Vauxhall Road again

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 87289

Geoff:
I'm sorry to keep banging on about this matter but I have certain 
reservations aboutt he information which Shaun turned up. To justify 
my interest, I have stated before that I lived in Wandsworth from 
1949-94 ecept for 1971-73 when I lived in Wimbeldon (3 miles away) 
when first married.


Shaun: 
> Most of the following information comes from two volumes of 
> the 'London County Council: Survey of London' edited by Sir 
> Howard Roberts, and Walter H. Godfrey, and published by the 
> London County Council in 1951 and 1956.
> 
> The relevant volumes are  Volume XXIII (1951) South Bank & 
> Vauxhall (Parish of St. Mary Lambeth Part I) and Volume XXVI 
> (1956) Parish of St. Mary Lambeth Part II: Southern Area.
> 
> Based on these books I can now confirm that Kennington Lane 
> was legitimately known as Vauxhall Road. Vauxhall Road 
> consisted of what is today Wandsworth Road and Kennington 
> Lane. While the newer names have been official for quite a 
> long time, the name Vauxhall Road has also been used 
> (especially for businesses) until very recently and could 
> certainly have been in use at the time, Tom Riddle purchased 
> his diary.

Geoff:
I entertain very serious doubts about the total validity of this 
information, in particular the data about Wandsworth Road. Having 
lived in the area so long, I have /never/ heard Wandsworth Road 
referred to as Vauxhall Road. The only other name ever used is "the 
top road". The reason for this is that there are two routes from 
Wandsworth to Vauxhall, the road which runs along the top of the 
plateau via Clapham Junction. The road changes its name a number of 
times but becomes Wandsworth Road at its eastern end. The other road 
which follows the line of the river through Battersea and Nine Elms 
to Vauxhall is "the bottom road" being geographically in the bottom 
of the Thames valley at this point. 

My other point is that I have documentary evidence that Wandsworth 
Road was so named as early as 1906 is not earlier. I am going to try 
to find out when Wandsworth Road railway station was opened -  
sometime in the mid-19th century - and whether that was always its 
name. I have emailed the central reference library at Wandsworth - 
one of the best municipal reference sources in London to ask whether 
thay have any information on Wandsworth Road being named Vauxhall 
Road. I currently await an answer.

The oddity is that it would be most unusual to have /two/ Vauxhall 
Roads from different directions meeting at Vauxhall Cross. Wandsworth 
Road comes from the south-west while the present Kennington Lane 
comes in from the east. For both to have the same name would be very 
confusing.

Shaun:
> So the other question is why he might have been in this 
> area.
> 
> Several people have already mentioned the Spurgeon Orphanage 
> which was very close to the area in question - checking a 
> map of London, a short walk of about half a mile down 
> Binfield Road and Landsdowne Way would have taken someone 
> from the ophanage to Wandsworth Road (part of Vauxhall 
> Road). No point on the old Vauxhall Road is more than two 
> miles from the orphanage.

Geoff:
Being picky, Tom Riddle would have more directly walked straight down 
Lansdowne Way (or more accurately up it) crossing South Lambeth Road 
and then across Clapham Road into Stockwell Park Road. Binfield Road 
would bring him too far south (by a couple of hundred yards) to the 
main crossing which would involve more awkward crossings of the roads.

Returning to my main point, as I said a few days ago, the evidence of 
the Vauxhall Baptist Church confirming the east end of Kennington 
Lane to be Vauxhall Road as late as 1942 strengthens my feel that, 
assuming Riddle picked up the book at the shop named on the label, 
then oit was along this stretch of road, fairly near for a fit young 
person used to walking reasonable distances (as we were in them there 
far-off days of yore...).

As an aside, apart from the rather vague Chepstow link I think Shaun
(?) mentioned, I wonder why JKR decided that Tom had to have a book 
from Vauxhall Road apart from a desire to irritate those 
perfectionists among us who want a large "X marks the spot" on the 
map?

Geoff (looking for somehwere to put down a number of large Xs)  :-)