92 THE BRIGHTON ROAD 



X 



We may now. somewhat belatedly, after recounting 

 these varied annals of the way to Brighton, start along 

 the road itself, coming from the south side of West- 

 minster Bridge to Kennington. 



No one scanning the grey vista of the Kennington 

 Road would, on sight, accuse Kennington of owning 

 a past ; but, as a sheer matter of fact, it is an historic 

 place. It is the " Chenintun ' of Domesday Book, 

 and the Cyningtun or Koningtun — the King's town — 

 of an even earlier time. It was indeed a royal manor 

 belonging to Canute, and the site of the palace where 

 his son, Hardicanute, died, mad drunk, in 1042. 

 Edward the Third annexed it to his Duchy of Cornwall, 

 and even yet. after the vicissitudes of nine hundred 

 years, the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, owns 

 house property here. Kennington Park, too, has its 

 own sombre romance, for it was an open common 

 until 1851. and a favourite place of execution for 

 Surrey malefactors. Here the minor prisoners among 

 the Scottish rebels captured by the Duke of Cumberland 

 in the '45 were executed, those of greater consideration 

 being beheaded on Tower Hill. It is an odd coincidence 

 that, among the lesser titles of " Butcher Cumberland ' 

 himself was that of Earl of Kennington. 



At this junction of roads, where the Kennington 

 Road, the Kennington Park Road, the Camberwell 

 New Road, and the Brixton Road, all pool their 

 traffic, there stood, in times not so far removed but 

 that some yet living can remember it, Kennington 

 Gate, an important turnpike at any time, and one of 

 very great traffic on Derby Day, when, I fear, the 

 pikeman was freely bilked of his due at the hands of 

 sportsmen, noble and ignoble. There is a view of 

 this gate on such a day drawn by James Pollard, and 

 published in 1839, which gives a very good idea of the 

 amount of traffic and, incidentally, of the curious 

 costumes of the period. You shall also find in the 

 " Comic Almanack " for 18,37 an illustration by 



