Clapham Common | |
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![]() Clapham Common | |
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Type | Public park (previously common land) |
Location | Clapham |
Coordinates | 51°27′28″N0°08′58″W / 51.4578°N 0.1494°W |
Area | 220 acres (0.89 km2) |
Operated by | Lambeth London Borough Council |
Open | All year |
Public transit access | Clapham Common and Clapham South |
Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is 220 acres (89 hectares) [1] of green space, with three ponds and a Victorian bandstand. It is overlooked by large Georgian and Victorian mansions and nearby Clapham Old Town.
Holy Trinity Clapham, an 18th-century Georgian church overlooking the park, is important in the history of the evangelical Clapham Sect. Half of the park is within the London Borough of Wandsworth, and the other half is within the London Borough of Lambeth.
Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, William Hewer was among the early Londoners to build adjacent to it. Samuel Pepys, the diarist, died at Hewer's house in 1703. The land had been used for cricket in 1700 [2] and was drained in the 1760s, [3] and from the 1790s onwards fine houses were built around the common as fashionable dwellings for wealthy business people in what was then a village detached from metropolitan London. Some later residents were members of the Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers and slavery abolitionists, including William Wilberforce, Lord Teignmouth and Henry Thornton. [4]
In the early 1770s, during his stay in London representing America in affairs of the state, Benjamin Franklin had written a paper explaining how he used the ponds for science experiments, and in developing a "magic" trick. While traveling on a ship, Franklin had observed that the wake of a ship was diminished when the cooks scuttled their greasy water. He studied the effects at Clapham Common on a large pond there. "I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropt a little of it on the water ... though not more than a teaspoon full, produced an instant calm over a space of several yards square." He later used the trick to "calm the waters" by carrying "a little oil in the hollow joint of my cane." [5] [6] [7]
J. M. W. Turner painted "View on Clapham Common" between 1800 and 1805, showing that even though the common had been drained, it still remained "quite a wild place". [3]
The common was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act in 1878. [8] As London expanded in the 19th century, Clapham was absorbed into the capital, with most of the remaining palatial or agricultural estates replaced with terraced housing by the early 1900s. [9]
In 1911, Scottish evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers founded and was principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham Common, an "embarrassingly elegant" property situated at 45 North Side that had been purchased by the Pentecostal League of Prayer. [10]
During World War II, a heavy anti-aircraft artillery site had been set up on the common. Storage bunkers were built on the Battersea Rise side; two mounds remain. [11] [12]
Half of the common is within the London Borough of Wandsworth and half within the London Borough of Lambeth. It is wholly managed and maintained by Lambeth Council. [13] Policing of the open space is divided between the Wandsworth and Lambeth borough "commands" of the Metropolitan Police, which follow the local government boundaries. [14] [15] The roads surrounding the common fall within the SW4, SW11 and SW12 postcodes.
Electoral wards for Lambeth are within the eastern half of the common; mainly in the Clapham Common and Abbeville ward with smaller parts divided between the Clapham Town ward and Clapham East ward. [16] In Wandsworth, most of the western half of the common is in the Northcote ward and a small part of the south-western corner is in the Balham ward. [17] [18]
Clapham Common has a range of sporting facilities, including tennis and netball courts, a running track, bowling green, cricket, football, rugby and Australian rules football pitches, and a skateboard venue. [13] In 2021, Foot Locker, in partnership with the NBA, completed the refurbishment of the Clapham Common Basketball Court. [19] [20]
The park contains three ponds, two of which are historical features, and a more modern paddling pool known as Cock Pond. Eagle Pond and Mount Pond are used for angling and contain a variety of species including carp to 20 lb, roach, tench and bream. Eagle Pond was extensively refurbished in 2002 when it was completely drained, landscaped and replanted to provide a better habitat for the fish it contained. Long Pond has a century-old tradition of use for model boating. [21] [22]
Holy Trinity Church (1776) is close to the north side of the park. An Anglican church, it hosts its fete in the park every summer. [23]
Clapham Common and Clapham South Underground stations are on the edge of the common at its easternmost and southernmost points respectively. Both stations are served by the Northern line. [24] [25]
In the centre of the park is a bandstand constructed in 1890. It is the largest bandstand in London and a Grade II listed building. For many years it was also erroneously thought to be one of the bandstands first erected in 1861 in the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens in South Kensington, which would have made it the oldest surviving cast iron bandstand in Europe. However, further research has shown that these bandstands went to Southwark Park and Peckham Rye, and it appears that the Clapham bandstand was fabricated to a very similar design almost thirty years later. [26] [27] [28]
The bandstand's maintenance had been neglected by Lambeth Council for thirty years, and by 2001 it was thought to be in danger of collapse and had to be shored up with scaffolding for five years. In 2005–2006, a full restoration of the bandstand and surrounding landscape took place, partly funded by an £895,000 lottery grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund matched by £300,000 from Lambeth Council and a further £100,000 from local fundraising efforts and the proceeds of the Ben and Jerry's Summer Sundae event held on the common. The drainage bund around the bandstand was restored with granite setts during the summer of 2011 at a cost of £12,000 [29] to resolve design faults in the earlier works.
