I have lived in Loughborough Junction for over 40 years, and latterly in the last few years became interested in Loughborough Junction and Coldharbour Lane as they were.
Before the arrival of the railways in the 1860’s Coldharbour Lane was a main route east/west connecting Camberwell with Brixton and vice versa. It consisted mainly of Market Gardens, Osier Farms, a number of Cottages and Farmhouses and two grander buldings, Loughborough House and Cold Harbour House. Before it became Coldharbour Lane, it was known as Camberwell Lane. There are two other main roads , Green Man Lane renamed Loughborough Road which led from Coldharbour Lane northwards to Loughborough House and then westwards to Brixton Causeway and Denmark Hill which took you southwards up the hill and on to Dulwich and Herne Hill.
This interest was stirred by the excellent Lambeth Landmark, Lambeth Archives
http://landmark.lambeth.gov.uk/default.asp
where they feature many photos of LJ over the last 120 years. Lambeth Archives are the main repository for historical records to do with Lambeth.
There is also the amazing Brixton history pages on the Urban 75 forum.
http://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/index.html
I would also like to mention the fantastic website devoted to the history of the Oval area
This website is a must visit for anyone interested in wider Lambeth history.
My areas of interest range from Gresham Road in the west to Denmark Hill and from Fiveways to Ruskin Park. Roughly within the following area as extracted from Google Maps.
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A number of the recent photographs I use in my blog were taken by my friend Nick. His photographs can be seen at
http://www.starbase1.co.uk/pages/Galleries2/Photography/index.html
If you would like to get in touch please drop me a line on loughboroughjunction(at) gmail.com
Especially if you have any photos of the forgotten buildings, shops & streets of the Loughborough Junction, Coldharbour Lane & Denmark Hill area.
I always try to credit the originator of anything I use on my blog whereever possible. If it is not credited it is because I have been unable to verify the original source.
John
Loughborough Junction 