Plaque

River Effra - Canterbury Square 3

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 3

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 3

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 2

River Effra - Canterbury Square 2

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

Rowland Bourke VC

Rowland Bourke VC

SW1, Sloane Square

Believed to be the first war memorial erected on a public highway. At first sight just a simple stone cross on a plinth, but the whole ba...

War served | WW1
2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Billy Bunter creator

Billy Bunter creator

W5, Ealing Broadway Centre, The Broadway

Not an easy plaque to find, and if you don't like shopping centres, not a pleasant hunt. We believe our pin is in exactly the right plac...

2 subjects commemorated
Anthony Newley

Anthony Newley

E5, Oswald Street, Mandeville Community School

This 1913 map shows that Oswald Street used to extend down to Rushmore Street. That southern section, where, according to the plaque, New...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Foyles - David Attenborough

Foyles - David Attenborough

W1, Tottenham Court Road, Foyles bookshop

We found these two plaques in the basement, near the lift and stairwell.  There may be others elsewhere in the store - if you find any pl...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Charles Dickens - Museum / Devonshire Terrace

Charles Dickens - Museum / Devonshire Terrace

WC1, Doughty Street, Dickens Museum

LookandLearn has a photo of the building, no.1, before it was demolished. The Dickens relief also commemorates his stay at this address.

1 subject commemorated