Between 2003 and 2007, photographer Janine Wiedel documented the final years of London’s longest running squat. St Agnes Place—a quiet South London back street—was occupied for over 35-years by range of people and groups who established a semi-autonomous community. In Wiedel’s new book her photographs are combined with the stories of those who inhabited one of Britain’s most distinctive communities. ‘…it provided a refuge and home to thousands of people. Some were born there, some arrived thirty odd years ago and stayed, others passed through often returning many years later. This multicultural street stood like few others as a living monument to the lives and histories that formed it: reflecting the hopes, dreams and difficulties of its inhabitants and their often-fraught relationships to society at large.’ Originally built for the servants of Buckingham Palace, St Agnes Place was made up of two rows of Victorian terraced houses. Lambeth Council purchased the buildings in the 1960s as part of an unrealised plan and they were left derelict. From 1969 the buildings were occupied and fixed up by two groups of people: activists seeking a solution to the housing crisis; and Rastafarians using the properties to provide social and cultural support to the community. Over more than three decades, the residents resisted successive attempts to displace them but in November 2005, two hundred riot police and bailiffs entered the street. They evicted twenty-one of the houses and one hundred and fifty people were left homeless. Demolition of the site began immediately and only the Rastafarian houses were left standing. A few months later, after a court battle and a mysterious overnight arson attack, the Rastafarian Community Centre was also demolished. First Edition Softcover 160 pages ISBN: 9781068386770