New Kent Road
Encyclopedia
New Kent Road is a 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) road
in the London Borough of Southwark
. The road was created in 1751 when the Turnpike Trust
upgraded a local footpath. This was done as part of the general road improvements associated with the creation of Westminster Bridge
; in effect it was possible to travel from the West End/ Westminster to the south-east without having to go via the Borough of Southwark
but could now cross St George's Fields
to the junction of Newington Causeway
and Newington Butts
which is where New Kent Road starts at Elephant and Castle
. The route runs eastward for a few hundred yards to the junction of Great Dover Street
and Tower Bridge Road, known as Bricklayers' Arms
, where it joins the original route to the south-east Old Kent Road
(the A2
).
The road forms part of the London Inner Ring Road
and as such forms part of the boundary of the London congestion charge
zone. New Kent Road is designated the A201
which, to the north-west past the Elephant and Castle, becomes London Road
.
In 1878, historian Edward Walford noted that the New Kent Road was formerly named Greenwich Road, and explained that "[it] is a broad and open roadway; it has been lately planted on either side with trees, so that in course of time it will doubtless form a splendid boulevard, of the Parisian type, and one worthy of being copied in many other parts of London."
The 1955 Survey of London still maintained that "[the] road also has a spaciousness lacking in many of its 19th century counterparts, for the 1751 Act stipulated that the road should be not less than 42 feet (12.8 m) wide and many of the older houses still retain their front gardens." Just a few older houses still remain, mostly on the south side.
Shopping Centre, built in the 1960s and often cited as London's ugliest building. Stalls of the Elephant Market are grouped around the ground floor entrance. Just inside the first-floor entrance of the shopping centre there is a small grocery kiosk run by and for the area's Ecuador
ean community. On Saturdays and Sundays it becomes an informal lunch restaurant and social centre, where very little English is spoken.
The 1955 Survey of London reports that 16–18 New Kent Road, part of the current site of the Shopping Centre, was "the auction yard for horses, ponies and vehicles known as the London (Elephant and Castle) Repository."
At 26 New Kent Road, the pub attached to the Shopping Centre is named after a famous local ex-resident Charlie Chaplin
. It is said that Chaplin had a martini
at the pub during a visit to the area in the 1950s.
The Coronet
at 28 New Kent Road is a club and live music venue. The site was first occupied by the Theatre Royal, built in 1872 and destroyed by fire only six years later. Rebuilt as the Elephant and Castle Theatre in 1879, Charlie Chaplin
performed there. It was converted to an ABC cinema in 1928. After several more name changes, it became the Coronet Cinema in 1981. The Coronet Cinema closed down in 1999, leaving the Elephant and Castle area with no cinemas, but the adjoining Oakmayne Plaze development will include a 5-screen cinema.
Elephant Road is a short road that connects New Kent Road with the Walworth Road. The railway arches on the west side house businesses including a bike shop, Corsica Studios art space and several businesses selling Latin American goods.
showroom and the Elephant Road Industrial Estate.
In the summer of 2008, a 35 feet (10.7 m) high sculpture of a stag by Ben Long was erected on the Oakmayne Plaza site. It was constructed from scaffolding materials, and after a few months was dismanted and reformed into a new structure on a new site.
From Elephant Road to Rodney Place, this side of the New Kent Road is dominated by the Heygate Estate
. Completed in 1974, the estate has aged badly and is due for phased demolition by 2015. It will be replaced by new housing developments. In March 2010 only 20 of the 1200 flats were still occupied.
The multi-coloured spherical lights in the trees next to the Heygate Estate
were installed in 2005 by the Elephant Impacts project. The project has repainted and added feature lighting to a number of bridges and buildings in the area, including the adjoining railway bridges on Walworth Road and Newington Causeway
, and to London College of Communication
and the Metropolitan Tabernacle
. Proposed feature lighting at Metro Central Heights
was abandoned when residents feared it would cause light pollution
.
Crossway United Reformed Church is situated on one corner of The Heygate on New Kent Road. It has a deck access walkway at first floor level with an additional entrance to the church, the original intention being that it was part of the Heygate's elevated pedestrian system, it links directly to the road crossing bridge at this point. The Two Caryatids sculpture by Henry Poole
, originally created in 1897 for the old Rotherhithe Public Library, stood in a locked garden behind the church for many years, but was removed in 2009
. Both developments provide shared-ownership apartments aimed at first-time buyers who cannot afford to buy on the open market.
The distinctive Baroque
style building at 172-180 is Driscoll House
. It was originally built as a women's hostel in 1913 and became a hostel primarily aimed at international students, until it closed in 2007. The interiors are mostly unchanged since the building opened. It has been sold to property developers, but is also a listed building. In July 2007, the site was prepared for building work and redevelopment, with concrete barriers, window covering
s and additional fencing added.
There is a small green space next to Driscoll House, and beyond Searles Road there is a larger one called Paragon Gardens, named after the building erected on the site in 1787, designed by Michael Searles
the Surveyor of the Rolls Estate. It was demolished in the 1890s when the road was widened and replaced with more modest housing — on Searles Road — and a school. The school has since been converted into a residential building and also named The Paragon.
residential block, although both premises have addresses on Newington Causeway
, not New Kent Road. A plaque next to the Metro Central Heights convenience store explains that this was previously the site of the Trocadero Cinema at 1–17 New Kent Road, which closed in 1963.
Beyond the railway bridge stands Albert Barnes House, an 18-storey block of council flats owned by the London Borough of Southwark
. From 1883 to 1886, this was the site of a fish and provisions market promoted by Samuel Plimsoll
.
Albert Barnes House was completed in 1964 and contains 99 flats. There was a serious fire in Albert Barnes House in the early hours of 30 January 2007 and all 250 residents were evacuated. One flat was gutted, and another seriously damaged
At the Meadow Row intersection stands St Matthews at the Elephant, a contemporary Anglican church and community centre rebuilt in 1993 on the site of the old St Matthews church. The church has particularly good acoustics and hosts musical performances as well as community events and services. The main building is built low, with the separate minimalist iron spire at the street entrance suggesting old and new-style church architecture simultaneously.
83 New Kent Road is a residence for students at the nearby London South Bank University
, with 81 students living in shared flats.
Next to the park, Tavern Court at number 95 is a six-storey shared-ownership residential building managed by Landmark Housing Association
, and which opened in 2005. The site was previously occupied by the County Terrace Tavern, a pub that closed in 2003. At one time the County Terrace Tavern was the terminus of London's number 1 bus route
. The Museum of London Archaeology Service
surveyed the site in May 2004 and found that "There was no evidence to confirm that this site was occupied until the post medieval period. It appears that this low lying area ... was fields until the development of the County Terrace public house and adjoining properties during the 19th century. A thick layer of top soil containing 18th and 19th century material including broken bricks, clay pipe stems and 19th century pottery was found."
The 1888 red brick church behind Tavern Court is the former Welsh Presbyterian Chapel, a listed building built in mixed Queen Anne
and Romanesque
revival styles. English Heritage comments that "[the] combination of different features and materials [is] calculated to produce a most variable and picturesque composition. An early instance of the Queen Anne manner applied to a church or chapel." Since 1991, the church has been the main London home of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star
, an African Initiated Church
based in Nigeria
and led by Olumba Olumba Obu, who followers describe as "the sole spiritual head of the universe". Worshippers wear distinctive white robes known as "soutane", with women also wearing a wimple-like headdress.
, which explained that this was the place where in the Charles Dickens
novel, David Copperfield
stopped "in the Kent Road ... at a terrace with a piece of water before it, and a great foolish image in the middle, blowing a dry shell". The plinth had a small statue that eventually lost both its shell and its head to vandalism.
Having become popular with street drinkers, the garden was closed for a re-design in 2006. It reopened in July 2007 after a complete re-landscaping, including removal of the railings between the footpath and the garden. The original design included benches based on the milestones that David Copperfield passed on his fictional journey, but the final version has no benches. With the removal of the plinth and plaque, the only remaining reference to the Dickens novel is a quotation from Copperfield's aunt inlaid into the path through the park: "...a little change, and a glimpse of life out of doors, may be useful, in helping you to know your own mind..."
n hairdresser, a Turkish
grocers, a Polish
delicatessen, a Chinese
take-away and one of London's few Ethiopia
n restaurants.
The Marks and Spencer store opened in 2007 as part of a roll-out of the Simply Food franchises on BP forecourts. It replaced a Safeway
.
The last building on the north side of New Kent Road is St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School
on land given by Lord LLangatock (of the Rolls family) to the ancient Southwark grammar school foundation which was required to provide a girls school to supplement its teaching of boys. This opened in 1903 as a grammar school
and is for girls aged 11 to 18.
Bricklayers' Arms
is the site of an important road intersection with the Old Kent Road
and was formerly the site of an important railway goods yard.
