Gower House, SE17

Gower House is a block on Morecambe Street.

Much of Dickens’ Great Expections was set in Walworth.
Credit: Wiki Commons

Click here to explore another London street
We now have 643 completed street histories and 46857 partial histories
Find streets or residential blocks within the M25 by clicking STREETS

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

DavidA Grange Court, SE5 Added: 11 Aug 2023 13:03 GMT	Grange Court, SE5 A conveyance from The British Land Company to (sisters?) Emma and Mary Anne Crawley ... presumably the first development on this site. Reply
Bruce McTavish Lambeth North Added: 11 Mar 2021 11:37 GMT	Kennington Road Lambeth North station was opened as Kennington Road and then Westminster Bridge Road before settling on its final name. It has a wonderful Leslie Green design. Reply
Richard Lake De Laune Street, SE17 Added: 28 Sep 2022 09:37 GMT	Trade Union Official John William Lake snr moved with his family to 22 De Laune Street in 1936. He was the London Branch Secretary for the Street Masons, Paviours and Road Makers Union. He had previously lived in Orange St now Copperfield St Southwark but had been forced to move because the landlord didn’t like him working from home and said it broke his lease. John William snr died in 1940. His son John William Lake jnr also became a stone mason and at the end of World War two he was responsible for the engraving of the dates of WW2 onto the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Reply
Admin Tower Bridge, SE1 Added: 26 Aug 2022 15:19 GMT	Bus makes a leap A number 78 double-decker bus driven by Albert Gunter was forced to jump an accidentally opening Tower Bridge. He was awarded a £10 bonus. Reply
DavidA Grange Court, SE5 Added: 11 Aug 2023 11:31 GMT	Grange Court, SE5 A 1960s redevelopment of the spacious 101 Talfourd Road (there doesn’t seem to have been a 103 in spite of title deeds) Reply
Johna216 Fielding Street, SE17 Added: 9 Aug 2017 16:26 GMT	Thanks! I have recently started a web site, the info you provide on this site has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work. There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail. by Erich Fromm. eeggefeceefb Reply
Johnshort Hurley Road, SE11 Added: 7 Oct 2017 21:07 GMT	Hurley Road, SE11 There were stables in the road mid way - also Danny reading had a coal delivery lorry. Reply
Talbot Yard, SE1 Added: 27 Jul 2021 14:31 GMT	correction Chaucer did not write Pilgrims Progress. His stories were called the Canterbury Tales Reply
sam Burdett Street, SE1 Added: 31 Dec 2021 00:54 GMT	Burdett Street, SE1 I was on 2nd July 1952, in Burdett chambers (which is also known as Burdett buildings)on Burdett street Reply
[email protected] Wren Road, SE5 Added: 6 Jul 2021 05:38 GMT	Wren Road in the 1950s and 60s Living in Grove Lane I knew Wren Road; my grandfather’s bank, Lloyds, was on the corner; the Scout District had their office in the Congregational Church and the entrance to the back of the Police station with the stables and horses was off it. Now very changed - smile. Reply
All bar one Added: 3 Jun 2021 15:50 GMT	All Bar One The capitalisation is wrong Reply
Jonathan Cocking Tower Bridge, SE1 Added: 30 Aug 2022 13:38 GMT	Tower Bridge, SE1 The driver subsequently married his clippie (conductress). Reply
DavidA Grange Court, SE5 Added: 11 Aug 2023 11:27 GMT	Grange Court, SE5 Actually SE15 (SE15 5PB) as marker is across the road. Reply
DavidA Grange Court, SE5 Added: 11 Aug 2023 11:34 GMT	Grange Court, SE5 Proud of being in Peckham.... Reply
DavidA Talfourd Road, SE15 Added: 11 Aug 2023 13:59 GMT	The British Land Co. ...was set up in 1858 by the National Building Society to own land and split it into plots so the new freeholder could get a vote in elections. So it seems some individual houses were built like in 1869 and maybe the terraces came a bit later, with mortgages from the building society. Maybe the road names were already there ... after judges Sir Thomas Talfourd, Lord Denman and Lord Lyndhurst ... which each got a (former) pub name too Source: British Land - Wikipedia Reply

LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Jean Deane Mill Lane, looking east (1900s) Added: 2 Oct 2023 16:43 GMT	Advertisement for a laundry in Mill Lane, Brixton Hill, SW2 from early 1900’s The New Imperial Laundry Source: From a Ladies glance guide for Mistress and Maid Reply
Sue Meyrick Road, SW11 Added: 24 Sep 2023 19:09 GMT	Meyrick Rd My family - Roe - lived in poverty at 158 Meyrick Rd in the 1920s, moving to 18 Lavender Terrace in 1935. They also lived in York Rd at one point. Alf, Nell (Ellen), plus children John, Ellen (Did), Gladys, Joyce & various lodgers. Alf worked for the railway (LMS). Reply
Michael Tyrrell Avenue, DA16 Added: 20 Sep 2023 21:10 GMT	Momentous Birth! I was born in the upstairs front room of 28 Tyrrell Avenue in August 1938. I was a breach birth and quite heavy ( poor Mum!). My parents moved to that end of terrace house from another rental in St Mary Cray where my three year older brother had been born in 1935. The estate was quite new in 1938 and all the properties were rented. My Father was a Postman. I grew up at no 28 all through WWII and later went to Little Dansington School Reply
Mike Levy Arbour Square, E1 Added: 19 Sep 2023 18:10 GMT	Bombing of Arbour Square in the Blitz On the night of September 7, 1940. Hyman Lubosky (age 35), his wife Fay (or Fanny)(age 32) and their son Martin (age 17 months) died at 11 Arbour Square. They are buried together in Rainham Jewish Cemetery. Their grave stones read: "Killed by enemy action" Reply
Lady Townshend Bridge House Added: 8 Sep 2023 16:02 GMT	Tenant at Westbourne (1807 - 1811) I think that the 3rd Marquess Townshend - at that time Lord Chartley - was a tenant living either at Westbourne Manor or at Bridge House. He undertook considerable building work there as well as creating gardens. I am trying to trace which house it was. Any ideas gratefully received Reply
Alex Britton Roding Valley Added: 30 Aug 2023 10:43 GMT	Late opening The tracks through Roding Valley were opened on 1 May 1903 by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) on its Woodford to Ilford line (the Fairlop Loop). But the station was not opened until 3 February 1936 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER, successor to the GER). Source: Roding Valley tube station - Wikipedia Reply
Kevin Pont Roding Valley Added: 30 Aug 2023 09:52 GMT	Shhh.... Roding Valley is the quietest tube station, each year transporting the same number of passengers as Waterloo does in one day. Reply
Kevin Pont Dollis Hill Added: 30 Aug 2023 09:47 GMT	The connection with Bletchley Park The code-breaking computer used at Bletchley Park was built in Dollis Hill. Reply

Click here to explore another London street
We now have completed street histories and partial histories

Walworth

Walworth is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Southwark. Walworth probably derives its name from the Old English Wealhworth, meaning 'farm'. It is located 2 miles south east of Charing Cross and near to Camberwell and Elephant and Castle.

The major streets in Walworth are the Old Kent Road and Walworth Road. It once had a common surrounded by streets with houses on one side, the Common on the other. This whole area is now covered by housing.

St. Peter's Church, Walworth's altar
St. Peter's Church, Walworth, built circa 1825, is an excellent example of the neo-classical style of church built by Sir John Soane. It is an indication of the wealth of the middle-class merchants who then lived in the vicinity that they could afford an architect of such prominence. Charles Upfold was born at Walworth Common and baptised at St. Peters. The church is home to the Monkey Park - which was once home to a menagerie kept by a past Reverend of the Church, but is now a garden.

Walworth is also home to the Pullens buildings - a mixture of Victorian live/work spaces and yards. Many of the flats are 1 bedroom, and some of the flats still connect to the Workshops of any of the three yards (Illife Yard, Peacock Yard and one other). They all share communal roof terraces with extensive views over to the West End.
Walworth also used to have a Zoo, in Royal Surrey Gardens, which was visited by Queen Victoria.

East Street market is a major street market.

LOCAL PHOTOS

Click here to see map view of nearby Creative Commons images
Click here to see Creative Commons images near to this postcode
Click here to see Creative Commons images tagged with this road (if applicable)

