Prince’s ward is an area combining parts of Kennington, Vauxhall and the historic centre of Lambeth. The ward covers the northern part of Kennington, from Brook Drive down to Kennington Park Road and the area of Vauxhall north of Kennington Lane. The river Thames is the western boundary of the ward, and Vauxhall and Kennington tube stations both lie on Prince’s ward’s boundary.
Lambeth was originally a riverside village that was the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The village gave its name to the parish that stretched down to Brixton, which was the forerunner of the modern Borough of Lambeth. The area alongside the river housed wharves and manufacturing enterprises like the Royal Doulton potteries. In the nineteenth century the riverside was transformed into the Albert Embankment, and in the 1930s Lambeth Bridge connected Lambeth to Westminster directly.
Vauxhall became famous in the eighteenth century as a pleasure garden, a park that people from all over London visited to promenade and be entertained.
Kennington has a close association with the Prince of Wales and the Duchy of Cornwall. It was the site of the palace of the Black Prince in the Middle Ages, and the Duchy of Cornwall still own much land in the ward to this day. The name Prince’s ward comes from this association.
