Kennington Park is in Kennington,_London,_England, in London SE11, and lies between Kennington Park Road and St Agnes Place. It was opened in 1854. Previously the site had been Kennington Common. This is where the Chartists gathered for their biggest 'monster rally' on 10th April 1848. Soon after this demonstration the common was enclosed and, sponsored by the royals, made into a public park.

Kennington Common was a site of public executions until 1800 as well as being the South London speakers corner. One of the most illustrious orators to speak here was John Wesley who is reputed to have attracted a crowd of 30,000. The link with radical religion is still evident with the Rastafarian temple in St Agnes Place, which backs onto the park.

Cricket may have first been played in London on the common. Today Kennington Park east is hosting the first inner London community cricket ground, sponsored by Surrey County Cricket Club whose home is nearby at The Oval.

In the 1970s the old tradition of mass gatherings returned to the park which was host to the start of many significant marches to Parliament. Today this tendency is opposed by a few locals who prefer the model of the Victorian Park. The Friends of Kennington Park, FoKP, provides a local forum for this struggle.

Contents

1 Timeline Kennington Common/Park 1.1 pre 1600 1.2 1600s 1.3 1700s 1.4 1800s 1.5 1900s 1.6 2000s 2 External Links 3 Acknowledgements

Timeline Kennington Common/Park

pre 1600

• c1500BC Recently discovered post stumps in the South Thames foreshore point to a ritual jetty or the first London Bridge, by the outlet of the River Effra. The Effra may have been the boundary of Kennington Common. (On the north bank a tributary of the Tyburn...) Three closely related geographic features defined the area of Kennington Common as sacred in ancient times. A strategic ton or mound, a bend in the river Effra before it flowed into the Thames, and an important fork in the main road from the London Bridge river crossing. This made it a sacred place of 'national' assembly which may have related to the jetty or bridge.
• The ton may have also been used by the marsh community as a refuge from tidal flash floods!

• 1450 The invention of printing with moveable type
• 1561 - 1626 Francis Bacon, The Age of reason - 'Knowledge is power'. Written records become increasingly used.

1600s

• 1600 gives the first record of the common. "The common was bounded on the South West by Vauxhall Creek" It seems that the common extended over marshy land to the South West of what is now Kennington Park Road and the Oval. When the common became bounded by the Kennington Park Road is not known. There is a 1660 record of a common keeper being paid for grazing. See commoner

• 1661 Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens is laid out nearby.
• 1678 First recorded execution at Kennington Common was that of Sarah Elston who was burnt for murdering her husband. Kennington Common was the South London equivalent of Tyburn (now Marble Arch).

1700s

• 1724 - June 18, Dartford v London Cricket match on Kennington Common (St James Evening Post, June 16)
• 1725 First record of the Green Man and Horns tavern 'in' Kennington Common. The cricket played on the common used the Horns as a base. Also other sports including quoits and bowling were played.
• 1729 - "On Tuesday was played a great cricket match on Kennington Common between the Londoners and the Dartford men for a considerable sum of money, wager and bets, and the latter beat the former very much" (London Evening Post, August 7).
• 1739 Methodists John Wesley and George Whitefield preach to 30,000. Whitefield is remembered in the nearby 'Whitefield House' home of the Evangelical Alliance. Dissenting methodists, such as the son of a slave Robert Wedderburn, spoke in a more radical voice on Kennington Common speaking out against the enclosures and slavery (active from 1786 through 1813). Kennington Common is the South London Speakers Corner, a kind of open air free university of the day...
• 1743 24th August James Hunt and Thomas Collins hanged for Censored page at KC gallows
• 1746 30th July. Nine men of the Manchester Regiment who had taken part in the Jacobite Rising were hung, drawn and quartered.

• 1750 Start of the industrial revolution in Britain

• 1767 The common was flooded by a high tide coming up Vauxhall Creek.

• 1782 Anna Godi is the last woman to be officially executed as a witch.

• 1790 William Blake moved to North Lambeth and must have attended commons meetings in the 1790s, in all likelihood with Thomas Paine)
• 1792 Mungo a black prize fighter breaks his opponents jaw, a local carpenter, in a match on the common. (Peter Linebaugh The London Hanged Verso 2003 p. 414)
• 1799 The last person to be hanged at the common (six years after execution was ended at Tyburn) was a fraudster from nearby Camberwell by the name Badger

1800s

• 1800 The much respected Mr Briant becomes landlord of the Horns runs a famous Glee Club. Briant died 1852 but his relatives still live in Kennington, one of whom chaired the Parks Management Advisory Committee in 1996.

• 1807 Slavery abolished in the British Empire
• 1811 Koenig Steam press invented - birth of modern press/ media - New forms of social control

• 1815 Feb 28th A mob breaks windows 'round the Horns'. LifeGuards called out to quell the mob. The act read.