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
in the London Borough of Southwark
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
. The road was created in 1751 when the Turnpike Trust
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
upgraded a local footpath. This was done as part of the general road improvements associated with the creation of Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....
; in effect it was possible to travel from the West End/ Westminster to the south-east without having to go via the Borough of Southwark
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
but could now cross St George's Fields
St George's Fields
St George's Fields was an area of Southwark in South London, England.Originally the area was an undifferentiated part of the south-side of the Thames, which was low lying marshland unsuitable for even agricultural purposes. As such it was part of the extensive holdings of the king, it is difficult...
to the junction of Newington Causeway
Newington Causeway
Newington Causeway is a road in Southwark, London, England, between the Elephant and Castle and Borough High Street. The Elephant and Castle tube station is at the southern end....
and Newington Butts
Newington Butts
Newington Butts is a former village, now an area of the London Borough of Southwark, that gives its name to a segment of the A3 road running south-west from the Elephant and Castle junction...
which is where New Kent Road starts at Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
. The route runs eastward for a few hundred yards to the junction of Great Dover Street
Great Dover Street
Great Dover Street is in Southwark, south London, England. At the northwest end it joins Marshalsea Road and Borough High Street and there is a junction with Long Lane; Borough tube station is at this location. At the southeast end is the Bricklayers' Arms roundabout and flyover...
and Tower Bridge Road, known as Bricklayers' Arms
Bricklayers' Arms
Bricklayers' Arms is a busy road intersection between A2 and the London Inner Ring Road in south London, England. It is the junction of Tower Bridge Road, Old Kent Road, New Kent Road and Great Dover Street; Old Kent Road and New Kent Road east-bound are connected by a flyover.The area is named...
, where it joins the original route to the south-east Old Kent Road
Old Kent Road
The Old Kent Road is a road in South East London, England and forms part of Watling Street, the Roman road which ran from Dover to Holyhead. The street is famous as the equal cheapest property on the London Monopoly board and as the only one in South London....
(the A2
A2 road (Great Britain)
The A2 is a major road in southern England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between the British capital of London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe...
).
The road forms part of the London Inner Ring Road
London Inner Ring Road
The London Inner Ring Road is the name commonly given to a route formed from a number of major roads that encircle the centremost part of London...
and as such forms part of the boundary of the London congestion charge
London congestion charge
The London congestion charge is a fee charged for some categories of motor vehicle to travel at certain times within the Congestion Charge Zone , a traffic area in London. The charge aims to reduce congestion, and raise investment funds for London's transport system...
zone. New Kent Road is designated the A201
A201 road
The A201 is an A road in London running from Kings Cross to the Elephant and Castle.The route passes along Kings Cross Road, Farringdon Road, Farringdon Street, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars Bridge, Blackfriars Road, London Road to the Elephant and Castle, and finally New Kent Road where it merges...
which, to the north-west past the Elephant and Castle, becomes London Road
London Road, Southwark
London Road is a road in Southwark, southeast London, England, which connects St George's Circus and the Elephant and Castle roundabout . To the east is the campus of London South Bank University including the Technopark building and the London Road Building, in a triangle formed by London Road,...
.
In 1878, historian Edward Walford noted that the New Kent Road was formerly named Greenwich Road, and explained that "[it] is a broad and open roadway; it has been lately planted on either side with trees, so that in course of time it will doubtless form a splendid boulevard, of the Parisian type, and one worthy of being copied in many other parts of London."
The 1955 Survey of London still maintained that "[the] road also has a spaciousness lacking in many of its 19th century counterparts, for the 1751 Act stipulated that the road should be not less than 42 feet (12.8 m) wide and many of the older houses still retain their front gardens." Just a few older houses still remain, mostly on the south side.
Shopping Centre and around
The southern side of New Kent Road starts at the Elephant and CastleElephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
Shopping Centre, built in the 1960s and often cited as London's ugliest building. Stalls of the Elephant Market are grouped around the ground floor entrance. Just inside the first-floor entrance of the shopping centre there is a small grocery kiosk run by and for the area's Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ean community. On Saturdays and Sundays it becomes an informal lunch restaurant and social centre, where very little English is spoken.
The 1955 Survey of London reports that 16–18 New Kent Road, part of the current site of the Shopping Centre, was "the auction yard for horses, ponies and vehicles known as the London (Elephant and Castle) Repository."
