page_title: Old Kent Road
section_title: Rolls family
hierarchical_section_title: Old Kent Road / History / Rolls family
caption_attribution_description: English: this street is close to the onetime home and office of architect Michael Searles at (now) 155 Old Kent Road. He was the surveyor to the Rolls Estate, and a pioneer of semi-detached housing.
context_page_description: Old Kent Road is a major thoroughfare in South East London, England, passing through the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally part of an ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and used by the Anglo-Saxons who named it Wæcelinga Stræt. It is now part of the A2, a major road from London to Dover. The road was important in Roman times linking London to the coast at Richborough and Dover via Canterbury. It was a route for pilgrims in the Middle Ages as portrayed in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, when Old Kent Road was known as Kent Street. The route was used by soldiers returning from the Battle of Agincourt.
  In the 16th century, St Thomas-a-Watering on Old Kent Road was a place where religious dissenters and those found guilty of treason were publicly hanged. The road was rural in nature and several coaching inns were built alongside it. In the 19th century it acquired the name Old Kent Road and several industrial premises were set up to close to the Surrey Canal and a major business, the Metropolitan Gas Works was developed. In the 20th century, older property was demolished for redevelopment and Burgess Park was created.
context_section_description: In the early-18th century, the Rolls family of The Grange in nearby Bermondsey acquired a significant amount of land around Old Kent Road.  It included residential development that is now Surrey Square and the Paragon, which were designed by Michael Searles in 1788. The main road route gave rise to ribbon development because of the increasing urbanisation of the expanding metropolitan area. In the early-20th century, social housing was built on land previously held by the family who gave away their interests for public benefit including the library at Wells Way in Burgess Park, the girls grammar school at Bricklayers Arms (St Saviour's and St Olave's School) and the Peabody Estate (Dover Flats and Waleran Flats). The last significant remnant of their involvement is the detached White House between the Peabody Estate buildings, built by Searles in the 1790s. The original railings and ironwork survive in the current development at No. 155.  The house was later occupied by Searles and became the management office of the Rolls family trust estates. The last of the male Rolls's was the Hon Charles Stewart Rolls who was the pioneer motorist and aviator who formed the Rolls-Royce partnership with Henry Royce.
caption: A Southwark street commemorating Michael Searles in its name
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