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2
Dr. Hamer's Report.
The parish of Lambeth is conterminous with the registration district and with the sanitary area
of the same name. On the north and north-west the river Thames forms the boundary. On the west
Lambeth adjoins the Battersea and Wandsworth sanitary areas, on the south it extends to the
boundary of the County of London, and adjoins the Croydon district, and on the east it is bounded by
the sanitary areas of St. Saviour, St. George-the-Martyr, Newington and Camberwell. The junction
between Camberwell and Lambeth areas is in part interrupted by the interposition of a small detached
portion of the parish of Streatham. This portion (which with the rest of Streatham parish forms part
of the area under the jurisdiction of the Wandsworth Board of Works) lies like an island completely
surrounded by Camberwell and Lambeth, and separated from the rest of Streatham parish by that
portion of Lambeth which bounds it on its western side.
Lambeth is an irregularly shaped area, having a long axis some 6 miles in length, measured
from the river Thames to the Norwood hills on the county boundary. The breadth of the area measured
from east to west is very variable, ranging from only a little less than two miles at the broadest to about
a quarter of a mile at the narrowest part. The total area is 3,941 acres, and in superficial extent
Lambeth is only exceeded by four sanitary areas in London—those of Camberwell, Lee, Lewisham and
Wandsworth. Lambeth is said to be "a good example of the long narrow pattern after which so
many old parishes were modelled, comprising a piece of high ground, a belt of forest, and a meadow
in the valley."* This peculiarity of shape must be borne in mind in comparing the total area of
Lambeth with that of other sanitary areas, as the question of the facility of transport from one part of
a district to another is dependent upon shape as well as upon total area.
The southernmost portion of Lambeth which comprises " the piece of high ground" already
alluded to, is the most outlying part. The ridge of hills which forms the boundary of the parish and
of the county of London varies in elevation from upwards of 200 to upwards of 350 feet above ordnance
datum. The highest altitudes given on the ordnance sheet(on Westow-hill at its junction with Gipsyhill,
and again close to the Crystal Palace) are 363 and 367 feet respectively.
To the north of the ridge the ground slopes rapidly downwards, with some interruption,
however, in the neighbourhoods of Tulse-hill, of Knight's-hill and of Herne-hill.
The altitude in the broad central portion of the parish ranges for the most part between 20 and
50 feet above ordnance datum, with greater elevation on the eastern boundary in the neighbourhood of
Denmark-hill and of Herne-hill, and in the south-western part of the broad central portion of Lambeth
where Brixton-hill is situated.
The considerable part of Lambeth parish which lies north of the broad central portion is for the
most part at the level of Trinity high-water mark, that is to say, at about an average height of
12½ feet above ordnance datum; the figures given in the ordnance sheets are sometimes slightly in
excess and sometimes fall somewhat short of this reading. The names North Marsh Ward and South
Marsh Ward applied to two wards in this portion of the parish are sufficiently suggestive. There are
numerous indications, too, that the low-lying northern parts of Lambeth parish were formerly actually
submerged at high tides, and to the present day the dampness of the site gives quite a distinctive
character to this in common with some of the adjoining parts of south London.
In the high ground of the southern part of the parish, the London clay comes to the surface
save in two isolated localities in the south-west where there are superficial deposits of gravel of small
extent, and in a third locality in the neighbourhood of Brockwell-park where, on the borders of the
parish, beds belonging to the Woolwich and Reading series are exposed.
In the northern part of the parish the London clay is covered for the most part by gravel; over
one very small area, a superficial deposit of brick earth is however found, and in the low-lying ground
bordering upon the river the surface layers are composed of alluvial deposits.
The gravel districts of Lambeth are for the most part at a low elevation; the clay districts on
the other hand are, as a rule, elevated and undulating, thus favouring the escape of surface water.
Dampness of walls appears to be more commonly met with in the houses of the low-lying gravel
districts than in those of the clay districts of the southern part of the parish.
Statistics.
The population of Lambeth, as enumerated at the census of 1891, was 275,203 persons, being
an increase of 21,504 on the 1881 census. In respect of population Lambeth stands second among
London sanitary areas (Islington with a population of 319,143 at the 1891 census being first) and
stands seventh on the list if sanitary areas throughout the whole of England are included in the comparison.
The number of inhabited houses in Lambeth at the census of 1891 was 38,556, this number
being larger than that obtaining in any other sanitary district of London.
The rate of increase in the population of Lambeth between 1881 and 1891 was less considerable
than that which occurred in a number of London sanitary districts, and the actual increase was less
than the excess of births over deaths in Lambeth for 1881-90. There was an increase during the ten
years of 3,152 in the number of inhabited houses. This increase was chiefly manifested in the southern
and more outlying parts of the parish, indeed in the northern parts of the parish there was an actual
decrease in the number of inhabited houses. An indication of the extent of area built over in periods,
antecedent to 1881 is given in a map published with Loftie's History of London, which shows that the
extensive process of filling up the southern part of Lambeth has in the main been effected since 1867,
although building operations had already been carried along Brixton-hill and Tulse-hill prior to that
date.
The rateable value of Lambeth (6th April, 1895) was £1,575,325, being exceeded by that of five
only of the 43 sanitary districts of London. The total rates raised in the year 1893-4 amounded to 6s. 5d.
Loftie. History of London.