A TRAVEL GUIDE to CAMBERWELL 2020 LIMITED EDITION 1 Thank you for supporting the INDEX Camberwell Banners project. CAMBERWELL HISTORIES As your reward, we're delighted to A Brief History 6 present you with the 2nd, limited A Healthy History 8 edition Travel Guide to Camberwell – the essential companion for An Artistic History 12 those in search of the real SE5. A Literary History 16 A Musical History 20 In this guide you’ll find beautiful An Entertaining History 24 parks, exotic meals, wonderful cakes, intoxicating drinks and Architectural Gems 28 excellent coffee, as well as an From the Caribbean to Camberwell 34 internationally renowned art Fortean Camberwell 38 college. There are galleries, ghosts, CONTEMPORARY CAMBERWELL a graveyard, a Turkish spa, a Greek bakery and Britain’s first purpose Camberwell’s Green 50 built mental health hospital. Phileas Dogg’s Guide to Camberwell 58 Pub Crawl 62 Robert Browning was born here, A Global Gourmet Guide 66 Michael Caine grew up here, Charlie Chaplin worked here, Dan Leno lived Café Culture 72 here and John Ruskin left in disgust 20 Things To Do In Camberwell 76 when the railways ruined his view. A View from the Baby Buggy 80 A Young Person’s Guide 84 WELCOME TO It’s an unlikely mixture, perhaps, CAMBERWELL but it’s what we think of when we Shopping in Camberwell 90 think of Camberwell. We hope it Where to Stay 94 will inspire you to explore the Stories and Colours of Camberwell 96 area further, whether you’re a Local Resources 105 local resident or visitor. Camberwell Directory 108 Map 116 Transport Information 118 2 3 CAMBERWELL HISTORIES 4 5 Today, Camberwell is so much a part In 1862 a railway line was extended to A brief history of the city that it’s hard to believe the area Camberwell, followed by a station at once had its own mill and supported itself Denmark Hill, enabling less wealthy from the surrounding fields – or that it people to commute to London. In 1871 of Camberwell traded with London by supplying the city the service attracted competition from with fresh fruit and vegetables and milk. tram companies and by the 1900s as many as 250 trams passed through Camberwell From a farming village, Camberwell became every hour on 14 different routes. an exclusive Georgian retreat, attracting visitors because of its reputation for By the beginning of the 20th century, clean air and healthy waters – as well Camberwell had become so over-crowded as improvements in transport. The most that philanthropic organisations began significant of these was the construction to look at how to improve housing in the of new bridges over the Thames to bypass area. In 1910 the Peabody Trust built flats the congestion of London Bridge, which by Camberwell Green followed by the in turn led to the construction of a new development of the Samuel Lewis Trust local road network. Camberwell New Road, Buildings in 1915. Further redevelopment for example, was opened in 1818 to link was necessary following World War II when Camberwell with Vauxhall Bridge, which air attacks destroyed 5,650 houses in the was built in 1816. local area. As London’s transport infrastructure Today, Camberwell has become well and expanded, Camberwell developed into truly part of London – an inner-city area an inner city suburb. By 1800 two firms with a diverse population. Elegant Georgian Camberwell’s story is one of ran coaches 7 times a day from Camberwell properties sit alongside post-war estates, to Gracechurch Street in the City to giving the place its eclectic character. Throw how a small Surrey farming accommodate commuters. This was a into the mix a large teaching hospital, a community became engulfed relatively expensive form of transport as leading mental health research institution tolls had to be paid. In the mid 1800s the and the students of Camberwell College by the great metropolis horse-drawn bus was developed and the of Art and you have a truly unique part of of London. first buses came to Camberwell in 1851. London. 6 7 A healthy history It began when the first Londoners decided that the waters of the Camber Well were a remedy for life’s ills. Ever since, Camberwell has been a cradle for medical discovery and innovation, particularly in the area of mental health and well-being. It’s no wonder the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell adopted the motto ‘All’s Well’ when they were granted the right to a coat of arms in 1901. IMAGE King's College Hospital gymnasium 8 9 HEALING WATERS CAMBERWELL'S INFLUENCE TODAY THE MAUDSLEY HOSPITAL THE INSTITUTE OF PSYCHIATRY, The waters of the Camber Well were said Today Camberwell is home to some of the The Maudsley is England’s first purpose- PSYCHOLOGY & NEUROSCIENCE to be rich in iron and mineral salts, with a world’s most influential medical research built psychiatric hospital for treatment IoPPN is a world leader in the research, beneficial effect on any number of ailments. organisations. Where Londoners once took and research. It dates from 1907, when Dr study and practice of psychiatry, psychology Springs and wells are known to have existed the healing waters of the Camber Well, Henry Maudsley offered London County and related disciplines, and one of the on the southern slope of Denmark Hill, three leading medical organisations are Council £30,000 (increased to £40,000) to most cited research centres in the world. especially around Grove Park. now in residence. fund a new hospital that aimed to find Its origins date back to 1896, when the effective treatments, rather than simply eminent neurologist Sir Frederick Mott As a result Camberwell developed as a providing confinement and ‘asylum’. put forward proposals for the then novel hamlet where people from the City of London KING’S COLLEGE HOSPITAL concept of university level training courses were expelled when they had life threatening King’s College Hospital was founded in All patients were admitted on a voluntary in subjects related to psychiatry. However, diseases, like leprosy, for treatment by the 1829 to provide clinical experience for basis – possible only after an Act of it was not until 1914 that Mott’s idea began church and the clean, healing waters from the students in the medical faculty of King’s Parliament in 1915. By the time it was to bear fruit when London County Council local wells. An article, written by Prosser College London. It originally opened in built, World War I had broken out and agreed to establish the Maudsley. in 1827, states: "it has been conjectured 1840 in Portugal Street, close to Lincoln’s the building was requisitioned as a that the well might have been famous for Inn Fields, and moved to its current site war hospital, not opening as a mental Within ten years, the Maudsley Hospital some medicinal virtues and might have on Denmark Hill in 1913 when a larger health resource until 1923. In 1948 the Medical School was officially recognised occasioned the dedication of (St Giles) building was required. Hospital joined the NHS, amalgamating by the University of London. It retained church to this patron saint of cripples". with the Bethlem Royal Hospital (also this title until 1948 when it became a King Edward VII laid the foundation stone known as Bedlam) to become one of founder member of the British Postgraduate By the 18th century, Camberwell’s springs of the Denmark Hill location in 1909 a small group of postgraduate Special Medical Federation and changed its name had established it as a desirable location and the new King’s College Hospital was Teaching Hospitals. In 1999 it became to the Institute of Psychiatry. In 1997, the for recreation. People would come from opened by King George V and Queen Mary part of the South London and Maudsley Institute became a school of King’s College far and wide to experience its healing on 26 July 1913. Soon after its opening, it NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), providing London. In 2014, the remit of the Institute waters. The elegant Georgian terraces of was requisitioned as a military hospital mental health services in hospital and in the was broadened to include all brain and Camberwell Grove and Grove Lane are a and treated over 75,000 wounded soldiers community. It continues to play an important behavioural sciences, and was renamed legacy of the area's prosperity during this during World War I. role nationally and internationally and is the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology period. Dr Lettsom, founder of the Medical supported by the Maudsley Charity. & Neuroscience. Society of London, established a botanical It is now one of London’s largest teaching garden of rare plants, some of which can hospitals as well as providing general still be seen in Lettsom Gardens. healthcare to the London boroughs ORTUS CAMBRIDGE HOUSE of Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham In 2013 the Maudsley Charity built the ORTUS Founded in 1889, Cambridge House is part As the metropolis expanded between 1740 – and a range of specialist services for on the site of the hospital, to focus on of the Settlement Movement, which saw and 1840, the fields became streets and patients across south east England and learning, education and connection. It aims activists living and working alongside their terraces. The health giving springs and beyond. King’s is recognised nationally and to break down stigma and work closely with neighbours in London’s deprived areas to wells became forgotten in all but the place internationally for its work in liver disease patients, staff and the local community. overcome the social problems of the day.