London Borough of Lambeth


Lambeth is a London borough in Central London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as Lambehitha and in 1255 as Lambeth. The geographical centre of London is at Frazier Street near Lambeth North tube station, though nearby Charing Cross on the other side of the Thames in the City of Westminster is traditionally considered the centre of London.
WWW lambeth.gov.uk

History

The area of the modern borough had historically been part of the county of Surrey, and generally corresponds to the three ancient parishes of Lambeth, Clapham and Streatham.
The parish of Lambeth included the archiepiscopal Lambeth Palace, and formed part of the Hundred of Brixton. It was an elongated north–south parish with of River Thames frontage opposite the City of London and the City and Liberty of Westminster. Lambeth became part of the Metropolitan Police District in 1829.
From 1856 the area of the modern borough was governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London. From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards; the parish of Lambeth was governed by its vestry, whilst Clapham and Streatham were both included in the Wandsworth District. In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs. The parish of Lambeth became the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth, and the old Wandsworth District became the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth.
The modern London borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963. It was a merger of the old borough of Lambeth and the Clapham and Streatham areas from the old Wandsworth borough.
When the government was drafting the boundaries for the London boroughs in the early 1960s, it initially suggested that the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark be merged into a new borough; the southern and eastern sections of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth would form another. South Shields town clerk R.S. Young was commissioned to make final recommendations to the government on the shape of the future London boroughs, and he noted that the Wandsworth council opposed the partition of its borough. However, Wandsworth's suggestion to merge Lambeth with the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea was rejected by both councils involved. Young believed that residents of Clapham and Streatham would be more familiar with Brixton than with Wandsworth, and recommended a new borough formed from the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and six wards and portions of two others from the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth.
In the 2016 European Union referendum, Lambeth had the highest share of Remain votes in the United Kingdom at 78.62%, second to overseas territory Gibraltar's 95.9%.

Geography

Lambeth is a long, thin borough, about wide and long. Brixton is its civic centre, and there are other town centres. The largest shopping areas are Streatham, Brixton, Vauxhall, Clapham and West Norwood.
In the northern part of the borough are the central London districts of the South Bank, Vauxhall and Lambeth; in the south are the suburbs of Gipsy Hill, Streatham, West Dulwich and West Norwood. In between are the developed and inner-city districts of Brixton, Brixton Hill, Streatham Hill, Clapham, Clapham Park, Herne Hill, Stockwell, Tulse Hill and Kennington, each at different stages of gentrification with suburban and urban elements. Vauxhall and South Lambeth are central districts in the process of redevelopment with high-density business and residential property. Streatham lies between suburban London and inner-city Brixton, with the suburban and developed areas of Streatham, Streatham Hill and Streatham Vale.
The London Borough of Southwark lies to the east of the Borough of Lambeth. To the west is the London Borough of Wandsworth; to the south-west is the London Borough of Merton; and to the south is the London Borough of Croydon and the London Borough of Bromley.

Parks and green space

Lambeth's open spaces include Brockwell Park and Brockwell Lido, Streatham Common, half of Clapham Common, West Norwood Cemetery, Archbishop's Park, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and Ruskin Park, Larkhall Park and Kennington Park.

Landmarks

Along and around the South Bank, a tourist area has developed around the former Greater London Council headquarters of County Hall and the Southbank Centre and National Theatre. Also on the river is the London Eye and Shell Centre. Nearby is St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace and the Florence Nightingale Museum. Nearby is Brixton, home of Lambeth Town Hall and the Brixton Murals and MI6 headquarters.
Landmark church buildings include:
The Oval cricket ground in Kennington is the home of Surrey County Cricket Club.
The Basaveshwara statue at the Albert Embankment erected by the former Mayor of Lambeth Neeraj Patil was unveiled by the Prime Minister of India on 14 November 2015.

Geology

The bedrock of the London Borough of Lambeth is London Clay Formation, clay and silt formed in the Palaeogene period between 56 and 47.8 million years ago with one small arc of Lambeth Group clay, silt and sand of the same period, leading from the southeast of Brockwell Park and under Croxted Road, formed between 59.2 and 47.8 mya.
There are a number of members of overlying superficial rocks from the Quaternary period. Close to the Thames, around Waterloo Station for example, the rock is estuarine alluvium made of clay, silt, sand and peat formed from 11.8 thousand years ago to the present. South of that is a Kempton Park Gravel member, formed between 116 and 11.8 tya which extends south past Stockwell station approximately to Jeffrey's Road, with small areas of Langley Silt of the same age in the east and west. In the east, along Herne Hill and Denmark Hill is a Boyn Hill Gravel member, deposited between 423 and 126 tya. Further south are areas of Head e.g. from Clapham North station to Atkins road and Streatham Hill, Lynch Hill Gravel under most of Clapham Commom, Hackney Gravel west of Clapham North station, Black Park Gravel making up the high parts of Streatham Hill and Knights Hill and Taplow Gravel under Brixton, the southern part of Stockwell Road and up to Camberwell New Road. In the very southeast and southwest is more Head, along with Hackney Gravel under Streatham Vale. In the south and southeast around Leigham Court Road, Crown Lane, Central Hill and Westow Hill are unnamed sand and gravel deposits.
Elevations in Lambeth range from 0 metres at the intertidal area of the Thames, 3 to 4 metres in flat, built-on areas at the river bank up to 111 metres in the southeast by the junction of Westow Hill and Crystal Palace Parade.

Governance

The local authority is Lambeth Council, which meets at Lambeth Town Hall in the Brixton area of the borough and has its main offices at the nearby civic centre.

Greater London representation

Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly, the borough forms part of the Lambeth and Southwark constituency.

Westminster Parliament

The borough has three Parliamentary constituencies: Dulwich and West Norwood, Clapham and Brixton Hill, and Vauxhall and Camberwell Green.

Demography

Ethnicity

Initial migration from the West Indies accounted for a significant part of the population since the 1960s onwards. Around 10,000 Afro-Caribbeans were a part of Lambeths population in 1963.

Sexuality

Lambeth is the local authority with the highest relative gay or lesbian population in the UK, at 5.5%, with the borough containing the gay village of Vauxhall and the area around Clapham Common.

Arts

Transport

The borough covers London Waterloo railway station, the Waterloo tube station network and the London terminus for Eurostar.
National Rail service in Lambeth is provided by South Western Railway, Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and London Overground.

Bridges and tunnels

Railway stations

London Overground stations

Tube stations

Commuting

In March 2011, the primary forms of transport borough residents used to travel to work were the London Underground, metro, light rail or tram ; bus, minibus or coach ; train ; automobile ; bicycle, or walking. A small percentage worked mainly at—or from—home.

Twinning

The borough and its predecessor have been twinned with the Vincennes district of Paris in France since 1955. Lambeth is also twinned with Bluefields, Nicaragua; Brooklyn, New York; and Spanish Town, Jamaica.

Coat of arms

The borough's coat of arms is that of the former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth, with two gold stars in the second and third quarters of the shield indicating the addition of the districts of Clapham and Streatham. Its motto is "Spectemur agendo".