History of my House

I recently read Home: by Julie Myerson (she's been in the news recently for her book about her son's drug abuse - but Home's infinitely more interesting). In it, she traces the history of everyone who lived in her Clapham home.

And it's fascinating. I was engrossed and inspired - I suddenly wanted to find out more about my house.

I live in Kennington in south London, on a street called Ambergate Street. It extends on from one called Alberta Street (by the way - please don't stalk me, thanks).

Given the name Alberta, from Albert, we've always assumed the street was Victorian. I've wondered about the name Ambergate - Ambergate is a village in Derbyshire, could it be named after that?

I do know that prior to there being a street here, there was a zoo - the Royal Surrey Zoological Gardens. Now all that remains is a small park called Surrey Gardens.

So from a zoo to a quiet residential terrace - there's a lot to find out about!