TQ3278 : Entrance to former council offices, Penrose Street
taken 9 years ago, near to Camberwell, Southwark, England
The area between Manor Place and Penrose Street was once largely occupied by St John's Chapel and its graveyard. The chapel dating from c.1800 was a Calvinistic Methodist congregation of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. The chapel itself is long gone and burials ceased in 1853, but it appears it was never cleared so the site presumably contains many bodies. [Source: Museum of London Archaeology, Historic Environment Assessment, 2015].
Manor Place Baths was built on part of the site in 1895. The main building of the baths complex fronting Manor Place was later used as offices by Southwark Council, and is now grade 2 listed (list entry number 1385689). Since 2005 it has been used as the Kagyu Samye Dzong Tibetan Buddhist Centre. The site also includes a Lambeth Council recycling depot.
As of 2015 a planning application had been submitted to redevelop the area for housing, so it seems likely that the council depot will soon disappear, and the future of the baths and other buildings on the block is uncertain.