The South Circular Road, at Lee, SE12: St Mildred's Road

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 8 Feb 2011

This stretch of the South Circular will be familiar to many people who (like myself) know little or nothing of the rest of the grid-square. The view is eastward, with the roof of St Mildred's Church visible in the distance. The plane trees gleam in the February sunshine. Unlike the North Circular, which was largely purpose-built, engineering the South Circular amounted to little more than putting up signs to indicate the route - along existing roads. To road enthusiasts the South Circular is a bad joke - but the rest of us are probably grateful that swathes were not cut through South London's older local centres (Putney, say, or Battersea Rise). The price to be paid remains the presence of heavy through traffic in residential and shopping streets.

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