Facebook post #043 (Nov 2020)
Once upon a time, lambs were landed on the marshy land opposite Thorney Island on the River Thames, perhaps even to supply the wedding feast at which King Cnut III drank himself to death. The next King, Edward the Confessor, built his house and church on the island: his sister Goda built her church at the Lamb-hythe (Lambeth), and gave land to the Bishops of Rochester. When Edward fell into a coma, it was in Lambeth that Harold proclaimed himself King, and in Edward’s church (Westminster Abbey) that he was crowned.
An arrow in the eye later, William I made Westminster his own; after the Anarchy, the Bishops swapped Lambeth for other lands; the Archbishops of Canterbury got their town house, Lambeth Palace. Goda’s church, St Mary-at-Lambeth, had been rebuilt in stone. It became their church, and the parish church.
My gt-gt-gt-grandparents William and Charlotte Little (of Wiltshire and possibly Devon families respectively) had nine children baptised at the church 1800-1819, and three of their grandchildren married there. Charlotte was buried there, one of the 26,000 contributing to a noticeable raising of the land. The tomb of Admiral Bligh of the Bounty can still be seen.
One of the Little children was my gt-gt grandmother Harriet, who married watchmaker James Larard. In 1841, they lived near the river in Lambeth. After a time in Canada, James returned to Lambeth, and his son Henry was born there.
Solomon and Mary Ann Knight (of Surrey and Sussex families), also my gt-gt-gt-grandparents, had six children baptised at St Mary in 1811-1822. Two of the children married at the church, including my gt-gt Grandmother, Rebecca. Thomas and Rebecca lived in Shropshire, which is where their daughter Frances Mousley was born. However, one of her sisters was born in Lambeth, indicating a continued connexion with the area.
In 1862, the first Lambeth Bridge was built, right next to St Mary, where the horse ferry used to connect the palaces. (It was rebuilt in 1928 when 4000 were made homeless by the last of innumerable floods on the old marshes.)
I don’t know if the Little and Knight families knew one another but their grandchildren Henry Larard and Frances Mousley married in Croydon in 1870. Their son Ernest ended up in Birmingham: Ernest’s daughter married my grandad Terence Wheaver there. Oddly, one of Terence’s grandmother’s cousins, Fanny Barnard, was married at St Mary in 1865.
In 1824, to serve the rapidly increasing population of the former marshes and woodlands, matching Greek Revival churches of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were built across the borough. Henry Larard was christened at St Mark (Kennington). Solomon’s descendants lived in Norwood, and St Luke was the family church. One married at St Matthew, which was in Brixton.
In 1942, both St Mary-at-Lambeth and St Luke were damaged by bombing (post 33). The altar, given by Sir Henry Doulton of the local ceramic works was destroyed. In the same year, a V2 rocket destroyed the Victorian Baths at which Captain Webb (post #031) had trained.
The area became derelict and depopulated. The church became gloomy and dilapidated; it was deconsecrated and approved for demolition in 1972. At the eleventh hour it was rescued and, in honour of John Tradescant, converted to a Garden Museum. John was Gardener at Hatfield House, and planted a botanic garden close to St Mary; there is a splendid memorial to his son in the church. Sadly, I didn’t have time to go inside when I passed by just before the first lockdown – but I did take a minute to walk in my ancestors’ footsteps.
More about John Tradescant and the Museum here: https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/the-museum/history/tradescants/
