Pearl Alcock *

Winifred Atwell Una Winifred Atwell (27 February or 27 April 1910 or 1914There is some uncertainty over her date and year of birth. Many sources suggest 27 February 1914, but there is a strong suggestion that her birthday was 27 April. Most sources give her ye ...

opened "The Winifred Atwell Salon" at 82a Railton Road in 1956 * Rotimi Fani-Kayode lived and died at 151 Railton Road *

Darcus Howe Leighton Rhett Radford "Darcus" Howe (26 February 1943 – 1 April 2017)"Civil ...

Leila Hassan Leila Hassan Howe (born 13 June 1948) is a British editor and activist, who was a founding member of the Race Today Collective. She worked for the Institute of Race Relations and became editor of the ''Race Today'' journal in 1986. Hassan was al ...

, editor of ''

Race Today ''Race Today'' was a monthly (later bimonthly) British political magazine. Launched in 1969 by the Institute of Race Relations, it was from 1973 published by the ''Race Today'' Collective, which included figures such as Darcus Howe, Farrukh Dh ...

'' *

Linton Kwesi Johnson Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His ...

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, ''The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are in ...

lived and died at 165 Railton Road, where in 2004

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

erected a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

. *

Olive Morris Olive Elaine Morris (26 June 1952 – 12 July 1979) was a Jamaican-born British-based community leader and activist in the feminist, black nationalist, and squatters' rights campaigns of the 1970s. At the age of 17, she claimed she was assaul ...

lived at 121 Railton Road

Notable organisations

* 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning *

121 Centre 121 Centre was a squatted self-managed social centre on Railton Road in Brixton, south London from 1981 until 1999. As an anarchist social centre, the venue hosted a bookshop, cafe, infoshop, library, meeting space, office space, printing fac ...

at 121 Railton Road **The centre was home to a bookshop, a cafe, a meeting room, and offices for organisations such as The Anarchist Black Cross and the Faredodgers Association. **It also hosted the legendary club night Dead by Dawn, and early sets by artists such as

Hectate Hecate or Hekate, , ; grc-dor, Ἑκάτᾱ, Hekátā, ; la, Hecatē or . is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, and in later periods depicte ...

. **It was squatted as the 121 Centre from 1981 to 1999, making it one of London's longest continuous squats. When it was evicted, Railton Road held a number of street parties mourning the loss of the important community asset. **The building has now been converted into flats. *

Brixton Black Women's Group The Brixton Black Women's Group (BWG) was an organisation for black women in Brixton. One of the first black women's groups in the UK, the BWG existed from 1973 to 1985. A socialist feminist group, it aimed to raise consciousness and organise ar ...

at 121 Railton Road *

Black Panther Movement The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

* South London Gay Community Centre, GLF and

Brixton Fairies Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th centu ...

at number 78 **The building has now been knocked down and converted into luxury apartments, with no reference to its past * Race Today Collective at 165 Railton Road

Gallery

File:C.L.R. JAMES 1901-1989 West Indian Writer and Political Activist lived and died here.jpg,

Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

at 165 Railton Road File:External view of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 2010.jpg , 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road

References

External links