Coordinates: 51°29′02″N 0°03′59″W / 51.48390°N 0.06635°W / 51.48390; -0.06635

Old Kent Road is a road in South East London, England and forms part of Watling Street, the Roman road which ran from Dover to Holyhead. Chaucer's pilgrims travelled along this route from London and Southwark on their way to Canterbury. At what is the junction with the presently named Shornecliff Road was the bridge crossing of 'St Thomas-a-Waterings' which marked a break in the Archbishop of Canterbury's authority of the nearby manors. As such it was a place of execution for criminals whose bodies were left in gibbets at this spot. The fate of burning to death religious dissenters, both Catholic and Protestant, also occurred here. The landmark pub, nearby, the Thomas a Becket, derives its name from this connection.

The same point was regarded from 1550 as the limit of the City of London's authority, and there is still a boundary stone there stating this. Practically, the London City Fire Brigade had its 'Thomas Street' fire station placed at the corner site. This was subsumed into the London Fire Brigade from its formation and in 1905 the LCC erected the present building. This was in turn replaced by the modern station on the corner of nearby Rowcross Street.

The development of the coal gas utility services was undertaken at the Metropolitan Gas Works, the gasometers remain, principally by the Livesy family. Their local benefactions are Christchurch Church of England and the Livesy Museum, opposite the gas works.

Although the name appears as simply "Old Kent Road" on maps, it is usually referred to by Londoners as "the Old Kent Road". The Old Kent Road runs from the Bricklayers' Arms roundabout, where it meets the New Kent Road, Tower Bridge Road, and Great Dover Street, to New Cross. It is regarded as forming the boundary between Walworth, Camberwell and Peckham to the south and Bermondsey to the north although the ancient parish and vestry boundaries of these do not in fact coincide with it, the Bermondsey boundary running along Amelia Street and Rolls Road. The Old Kent Road also has a large number of large retail shops along it. Including Asda, Tesco, Currys, B&Q and others. The eastern entrance to Burgess Park is also located there.

The road once gave its name to a railway station Old Kent Road near New Cross which closed in 1917.

Panoramic view of Old Kent Road at Dunton Road

[edit] Cultural references

• The street is famous as the cheapest property on the London Monopoly board and as the only one in South London.
• Old Kent Road is the title of a song by London-based indie pop group Pipas.
• In A Little Princess Shirley Temple sings a song titled Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road by Albert Chevalier, of which the chorus gives a good idea of the sort of language that was used in the area:

"Wot cher!" all the neighbours cried
"Who yer gonna meet, Bill
Have yer bought the street, Bill"?
Laugh? — I thought I should've died
Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road!^[1]

• It's also mentioned in the Girls Aloud song "Long Hot Summer," in the line "running down that Old Kent Road" and the Bananarama song "Middle of Nowhere," both written by production outfit Xenomania.
• The street is juxtaposed against Park Lane as a potential place of reference in Nick Hornby's book, High Fidelity.
• The street is mentioned multiple times in the Madness song 'Calling Cards,' a song about running an illegitimate business "in a sorting office in the Old Kent Road."
• After suffering an attack of amnesia, the main character of George Orwell's A Clergyman's Daughter, Dorothy Hare, finds herself alone on Old Kent Road.
• "Old Kent Road" is the name of an Australia hardcore punk band.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8038/1oldkent.htm