At 26 New Kent Road, the pub attached to the Shopping Centre is named after a famous local ex-resident Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
. It is said that Chaplin had a martini
Martini (cocktail)
The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet" and E. B...
at the pub during a visit to the area in the 1950s.
The Coronet
The Coronet
The Coronet Theatre is a large live music and night-club venue with a 2,600 capacity located at 28 New Kent Road in Elephant and Castle, south central London, England...
at 28 New Kent Road is a club and live music venue. The site was first occupied by the Theatre Royal, built in 1872 and destroyed by fire only six years later. Rebuilt as the Elephant and Castle Theatre in 1879, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
performed there. It was converted to an ABC cinema in 1928. After several more name changes, it became the Coronet Cinema in 1981. The Coronet Cinema closed down in 1999, leaving the Elephant and Castle area with no cinemas, but the adjoining Oakmayne Plaze development will include a 5-screen cinema.
Elephant Road is a short road that connects New Kent Road with the Walworth Road. The railway arches on the west side house businesses including a bike shop, Corsica Studios art space and several businesses selling Latin American goods.
Towards Heygate Estate
East of the railway bridge, Oakmayne Plaza is awaiting planning permission for a complex of businesses and residential units at the corner of New Kent Road and Elephant Road. It is being developed by Oakmayne Properties who also built the nearby South Central East residential building on Walworth Road. The site of Oakmayne Plaza was formerly occupied by UK's largest used VolvoVolvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
showroom and the Elephant Road Industrial Estate.
In the summer of 2008, a 35 feet (10.7 m) high sculpture of a stag by Ben Long was erected on the Oakmayne Plaza site. It was constructed from scaffolding materials, and after a few months was dismanted and reformed into a new structure on a new site.
From Elephant Road to Rodney Place, this side of the New Kent Road is dominated by the Heygate Estate
Heygate Estate
The Heygate Estate is a large housing estate located in Walworth, Southwark, south London. The estate is currently under demolition.Heygate is one of the most high-profile estates in the United Kingdom, due to its notoriety and usage as a filming location...
. Completed in 1974, the estate has aged badly and is due for phased demolition by 2015. It will be replaced by new housing developments. In March 2010 only 20 of the 1200 flats were still occupied.
The multi-coloured spherical lights in the trees next to the Heygate Estate
Heygate Estate
The Heygate Estate is a large housing estate located in Walworth, Southwark, south London. The estate is currently under demolition.Heygate is one of the most high-profile estates in the United Kingdom, due to its notoriety and usage as a filming location...
were installed in 2005 by the Elephant Impacts project. The project has repainted and added feature lighting to a number of bridges and buildings in the area, including the adjoining railway bridges on Walworth Road and Newington Causeway
Newington Causeway
Newington Causeway is a road in Southwark, London, England, between the Elephant and Castle and Borough High Street. The Elephant and Castle tube station is at the southern end....
, and to London College of Communication
London College of Communication
The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, located in Elephant and Castle. It has about 5,000 students on 60 courses in media and design courses preparing students for careers in the creative industries...
and the Metropolitan Tabernacle
Metropolitan Tabernacle
The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a large Reformed Baptist church in the Elephant and Castle in London. It was the largest non-conformist church edifice of its day in 1861. The Tabernacle Fellowship have been worshipping together since 1650, soon after the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers...
. Proposed feature lighting at Metro Central Heights
Metro Central Heights
Metro Central Heights is a group of residential buildings in the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally known as Alexander Fleming House, a multi-storey office complex designed by Hungarian-born modernist architect Ernő Goldfinger and constructed in the early 1960s for Arnold Lee of Imry...
was abandoned when residents feared it would cause light pollution
Light pollution
Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excessive or obtrusive artificial light.The International Dark-Sky Association defines light pollution as:...
.
Crossway United Reformed Church is situated on one corner of The Heygate on New Kent Road. It has a deck access walkway at first floor level with an additional entrance to the church, the original intention being that it was part of the Heygate's elevated pedestrian system, it links directly to the road crossing bridge at this point. The Two Caryatids sculpture by Henry Poole
Henry Poole (sculptor)
Henry Poole RA was a British architectural sculptor.He studied at the Lambeth School of Art in 1888; and from 26 January 1892 under Harry Bates ARA and George Frederic Watts RA at the Royal Academy Schools. Poole was elected ARA 22 April 1920 and became a full RA in 1927, shortly before his death...
