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The elaborately designed houses of his street were repeated in the neighbouring areas as he walked towards The Oval. Iron balconies and blooming spring shrubs still remain.
As a man with a religious background, he would have undoubtedly noted St Mark's Church in Kennington, started in 1822 to a design by architect DR Roper.
Vincent would have whisked passed The Oval cricket ground, which was opened in 1846 as a home for the Montpelier Club with turfs brought down from Tooting Common. In the 1870s the Phoenix gasworks sat to the right of the ground.
Approaching the gently curved crescent of houses opposite, Vincent would quickly have been on Albert Embankment. The mile-long walkway had been built in 1866-1870 to protect the low-lying areas in Lambeth from flooding during tides and heavy rain, continuing as the Victoria Embankment from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars.
In the late part of the 19th century, the Thames was a busy thoroughfare for transport, hauling and pleasure. But although the 1866 Sanitary Act required local authorities to take action to provide fresh water and waste disposal, water quality was still dubious. Vincent loved the view across the river to the Gothic-style Houses of Parliament, designed by Sir Charles Barry and completed some 30 years earlier, but was often forced to hasten across because of the smell. Vincent would have used Waterloo Bridge designed by John Rennie and opened in 1817. The bridge was replaced in 1942 because of serious structural problems.
On the north side of the river, striding out towards London's West End, his attention may have been taken by St Mary le Strand to his right, designed by James Gibbs in the early 18th century.
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