The Lambeth Local History Forum has done South London proud again with more than 120 local history walks in its latest annual listing; there were about 90 in last year’s. The full list, which runs from April this year to March 2026, can be seen and downloaded from the forum’s website it is also available as a simple list – easier to view on smartphones. We have picked below some walks of particular interest, or relevance for Brixton, but they are all worth a look …
Saturday 12 APRIL 2.30pm
Brixton Market Heritage Walk – the first of several – a 90-minute tour taking in street markets, covered arcades and high street. Meet Brixton Station Road. Cost £5 per person, which includes a copy of the book of the walk.
Booking essential
Saturday 12 APRIL 2.30pm
Remembering the great Chartist rally to demand political reform on Kennington Common in 1848. Friends of Kennington Park. Meet Prince Consort Lodge (Trees for Cities), Kennington Park Road, SE11 4AS. Led by Marietta Crichton Stuart.
Booking
Sunday 13 APRIL 1pm
Monthly guided walk of Brixton Hill – see the Lambeth Local History Forum website for details. A Blue Badge Guide leads this 90-minute tour, covering 19th and 20th-century developments near Brixton Windmill, including prison, waterworks, trams and telegraphy. Meet 12.50 for 1pm start from the Windmill (west end of Blenheim Gardens, SW2 5DA). £12, or £6 concessions (under-16s free) All proceeds to Brixton Windmill.
Booking essential
Saturday 19 APRIL 11.30am
Doing the Lambeth Walk! There’s a Lambeth Walk song and dance which gave it a prominent place in national culture. See the Walk and find out more with the Lambeth Tour Guides Association’s Alison Wood. The walk also takes place on other dates. Meet Garden Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 7LB.
£12, Booking
Sunday 27 APRIL 2.30pm
Stockwell Green once had two breweries, two places of worship, two schools, and three pubs; and what happened to the village green? Find with the Brixton Society’s Bill Linskey. Meet outside Costcutter, The Quadrant, Stockwell Green, SW9 9JF
Booking
Tuesday 29 APRIL 11am
Pavement Prowl — Discover the wealth of wayside plant life in the pavement cracks and gutters of Tulse Hill with the South London Botanical Institute’s Roy Vickery, who not only knows his plants, but their history and folklore as well. Meet SLBI, 323 Norwood Road SE24 9AQ.
£5. Booking
Sunday 11 MAY 11am
VE Day 80th: How Kennington Brought Victory. It’s the 80th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in Europe. Discover local Second World War experiences, civilian and military, and see how they still shape streets and parks today. Learn about Kennington’s world-changing impact on the Second World War and the part it played in victory. Led by Nikky Catto of the Lambeth Tour Guides Association. Meet Penryn House, opposite Kennington Tube station.
£8–£16 Booking
Sunday 18 MAY 2.30pm
Brixton Artworks. Visit some of Brixton’s famous murals – more were added last autumn by the London Mural Festival’s co-operation with Lambeth council – with the Brixton Society and Vivienne Lewis. Meet Outside Brixton Tube.
Booking
Friday 23 MAY 1.30pm
Beating Lambeth’s Bounds – Part 1. The Lambeth Tour Guides Association revives the ceremony – with its origins lost in time – of “beating the bounds” in which local people walked the boundaries of their parish or town, beating landmarks and, occasionally, small boys, with willow “wands”. Meet at St John’s Church, Waterloo, SE1 8TY. Led by Geoff Fairbairn. [Part 2 on 12 August]
£12. Booking
Saturday 7 JUNE 2pm
Shaping Streatham Hill: The Roupells, Roland Plumbe and the Railways. Find out how Roupell Park and the Alphabet streets on Brixton’s borders came into being – and much more. Meet 7 Streatham Hill, SW2 7SP (opposite the Crown and Sceptre). Led by the Streatham Society’s Trudy Kuhn.
£12/£6. Booking
Saturday 14 JUNE 2pm
Waterloo and the Birth of the Circus. The modern circus was born near Waterloo. Find out more from Lambeth Tour Guides Association’s David Turnbull. Meet front steps of Union Jack Club, Sandell Street, SE1 8UJ.
