By the end of the nineteenth century there were already four Salvation Army corps in the Peckham area; today Nunhead is the only one.
Work at Peckham was pioneered by the young George Pollard (1863-1939) who was later to become Chancellor of The Army. He heard a speaker in a hired hall in 1879, and was ‘saved by Christ that night’.
The Peckham Corps opened in January 1881. They had difficulty obtaining premises of their own and used the Primitive Methodist Chapel (Sumner Road) and South London Baptist Tabernacle on Peckham Rye for some meetings.
In 1884 Peckham Corps was renamed The Borough Corps with a barracks at Alfred Place, Old Kent Road. Nunhead Corps was founded the same year as an outpost from Camberwell barracks. Most of their activities took place in the open air or borrowed halls until completion of the hall in 1891.
West Peckham Corps opened in 1887 , and in 1890 Peckham II (Fenham Road). West Peckham was then renamed Peckham Number 1 Corps Salvation Army (Arthur Street, Old Kent Road).
Nunhead Green
Nunhead Corps, 217a Gordon Road SE15 3RT
Website: www.salvationarmy.org.uk/nunhead
Corps founded: 1894- Opening ceremony: February 1891
- No. of seats: 550 (1894); congregation 339 (1902/3)
- Still in use
Two additional halls were built next to the Citadel and opened in November 1907. They were demolished by a bomb on 7 September 1940. New halls were built and opened on 10 November 1956.
Arthur Street
Old Kent Road
Peckham Number 1 Corps Salvation Army
- Corps founded: 1887 (as West Peckham Corps)
Fenham Road
Peckham Number 2 Corps Salvation Army, Fenham Road
- Corps founded: 1890 (as Peckham II Corps)
- Opened: 1894
- No. of seats: 200 (1894); congregation 243 (1902/3)
- Building now used by Apostolic Faith Church
The foundation stone was laid on 2 August 1894 by Mr T. A. Denny and Lady Hope.
The hall was later used by the London City Mission.
