Camberwell | |
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Camberwell Green |
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Camberwell shown within Greater London | |
OS grid reference | TQ325767 |
• Charing Cross | 2.7 mi (4.3 km) NW |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LONDON |
Postcode district | SE5 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
EU Parliament | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
Camberwell (/ˈkæmbərˌwɛl/) is a district of south London, England, and mostly forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located 2.7 miles (4.3 km) southeast of Charing Cross. To the west a small part comes under the London Borough of Lambeth.
The much larger, historic parish of Camberwell, which later became the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, included Peckham, Dulwich, Nunhead, and other London districts.
Camberwell appears in the Domesday Book as Cambrewelle. The name may derive from the Old English Cumberwell or Comberwell, meaning 'Well of the Britons', referring to remaining Celtic inhabitants of an area dominated by Anglo-Saxons. An alternative theory suggests the name may mean 'Cripple Well', and that the settlement developed as a hamlet where people from the City of London were expelled when they had life-threatening diseases like leprosy, for treatment by the church and the clean, healing waters from the wells. Springs and wells are known to have existed on the southern slope of Denmark Hill, especially around Grove Park.