Time Walk
A Green Behind the Horns
This Kennington street is named for a game that was played on the spot centuries ago. It crosses old farmland south of the river and leads a visitor one way towards the Oval.
Underneath the terraces and flats, the ground belonged to leasehold farmland worked through the eighteenth century. The bowling green itself has long gone, but its name has outlasted it.
Name Origin
The Green Opposite the Horns
The street is named after a bowling green that stood on the land, recorded by 1785. That green formed part of a leasehold property on the opposite side of Kennington Road from the Horns Tavern.
Sheila Fairfield's reference work on London street names gives a fuller version of the same story: the land was formerly a bowling green leased to the owners of the nearby Horns Tavern. The two accounts agree on the essentials — a green, a lease, and a tavern across the road — and together they explain why a street with no bowling green left on it still carries the name.
History
Demesne Land and the Road to the Oval
Before it was a street, this was farmland held on lease. The ground that Bowling Green Street now crosses was part of the demesne lands of Kennington, sub-leased to William Malcolm from 1758.
By the early twentieth century the street had become one of the approaches to the Oval, the cricket ground that still anchors this part of Kennington.
People
The Banks Family at Key House
In 1940, Key House on Bowling Green Street was home to the Banks family. Derrick Banks, Violet Ellen Banks, Sylvia Gladys Banks and William Edward Banks are all recorded at 64 Key House in Kennington Park shelter records of that year.
Four members of one family — Derrick, Violet Ellen, Sylvia Gladys and William Edward Banks — all shared the same address, 64 Key House, on Bowling Green Street in 1940.
On the Map
Bowling Green Street Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Bowling Green Street?
It is named after a bowling green recorded on the land by 1785, part of a leasehold property facing the Horns Tavern across Kennington Road.
What is Bowling Green Street known for?
It is known as one of the approaches to the Oval cricket ground, and for the bowling green that once stood on its land.
Who lived on Bowling Green Street?
A 1940 record lists the Banks family — Derrick, Violet Ellen, Sylvia Gladys and William Edward — at 64 Key House on the street.