Possibly named after the 7th Lord Bellenden of Broughton, Bellenden Road was laid out along with neighbouring streets from the 1870s on what had formerly been largely fruit gardens serving the City of London. It was also possibly named after Lady Margaret Bellenden in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Old Mortality.
The name was extended north along the road, which originally consisted of numerous individually named groups and terraces. The northern section, off Peckham High Street, was formerly called Basing Road, and the manor house of Basing lay to the east.
The original terraces were (in alphabetical order): Alpine Villas, Argyle Villas, Bellenden Terrace, Bellenden Villas, Cedar Cottages, Chapel Terrace, Denmark Villas, Devonshire Villas, Erith Villas, Ida Mount, Leamington Villas, Meadow Terrace, Myrtle Villas, Oxford Terrace, St Johns Terrace, Selwyn Terrace, Troy Villas and Victoria Terrace.
From its earliest days, Bellenden Road was populated by many French Huguenots, and still retains something of its French flavour, with various streets, pubs and businesses carrying French names such as the Montpelier Public House, Petit Chou café and Choumert Road. Bellenden has for some years been known as ’the French Quarter’.
Artists such as Anthony Gormley, Tom Phillips and John Latham have lived and worked on Bellenden Road and in the area. As part of Southwark Council’s Bellenden Area Renewal programme Gormley designed bollards and street furniture for the area, Phillips designed lampposts and mosaics, several shop fronts were refitted and Latham installed a major artwork through the front of his house and studio which he named Flat Time House.
The Bellenden Road Nature Garden is a nature reserve managed by London Wildlife Trust.
