William Blake Mosaics

The lowdown

Tucked under the railway arches near Waterloo, in the Lambeth streets where William Blake once lived and had his visions, is a free open-air gallery of mosaics celebrating the poet and artist. Bright tiled panels recreate his images and verses across the brickwork, turning a gloomy underpass into something genuinely uplifting.

Blake walked these streets in the 1790s and said he saw angels in the trees nearby, so the mosaics feel rooted rather than bolted on. It takes only a few minutes to see, costs nothing, and rewards anyone willing to look up while passing through one of the less obviously pretty corners of Lambeth.