Plaque

River Effra - Canterbury Square 2

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

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
River Effra - Canterbury Square 2

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 subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
River Effra - Canterbury Square 2

Created by i

Atelier Works

From their website: "We are an award-winning design agency, with over 30 year...

Read More

Faranak

Artist based in Lambeth, active c.2018.

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
River Effra - Canterbury Square 2

Also at this site i

River Effra - Canterbury Square 1

River Effra - Canterbury Square 1

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

London Fire Brigade HQ

London Fire Brigade HQ

SE1, Albert Embankment, London Fire Brigade Headquarters

This building, by Higgs and Hill, is basically a rather massive office block but it has some lovely carved reliefs of firemen doing what ...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Bowler plaque - Purse and Coins

Bowler plaque - Purse and Coins

E1, Middlesex Street

We failed to find this plaque in Dec-Jan 2017 so are grateful to Spitalfields Life for their photo. This cast-iron roundel is one of 22 ...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Nancy's Steps - plaque 1

Nancy's Steps - plaque 1

SE1, Montague Close

The plaques both have the facts wrong; in the novel Nancy is murdered in her house. It is in the 1960 musical Oliver! that she is murdere...

5 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Lord Porter

Lord Porter

SW7, Chemistry Building, Imperial College Road

The Barton, Porter & Wilkinson plaques are on the left hand wall of the porch, Chain, a later addition, is facing them on the right h...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Dr Joseph T Clover

Dr Joseph T Clover

W1, Cavendish Place, 3

Placed 2 March 1994.

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators