HALF-PRICE CHURCHES 97 



sum to that you took out, and then expended the whole 

 on building churches. And yet it has been said that 

 Parliament has no sense of the ridiculous ! Why, it 

 was the most stupendous of practical jokes ! 



Lambeth was at that time a suburban and a greatly 

 expanding parish, and was one of those that accepted 

 this offer, and took what came eventually to be called 

 Half Price Churches. It gave a large order, and took 

 four : those of Kennington, Waterloo, Brixton, and 

 Norwood, all ferociously hideous, and costing £15,000 

 apiece ; the Government granting one moiety and the 

 other being raised by a parish rate on all, without 

 distinction of creed. The Government also remitted 

 the usual taxes on the building materials, and in some 

 instances further helped the people to rejoice by 

 imposing a compulsory rate of twopence in the pound, 

 to pay the rector or vicar. All this did more to weaken 

 the Church of England than even a century of 

 scandalous inefficiency : 



Abuse a man, and he may brook it, 



But keep your bands out of bis breeches pocket. 



The major part of these grievances was adjusted by 

 the Act of 1868, abolishing all Church rates, excepting 

 those levied under special Acts ; but the eyesores will 

 not be redressed until the temples are pulled down and 

 rebuilt. 



Brixton appears in Domesday as " Brixistan," 

 which in later ages became " Brixtow " ; and the 

 Brixton Road follows the line of a Roman way on 

 which Streatham stood. Both the Domesdav name 

 of Brixton and the name of Streatham are significant, 

 indicating their position on the stones and the street, 

 i.e., the paved thoroughfare alluded to in " Brixton 

 causeway," marked on old suburban maps. 



The Brixton Road, even down to the middle of the 

 nineteenth century, was a pretty place. On the left- 

 hand side, as you made for Streatham, ran the river 

 Effra. It was a clear and sparkling stream, twelve 

 G 