• 1819 Peterloo Massacre signaled end of repression by violence. The sword replaced by cultural repression...

• 1824 St Marks Church by D.R.Roper, built on enclosed common land over the river Effra. Promoted as the 'salvation of the common'.
• 1832 1st Reform act, after which husting were set up on Kennington Common (outside The Horns)
• 1845 Surrey CCC formed (22 August formally constituted on 18th October) at the Horns

• 1845 -50 Irish famine kills a million and caused another 1.5 M to flee

• 1848 10th April Chartist Monster Rally organised by Black Briton and leader of London Chartists William Cuffey. Chartism was a federation of different groups who had agreed on a set of political demands for an inclusive people's democracy. Chartism was the first national working class organisation and the rally on the 10th April 1848 the high point of the Chartist movement.
• 1848 10th April First photograph of a crowd taken by William Kilburn probably from the Horns. The Daguerrotype negative is now kept by and copyright Queen Elisabeth and is kept in the Royal archives at Windsor Castle.

• This was a year known for its revolutions see Revolution_of_1848
• 1851 More people in cities than country. Londons population is 2.5 milllion.

• 1852 Kennington Common was enclosed. The petition for enclosure was led by vicar of St Marks, aided by the young Prince of Wales. No more gathering or vulgar recreations allowed (without permission!) The sacred mound levelled, the common fenced and landscaped into an urban park.

• 1852 Prince Consort Model Lodge (aka 'Prince Albert's Cottages') re-erected from the Great Exhibition (where they were provided by the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes) and back porch added..
• 1853 September 13th The new toll house opens at the fork in Kennington Park Road was built
• 1854 Kennington Park opened maintained by the Crowns Office of Works
• 1859 Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened for the last time on the night of Monday, 25 July, 1859.
• 1861 Two panelled gardens laid our by John Gibson on the west side either side the lodge.
• 1861 A gymnasium erected (now the old Tennis courts)
• 1861 Meeting of the Juvenile Temperance Society allowed in the summer.(PRO work 1/71)
• 1862 Felix Slade fountain designed by Charles Driver
• 1869 Sir Henry Doulton donates local artist George Tinworth's 'Fountain of Life'

• 1867 2nd Reform Act Lower middle class and artisans get the vote
• 1884 3rd Reform Act All adult men get the vote.

• 1887 KP maintenance passed over to London's Metropolitan Board of Works
• 1889 KP passed to London County Council that later became the Greater London Council, GLC, in 1965
• 1897 An Arts & Crafts style refreshment house erected which is now a rare survival.
• 1898 Princess of Wales Theatre, designed by WGR Sprague, opens at the height of the musichall era. (closed c1934 and site CP'd for flats 1949) Had one of earliest air conditioning systems.

1900s

• 1900 Bandstand completed with seated concerts from military bands playing there until 1950 Sundays, Wednesdays and bank holidays - This was 'Rational Recreation' set against the vulgarity of the surrounding music hall and tavern cuiture. Charlie Chaplin grew up locally and is said to have met his first girlfriend in the park. His errant father habituated the Horns.
• 1914 c "The ancient privileges of the 'ton' are preserved, however, on a triangular piece of ground fenced off for the purpose (the site probably of the mound), where a notice states that here public meetings may be held." 'A tradition may neither be made nor destroyed' Disraeli (from Prehistoric London: its mounds and circles by E.O.Gordon Covenant Publishing 1914)
• 1914c The railings were removed for war use. The first bomb dropped on London in World War I is said to have been dropped from a Zepplin on the south field??
• 1920 Kennington Park Extension Committee formed who bought land that became the swimming pool, flower garden and children's playground
• 1924 War Memorial designed by Lucas Lancaster and Lodge erected (by public subscription?)
• 1926 KP reoccupied during the General Strike

• 1928 Females finally enfranchised

• 1930s Wooden shelter (replaced in the 1950s and due again for replacement)
• 1931 Old English Garden designed by Col. J.J. Sexby opened
• 1931 The Lido provided by the LCC was opened (It closed at the end of the 1987 season - see external link below)
• 1934 Last license given to Princess of Wales Theatre...
• 1940 15th October. A public bomb shelter suffers a direct hit with up to 100 people killed. Only 50 bodies identified by name, possibly 17 peoples remains left in ground (first memorial service 12th October 2003 in St Marks).
• c1940 The local areas of Lambeth and Southwark very badly bombed in The Blitz.
• 1940? Horns pub bomb damaged
• 1949 A 24ft high illuminated Xmas tree erected in the park

