WHAT is Lambeth? Well, modern Lambeth is both a metropolitan and a Parliamentary Borough. That is, it is a division of London for the purposes of municipal government and it is also a district, the residents of which are entitled to send representatives to Parliament.

There are twelve different wards or sub-divisions in Lambeth: there are several parishes grouped round the different churches at the recent census (1921) there were 305,700 adults in Lambeth, and 38,230 inhabited houses. In short, modern Lambeth, which extends from the Thames as far southwards as Croydon, is a very busy, densely populated district.

Now try to picture a great unbroken marsh extending from the river to the hills of modern Clapham and Brixton. Twice in every twenty-four hours this marsh was submerged by a tidal wave. Clouds scudded across the open sky, wild birds screeched as they winged their way to and from their nests among the reeds, and now and again arose pestilential odours from the decaying vegetable matter of the marsh.

This was Lambeth in the far-off days, and in the following pages you will read the story of how the desolate swamp became the Lambeth we know to-day.

If you trace the course of the river Thames, you will note that before reaching London the river makes a great bend to the north at Chelsea Reach and again to the south at Limehouse Reach. The peninsular thus enclosed is about four miles wide - from Lambeth to Greenwich, and you will readily understand why in the days before embankments were made, this land was so often flooded.

On the opposite side of the river was the Isle of Thorney, the site, as you probably know, of the present Westminster Abbey. Some historians assure us that in the days when Roman London was secure within her walls, the most westerly part of which was Ludgate, this little Isle of Thorney was the centre of a busy trade.

From here they suggest merchants would ferry across the river, and then essay the dangerous crossing of the Marsh on their way to the sea coast. The crossing of the swamp was so difficult and so expensive, resulting as it often did in a complete loss of merchandise, that a causeway was constructed by driving piles into the mud at intervals. On these, walls of timber were made, and the space between was filled with gravel and shingle.

The roadway stretched across the marsh from a point opposite Westminster, probably modern Stangate Street, to somewhere in the neighbourhood of New Cross. When the Romans came they doubtless strengthened the causeway, and then continued it as a splendid Roman road to the sea.

At some time or other an earthwork was raised on the south bank of the river, and thus the marsh was protected, and gradually converted into pasture and arable land. But for many long years the only occupants were fisher-folk, who inhabited rough hovels probably where the modern High Street now stands.

Except for one exciting incident in 296 A.D. there is little to be told of Lambeth during the Roman occupation of England, but that incident is especially memorable because of the interesting relic which is in existence to-day.

When the workmen were digging for the foundations of the new County Hall, they discovered, imbedded in the mud, an old Roman boat. This was carefully removed and is now on view in the London Museum.

Fragments of pottery, Roman coins bearing the names of Courasius and Allectus, and several large rounded stones were found in the boat, and the presence of these has enabled students to form a theory as to how it came there.

Courasius was a Roman General who made himself Emperor of Britain in defiance of the Roman Emperor; he was assassinated by one of his officers, Allectus, who succeeded him. After some delay Constantius, Emperor of Rome, came to put down this rebellion. Allectus was defeated and his troops fled in disorder.

Fighting doubtless took place on the South bank of the river, and this war galley being disabled by the large stones thrown upon it, sank and lay quietly under the waters to be covered by many layers of mud.

The long silence which now falls over the history of Lambeth is broken at the time of the Danish attacks on England. Canute, the King of the Danes, attempted to invade London, but London Bridge proved a strong barrier against his ships, and it is said that he caused a canal to be dug through the marshes from Rotherhithe to Vauxhall that he might surround the City. Opinions differ as to whether this canal ever existed, and if it did, as to its exact route, but with or without it, Canute became master of England.

The first authentic mention of Lambeth in history is to be found in the Saxon Chronicle where we read that in 1041, King Hardicanute died at his palace at Lambhythe. Of this palace, and of the ceremony which marked the anniversary of the king's death, we shall read in a later chapter.

You will remember that in 1087 was compiled the famous Doomsday Book, and here we mention of three manors in Lambeth.

The first is the land of the church of Lanchei (modern North Lambeth), held by the Countess Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor. It is said to be in the Eastern half hundred of Brixton, so named after a Saxon landowner Brixi.

The second manor is that of Lanchei (modern South Lambeth), which had been granted to the Monks of Waltham Abbey by Harold.

Yet a third is Chenintune (modern Kennington), granted by Edward the Confessor to one Teodoric the Goldsmith, and still held by him at the time of the Doomsday Survey.

Thus you will see that by the end of the eleventh century, the one-time swamp possessed at least three manors consisting of the Manor House, pasture land, fields, woods, and cottages for the labourers.

But the growth of Lambeth into a populous district was not yet. As late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it is mentioned as a sporting ground, rich in water-fowl, and there are frequent allusions to the office of Game Keeper in Lambeth.

The early maps of London, which you may see for yourselves at the Guildhall Library, show very few names in this district. One of the time of Henry VIII marks Belvedere Road then called Narrow Wall; another of the time of Elizabeth shows Lambeth Palace, St. Mary's Church, a broad road, where Westminster Bridge Road now is, and for the rest only isolated houses dotted here and there on the Marsh.

Not until 1745 do we find a map showing streets in Lambeth, and thus you will realise that the growth of the Borough has taken place during the last 150 years.

Various derivations of the name “Lambeth” suggested by etymologists, and each is interesting. Lam-dirt. Hyd - a haven. lamb-a lamb. - hyda haven. Leman - a Roman road - probably the causeway before referred to.