Walworth History

Did you know that the bones and teeth of a prehistoric Woolly Mammoth were found under Hillingdon Street, just off the Walworth Road? Walworth has more history than first meets the eye. Stone Age people settled in the area about 4,500 years ago and archaeologists believe that Walworth was a centre for Stone Age tool making, given the extraordinary number of stone carved flints that have been found.

The Romans also clearly enjoyed Walworth as a place to live, as did the Anglo-Saxons after them. During the reign of the Anglo-Saxon King, Edmund, from 934 to 946, the area was given away as a gift to a court jester, named Hitard. The jester went on a pilgrimage to Rome and, it being a treacherous journey, he decided to bequeath his property while still alive. He made the lands of Walworth over to the monks of Canterbury Cathedral. To this day certain parts of Walworth are still owned by the church, for example Liverpool Grove.

Of course many years ago Walworth was just a village. Although Walworth is an ancient name, the alternative name for the area, Newington, is first heard of in the middle ages. It simply means a new town. Its parish church was St Mary which stood at the northern end of Newington Butts.

A map of 1681 shows only a few houses along Walworth Street, which became the Walworth Road. It has been recorded that many Walworth residents made their income by selling poultry, wool, and honey. Locals were allowed to keep their animals on Walworth Common, which has since been built over and is now the Aylesbury Estate.

The 18th and early 19th centuries brought many changes to Walworth. New bridges over the Thames and improved roads made it easier for the richer folk of London to live just outside the centre of the city – in quieter places such as Walworth, commuting every day by carriage into town. There are some wonderful Georgian terraces still standing, in Surrey Square off the Old Kent Road for example, complete with fan shaped decorations above the doorways.

Walworth was famous for producing and selling wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables. Because Walworth was not yet built up, much of the area consisted of orchards and gardens. People even grew luxury fruit in long conservatories, including the ‘Newington Peach’. Walworth was also famous for its Zoo, near the modern Manor Place, which Queen Victoria herself visited.

The Old Kent Road saw its character change during the late Georgian and Victorian eras. It had always been one of the great highways of England. So many people travelled this route that the public gallows were set up here, displaying hung criminals as a warning against lawlessness. The Old Kent Road, as well as the Elephant and Castle which was first mentioned in 1760, gradually became busier and busier with the increase in horse drawn passenger and trade coaches. Horse drawn busses were first introduced into the area in 1829, and went along what is now the no.12 bus route. In 1904 came motorised buses and the electrified tram – surprisingly, the tube was introduced before both of these in 1890.

Factories, warehouses and railways replaced many houses in the centre of London, which meant that London’s overflowing population spread out into Walworth. As a result, Walworth changed from a small community into a highly populated area. In 1801 there were 14,800 people in Walworth. By 1901 the figure had risen to 122,200, four times that of 1981, which shows how cramped conditions must have been. It is no wonder that in the 1880’s and 90s poverty increased. For the poorest in Walworth it meant going into the ‘Newington Workhouse’, a grim place whose inmates were forced to do hard labour in return for food and shelter.

The pioneering work of the many churches in the area did much to help the lot of the poor. St Peter’s, whose architect, Sir John Soane, also designed the Bank of England, was one famous church in the area, as was the Metropolitan Tabernacle and the Walworth Road Methodist Church (‘Clubland’). As well as the churches, there were social pioneers, often ahead of their time. Walworth was home to the first family planning clinic in the country and a Health Services Department many years before the National Health.

Although many things were different in the Victorian Era, people still knew how to have a good time. Music halls were very popular, including the South London Palace. It seated up to 4,000 people who would come to watch performing dogs, champion-rope dancers and Otto ‘the bicycle wonder of the age’. People also liked to go out for a drink and where better than the Old Kent Road, the ‘Thomas a Becket’ being a popular choice.

The first and second World Wars saw Walworth take heavy casualties both civilian, during the London bombing, and in the field. Elephant and Castle was so ravaged by the bombing that it had to be rebuilt practically from scratch, although the Metropolitan Tabernacle managed to survive the Blitz unharmed. The Elephant & Castle Traffic Scheme came as a result of 1960’s planning by the London County Council.

Walworth remains as lively an area as it ever was and has produced a long list of famous residents including:
Charlie Chaplin, who it was said adopted his comic walk from one of the old men who gave oatmeal and water to the coach horses of Elephant and Castle.
Michael Caine, who grew up in Walworth and went to John Ruskin School.
Lloyd Honeyghan, the World Welterweight Champion Boxer.
Robert Browning (born: 1812), the poet (also author of The Pied Piper of Hamelin).
John Ruskin (born: 1819), the great thinker and writer.