Template:Wp-Brixton-History

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Toponymy

The name Brixton is thought to originate from Brixistane, meaning the stone of Brixi, a Saxon lord. Brixi is thought to have erected a boundary stone to mark the meeting place of the ancient Brixton hundred court of Surrey. The location is unknown but is thought to be at the top of Brixton Hill, at a road known at the time as Bristow or Brixton Causeway, long before any settlement in the area.

Until the mid-19th century

Brixton marks the rise from the marshes in the north of the ancient parish of Lambeth up to the hills of Upper Norwood and Streatham. At the time the River Effra flowed from its source in Upper Norwood through Herne Hill to Brixton. At Brixton the river was crossed by low bridges for Roman roads to the south coast, now Brixton Road and Clapham Road. The main roads were connected through a network of medieval country lanes, such as Acre Lane, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton Water Lane and Lyham Road, formerly Black Lane. It was only at the end of the 18th century that villages and settlements formed around Brixton, as the original woodland was gradually reduced until the area was covered in farmland and market gardens known for game and strawberries.

The area remained undeveloped until the beginning of the 19th century, the main settlements being near Stockwell, Brixton Hill and Coldharbour Lane. With the opening of Vauxhall Bridge in 1816, improved access to Central London led to a process of suburban development. The largest single development, and one of the last in suburban character, was Angell Town, laid out in the 1850s on the east side of Brixton Road, and so named after a family that owned land in Lambeth from the late 17th century until well into the 20th.^[1] As bridges were built across the Thames in the early 19th century those working in the City of London and the West End moved to south London. The first development was in Washway, now Brixton Road. With the enclosing of the Manor of Lambeth, owned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1806 and the opening of Vauxhall Bridge in 1816, terraced houses and detached villas started to line the main roads. The Rush Common enclosure stipulations dictated that houses had to be set back from the main roads, allowing for generous gardens. St Matthew's Church on part of the former common land was consecrated in 1824. The parish of St Matthew Brixton, one of five subdivisions of the ancient Lambeth parish, stretched from Camberwell Green in the northeast, to Clapham Road in the northwest, to the outer edge of Brockwell Park in the southeast and to Kingswood Road in the southwest.

Ashby's Mill, one of the few surviving windmills in London, was built in 1816, just off Brixton Hill and surrounded by houses built during Brixton's Victorian expansion. The Surrey House of Correction, later Brixton prison, was established in 1819.

As part of the Reform Act 1832 the expanding area of London was given representation with the creation of new parliamentary boroughs covering the metropolitan area. Only the part of Brixton north of St Matthew's Church became part of the Lambeth parliamentary borough, reflecting the still semi-rural nature of the southern part of the area. The population of Brixton was 10,175 in 1841, about 10% of the parish of Lambeth. In twenty years the population of both had doubled.

Victorian expansion

When the London sewerage system was constructed during the mid-19th century, its designer Sir Joseph Bazalgette incorporated flows from the River Effra into his 'high-level interceptor sewer', also known as the Effra sewer.

Brixton was connected to central London by rail on 25 August 1862 when Brixton and South Stockwell railway station was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway on the line from Victoria. On 13 August 1866 the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway opened Loughborough Park railway station with connections to London Bridge and the following year to Victoria. With the arrival of the railways a building boom set in. Brixton was transformed into a middle class suburb between the 1860s and 1890s and Brixton developed into a major shopping centre. The first purpose-built department store, Bon Marché, was opened on Brixton Road in 1877 and Electric Avenue was one of the first shopping arcades to have electric lighting. The now famous Brixton Market began in Atlantic Road and was moved to Station Road in the 1920s to ease traffic congestion.^[2]

In 1881 the population of Brixton was 62,837, now home to a quarter of the parish of Lambeth.

A prominent building on Brixton High Street (at 472–488 Brixton Road) is Morleys, an independent department store established in the 1880s. In 1888, Electric Avenue was so named after it became the first street in London to be lit by electricity. In this time, large expensive houses were constructed along the main roads in Brixton, which were converted into flats and boarding houses at the start of the 20th century as the middle classes were replaced by an influx of the working classes.

Before World War II

By 1925, Brixton attracted thousands of new people. It housed the largest shopping centre in south London at the time, as well as a thriving market, cinemas, pubs and a theatre. In the 1920s, Brixton was the shopping capital of south London with three large department stores and some of the earliest branches of what are now Britain's major national retailers. Today, Brixton Road is the main shopping area, fusing into Brixton Market.

On the western boundary of Brixton with Clapham stands the Sunlight Laundry, an Art Deco factory building. Designed by architect F.E. Simpkins and erected in 1937, this is one of the few Art Deco buildings that is still owned by the firm that commissioned it and is still used for its original purpose.

