Time Walk
Between a Church and a Bridge
A railway bridge here was once built in just 45 hours, 90,000 bricks laid over a single weekend. Today the street is quiet and residential, and the eye settles on the tower of St. Anne's Church on its southern side.
Beneath that calm lie older layers: a lead works whose wall stood until the 1970s, a Methodist chapel founded in 1854, and a chapel-turned-parish-church rebuilt after both fire and war. The name itself resists easy explanation.
Name Origin
A Development Without a Clear Namesake
Miles Street was laid out in 1778 as part of a development by John and Sarah Bond, together with Bondway, Parry Street and Wyvil Road, intended to form a neat residential area. The Bonds' own surname survives nearby in Bondway, but nothing explains why this street was called Miles.
One Lambeth Council conservation statement, covering an area some distance away around Clapham Park Road, tentatively connects the name to a person or place called Miles associated with the Clapham area. The link is offered there as a possibility rather than a documented fact.
History
Chapel, Fire, and a Bridge Built Overnight
The street's oldest building began life elsewhere in purpose. A 99-year lease granted by John and Sarah Bond on 9 January 1793 created the South Lambeth Chapel, fronting South Lambeth Road rather than Miles Street itself. The chapel was badly damaged by fire in 1856, and it was not consecrated as the parish church of St. Anne until 3 February 1869, after the Ecclesiastical Commissioners bought the freehold.
The church was rebuilt in 1876 to the designs of R. Parkinson, consecrated on 19 December that year, with its tower entrance facing onto Miles Street itself. It later sustained war damage in 1941, and by the 1950s had not been used for some years.
Away from the church, Miles Street carried industry and nonconformist worship alike. A Methodist chapel was founded on the street in 1854. In 1844 a railway bridge was built across it for an extension to York Road, using a skew arch and some 90,000 bricks, reportedly completed in just 45 hours.
The 1844 railway bridge over Miles Street used around 90,000 bricks and was reportedly built in just 45 hours.
Culture
A Street in The Sign of Four
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Miles Street into detective fiction, folding this quiet South Lambeth street into one of the era's most famous crime stories.
Recent Times
A Lead Works Remembered in a Wall
Industry left a physical trace long after it moved on. Bruton's Lead Works stood on Miles Street, and part of its wall remained in place into the 1970s. The firm later became Girdler Bruton and then the Billiter Group, a line of succession that outlasted the works itself on the street.
On the Map
Miles Street Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Miles Street?
The street was laid out in 1778 by John and Sarah Bond as part of a planned development. The sources used here do not firmly explain the name "Miles"; one council statement tentatively links it to a person or place of that name near Clapham.
What is Miles Street known for?
It is known for St. Anne's Church, rebuilt in 1876 after an earlier chapel burned in 1856, for a railway bridge famously built in 45 hours in 1844, and for its brief appearance in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four.
When was St. Anne's Church on Miles Street built?
The present church was built in 1876 to designs by R. Parkinson and consecrated that December, replacing an earlier chapel of 1793 that had been badly damaged by fire in 1856 and consecrated as a parish church in 1869.