KENNINGTON GATE 93 



George Cruikshank of this same place, one would say, 

 although it is not mentioned by name, in which is an 

 immense jostling crowd anxious to pass through, while 

 the pikeman. having apparently been " cheeked " by 

 the occupants of a passing vehicle, is vulgarly engaged, 

 I grieve to state, in " taking a sight " at them. That 

 is to say, he has, according to the poet, " Put his 

 thumb unto his nose and spread his fingers out." 



Kennington Gate was swept away, with other purely 

 Metropolitan turnpike gates, October 31st, 1865, and 

 is now to be found in the yard of Clare's Depository 

 at the crest of Brixton Hill. It was one of nine that 

 barred this route from London to the sea in 1826. 

 The others were at South End, Croydon ; Foxley 

 Hatch, or Purley Gate, which stood near Purley 

 Corner, by the twelfth milestone, until 1853 ; and 

 Frenches, 19 miles 4 furlongs from London — that is 

 to say, just before you come into Redhill streets. 

 Leaving Redhill behind, another gate spanned the 

 road at Salfords, below Earlswood Common, while 

 others were situated at Horlev, Ansty Cross. Stone- 

 pound, one mile short of Clayton : and at Preston, 

 afterwards removed to Patcham.* 



Not the most charitable person could lay his hand 

 upon his heart and declare, honestly, that the church 

 of St. Mark, Kennington, which stands at this beginning 

 of the Brixton Road, is other than extremely hideous. 

 Fortunately, its pagan architecture, once fondly 

 thought to revive the glories of old Greece, is largely 

 screened from sight by the thriving trees of its church- 

 yard, and so nervous wayfarers are spared something 

 of the inevitable shock. 



* In 1829 there were three additional gates : one at Crawley, 

 another at Hand Cross, before you came to the " Red Lion," and 

 one more at Slough Green. Meanwhile the Horley gate on this 

 route had disappeared. At a later period another gate was added, 

 at Merstham, just past the " Feathers." On the other routes there 

 were, of course, yet more gates — e.g., those of Sutton, Reigate, 

 Wray Park, AVoodhatch, Dale, and many more. 



Salfords gate was the last on the main Brighton Road. It 

 remained until midnight, October 31st, 1881, when the Reigate 

 Turnpike Trust expired, after an existence of 126 years. Not until 

 then did this most famous highway become free and open throughout 

 its whole distance. 



