Clapham Old Town

The Clapham Sect

The Clapham Sect were a group of prominent and wealthy individuals who worshipped at Holy Trinity […]

Clapham High Street

Swedish Letter Bomber

Martin Ekenberg was a gifted chemist, engineer and inventor from Sweden who lived in a large house on Clarence Avenue. He is known to have invented the Letter Bomb.

Clapham High Street / Clapham Old Town / North Quarter

mayflower USA John Beauchamp and James Sherley

The Mayflower

Many of the merchants who moved to Clapham in the early 1630s had strong connections to North America and two of them, John Beauchamp and James Sherley were two of the original financiers of the Mayflower

Clapham High Street

Gideon Mantell

Gideon Algernon Mantell (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was an English obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist. His attempts to […]

Gertrude Lawrence

Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical […]

Clapham Old Town

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys’ connection with Clapham is well known and he visited it over a period […]

Clapham High Street

Phillis Wheatley

Alongside Benjamin Franklin, another American visitor could not have been more different. Phillis Wheatley was a young African-American […]

Clapham High Street

Noel Coward

The actor and playright Noel Coward moved to Clapham in 1912, living at number 50 Clapham Common Southside with his family who rented the top two floors.

Clapham High Street

Isaac Smith (1752–1831)

Isaac Smith (1752–1831) was a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy and cousin of Captain James Cook. On 28 April 1770 he became the first European to set foot on eastern Australian soil.

Clapham Old Town

Angela Carter

Angela Carter was an English novelist, short story writer and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works. In 2008, The Times ranked Carter tenth in their list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945”

Landor Road

Guillaume Apollinaire

Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the early 20th century. He is credited with coining the term “cubism” in 1911 to describe the emerging art movement and the term “surrealism” in 1917 to describe the works of Erik Satie. The term Orphism (1912) is also his.

North Quarter

The African Academy

The African Academy was originally located at no. 8 Rectory Grove. The pupils, all boys aged 10-17 from Sierra Leone, were educated here between 1799-1805.

Landor Road

Harry Jacobs

For Lambeth’s Caribbean immigrants since the 1950s, Harry Jacobs was far more than a high-street portrait photographer – he was a messenger through whom they could show friends and family back home that they were doing OK.

Clapham Old Town

Benjamin Franklin

One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Franklin was a leading author, politician, statesman and diplomat who spent time in Clapham

Temperance Fountain

Clapham Common Temperance Fountain

Clapham High Street / Clapham Old Town

Bandstand on Clapham Common

One of the most iconic landmarks in the centre of Clapham Common is the bandstand constructed in 1890. It is the largest bandstand in London and a Grade II Listed Building.

Clapham Old Town

Deane and Co. Chemist

Deane and Co. Chemist Ghost Sign.

Clapham High Street

The Inbetweeners Movie

The infamous dancing scene where Neil, Will and Simon show off their dance moves inside […]

Clapham High Street

Zachary and Thomas Macaulay

Zachary Macaulay (1768 –1838) was a statistician, one of the founders of London University, an […]

Clapham Old Town

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843 – 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is considered […]

Clapham Old Town

Marie Kendall

(1873 –1964) was a British music hall comedian and actress who had a successful career spanning 50 years.

Clapham Old Town

John Francis Bentley

(1839 – 1902) was an English architect whose most famous work is the Roman Catholic cathedral in […]

Clapham Old Town

Sir Charles Barry

1795 – 1860 was an English architect, best known for his role in designing the […]

North Quarter

Natsume Sōseki

Natsume Sōseki was a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan and I Am a Cat. He was sent to study English literature in London by the Japanese Government In Japan he is often considered the greatest writer in modern Japanese history.

Clapham High Street

The Orangery

The orangery was built in 1793 by Dr William Burgh and was part of a miniature landscape estate with a lake belonging to the Thornton family. It is now situated in the Notre Dame Housing Estate. The Thornton Family were a prominent family involved in trade and politics and various generations lived on the estate and in the area.

Clapham High Street

Temperance Billiard Hall

The building at 47 Clapham High Street, was originally a Temperance Billiard Hall, built at […]

Clapham High Street

The Clock Tower

The Clock Tower on Clapham High Street was unveiled at a ceremony on 19th July […]

Clapham High Street

Majestic Cinema

The building that is home to Infernos Night club was built in 1914 as the Majestic Cinema and was designed by the prolific cinema architect John Stanley Beard.

Clapham High Street

The Man on the Clapham Omnibus

The man on the Clapham omnibus is a hypothetical ‘reasonable’ person, used by the courts in English law where […]

Clapham High Street

Deep Level Tube Shelters

The Bombings of 1940 forced a reappraisal of deep-shelter policy and at the end of October the Government decided to construct a system of deep shelters linked to existing tube stations.