Plaque

River Effra - Canterbury Square 1

River Effra pavement plaques - 6 River Effra - Canterbury Square 1

Erection date: /7/2016

Inscription

The hidden River Effra is beneath your feet.

Site: River Effra pavement plaques - 6 (6 memorials)

SW9, Brixton Road, Canterbury Square

Photographed and numbered from north to south.

A nearby information board:
On your right is the old Roman road to the south coast (now the Brixton Road). Here, bridges once crossed the River Effra but today, the river flows beneath Canterbury Square on its way to the Thames at Vauxhall.
The village of Brixton did not exist until the end of the 18th century. The 1806 enclosure of the lands of the Manor of Lambeth (which belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury) and the arrival of the railway in 1862 resulted in speculative house-building for commuters into central London.
A growing community needed shops. Nearby, Bon Marché on Brixton Road {building still there, the flat-iron between Ferndale Road and Stockwell Avenue} opened in 1877 and was the first purpose-built department store in the United Kingdom.
To your left is Canterbury Crescent, where you can still see the remnants of the old St John's School {the Tudor-style St John's Buildings, which you can see here}. It was built in 1853 at a cost of £1,600, on land donated by philanthropist Benedict Angell. Also in the Crescent were a stables for resting carriage horses, the Canterbury Arms public house and the dairy pictured above (London, Gloucestershire and North Hants Dairy}. The ornately styled mansion flats immediately to your left {the red brick Dover Mansions} were popular with music hall performers, and these artistes gave Brixton a bohemian flavour. In the 1920s, the pioneer sexologist Havelock Ellis lived here.
Discover Lambeth

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
River Effra - Canterbury Square 1

Subjects commemorated i

River Effra

At the Brockwell Lido plaque there is an information board which begins by ex...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
River Effra - Canterbury Square 1

Also at this site i

River Effra - Canterbury Square 2

River Effra - Canterbury Square 2

The hidden River Effra is beneath your feet.

Read More

River Effra - Canterbury Square 3

River Effra - Canterbury Square 3

The hidden River Effra is beneath your feet.

Read More

River Effra - Canterbury Square 4

River Effra - Canterbury Square 4

The hidden River Effra is beneath your feet.

Read More

River Effra - Canterbury Square 5

River Effra - Canterbury Square 5

The hidden River Effra is beneath your feet.

Read More

River Effra - Canterbury Square 6

River Effra - Canterbury Square 6

The hidden River Effra is beneath your feet.

Read More

Nearby Memorials

The Trafalgar Way - Canada House

The Trafalgar Way - Canada House

WC2, Cockspur Street, Canada House

The Trafalgar Way at Canada House The first official despatches with news of the victory, and the death in action of Vice Admiral Lord N...

6 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Theodore Fontane

Theodore Fontane

NW1, St Augustines Road, 6

Unveiled by the German ambassador, Thomas Matussek.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
William Blake - SE1 - lost plaque

William Blake - SE1 - lost plaque

SE1, Hercules Road

This plaque, shown in both this drawing (by Adcock from Culture 24) and the photo of the house, was lost when the building was demolished...

2 subjects commemorated
Rosslyn Heights

Rosslyn Heights

NW3, Belsize Lane, Rosslyn Heights

Rosslyn Gardens, the red-brick mansions on the northern side of this road (now nos. 4-26 Belsize Lane) was built about 1881.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Osbert Lancaster

Osbert Lancaster

W11, Elgin Crescent, 79

Sir Osbert Lancaster, 1908 - 1986, cartoonist and writer, was born here. English Heritage

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator