Black Prince Road’s origin is derived from Edward of Woodstock (Edward the Black Prince) who lived in Lambeth during the 1300.
As the eldest son of Edward III, the Black Prince’s presence in the area resulted in much of the freehold land in Lambeth to remain under Royal ownership. This is true even today.
Edward seems neither to have been particularly cruel by the standards of his time nor to have worn black armour.
Edward of Woodstock’s main residence near London was a manor house at the Kennington end of what is now Black Prince Road. Edward celebrated his victory over the French at Poitiers in 1356 by tearing down the Kennington house to build a palace near Kennington Cross (the triangle formed by Kennington Lane, Sancroft Street and Cardigan Street).
In 1531, King Henry VIII ordered much of Kennington Palace to be dismantled and taken across the Thames to Westminster for the building of a new royal palace of Whitehall. The track along which the Kennington Palace masonry was carted to the river was known as Lambeth Butts.
Lambeth Butts was divided into five sections by the late eighteenth century known as Broad Street, Lambeth Butts, Workhouse Lane, Elizabeth Place and Prince’s Road. Workhouse Lane was subsequently renamed Prince’s Road. Lambeth Butts was absorbed into Broad Street in 1882. Broad Street and Prince’s Road were renamed Black Prince Road in 1939.
