Time Walk
A Lane in Disguise
This short street carries two older roads inside it, folded into one. Walk its narrow run and you pass former workshops, a former factory, stables and lock-up garages, with a red K2 telephone kiosk standing among them.
What you are tracing is an old lane's line, carried under a newer name. That double inheritance is the first clue to what this place has always been — and to where its name comes from.
Name Origin
The Archbishop's Ground
The name points to the Archbishop of Canterbury's manor of Lambeth, on whose land this part of the parish stood. The connection is probable rather than certain, drawn from an account of the neighbouring York Road, which lay on demesne land of that same manor. Before it took this name, the street was known as Ship Lane.
History
From Ship Lane to Walnut Tree Walk
Bishop's Terrace did not begin as one single road. In the late 19th century, light industrial buildings went up along it, giving the street the working character still visible in its surviving workshops and former factory.
Culture
The Ship, and a Red Box on the Corner
The Ship public house sits at the corner with Kennington Road. It is an end-of-terrace pub whose front looks to have been rebuilt in the early-to-mid 19th century onto an earlier building, with its entrance set into the curved corner.
Today
A Working Jumble, Still Standing
Bishop's Terrace is still a charming irregular group of buildings along its short, narrow run. Its alignment runs southwest to northeast, in step with Walcot Square close by.
Bishop's Terrace carries the lines of two older roads at once — it was once part of Ship Lane, and it also marks the eastern end of Walnut Tree Walk.
On the Map
Bishop's Terrace Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Bishop's Terrace?
The street is thought to be named after the Archbishop of Canterbury's manor of Lambeth, on whose land this part of the area stood. It was formerly part of a road called Ship Lane.
What is Bishop's Terrace known for?
Its irregular mix of former workshops, a former factory, stables and lock-up garages, together with The Ship public house on its corner and a K2 telephone kiosk designed by Giles Gilbert Scott.
What pub stands on Bishop's Terrace?
The Ship, an end-of-terrace pub at the corner of Kennington Road and Bishop's Terrace, with an early-to-mid 19th century façade built onto an earlier structure.