Myatt’s Fields features prominently in a list of historical sites with proven links to the cruel transatlantic slave trade. Now Lambeth council is asking our communities for our views on their future.

The council has started a public conversation aimed at forging a consensus on how to deal with the sites.  Our area is already changing its name from “Vassall” to acknowledge its connection with an historical character strongly linked with the slave trade.

Sites located during an audit carried out by Lambeth Archives include those associated with Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland of Foxley and his wife Elizabeth Webster, nee Vassall. They owned large numbers of slaves and were “compensated” after the abolition of the trade for the “loss” of slaves on plantations in Jamaica.

Prominent sites in Myatt’s Fields include Foxley Road, Lilford Road, Vassall Road and Lord Holland Lane on the Myatt’s Fields South estate.

The council is suggesting a number of ways of dealing with the sites — for example, changing the place names or providing information putting them into historical context. 

Residents are invited to read more about the ward’s connection with the slave trade and make their views known here.