Editing Vauxhall (section)

==History==
[[File:Lambeth Met. B Ward Map 1916.svg|thumb|A map showing the Vauxhall ward of Lambeth Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916]]

===Toponymy===
''For a list of street name toponymies in the district see [[Street names of Vauxhall]].''

The [[toponymy]] of Vauxhall is generally accepted to have originated in the late 13th century, from the name of [[Falkes de Breauté]], the head of King [[John of England|John]]'s mercenaries, who owned a large house in the area, which was referred to as Faulke's Hall, later Foxhall, and eventually Vauxhall.<ref name="Etymology">{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/vauxhall|title=Etymology of Vauxhall|publisher=Etymonline|access-date=April 12, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412145456/https://www.etymonline.com/word/vauxhall|archive-date=12 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[Samuel Pepys]] mentions "Fox Hall" in his diary on 23 June 1665: "....I took boat and to Fox Hall, where we spent two or three hours talking of several matters very soberly and contentfully to me, which, with the ayre and pleasure of the garden, was a great refreshment to me, and, ‘methinks, that which we ought to joy ourselves in."<ref name="Pepys1">{{cite web|url=https://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/6546/|title=Vauxhall (Foxhall)|date=20 July 2006 |publisher=Pepys Diary|access-date=April 12, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412145633/https://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/6546/|archive-date=12 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The area only became generally known by the name Vauxhall when the [[Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens]] opened as a public attraction and movement across the Thames was facilitated by the opening of [[Westminster Bridge]] in the 1740s.<ref name="Lon Ency">{{cite book|last=Hibbert|first=Christopher|title=London Encyclopaedia|publisher=Macmillan London Ltd|year=2008|page=967|isbn=978-1-4050-4924-5}}</ref>

====In the Russian language====
Competing theories are given as to why the Russian word for a [[central station|central railway station]] is {{lang|ru|[[:ru:вокзал|вокзал]]}} (''vokzal''), which coincides with the canonical 19th-century transliteration of "Vauxhall". It has long been suggested that a Russian delegation visited the area to inspect the construction of the [[London & South Western Railway]] (L&SWR) in 1840, and mistook the name of the station for the generic name of the building type—a "vaux hall", as it were.  This was further embellished into a story that Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia]], visiting London in 1844, was taken to see the trains at Vauxhall and made the same mistake.  Alternatively, the locality of the L&SWR's original railway terminus, Nine Elms Station, was shown boldly and simply as "Vauxhall" in the 1841 ''[[Bradshaw's Guide|Bradshaw]]'' timetable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantscat/html/h0106442.htm |title=1841 Railway guide for Vauxhall |publisher=Geog.port.ac.uk |date=26 September 2001 |access-date=21 May 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305013633/http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantscat/html/h0106442.htm |archive-date=5 March 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Both these explanations can probably be dismissed, since the [[Tsarskoye Selo Railway|first public railway in Russia]] had already been built by 1837.  This line ran from [[Saint Petersburg]] via [[Tsarskoye Selo]] to [[Pavlovsk Palace]], where extensive [[pleasure gardens]] had earlier been established. In 1838, a music and entertainment pavilion was constructed at the railway terminus. This pavilion was called the ''Vokzal'' in homage to the [[Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens]] in London. The name soon came to be applied to the station itself, which was the gateway that most visitors used to enter the gardens. It later came to mean any substantial railway station building (a different Russian word, станция (''stantsiya''), is used for minor stations).

The word ''voksal'' (воксал) had been known in the Russian language with the meaning of "amusement park" long before the 1840s and may be found, e.g. in the poetry of [[Aleksandr Pushkin]]: {{lang|ru|На гуляньях иль в воксалах / Легким зефиром летал}} ("To Natalie" (1813): "At [[fête]]s or in ''voksals'', /I've been flitting like a gentle [[Zephirus|Zephyrus]]" [<small>here "Zephyrus" is an [[allegory]] of a gentle, warm and pleasant wind </small>]) According to [[Vasmer]], the word is first attested in the ''[[Saint Petersburg Vedomosti]]'' for 1777 in the form фоксал, which may reflect the earlier English spelling of Fox Hall/Faukeshall. Englishman [[Michael Maddox]] established a Vauxhall Gardens in the Saint Petersburg suburbs (Pavlovsk) in 1783, with pleasure gardens, a small theatre/concert hall, and places for refreshment. Archdeacon [[William Coxe (historian)|William Coxe]] describes the place as a "sort of Vauxhall" in that year, in his ''Travels into Russia''.