£12. Booking
Sunday 15 JUNE 2.30pm
Off the Beaten Track: Atlantic/Railton Roads and Moorland Estate to Brixton House. Brixton Society. Meet Simply Fabrics, 57 Atlantic Road, SW9 8PU. Led by Ashleigh Gill
Booking
Sunday 22 JUNE 2.30pm
West Norwood Cemetery Tour Theme: Recovering Black British History in a Victorian Cemetery. One of many special tours of the cemetery over coming months, which also has tours of major monuments on the first Sunday of the month. Meet Cemetery Main Gate, Norwood Road, SE27 9JU at 2.30pm (Apr–Oct) or 11am (Nov–Mar) unless otherwise advertised.
£10 donation. Details and booking (essential)
Saturday 5 JULY 11.30am
Vauxhall Pride: A Walking Tour Through the LGBTQ+ Heart of London led by Lambeth Tour Guides Association’s Nikky Catto. Meet Vauxhall bus interchange by the pink hut.
£8–£16. Booking
Tuesday 8 JULY 2pm
Windmill to Windrush: History, Mystery & Ministry. Meet Windmill Gardens, SW2 5DA by the gate. Led by Lambeth Tour Guides Association’s Diana Bromwich.
£12 Booking
Sunday 20 JULY 2.30pm
Myatt’s Fields & Fiveways. Walk around the Myatt’s Fields area, its park and the Minet estate through to Fiveways. Meet Corner of Brixton Road and Loughborough Road, opposite The Jamm, SW9 6LH. Led by Brixton Society’s Alan Piper.
Booking
Tuesday 12 AUGUST 1.30pm
Beating Lambeth’s Bounds — Part 2. Lambeth Tour Guides Association. Meet Lambeth North tube, SE1 7XG. Led by Geoff Fairbairn. Details, see 23 May.
£12. Booking
Sunday 17 AUGUST 2.30pm
Brixton’s Other Half: Western Parts of the Town Centre. Meet front of Brixton library, SW2 1JQ Led by Brixton Society’s Alan Piper.
Booking essential
Saturday 13 SEPTEMBER 2.30pm
Herne Hill Heritage Trail: North. Herne Hill Society Meet Herne Hill station Led by Robert Holden.
Booking noticeboard@hernehillsociety.org.uk
Sunday 21 SEPTEMBER 2.30pm
Rebuild or Refurbish: 50 Years of Change. With Brixton Society’s Alan Piper, Meet Brixton Police Station, Brixton Road, SW9 7AA.
Booking
Saturday 27 SEPTEMBER 2.30pm
Herne Hill Heritage Trail: South. Herne Hill Society. Meet Junction of Guernsey Grove and Rosendale Road. Details as 13 September.
Booking noticeboard@hernehillsociety.org.uk
Sunday 28 SEPTEMBER 2.30pm
Brixton’s Plaques (Blue and Otherwise). Led by Brixton Society’s Bill Linskey. Meet outside Brixton Tube.
Booking
Saturday 4 OCTOBER 10am
Black Plaques: A Tour of Black History in Brixton. Led by Lambeth Tour Guides Association’s Nikky Catto. Meet Herne Hill station.
Booking
Sunday 26 OCTOBER 11am
Icons of Railton Road. With Lambeth Tour Guides Association’s Nikky Catto. Meet 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, Railton Road, SE24 0JT.
£8–£16. Booking
Saturday 14 FEBRUARY 11am
Love Stories of Brixton. Lambeth Tour Guides Association. Meet David Bowie mural, Tunstall Road, opposite Brixton Tube. Led by Nikky Catto.
£8–£16. Booking
The Lambeth Local History Forum promotes interest in the heritage of Lambeth. For more information, including how to contact the members listed below, visit lambethlocalhistoryforum.org.uk
ARCHIVES
MUSEUMS
SOCIETIES
East Surrey Family History Society
Lambeth Tour Guides Association
Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies
South London Botanical Institute
Southwark & Lambeth Archaeological Society
Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens
Waterloo Local History Society
Friends of West Norwood Cemetery
Friends of Windmill Gardens (Brixton)
ASSOCIATES
Balham Society
Lambeth Planning Department