Demolition of the Heygate Estate and the construction of Elephant Central, May 2014. The Heygate Estate had been completed in 1974. The estate was used extensively as a filming location, due in part to its brutalist architecture. Credit: Wiki Commons/Zefrog TUM image id: 1637796469 Licence: CC BY 2.0	The Swan, 82-86 Old Kent Road. Demolished in 2004. Old London postcard TUM image id: 1620671536 Licence:	East Street market, Walworth in 1908 The market, in operation since the 1880s, featured in the title sequence for Only Fools and Horses Old London postcard TUM image id: 1669906466 Licence:	Amelia Street, SE11 This originally consisted of late 19th century tenement blocks built by James Pullen between 1886 and 1901. During the 1980s the buildings between Manor Place and the south side of Amelia Street were demolished. The demolition of the rest of the Pullens Estate was prevented when squatters, intent on preserving the remainder of an individual late Victorian estate, occupied some of the blocks. The south side of Amelia Street is now an open space - Pullens Gardens - created following the demolition of a tenement block. Credit: Ideal Homes TUM image id: 1536959890 Licence:	East Street, Walworth is likely to have been the birthplace of Charlie Chaplin, although no birth certificate exists. It could therefore also have been the inspiration for his similarly named 1917 seminal short film Easy Street, a suggestion made as early as 1928 in the film ’The Life Story of Charlie Chaplin’ by Harry B. Parkinson. The famous trousers and boots of Chaplin’s trademark tramp costume may have been inspired by the every-day clothes Chaplin saw worn in what he called East Lane market. East Street Market also features in the title sequence to the television programme Only Fools and Horses. Credit: Wiki Commons TUM image id: 1638107581 Licence: CC BY 2.0
Elephant & Castle TUM image id: 1683196643 Licence:	Princes Street, now Princess Street near Elephant and Castle (1864) There were a few pottery firms in this street at this time. Credit: Lambeth Archives TUM image id: 1562929776 Licence:	View across roof tops to Pink’s Factory, Tabard Street, Southwark (1916) This picture was taken prior to slum clearance to make way for the Tabard Garden Estate. TUM image id: 1660650784 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Walworth Road (1930) This view looks north along the Walworth Road towards the ornate Elephant and Castle public house. Most of the buildings here were demolished as part of the London County Council redevelopment between 1958 and 1965. TUM image id: 1620670227 Licence:	Postcard depicting Walworth Road and "The King’s First Visit To South London May 1911". The king in question was George V Old London postcard TUM image id: 1621246974 Licence:
Wild’s Rents, SE1 (1930s) TUM image id: 1644256555 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Harrison House on the Browning Estate, Walworth (1974) Credit: London Borough of Southwark TUM image id: 1637075058 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Slum housing, 24-37 Chapel Place, Southwark Chapel Place was a side turning off of Long Lane. The modern Hankey Place largely replaced it. Credit: London Metropolitan Archives TUM image id: 1622285670 Licence:	The corner of Long Lane with Staple Street, Bermondsey possibly at the end of the Boer War In the 1950s these shops were Fordham’s and Leatherdales bakery. Later still there was a fish and chip shop here opposite the Valentine pub. TUM image id: 1606858722 Licence:	Villa Street Walworth c.1907. TUM image id: 1604223727 Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...

Demolition of the Heygate Estate and the construction of Elephant Central, May 2014. The Heygate Estate had been completed in 1974. The estate was used extensively as a filming location, due in part to its brutalist architecture.
Credit: Wiki Commons/Zefrog
Licence: CC BY 2.0

East Street market, Walworth in 1908 The market, in operation since the 1880s, featured in the title sequence for Only Fools and Horses
Old London postcard
Licence:

Amelia Street, SE11 This originally consisted of late 19th century tenement blocks built by James Pullen between 1886 and 1901. During the 1980s the buildings between Manor Place and the south side of Amelia Street were demolished. The demolition of the rest of the Pullens Estate was prevented when squatters, intent on preserving the remainder of an individual late Victorian estate, occupied some of the blocks. The south side of Amelia Street is now an open space - Pullens Gardens - created following the demolition of a tenement block.
Credit: Ideal Homes
Licence:

East Street, Walworth is likely to have been the birthplace of Charlie Chaplin, although no birth certificate exists. It could therefore also have been the inspiration for his similarly named 1917 seminal short film Easy Street, a suggestion made as early as 1928 in the film ’The Life Story of Charlie Chaplin’ by Harry B. Parkinson. The famous trousers and boots of Chaplin’s trademark tramp costume may have been inspired by the every-day clothes Chaplin saw worn in what he called East Lane market. East Street Market also features in the title sequence to the television programme Only Fools and Horses.
Credit: Wiki Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Walworth Road (1930) This view looks north along the Walworth Road towards the ornate Elephant and Castle public house. Most of the buildings here were demolished as part of the London County Council redevelopment between 1958 and 1965.
Licence:

Postcard depicting Walworth Road and "The King’s First Visit To South London May 1911". The king in question was George V
Old London postcard
Licence:

Harrison House on the Browning Estate, Walworth (1974)
Credit: London Borough of Southwark
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Villa Street Walworth c.1907.
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Eltham Street, Walworth before demolition
Credit: London Metropolitan Archives
Licence: CC BY 2.0

The Good Intent - the last pub of East Street Market
Credit: Wiki Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.0

MAP YEAR:	1750	1800	1810	1820	1830	1860	1900	1950	2023	Show map without markers
ZOOM:	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17 18	14 15 16 17	14 15 16 17 18
	TIP: To create your own sharable map, right click on the map