• 1950s The Horns Tavern was 'one of the most famous landmarks of South London'. It is still remembered as being a centre of Kennington's community spirit in the Fifties.
• 1960s Horns demolished (replaced by Col. Richard Siefert's Department of Social Security - see photo) From a social centre to a centre of social control?
• 196? Land to the east of St Agnes Place is designated public open space that becomes Kennington Park East.
• 1963 Two piece bronze Reclining Figure No 3 by sculptor Henry Moore (the son of a Yorkshire coal miner) bought for the new prizewinning Brandon Highrise Estate (KP east)
• 1971 KP control passes to Lambeth Council.
• 197? Radical religion returns to Kennington Park with the establishment of the Rastafarian Temple in St Agnes Place backing onto the park.
• 1974 St Agnes Place housing squatted and defended against demolition (1977) with a high court injunction (the first to be obtained by telephone)
• 1977 Bob Marley visits the Rastafarian Temple while recording Exodus. There is film footage of him playing in the park.
• 1978 November 5th Public gatherings return to the park with a municipal firework display and bonfire.
• 1984 Oval Fountain designed by black woman architect ...Ms ?. Livingston

• 1986 5th July Censored page march started in Kennington Park followed in the next ten years by many political rallies. The return of the commons spirit?
• 1988 The much loved swimming pool is closed, filled in and covered with tennis courts.
• 1990 31st March A branch of the historic Poll Tax march starts in the Park

• 1990 Nelson Mandela freed

• 1996 KP Management Advisory Committee (the MAC) started by Lambeth Council prepares lottery bid with the architect Carl Callaghan.
• 1997 16pp pamphlet on the parks history from a working class viewpoint written and produced by Stefan Szczelkun. In the following year it sells over 1000 copies in the local newsagents, closest bookshops and so on.
• 1998 10th April The 150th anniversary of the Chartist rally was commemorated by a motley bunch of laterday Chartists led by Marianne from KP estate and helped by Louisa and Stefan.
• 1998 12th April Reclaim the Streets and Liverpool Dockers March rally sets off from the park

2000s

• 2001 Last municipal fireworks display.. This was the only park event attended annually by almost everyone locally. (Patrick Keiller's film 'London' (1993) has a long sequence of the bonfire.)
• 2002 July 7th Park Arts event. 12 artists instal work in the park for the day.
• 2002 Inaurgual meeting of Friends of Kennington Park, FoKP. The condition of the park is very poor. The cafe and toilets are shut.
• 2002? Cricket returns to Kennington Park East with Tony Moody's catchy shubby cricket project. Kennington United CC supported by Surrey CCC at the Oval.
• 2002 The cafe re-opens and becomes a haven
• 2003 Trees for London (now called Trees for Cities see link below) move into Prince Consort Lodge and hold a very well attended community tree planting day in the park on 29th March 2003
• 2003 30th May South London Press reports 'Human Poo in Park Outrage' Behind this is a local campaign against an Ecuadorian community group playing volleyball in the park. The same group campaign against football teams... The return of enclosure reaction?
• 2003 12th October First memorial service at St Marks for those that died in the park shelter in 1940.

• 2004 cJune Lambeth Council posters announce illegality of barBQs
• 2004 The Public Toilets are finally reopened...
• 2004 Jumble sale organised by Cathy Preece raises over £700 for park bird boxes made by local community eco group Roots & Shoots.
• 2004 August Ecuadorian community excluded from using the park for volleyball. Return of the enclosure of the spirit?
• 2004 4th September: Commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the park with a funday organised by FoKP.
• 2004 October SaveKPVolleyball [SaveKPVolleyball [at] aol.com] campaign group sends an open letter to Lambeth Council defending the use of the park for Ecuadorian community volleyball.

External Links

• List of those listed as killed in the 1940 bomb http://web.ukonline.co.uk/localonline/d/0056kpsd.htm
• The Horns Tavern http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Horns%20Tavern.html
• another Volleyball dispute http://www.southsidepride.com/2003/06/articles/volleyball.html
• William Cuffey the Chartist leader http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/rights/chartists.htm
• Robert Wedderburn, 'British Working-class hero' http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/robert_wedderman.html
• Trees for Cities http://www.treesforcities.org/
• The 1997/98 pamphlet http://bak.spc.org/kenningtonpark/
• Richard Siefert portrait http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp62921
• South London Press http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/
• History of St Agnes Place http://www.squat.freeserve.co.uk/story/ch7.htm
• The Lido http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.merrington/lidos/lidos1closed.htm#_Toc208798
  5
• Creative commons? http://chinabone.lth.bclub.org.uk/~saul/docs/drafts/lucrative_media.html
• George Tinworth http://www.speel.demon.co.uk/artists2/tinworth.htm

Acknowledgements

Chloe Bowles for the photos above (contact via discussion page above)

Any further links or exact dates would be appreciated... See also Talk:Kennington Park#Notes on the sources of my information.