The Brixton area was bombed during World War II, contributing to a severe housing crisis, which in turn led to urban decay. This was followed by slum clearances and the building of council housing.

1948: The Windrush generation

In the 1940s and 1950s, many immigrants, particularly from the West Indies and Ireland, settled in Brixton.

The first wave of immigrants (492 individuals) who formed the British African-Caribbean community arrived in 1948 at Tilbury Docks on the HMT Empire Windrush from Jamaica and were temporarily housed in the Clapham South deep shelter. The nearest Labour Exchange (Jobcentre) was on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, and the new arrivals spread out into local accommodation.^[3]

Many immigrants only intended to stay in Britain for a few years, but although a number returned to the Caribbean, the majority remained to settle permanently. The arrival of the passengers has become an important landmark in the history of modern Britain, and the image of West Indians filing off its gangplank has come to symbolise the beginning of modern British multicultural society.^[3] In 1998 the area in front of the Tate Library in Brixton was renamed "Windrush Square" to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush.^[1]

1980s: Riots after police actions and Scarman Report

Brixton was the scene of riots in April 1981 at a time when Brixton underwent deep social and economic problems—high unemployment, high crime, poor housing, no amenities—in a predominantly African-Caribbean community. The Metropolitan Police began Operation Swamp 81 at the beginning of April, aimed at reducing street crime, largely through the repeated use of the so-called sus law, which allowed police officers to stop and search any individual on the grounds of mere "suspicion" of possible wrongdoing. Plain clothes police officers were dispatched into Brixton, and within five days almost 1,000 people were stopped and searched under this law. There was intense local indignation at this, since the vast majority of those stopped by the police were young black men. The riot resulted in almost 279 injuries to police and 45 injuries to members of the public, more than a hundred vehicles were burned (including 56 police vehicles), and almost 150 buildings were damaged, with 30 burned. There were 82 arrests. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved in the riot.

Following the 1981 Brixton riot the Government commissioned a public inquiry into the riot headed by Lord Scarman. The subsequent Scarman report was published in November 1981 and found unquestionable evidence of the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of 'stop and search' powers by the police against black people. The report made a number of recommendations and led to a new code for police behaviour in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the creation of an independent Police Complaints Authority in 1985. The 1999 Macpherson Report, an investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, found that recommendations of the 1981 Scarman report had been ignored and concluded that the police force was "institutionally racist".

1990s: Nail bombing

John Major's childhood roots in the area were used in a campaign poster leading up to the 1992 election "What does the Conservative Party offer a working class kid from Brixton? They made him Prime Minister."

The 1995 riots were sparked by the death of a black man, Wayne Douglas, in police custody and occurred in an atmosphere of discontent about the gentrification of Brixton.

In April 1999, Brixton Market was the site of the first of three attacks known as the London nail bombings. The other two, which followed within a fortnight, were in Brick Lane, the heart of East London's Bangladeshi community, and the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, frequented predominantly by the gay community. In the Brixton attack, 48 people were injured. The bomber was caught after the third attack; the BBC reported that he intended to ignite a race war across Britain with his bombing campaign. He was convicted of murder and given six concurrent life sentences.

2000s: Regeneration vs Gentrification

There has been, and there remains great debate regarding whether Brixton's recent renaissance should be deemed regeneration or gentrification. Some believe the area has slowly undergone a process of gentrification since the 1990s and has resulted in many wealthy middle-class people taking advantage of the area's location and the thriving bohemian art scene. However, others argue that the area is undergoing exciting regeneration. In recent years, Brixton has hosted a regular farmers' market on Station Road, as well as Pop-up restaurants and pop-up shops. New art galleries, delicatessens, bars, cafes and vintage clothing stores, particularly in and around Brixton Village Market have also opened, which some believe is gentrifying the area in a similar way to that in nearby Clapham.

Pop Brixton exemplifies the ongoing discussion about regeneration. Originally created as a community project, opinion is divided over whether Pop fulfils its intentions of being part of the local community, with some arguing that Pop is seen as just another tourist and retail attraction, and that the council did not meaningfully engage with Brixton residents. Others have welcomed its arrival for its entrepreneurial approach and benefiting start-ups, and that it brings people into the area which has benefited trade and its popularity.

In April 2015, a Reclaim Brixton protest was held by local residents and activists opposing gentrification.

In March 2016, a campaign to save the businesses that occupy the railway arches commenced, with long-running local businesses being forced out due to rent-rises. The council passed the plans for Network Rail to refurbish them in August.

In May 2019, plans for a 20-storey tower block providing office space were unveiled by Taylor McWilliams - a Texan property developer whose company Hondo Enterprises had bought Brixton Market in 2018. This plan drew a large opposition from the local community and campaign groups, already concerned with the threat of eviction of a popular local supermarket. Despite a petition and overwhelming opposition, council planners approved the development on 3 November 2020.