It’s the weekend after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring as they’ve had too many Ferrero Roche, Lambrini, and M&S mini chorizo bites. Well were going to get that metabolism going again by taking a stroll down the fascinating Renfew Road on the Kennington/Elephant border. Care to join us?
On the eastern side of Renfrew Road there remains a cluster of buildings which reflect a variety of life in our patch in the late 1800’s. The first offering off Kennington Lane is the Grade II listed old fire station. Built in 1868, the station served an area which was by that time bursting with industries that needed fires, such as kilns. In an era before IPhone 17’s and Snapchat, a turret was the quickest way to detect a local flame and it still exists. Although expanded in 1897, by 1920 there must have been a few too many fires in Greater Kennington as it was abandoned and used by the Guardians for the Poor in St. Mary’s Parish. Presumably to assist those who had been turfed out of the recently closed Workhouse next door (we’ll get to that).
Next we move merrily along to Lambeth Magistrates’ Court, which from 1978 has been home to Jamyang London Buddhist Centre. Built in 1869, it’s also Grade II listed, designed in the Gothic Revival style, and is the earliest surviving example of a Criminal Magistrates Court in London. In the 1960’s it was converted to a maximum security court for special remands, including IRA terrorists, the Kray twins, and members of the gang who seized the Iranian Embassy. If you look closely you can still see bars on some of the windows (not used for unruly Buddhists). Some might recall that in 2021 part of the courthouse housed a lovely café owned by the folks who run Little Louie in Elephant Park. We reviewed glowingly it in 2021 and it then promptly closed. We like to call this the ‘Observer effect’.
Moving on, behind the Courthouse we see the remains of the once mighty Lambeth Workhouse. It moved to Renfew Road in 1871 and was once the home of Charlie Chaplin and his mum. The place was a refuge, especially for women, and in spite of its reputation provided healthcare and job training. However, many tasks were degrading and intended to get people out of the Workhouse as quickly as possible. The former Governor’s house remains and is now home to the delightful Cinema Museum. The water tower which remains was built because such institutions needed water storage in the event of fire. Its unrecorded how the poor firemen next door felt about this. The tower undertook a bonkers renovation in 2012, and was featured on Grand Designs. In the video the new owner speaks lovingly about jumping off the building if it doesn’t work. We would too if we had to walk up 100 feet to get to our living room. For a deeper dive into the Workhouse we wrote about it in 2019.
