Places to visit in South London - Kennington and Vauxhall

Vauxhall - I've already blogged about this pocket of south London a while back. Situated right at the bank of the River Thames, there's nothing immediately appealing to the eye as you exit the local tube station. All you have is a futurist-looking bus station which wouldn't look out of place in a cyberpunk novel; a large gyratory which swarms the whole area; various newbuild tower blocks which peer over you. This despondent vibe is only greater if you visit on a cloudy, damp November day, as I foolishly did.

Out in the distance is the grand SIS Building, home to MI6 since 1994. MI6 have generally been based in Vauxhall since the beginning, back when Mansfield Cumming, the first chief of MI6, had to find an office to base his new secret intelligence service in 1909. He chose a flat on Vauxhall Bridge Road as the base, and ever since then, MI6 have generally been located in and around Vauxhall. This time I did take a photo of the building, I'm not as anxious as I used to be :D

 

Walking down various main roads, I found myself by the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, which are anything but. Again, maybe arriving on a rather cold, wet Sunday was a bit of a mistake, but even so it's slightly hard to believe iconic names like Handel and Samuel Pepys enjoyed this park back in the mid-17th century. Back then they were a site for dining and the arts, as well as various balloon ascents, but they closed in 1859 as their popularity dwindled, and over time housing encroached on the area.

 

Now, a much smaller section of land compared to the gardens' peak is open for all to enjoy, albeit it's much like any other park. The main attraction here is arguably Vauxhall City Farm, one of only twelve city farms located within London. It's been around since 1976, and entry is free. I didn't hang around, though, I'm not all too keen on farms, but it was nice to see the goats that hung out outside the main area in their fenced enclosures.

 

Towards Kennington - From here, the walk through south London is particularly dull. There's only one attraction en route to Kennington, and that's the Oval.

This is the holy ground of cricket, I think - I have no idea, I don't watch cricket - and has been home to Surrey Cricket Club since 1845. Prior to 1845, this was a cabbage patch, and earlier than that, was the sight of Kensington Common; cricket has been played in this area since the early 18th century!

The Oval is also known as the place wher English cricket famously died, in 1882, when Australia beat England and everyone overreacted. In the Sporting Times, a now famous obituary read "N.B. - the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia", such was the panic which descended on cricket fans. Eventually, this idea of "the ashes" caught on - in 1903, cricketer Sir Pelham Warner decided to take a team over to Australia so he could regain "the ashes", and this caught on; Warner even wrote a book called How We Recovered the Ashes, such was the fervour at the time. And ever since then, Australia and England have regularly played test matches between each other to see who will win The Ashes.

 

Note: when I took this photo of the Oval, I noticed a woman was also taking a photo of the stadium, and she mentioned to me that the Ashes were happening. I had no idea about this, but thought I could possibly write this blogpost in time for the tournament, maybe say "for one, I did plan my blogposts well". Instead I procrastinated - but not on uni work - and forgot entirely about the Ashes until I read an article saying England lost the first test.

Oval and Kennington Park - Oval station is a very typical Northern line station, not much to say there. Kennington Park is a rather typical park as well, though it does have a lovely history booth in its grounds, which I can't say I've seen in many parks before. From here, I learnt Kennington supposedly means "the King's Town" and was home to Kennington Palace, built by Edward the Black Prince in 1337. The palace was subsequently destroyed in 1531 by King Henry VIII, who wanted stone for his new palace at Whitehall. The things you learn...

 

More delightful is the Kennington Park Flower Garden, a lovely, peaceful area with a lilypad-covered pond in its centre. It was designed in 1931 in a traditional Old English cottage style, which explains its quaint style. Over time it fell into disrepair, but was restored and reopened come 2012.

A thin strip of estate separates the two chunks of Kennington Park, the other one more dreary and estate-like - quiet table tennis courts, the watchful eyes of concrete towers, the weird pitiful feeling you get when you walk around an open space in late autumn, where all the leaves have fallen off and they're scattered across a grass pitch, deserted of picnics or kickabouts. Autumn can be bleak when you're in the wrong areas.