The boundaries marking the London Borough of Wandsworth were developed in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan borough of Battersea with roughly two-thirds of what then constituted Wandsworth.
The area the borough covers has a thousand years of recorded history and has archaeological evidence of communities predating that.
The Wandsworth Museum presents the history of Wandsworth from prehistoric times to the present day. You will discover how Battersea, Balham, Putney, Earlsfield, Roehampton, Wandsworth and Southfields progressed from country villages to London's biggest borough. With permanent and changing exhibitions, you will also find out about a woolly rhino from Battersea's ice age, a horse-drawn railway, the King's embroiderer, Britain's first black mayor and more.
It's thought that Wandsworth got its name from a Saxon tribal leader referred to as Wendel - Wendelsworth which means the place of Wendel, the river Wandle of course also later adopted his name. It was the river that was to play the vital role in the development of Wandsworth town and by 1805 the river was the busiest in England with over 40 water mills on its banks. The Middle or Brazil Mill was used for scarlet dye making in Tudor and Stuart times - Wandsworth being prominent all over Europe for the good quality of its products.
As the 19th Century beckoned, the corn mills were producing sufficient flour for the whole of London. Brewing too has long been established here and the Young's brewery on the High Street can be traced back in 1675 together with the present Young family overtaking in 1830.
Wandsworth High Street from St Anne's Hill - 1900 The High Street was always a significant coaching route from the City of London to Southampton and Portsmouth - then, as today, presenting a bustling scene. The parish church All Saints is the oldest building here - it's tower dating back to 1630. The area was a refuge for the Huguenots fleeing persecution in the 17th century and the Huguenot burial ground on East Hill includes monuments way back to 1687. The popular mock elections that occurred every year from 1747 to 1796 in the Garratt Lane district of Wandsworth inspired the 18th-century satirical playwright Samuel Foote to write The Mayor of Garratt.
Wandsworth Prison in Heathfield Rd, SW18 was constructed in 1851 and originally called the Surrey House of Correction. Famous inmates include Oscar Wilde who was incarcerated there in 1895 and Ronald Biggs who famously escaped in 1965. Notable among former Wandsworth residents are the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray and also the exiled French author Voltaire.
Battersea was the site of a Saxon settlement (Batrices Ege) along with its manor once belonged to the Abbey of Westminster. The area was a market garden for London along with successive draining of the marshland producing excellent farmland until the coming of the railways when extensive tracks were laid around.
The railways, of course, brought industrialisation and Battersea features a prosperous heritage from the 19th century. The parish church of St Mary is set by the river off Battersea Church Road towards the heart of the original village. The present building dates from 1775 although a church is known to have stood on the site since before Norman times. Old Battersea House in nearby Vicarage Crescent has a sundial dated 1699 but the house itself is older still.
Battersea Bridge was rebuilt around 1890 with the current structure replacing a wooden bridge (late 18th century) that was the subject of a nocturne with the American-born artist James McNeill Whistler.
Church of St Mary - Battersea Park, incorporates a turbulent history to rival Putney. In 1671 Thomas Blood hid in the marsh around what is now the boating lake, to shoot King Charles II as he bathed; and in 1829 the Duke of Wellington, when Prime Minister, fought a duel here with Lord Winchilsea over his introduction of the Catholic Emancipation Bill.
Battersea Park itself was showed in 1853 by Queen Victoria over the Thames riverfront and lots of the park's famous features date from the late 19th century. It has a children's zoo, a boating lake, a deer park, athletic grounds and courts, and the Japanese Buddhist Peace Pagoda, which has been opened in 1985.
The stretch of river among here and Wandsworth has in the past been covered with factories with the Price's Candle Works (opened in 1843) - the ideal surviving example and of course Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's Battersea Power Station dominates the skyline to the west of the City as it has since 1933.
Clapham in the centre of the borough is known mainly for Clapham Junction station - reputedly the busiest station throughout Europe. Before the railways arrived, Clapham was a country crossroads and favourite stop for the gentry traveling among London and the estates of the Home Counties.
The department store Arding and Hobbs in which along with the station dominates Clapham has been there since 1885 and it is a good example of Victorian architecture on the grand scale. Clapham Common is an alternatively sedate park as well as a wild common land. Graham Greene's book, The End of the Affair - reflects the particular sometimes bleak aspect of the common and the recent film starring Ralph Fiennes has been largely made on location in the area.
On a lot more historical note, the Clapham Sect was a group of evangelical Christians, centred over the church of John Venn, rector of Clapham. The group were prominent in England from about 1790 to 1830, campaigning for the abolition of slavery and promoting missionary work at home and abroad. Much credit for the abolition of slavery and also the slave trade in Britain was handed to Venn and his compatriots.
The Nine Elms district on the east of the borough has long been one of the most industrialised part of the borough. Apart from the relocated Covent Garden Market and the old Power Station, its best known building is probably the Battersea Dogs Home which has been a haven for the capital's strays over a hundred years.
In the west, the present day calm of Putney covers an altogether more turbulent past. The notorious highwayman Jerry Abershaw operated here within the Portsmouth Road. Hanged at Kennington, his body was hung in chains on Wimbledon Common near the scene of his exploits.
Thomas Cromwell, whilst still a Royal courtier to the Tudors, owned a house in the village and was an early commuter to the palaces into the west of London. Duels were fought here too on Putney Heath with celebrated combatants such as William Pitt and Lord Castlereagh - lined up against George Canning. Oliver Cromwell was usually a former resident of Putney
Putney itself was the site of a Roman settlement and was subsequently an Anglo Saxon settlement referred to as 'Puttas Landing', Putta most probably as a Saxon chief who arrived here over the invasions of the dark ages.
Originally a fishing and framing community, Putney can claim to be one amongst London's first suburbs. Since then the very first bridge was built throughout 1729 - replacing an ancient ferry - Putney has been an essential route out of London, but away from the busy High Street a quiet and relaxing part of London.
The beginning of the historic University Boat Race occurs at Putney Embankment and can be followed on the wonderful Putney towpath into the finish at Mort lake.
Roehampton has traditionally been a well known residential area. One of the best structures - Roehampton House was constructed in 1710 and stands nowadays as being the administrative centre of the Queen Mary's Hospital complex.
Manresa House stands to the edge of today's Alton Estate overlooking Richmond Park. Built in 1763 by the second Earl of Bessborough, it was the home of the socialite Caroline Lamb prior to being acquired in 1861 by the Jesuits.
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