Mundania Rd is just off the Nunhead boundary. Really, it is in Forest Hill as is suggested by the fact that the Forest Hill Tavern (not a pub in Nunhead) is directly opposite:
Although the pub has been enthusiastically refurbished, the grandest builing in Mundania is this glorious art-deco block, Mundania Court, on the corner with Forest Hill Rd:
Opposite, the Forest Hill Baptist Church seems to be being converted to flats.
Further down, some more basic deck-access blocks are enlivened by small touches such as this:
(I've just been told by an otherwise reliable authority that "All's Well" was the motto/strapline of Camberwell Borough Council. When we were all in Camberwell). Towards the far end, Mundania changes and declines to these rather samey pebble-dashed semis.
Before ending at Homestall Rd, unmetalled and (I have to say) seeming somewhat unloved:
The road must be named for Homestall Farm, which was bought and incorporated into Peckham Rye Park in the 1890s. Homestall itself just means home, homestead or farmyard, and goes back before 1000 AD. Mundania - and several of the other unusual Rd names nearby - Marmora, Therapia and Scutari - are named after locations in the Crimean War.
...And the title of this posting comes via translation from Duck Soup.
2 comments:
Thanks for this good looking, interesting blog.
I didn't appreciate the Art Deco flats or the abundant greenery while I was living in Mundania Road, in a madhouse full of musicians, low lifes and the comedian Bob Mortimer - so it's great to see them now.
I don't think any of it is 'in Forest Hill' - it's called Forest Hill Tavern because it's ON Forest Hill. It's all SE22 East Dulwich (it would be Honor Oak before Forest Hill).
Members of the Tom Robinson Band,
Splodgenessabounds, a Ginger Baker touring band, The Angelic Upstarts, Fruupp, The Bolshoi, The Roaring Boys, The Bible and One The Juggler all lived here and knew each other and the FHT was a local meeting spot, with a short stagger for 'afters' at either #6, #37 or various flats in Mundania Court (I always liked the art deco-ness of the Court esp the 'Courtyard').
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