, originally created in 1897 for the old Rotherhithe Public Library, stood in a locked garden behind the church for many years, but was removed in 2009
Beyond the Heygate
At 128 New Kent Road, Watling House, like Tavern Court (see below), is a new development of flats managed by the Landmark Housing AssociationHousing association
Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in housing need. Any trading surplus is used to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones...
. Both developments provide shared-ownership apartments aimed at first-time buyers who cannot afford to buy on the open market.
The distinctive Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style building at 172-180 is Driscoll House
Driscoll House
Driscoll House is a building at 172 New Kent Road, London, England, which, until its closure in July 2007, was a hotel aimed primarily at international visitors. The building is on the south side of New Kent Road, between the Bricklayers' Arms flyover and Elephant and Castle station, and is a...
. It was originally built as a women's hostel in 1913 and became a hostel primarily aimed at international students, until it closed in 2007. The interiors are mostly unchanged since the building opened. It has been sold to property developers, but is also a listed building. In July 2007, the site was prepared for building work and redevelopment, with concrete barriers, window covering
Window covering
Window coverings are material used to cover a window to manage sunlight, to provide additional weatherproofing, to ensure privacy or for purely decorative purposes....
s and additional fencing added.
There is a small green space next to Driscoll House, and beyond Searles Road there is a larger one called Paragon Gardens, named after the building erected on the site in 1787, designed by Michael Searles
Michael Searles
Regency architect Michael Searles was famous as an English commercial architect of large houses, particularly in London. His most notable achievement is perhaps The Paragon in Blackheath....
the Surveyor of the Rolls Estate. It was demolished in the 1890s when the road was widened and replaced with more modest housing — on Searles Road — and a school. The school has since been converted into a residential building and also named The Paragon.
Metro Central Heights to Falmouth Road
The first few hundred yards of New Kent Road consist of the Elephant and Castle pub and the Metro Central HeightsMetro Central Heights
Metro Central Heights is a group of residential buildings in the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally known as Alexander Fleming House, a multi-storey office complex designed by Hungarian-born modernist architect Ernő Goldfinger and constructed in the early 1960s for Arnold Lee of Imry...
residential block, although both premises have addresses on Newington Causeway
Newington Causeway
Newington Causeway is a road in Southwark, London, England, between the Elephant and Castle and Borough High Street. The Elephant and Castle tube station is at the southern end....
, not New Kent Road. A plaque next to the Metro Central Heights convenience store explains that this was previously the site of the Trocadero Cinema at 1–17 New Kent Road, which closed in 1963.
Beyond the railway bridge stands Albert Barnes House, an 18-storey block of council flats owned by the London Borough of Southwark
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
. From 1883 to 1886, this was the site of a fish and provisions market promoted by Samuel Plimsoll
Samuel Plimsoll
Samuel Plimsoll was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line .-Early life:Plimsoll was born in Bristol and soon moved to Whiteley Wood...
.
Albert Barnes House was completed in 1964 and contains 99 flats. There was a serious fire in Albert Barnes House in the early hours of 30 January 2007 and all 250 residents were evacuated. One flat was gutted, and another seriously damaged
At the Meadow Row intersection stands St Matthews at the Elephant, a contemporary Anglican church and community centre rebuilt in 1993 on the site of the old St Matthews church. The church has particularly good acoustics and hosts musical performances as well as community events and services. The main building is built low, with the separate minimalist iron spire at the street entrance suggesting old and new-style church architecture simultaneously.
83 New Kent Road is a residence for students at the nearby London South Bank University
London South Bank University
London South Bank University is a university in south London. With over 25,000 students and 1,700 staff, it is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name...
, with 81 students living in shared flats.
Falmouth Road junction
The small Falmouth Road Park opened in March 2006. The bench is made from timber from a London plane tree that once stood on the Tower of London Wharf, and features designs created by local children.Next to the park, Tavern Court at number 95 is a six-storey shared-ownership residential building managed by Landmark Housing Association
Housing association
Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in housing need. Any trading surplus is used to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones...
, and which opened in 2005. The site was previously occupied by the County Terrace Tavern, a pub that closed in 2003. At one time the County Terrace Tavern was the terminus of London's number 1 bus route
London Buses route 1
London Buses route 1 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. The service is currently contracted to Go-Ahead London.-History:...
