Kingswood House
General information
LocationDulwich, London, United Kingdom

Kingswood House, formerly known as King's Coppice, is a Victorian mansion in South Dulwich, at the southerly tip of the London Borough of Southwark, United Kingdom. It is a Grade II listed building.[1]

It is now used an arts and community centre called Kingswood Arts.

In 1811 William Vizard, the solicitor to Queen Caroline in her divorce from George IV, was granted a 63-year lease for Kingswood Lodge. When Vizard returned to his native Gloucestershire in 1831, others were granted the property leases.

From 1891 the house was owned by John Lawson Johnston (inventor of Bovril) who extended the house and remodelled the facade including adding battlements. Johnston acquired the nickname Mr Bovril and because of its castellated features Kingswood became known locally as Bovril Castle. Some remaining garden features from this era are thought to have been installed by Pulham & Co.[2]

In the First World War Kingswood was used as a convalescence home for wounded Canadian soldiers. At this time it came to the notice of Lady Vestey who was doing social work in connection with the soldiers housed there. In 1919 her husband Sir William Vestey was granted an 80-year lease and in 1921 when he was raised to the peerage he became Baron Vestey of Kingswood in the County of Surrey. Kingswood was the Vesteys' main home until William's death.

In 1954 it was decided by the then Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell to turn the building into library and community centre, for the benefit of Kingswood Estate residents and in 1956 acquired the site by compulsory purchase.[3] Lord Vestey's estate had by now been developed into a large residential area with the grounds occupied by houses, flats and shops. In 1965 it became the property of the London Borough of Southwark. It underwent substantial refurbishment in the 1980s and 1990s, and subsequently used for conferences, meetings, and civil marriages.

In the grounds in front of Kingswood House there are still some remains of the Pulham features.[2] In 2005 a tapestry was made by over 100 local residents depicting the history of the house.[4] In 2011 a blue plaque was erected on the side of the building to commemorate John Lawson Johnston and his residence there.

The house is located just a few minutes walk from Sydenham Hill railway station.

Library

From 1956 to 2020, whilst run as a public building by Southwark Council, the house held a public library. An opening ceremony, hosted by actor Peter Ustinov and the then Camberwell mayor Alderman John Evans, who used the opportunity of the library to read up on Ustinov, saying “I looked up Who’s Who’ and anyone who wants to know something about our distinguished visitor can find it in the library”.

It was remarked at the ceremony that the house was now 'as it should be', for the community and "not something reserved for one select and privileged family".[5]

The 1960s saw the house store the then Camberwell borough's library service reserve stock collection.[6]

In 1993 the library was threatened with closure, with the suggestion that the library could move into a space at the Seeley Drive shops. The community ran a Save The Library campaign, gathering 720 signatures in a petition.[7][8]

Between 2014 and 2019 the library's funding was cut to nearly half, from £23,885 to £12,618.[9] The library in the house closed in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, a new Kingswood Library run by the Council opened opposite the house at a shop unit on Seeley Drive.[10]

Present day

In 2022, an organisation Kingswood Arts CIC (a subsidiary of Hartshorn Hook Enterprises) took over the venue as an art centre.[11] The whole building has now been restored, and opened to the public as a performing arts centre, with cafe and regular events in April, 2023.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ Southwark Council. "The History of Kingswood House". Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  2. 1 2 Festing, Sally (1988). "Great Credit upon the Ingenuity and Taste of Mr. Pulham". Garden History. 16 (1): 90–102. doi:10.2307/1586907. ISSN 0307-1243. JSTOR 1586907.
  3. ↑ Kingswood Library PC 021. Southwark Archives.
  4. ↑ "History of house all sewn up". Streatham Guardian. 17 March 2005 – via NewsBank.
  5. ↑ "Unknown title". South London Observer. 20 September 1956. p. 4.
  6. ↑ PC 020 CAM, pp. 2. London: Southwark Archives.
  7. ↑ "A Save our Library petition has been launched". Dulwich and Herne Hill News. 7 January 1993.
  8. ↑ "Library could be saved by firm". Dulwich Guardian. 14 October 1993.
  9. ↑ "Southwark Library Funding Drops 30% In 6 Years". The Student View. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  10. ↑ "Find a library". Southwark Council. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  11. ↑ "Kingswood Arts". www.kingswoodarts.com. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  12. ↑ "Kingswood House: revamped community venue opens its doors - Southwark News". Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  13. ↑ "Historic castle reopens as community arts centre". BBC News. Retrieved 17 August 2023.

Kingswood Arts website

Further reading

  • Patrick Darby, Kingswood: A History of the House and its Estate (Dulwich Society, 1999) ISBN 0-9511491-2-1

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