===Early history===
No mention of Vauxhall is made in the 1086 ''[[Domesday Book]]''.  The area originally formed part of the extensive [[Manorialism|manor]] of [[South Lambeth]], which was held by the family of de Redvers,<ref name=SurveyOfLondon-ch2/> [[Feudal barony of Plympton|feudal barons of Plympton]] in Devon and [[Lord of the Isle of Wight|Lords of the Isle of Wight]]. Falkes de Breauté acquired South Lambeth in 1216 when he married Margaret FitzGerold, widow of Baldwin de Redvers (son and [[heir apparent]] of [[William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon]] (d.1217)) and mother of [[Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon]] (1217–1245). Falkes de Breauté's lands reverted to the de Redvers family after his death in 1226.<ref name=SurveyOfLondon-ch2/> In 1293, South Lambeth and the manor of "la Sale Faukes" passed, probably by trickery, to King [[Edward I of England|Edward I]],<ref name=SurveyOfLondon-ch2>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=49757 |title=Sheppard FHW, 'Vauxhall and South Lambeth: Introduction and Vauxhall Manor', Survey of London: volume 26: Lambeth: Southern area (1956), pp. 57–59. (Date accessed: 22 December 2009.) |publisher=British-history.ac.uk |date=22 June 2003 |access-date=21 May 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320211040/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=49757 |archive-date=20 March 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> who purchased several de Redvers lands (including the Lordship of the Isle of Wight) from [[Isabel de Forz, 8th Countess of Devon]] (1237–1293), sister and heiress of [[Baldwin de Redvers, 7th Earl of Devon]] (1236–1262), shortly before her death.<ref>Barbara English, ‘Forz , Isabella de, suo jure countess of Devon, and countess of Aumale (1237–1293)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47209 Accessed 2008-03-12]</ref> In 1317 King [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] granted the manor of Vauxhall, Surrey, to Sir [[Roger d'Amory]] for his "good services" at the [[Battle of Bannockburn]].

From various accounts, three local roads – the [[A203 road|South Lambeth Road]], [[A3 road|Clapham Road]] (previously Merton Road), and [[A3036 road|Wandsworth Road]] (previously Kingston Road) – were ancient and well-known routes to and from London.

Vauxhall was the south western terminus of the [[Lines of Communication (London)|Civil War defences]] of London, thrown up by Londoners in 1642 to defend against [[Cavalier|Royalist]] incursions. A landmark fort was located at the present site of the Elephant and Castle public house (currently a Starbucks)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1395400&sort=4&search=all&criteria=tothill&rational=q&recordsperpage=10|title=Pastscape - Detailed Result: VAUXHALL FORT|website=www.pastscape.org.uk|access-date=2019-05-28}}</ref>

===Development===
The land was flat and parts were marshy and poorly drained by ditches, and only started to be developed with the draining of [[Lambeth Marsh]] in the mid-18th century, but remained a village. Prior to this, it provided market garden produce for the nearby [[City of London]]. [[Vauxhall Bridge]] and [[Inner Ring Road, London#Vauxhall Bridge Road|Vauxhall Bridge Road]] were opened in 1816. By 1860, the village had been subsumed by the town of Lambeth.<ref name="Lon Ency" /> Many of Vauxhall's streets were destroyed during the construction of the railway to [[London Waterloo railway station|London Waterloo]] via the [[Nine Elms to Waterloo Viaduct]], by German bombing in [[World War II]] or ravaged through poor city planning.