The park has hosted various musical festivals, including Colourscape Music Festival since 1989,; [30] [31] Get Loaded in the Park, from 2004 to 2011 when Razorlight were the headline act; [32] South West Four Eurodance music festival annually in August since 2004; [33] [34] and other music events, such as Subway Picnic Rocks in 2008, organised by Action Against Hunger [35] In 2014 the Calling Festival, which had previously been held in Hyde Park under the name Hard Rock Calling Festival, moved to Clapham Common; artists included Aerosmith and Stevie Wonder. [36]
Sporting events held in Clapham Common and sports teams based in the park include the Latin American football League, which has played organised football on the red car pitches located on the south side of the park since the 1980s; [37] the British Australian Rules Football League Grand Final, for which the park is the traditional venue; South West London Chargers rugby club formed in 2013 have their home in the park; [38] Sunday league football [39] is regularly played with London Titans [40] and Clapham Alexandra football clubs using the park; [41] various teams from other sports are also active on the park, including softball and korfball. [42]
A Lesbian & Gay Pride event, to be termed Pride House, was planned to take place on the park during the 2012 Summer Olympics, but ran into opposition from the Friends of Clapham Common [43] and was eventually cancelled for lack of funding. [44] Every Easter and February half-term George Irvin's Funfair visits the park. [45]
On 13 March 2021, a vigil was held on the common following the death of Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped nearby. [46]
Clapham Common has a reputation as a place for men seeking anonymous sex with other men in public places. [47] When Welsh politician Ron Davies was robbed at knifepoint in 1998 after he gave a lift to strangers he had met in the park, there was speculation that the incident involved "cruising"; Davies resigned his position in the UK government, denying the incident had anything to do with drugs or sex. [48] [49] [50] There have been several attacks on men in the vicinity of the park, including one in 2005 on a young man, Jody Dobrowski, thought by his attackers to be gay, during which he was badly beaten and later died. [51] The incident was the impetus for the making of the 2007 Channel 4 film Clapham Junction . [52]
Balham is an area in south-west London, England. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as Belgeham.
Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross it also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the 200-acre (0.81 km2) Battersea Park.
Clapham is a district in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
Stockwell is a district located in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated 2.4 miles (3.9 km) south of Charing Cross.
Wandsworth is a London borough in South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main named areas are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth Town.
Lambeth is a London borough in South London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as Lambehitha and in 1255 as Lambeth. The geographical centre of London is at Frazier Street near Lambeth North tube station, though nearby Charing Cross on the other side of the Thames in the City of Westminster is traditionally considered the centre of London.
Lambeth was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in south London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855 and became part of the County of London in 1889. The parish of Lambeth became a metropolitan borough in 1900, following the London Government Act 1899, with the parish vestry replaced by a borough council.
Battersea was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in the County of London, England. In 1965, the borough was abolished and its area combined with parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth to form the London Borough of Wandsworth. The borough was administered from Battersea Town Hall on Lavender Hill. That building is now Battersea Arts Centre.
Battersea is a constituency in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It has been represented since 2017 by Marsha de Cordova of the Labour Party.
Streatham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Bell Ribeiro-Addy of the Labour Party.
Lambeth London Borough Council is elected every four years.
Wandsworth Common is a public common in Wandsworth, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, south London. It is 69.43 hectares and is maintained and regulated by Wandsworth Council. It is also a Ward of the London Borough of Wandsworth. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 15,247.
The inner London borough of Wandsworth contains some 670 hectares of green space in the form of parks, commons, allotments and cemeteries, which is the largest amount for an Inner London borough. Central London borders some of the borough's boundary with the Thames the closest park to which is Battersea Park.
Clapham was a borough constituency in South London which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was created in time for the 1885 general election then altered in periodic national boundary reviews, principally in 1918, and abolished before the February 1974 general election. In its early years the seat was officially named Battersea and Clapham Parliamentary Borough: No. 2—The Clapham Division.
The A3036 is an A road in London, England, running from Waterloo to Wandsworth.
The Falconbrook was a stream that rose in Balham and Tooting, draining much of those parishes then the south and west of the larger district of Battersea including Clapham Junction to enter the London reaches of the Thames. Before doing so, it briefly formed the border of Wandsworth Town, reflected in the SW11/SW18 boundary today.
Lambeth London Borough Council, which styles itself Lambeth Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Lambeth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of the 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2006. The council meets at Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton and has its main offices at the nearby Civic Centre.
Wandsworth was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England from 1855 to 1900. It was formed by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 and was governed by the Wandsworth District Board of Works, which consisted of elected vestrymen.
Wandsworth London Borough Council, also known as Wandsworth Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. It is based at Wandsworth Town Hall in the centre of Wandsworth.
The Winstanley and York Road Estate comprises two large estates of predominantly public housing apartments in Battersea, London, adjacent to Clapham Junction railway station, although some have since passed into private ownership.