{{short description|Garden square in London}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{Use British English|date=January 2022}}
thumb|Cleaver Square ''' Cleaver Square ''' (formerly '''Prince's Square''') is an 18th-century garden square in the London Borough of Lambeth, dating from 1789. It is notable for having been the first garden square in South London.
==History== Cleaver Square was laid out in 1789, and was the first garden square in South London.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleaversquare.org/history-of-the-square---text-from-signboard.php|title=Cleaver Square: History of Cleaver Square|access-date=30 January 2022|website=Cleaver Square}}</ref>
==Features== There is a residents' association, which hosts an annual outdoor carol service and other events.<ref name="auto1"/>
Until the middle of the 18th century, the locality consisted of hedgerows, fields and meadows, traversed by Kennington Road from the City to Clapham.<ref name="auto1"/> Mary Cleaver inherited the estate in 1743; at that point it consisted of a large open pasture, screened from the high road by a line of trees and known as White Bear Field.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1780 she leased it to Thomas Ellis, the landlord of the Horns Tavern on Kennington Common, who laid out and developed the square.<ref name="auto1"/> The terraces at the entrance of Kennington Park Road were built in 1788, houses on the north west side of the square in 1789, followed by other houses on the north side in 1792.<ref name="auto1"/> Other houses were built later, between 1815 and 1824, and 1844 and 1853.<ref name="auto1"/> By the 1870s the area had reduced in status, and the houses were overcrowded.<ref name="auto1"/> Originally named Prince's Square, it was renamed Cleaver Square in 1937.<ref name="auto1"/>
The centre of the square was enclosed by Ellis in 1792 as a grazing ground.<ref name="auto1"/> By 1871 it was a garden circumscribed by a formal path, and by 1898 it had been cultivated as a nursery with greenhouses.<ref name="auto1"/> The centre of the square was acquired by the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth in 1927 in order to prevent development on it.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://londongardenstrust.org/conservation/inventory/site-record/?ID=LAM010|title=Lambeth: Cleaver Square|access-date=30 January 2022|website=London Gardens Trust}}</ref> From 1995 the centre of the square was restored as a public space with a grant from the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association.<ref name="auto1"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.londongardenstrust.org/guides/site.php?tour=Docks&stage=210.00|title=London Gardens Trust: Cleaver Square|access-date=30 January 2022|website=londongardenstrust.org}}</ref>
Cleaver Square is within the Kennington Conservation Area, which was first designated in 1968 and extended in 1979 and 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleaversquare.org/lambeth-archive-talk-on-history-of-the-area.php|title=Cleaver Square: Lambeth Archive talk on history of the area|access-date=30 January 2022|website=Cleaver Square}}</ref> It is a registered historic square.<ref name="auto"/> Many but not all, of the houses on the square are Grade II listed. Those that are listed are 1-20;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1358226|title=Historic England: 1-20 Cleaver Square SE11|access-date=31 January 2022|website=Historic England}}</ref> 21–25;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1184579|title=Historic England: 21-25 Cleaver Square SE11|access-date=31 January 2022|website=Historic England}}</ref> 26–33;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1080480|title=Historic England: 26-33 Cleaver Square SE11|access-date=31 January 2022|website=Historic England}}</ref> 34–41;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1358227|title=Historic England: 34-41 Cleaver Square SE11|access-date=31 January 2022|website=Historic England}}</ref> and 50, 51 and 52.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1184593?section=official-listing|title=Historic England: 50, 51 and 52 Cleaver Square SE11|access-date=31 January 2022|website=Historic England}}</ref>
==Features== thumb|The Prince of Wales on Cleaver Square There is a residents' association, which hosts an annual outdoor carol service and other events.<ref name="auto1"/>
To the south-east, the square is bordered with the City and Guilds of London Art School (formerly the Lambeth School of Art).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk|title=City & Guilds Art School|access-date=30 January 2022|website=cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk}}</ref>
In the north-west corner is the Prince of Wales public house, dating originally from 1792 but refaced in 1901.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.princeofwaleskennington.co.uk|title=Prince of Wales, Kennington|access-date=30 January 2022|website=princeofwaleskennington.co.uk}}</ref><ref name="auto1"/> A Shepherd Neame tied house until 2019,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/prince-of-wales-kennington_3654|title=Square Meal: Prince of Wales, Kennington|access-date=30 January 2022|website=squaremeal.co.uk}}</ref> the Prince of Wales is now a free house.<ref name="auto2"/> It has pétanque sets available for hire, for use in the gravelled centre of the square.<ref name="auto2"/>
==Notable residents== Notable residents have included the artist Innes Fripp,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/place.php?id=msib2_1220434462|title=Mapping Sculpture: Kennington Studios|access-date=31 January 2022|website=sculpture.gla.ac.uk}}</ref> the Tate & Lyle businessman Sir Saxon Tate Bt,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cleaversquare.org/resources/Residents%20Assoc%20AGM%20minutes%20Nov%2012.pdf|title=Cleaver Square: AGM 2012|access-date=31 January 2022|date=15 February 2013}}</ref> and former Prime Minister, Sir John Major.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/major-bowled-over-by-his-oval-house-1250015.html|title=''The Independent'': "Major bowled over by his Oval house", 10 July 1997|access-date=31 January 2022|website=The Independent|date=10 July 1997}}</ref>
==Cultural references== *Patrick McGrath's 2021 novel ''Last Days in Cleaver Square'' (2021: Hutchinson) is about the end of life of a resident of the square.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/112/1120535/last-days-in-cleaver-square/9781529156485.html|title=Penguin: Last Days in Cleaver Square|access-date=31 January 2022|website=penguin.co.uk}}</ref> *Peter Snow's 1988 oil painting ''Cleaver Square from Kennington Park Road'' is held by Southwark Art Collection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/cleaver-square-from-kennington-park-road-193426|title=Art UK: Cleaver Square from Kennington Park Road|access-date=31 January 2022|website=Art UK}}</ref> His 1985 oil painting, ''The Passing World'', from a similar perspective, is held by the Museum of London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-passing-world-50728|title=Art UK: The Passing World|access-date=31 January 2022|website=Art UK}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Squares in the London Borough of Lambeth Category:Conservation areas in London Category:Garden squares in London