. The Museum of London Archaeology Service
Museum of London Archaeology Service
Museum of London Archaeology is a Registered Archaeological Organisation with the Institute of Field Archaeologists and is a self-financing part of the Museum of London Group, providing a wide range of professional archaeological services to clients in London, SE England, the UK and...
surveyed the site in May 2004 and found that "There was no evidence to confirm that this site was occupied until the post medieval period. It appears that this low lying area ... was fields until the development of the County Terrace public house and adjoining properties during the 19th century. A thick layer of top soil containing 18th and 19th century material including broken bricks, clay pipe stems and 19th century pottery was found."
The 1888 red brick church behind Tavern Court is the former Welsh Presbyterian Chapel, a listed building built in mixed Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
and Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
revival styles. English Heritage comments that "[the] combination of different features and materials [is] calculated to produce a most variable and picturesque composition. An early instance of the Queen Anne manner applied to a church or chapel." Since 1991, the church has been the main London home of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star
Brotherhood of the Cross and Star
The Brotherhood of the Cross and Star is a Nigeria-based new religious movement. It is based on Christianity . Followers describe its founder Leader Olumba Olumba Obu as being the "Sole Spiritual Head of the Universe". His son, also called Olumba Olumba Obu, is described as King of Kings and Lord...
, an African Initiated Church
African Initiated Church
An African Initiated Church is any of a number of Christian churches independently started in Africa by Africans and not by missionaries from another continent, in which they sometimes hold to one or more African tribal belief systems syncretised with Christianity.-Nomenclature:A variety of...
based in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
and led by Olumba Olumba Obu, who followers describe as "the sole spiritual head of the universe". Worshippers wear distinctive white robes known as "soutane", with women also wearing a wimple-like headdress.
David Copperfields Garden
A footbridge crosses the New Kent Road at this point, and the long narrow public garden that runs from the footbridge to Harper Road is called David Copperfields Garden. A plaque was placed on a plinth in the original garden in September 1931 by the Dickens FellowshipDickens Fellowship
The Dickens Fellowship was founded in 1902, and is an international association of people from all walks of life who share an interest in the life and works of Victorian era novelist Charles Dickens....
, which explained that this was the place where in the Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
novel, David Copperfield
David Copperfield (novel)
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery , commonly referred to as David Copperfield, is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a novel in 1850. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial...
stopped "in the Kent Road ... at a terrace with a piece of water before it, and a great foolish image in the middle, blowing a dry shell". The plinth had a small statue that eventually lost both its shell and its head to vandalism.
Having become popular with street drinkers, the garden was closed for a re-design in 2006. It reopened in July 2007 after a complete re-landscaping, including removal of the railings between the footpath and the garden. The original design included benches based on the milestones that David Copperfield passed on his fictional journey, but the final version has no benches. With the removal of the plinth and plaque, the only remaining reference to the Dickens novel is a quotation from Copperfield's aunt inlaid into the path through the park: "...a little change, and a glimpse of life out of doors, may be useful, in helping you to know your own mind..."
Harper Road to the Bricklayers' Arms
A block of shops after Harper Road begins with Pole Position (155–157) which is both a motorcycle workshop and racing team HQ. A sign of the multi-cultural nature of the area is that this block of businesses includes an AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n hairdresser, a Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
grocers, a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
delicatessen, a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
take-away and one of London's few Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n restaurants.
The Marks and Spencer store opened in 2007 as part of a roll-out of the Simply Food franchises on BP forecourts. It replaced a Safeway
Safeway (UK)
Safeway was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in the United Kingdom. It started as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold off in 1987....
.
The last building on the north side of New Kent Road is St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School
St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School
St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School is a comprehensive secondary school for girls. It is a voluntary aided Church of England school in the Anglican Diocese of Southwark and is affiliated to the Woodard Schools group....
on land given by Lord LLangatock (of the Rolls family) to the ancient Southwark grammar school foundation which was required to provide a girls school to supplement its teaching of boys. This opened in 1903 as a grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
and is for girls aged 11 to 18.
Bricklayers' Arms
Bricklayers' Arms
Bricklayers' Arms is a busy road intersection between A2 and the London Inner Ring Road in south London, England. It is the junction of Tower Bridge Road, Old Kent Road, New Kent Road and Great Dover Street; Old Kent Road and New Kent Road east-bound are connected by a flyover.The area is named...
is the site of an important road intersection with the Old Kent Road
Old Kent Road
The Old Kent Road is a road in South East London, England and forms part of Watling Street, the Roman road which ran from Dover to Holyhead. The street is famous as the equal cheapest property on the London Monopoly board and as the only one in South London....
and was formerly the site of an important railway goods yard.