Lambeth
There are so many things to write about on London that it can be difficult to know how to categorise them all, and for me I find putting articles under the borough they belong to seems to make the most sense, so before I expand on some of the things to see and do in Lambeth, here is a brief introduction to the borough itself.
Lambeth is a long thin wedge of South London that runs for about seven miles from the Thames down to Streatham and West Norwood, but I think it’s fair to say that the riverside stretch between Gabriel’s Wharf and just slightly upstream of Vauxhall Bridge is the area that most visitors would be interested in.
Records show that in 1062 the area was called Lambehitha, which meant ‘Landing Place for Lambs’. It must have seen many changes since then, but for almost 800 years Lambeth Palace has continued to be the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England.
The population has since grown to 303,086 (2011 census), and for the statisticians among you, the borough had the second most voters in favour of remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum (78.62%), after Gibraltar.
Brixton is the civic centre of Lambeth, which politically speaking, has a history of leaning to the left of the political spectrum, both in local and national elections.
As far as things to see and do are concerned, most of them are concentrated alongside the river. The Queen’s Walk runs alongside the river through Lambeth and Southwark’s Bankside to Tower Bridge. The Lambeth section includes the Albert Embankment, the London Eye and the South Bank cultural complex.
Originally posted 2018-04-06 14:28:27.
Gabriel’s Wharf looks as if it is for giants. But hey I enjoyed the doing the Lambeth walk . . .
LOL. Just in case you weren’t aware, the south side of the river was always the poor cousin to the north side, and although it still is in many ways, the Festival of Britain started to turn things around quite a bit.
I didn’t know that Malcolm. I have been in London a few times but it is some size of acity . . . . . So I am enjoying all your posts.
I wrote many of these early posts on London to help people understand the city. It’s easy to go around in circles not knowing where you’re heading to next.
It does not seem to be what you might call compact. But I think your posts are excellent in that you have broken it down and that would it very helpful in terms of planning a stay there.
It’s why I decided to break it down into boroughs Shey, and give an introduction to each. The way I look at it is to think of each borough as a city, which they are when you look at their respective populations. The exception of course is the City of London.
You know yesterday i was thinking it it not really like one city at all and that was why I loved your approach cos you can’t stay in all the cities at once.
Some boroughs are more interesting than others obviously, but my introduction to London hopefully helps explain the areas of the city that visitors are likely to want to visit, and as you’ve already sussed, I’ve also given an introduction to each borough that I’ve covered so far.
And a damn fine way to do it, it is too.
Good idea to tackle London one borough at a time!
Thanks for the endorsement Sarah!
I look forward to reading more about this borough. I see few familiar sights already.
I’ve got more posts in the pipeline