Nunhead

Coordinates: 51°27′44″N 0°03′03″W / 51.4622°N 0.0508°W / 51.4622; -0.0508

Nunhead
Nunhead winter 2011
Nunhead  Nunhead shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ355755
- Charing Cross	4 mi (6.4 km)  NW
London borough	Southwark
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SE15
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Camberwell and Peckham
London Assembly	Lambeth and Southwark
List of places: UK • England • London

Nunhead is a place in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England.^[1] It is an inner-city suburb located 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the 52 acres (0.21 km²) Nunhead Cemetery.^[2] Nunhead has traditionally been a working-class area and, with the adjacent neighbourhoods, is currently going through a lengthy process of gentrification.^{[3][dead link][4]} Nunhead is the location of several underground reservoirs, built by the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company.^[5]

Etymology

The Old Nuns Head, Public House

The name is first recorded in 1680 and is believed to be taken from a local inn named The Nun's Head. It is rumoured that this name refers the beheading of a nun during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. However, there is no evidence to support this claim.^[6]

History

Nunhead formed part of the large ancient parish of Camberwell in the Brixton hundred of Surrey.^[7][8] It has not formed an independent unit of civil administration, however as population grew a separate St Antholin, Nunhead ecclesiastical parish was created in 1878, with a church built in 1877.^[7] The church was later rebuilt in 1957 as St Antony's Church. ^[9] It was then Listed Grade II in 1972 but became surplus to requirements of the church and was declared redundant in 2001 and sold to its present owners. It then became the Lighthouse Cathedral.^[10] The area then came within the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and was transferred to the County of London in 1889. Having formed part of the Camberwell parish, it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell in 1900.^[7] In 1887 Nunhead is recorded as having a population of 10,727.^[11] There was a Nunhead Football Club from 1888 to 1949. Nunhead has some fine examples of late Victorian / early Edwardian properties; these can be seen on both Carden Road and Tresco Road.

Regeneration

Nunhead forms part of Southwark London Borough Council's Peckham Programme regeneration scheme.^[12] As part of this plan, the area forms part of the East Peckham and Nunhead renewal area.^[13] A component of this regeneration is the proposal that the Cross River Tram could serve the area,^[14] however in November 2008 Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced that due to funding constraints this project would no longer be taken forward.^[15]

The Lighthouse Cathedral, the current name of this church, which was built in 1957 to the designs of Lawrence King as St Anthony's (for the Church of England). The previous church on the site (was destroyed by wartime bombing in 1940) was called St Antholin's and built in 1877.

Nearest Places

• East Dulwich
• Brockley
• Peckham
• New Cross Gate

Transport

Gibbon Road is the location of Nunhead railway station. The station is located on the line from Blackfriars to Sevenoaks and Victoria to Dartford. Train services are provided by Southeastern.^[16] The area is also served by a variety of London Buses services.^[17] As part of the urban sprawl of London, Nunhead is contiguous with the neighbourhoods of Brockley to the east, Honor Oak to the south, East Dulwich to the south west, Peckham to the north west and New Cross to the north east.

Politics

Nunhead forms part of the Camberwell and Peckham Westminster constituency, with a ward in that constituency named Nunhead. The current MP is Harriet Harman and the ward councillors are Fiona Colley,^[18] Althea Smith^[19] and Sunil Chopra.^[19] Some local policy elements are devised through consultation between Southwark Council and the Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council.^[1] Fiona Colley also operates an online question and answer surgery with residents at local forum South East Central [1] Nunhead forms part of the Lambeth and Southwark London Assembly constituency represented by Valerie Shawcross and the London European Parliament constituency.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Southwark Council - Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council
2. ^ BBC London - Nunhead Cemetery
3. ^ The Independent, Hot Spot: Nunhead: Back from the dead. 3 October 1998.
4. ^ The Economist - On the Tiger trail: Friday. 8 February 2008.
5. ^ Peckham and Dulwich, Old and New London: Volume 6 (1878), pp. 286-303
6. ^ Mills, A., Dictionary of London Place Names, (2001), Oxford
7. ^ ^{a b c} 'Parishes: Camberwell', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), pp. 24-36. Date accessed: 03 July 2008.
8. ^ Vision of Britain - Camberwell (historic map). Retrieved on 2008-07-05.
9. ^ http://www.southwark.anglican.org/downloads/lostchurches/NUN02.pdf
10. ^ http://www.peckhamhistory.org.uk/churchesCofE.htm
11. ^ John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887) - Nunhead
12. ^ Southwark Council - Peckham Programme
13. ^ Southwark Council - East Peckham and Nunhead
14. ^ Transport for London - Cross River Tram: Route options 2006
15. ^ Transport for London - [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/2043.aspx Cross River Tram project status]
16. ^ Southeastern - Station facilities: Nunhead
17. ^ Transport for London - Buses from Nunhead
18. ^ Cllr Fiona Colley,
19. ^ ^{a b} Southwark Council - Nunhead Ward Councillors