1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Camberwell

CAMBERWELL, a southern metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded N. by Southwark and Bermondsey, E. by Deptford and Lewisham, W. by Lambeth, and extending S. to the boundary of the county of London. Pop, (1901) 259,339. Area, 4480 acres. It appears in Domesday, but the derivation of the name is unknown. It includes the districts of Peckham and Nunhead, and Dulwich (q.v.) with its park, picture-gallery and schools. Camberwell is mainly residential, and there are many good houses, pleasantly situated in Dulwich and southward towards the high ground of Sydenham. Dulwich Park (72 acres) and Peckham Rye Common and Park (113 acres) are the largest of several public grounds, and Camberwell Green was once celebrated for its fairs. Immediately outside the southern boundary lies a well-known place of recreation, the Crystal Palace. Among institutions may be mentioned the Camberwell school of arts and crafts, Peckham Road. In Camberwell Road is Cambridge House, a university settlement, founded in 1897 and incorporating the earlier Trinity settlement. The parliamentary borough of Camberwell has three divisions, North, Peckham and Dulwich, each returning one member; but is not wholly coincident with the municipal borough, the Dulwich division extending to include Penge, outside the county of London. The borough council consists of a mayor, ten aldermen, and sixty councillors.