Brixton mill murals 🌍

A survey on London's art neighbourhoods alerted me to the mural Big Splash painted by Christine Thomas on the wall of 20 Strathleven Road, Brixton in 1985. It shows an overshot waterwheel on the side of a building, where people are looking out from the windows and deck, and more people are bathing in the lower millpond, which is surrounded by foliage and birdlife. According to Brixton Murals it represents the now hidden river Effra.

Brixton windmill has been represented sequentially by 2 locals murals in Lyham Road. The earlier one by Mick Harrison and Caroline Thorp, was created in 1983, but had faded and become damaged, so was painted over by a new design by Positive Arts in May 2012, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Parts of the original composition around the edge were recreated, but the central view of the mill differs. The sails shown on the mural are very inaccurate!