Learn about the history of Brixton at the heritage festival

Lambeth Heritage Festival is a September month-long festival led by Lambeth Archives and the Lambeth Local History Forum.

For history buffs there is plenty to discover in a month of talks, walks, films, music and exhibitions. For the full list of what’s on pick up a Lambeth Heritage Festival brochure from your local library or download from http://bit.ly/LHF-19

Kicking off the festival, dozens of local societies and history organisations are running a local history fair at Brixton Library.

Lambeth Local History Fair
Saturday, 7 September, 10.15am – 4.15pm

11.30am The Sharp Edge of Hope. Hannah Ishmael, archivist for the Black Cultural Archives, talks about the growth of institutions and archives in London devoted to collecting Black history.

1.30pm Lambeth town hall Bill Linskey of the Brixton Society uncovers the history of the site now occupied by the town hall, the squabbles over its design and the history of the building since its opening in 1908.

2.30pm A B C Merriman-Labor: Black Before Britons. Steve Martin’s talk commemorates the centenary of the death of A B C Merriman-Labor, author of the comic novel Britons Through Negro Spectacles. Merriman-Labor was an important Edwardian Black writer who lived in Brixton.

3.30pm Radical politics in Lambeth 1790s to 1830s. Sean Creighton looks at the history of radicalism and dissent in Lambeth in the years leading up to the great Chartist meeting on Kennington Common. Throughout the day: Guided walks looking at the history and architecture of the buildings around Windrush Square; tours of the Black Cultural Archives.

The festival is sponsored by the Walcot Foundation which itself dates back to 1618 when its social purpose was “the relief of the Lambeth poor”. Nowadays the Foundation makes grants to local groups.