Time Walk
A Lane Before It Was a Road
An Irish Lord Mayor died on hunger strike behind the wall that still runs along this street. Walk it today and you pass that prison wall, a converted Victorian school, and a mural painted across a gable end.
Beneath the terraces and the corner pub, the route itself predates the street name attached to it. That older lane, long since built over, is the thread worth following before asking what "Lyham" ever meant.
Name Origin
A Name the Records Keep Quiet About
The sources used here do not explain where "Lyham" comes from. No naming record, lease or map entry in the pack accounts for it.
What the record does give is the road's earlier identity. The Survey of London describes "The Back Road", an ancient country lane running along what is now Bedford Road and Lyham Road, forming a shortcut between Clapham and the top of Brixton Hill. The lane existed before the modern name did; the name itself remains unexplained in the sources consulted here.
History
From a School Gate to a Prison Wall
The buildings along Lyham Road mark out very different pasts. At No. 63, Park Lofts occupies the former Ashby Mill Primary school, a London Board School with a brick perimeter wall still carrying gateways onto Prague Place, Lyham Road and Mandrell Road.
Further along, the wall of H.M. Prison Brixton runs beside the road. In 1920, the Irish Lord Mayor and MP Terence MacSwiney died there after 74 days on hunger strike, on 25 October. In 2018, a spray-painted plaque was added to the prison's outside wall on Lyham Road, opposite No. 146, to commemorate him.
Lyham Road also carries a quieter, private loss. Robert Joseph Brown, aged 30, Margaret Iris Brown, aged 24, and Roberta Margaret Brown, aged 2, all of 21 Lyham Road, died on the same day, 24 February 1944.
Culture
A Windmill Painted on a Gable End
The mural is the street's one named artwork, but it is not the only building worth a second look. The Prince of Wales pub, at Nos. 169–171, is a two-storey inter-war building with a symmetrical front, a timber pub front and a panelled interior, with the Prince of Wales feathers decorated over the bar.
At the junction of Lyham Road and New Park Road stands a cast iron fire hydrant dating from the early 20th century, a small surviving piece of street furniture from the road's earlier infrastructure.
People
A Lord Mayor's Last Days, a Family's Last Day
Terence MacSwiney died on hunger strike here, as told above.
At No. 21, three members of one family — Robert Joseph Brown, 30, Margaret Iris Brown, 24, and Roberta Margaret Brown, 2 — all died on the same day, 24 February 1944. The record gives no further detail of what happened to them.
Today
School, Pub, Prison Wall
Three very different structures sit along Lyham Road today. Park Lofts, at No. 63, occupies the former Board school building, its brick perimeter wall and three gateways intact. The Prince of Wales, at Nos. 169–171, keeps its inter-war timber pub front and panelled interior. And the prison wall opposite No. 146 carries the plaque to Terence MacSwiney, a small marker of an event that happened a century ago but is still visible from the pavement.
On the Map
Lyham Road Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Lyham Road?
The sources used here do not explain the origin of the name "Lyham". The road itself is older than that name: it formed part of an ancient country lane, "The Back Road", linking Clapham and the top of Brixton Hill.
What is Lyham Road known for?
Lyham Road is known for the 1983 mural "The Windmill" on a gable end, the former Board school building now called Park Lofts, and the 2018 plaque on the Brixton Prison wall commemorating Terence MacSwiney, who died there on hunger strike in 1920.
Who was Terence MacSwiney?
Terence MacSwiney (1879–1920) was an Irish Lord Mayor and MP who died on hunger strike in H.M. Prison Brixton after 74 days, on 25 October 1920. A plaque commemorating him was added to the prison wall on Lyham Road, opposite No. 146, in 2018.