Places to Visit in South London - Wandsworth Common

Wandsworth Common sprawls across the borough of Wandsworth, spanning across main roads and railways, and has a size of seventy hectares. Wandsworth itself is full of commons, all coming about in the 19th century through various acts and the acquisition of private land, and most of this land went through ownership by monasteries and various families whose names (Bolingbroke and Spencer) still adorn local street signs. Then in 1887, it finally came into the hands of public ownership, though by this point, the common had shrunk due to land being sold for various purposes.  

I started my journey by heading south from Clapham Junction, spotting the first few fragments of common, placed in between side roads. Crossing the South Circular and continuing past the cemetery, the largest section of common begins. It's here that there's a formal sign, a pathway, and football matches occuring in the distance. There were two paths to take - one that was closer to the local road, and one besides the railway. I chose the latter, obviously.

Wandsworth Common station is in the southern half of the common and I came nowhere near visiting it, but the railtracks themselves could be seen from behind a fence. Trains run regularly here, sometimes local services, sometimes express trains running to Gatwick. They've been running through the common for 170 years by now, though with some variations in the first few years of operation - the old station closed, but the current station's been there since 1869. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view isn't particularly scenic from here - there's only the common to the left, and as with most parks, it doesn't appear at all exciting - just another place to walk dogs and exercise (and there were loads of joggers). It does though allow for some photo opportunities, what with the trees and fence forming a tunnel of sorts. But it's a lengthy walk down to the first crossing point, a large green footbridge over the railway. Beyond that, you're in the second half of the common, which is also much larger and more interesting than the first. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with most commons, there are ponds to be found, so of course I took a look. Compared to other ponds, there isn't much to separate this one from others, yet it's still a rather pleasant experience all round. There will always be photo opportunities too, so hopefully they'll be better than this clump of text.

 

After this, I left the common in pursuit of David Lloyd George's blue plaque. I didn't take a photo of it, what with it being on a fairly ordinary house, but you can see what it looks like here. Compared to his other houses, there isn't that much on it, but this website suggests he lived there when he was Chancellor - so from 1908 to 1915, thereabouts. He'd soon go on to live in a more grand place - 10 Downing Street - as he became Prime Minister in 1916, presiding over the end of World War 1 and its aftermath, as well as the creation of the Irish Free State. By 1922, though, he was out, thus being the last Liberal Prime Minister. The blue plaque doesn't say this, obviously, it's far too small to list one's life accomplishments, but it's still incredibly vague - Lloyd George didn't grow up in Wandsworth, he was born up in Manchester and spent lots of his life in Wales - and make me wonder how useful these plaques actually are. Still, it's quite cool there's one hidden in this corner of South London.

Onto the A214, then. This main road soon becomes a monstrous dual carriageway, later going on to split a large exclave of the common in two. Head north and you're in Central London, passing an unusual looking roundabout along the way. Before that, though, there's a windmill to spot - on Windmill Road, of course.

It was built in 1837 by the (very often mentioned on this blog) London, Brighton and South Western Railway to drain water from an area to be used for constructing a railway, where it would then be pumped into a nearby lake, called the Black Sea. This lake appears to not have been natural and was filled in by 1884, by which point this smock mill had stopped working. Despite that, though, it stands here to this day and is one of the few South London windmills still standing - and as it's a listed structure, it will probably stay as such, surrounded by a fence with a notice of its history. And I do have a photo, albeit it looks like one large shadow.

 

 

 

Just by the windmill, there's another notable building - that is, the rather Gothic-looking Royal Victoria Patriotic Building. Surprisingly, the name doesn't reveal much of its original purpose in 1859, which was as an asylum for orphaned girls (a fact noticeable on signage by the main entrance); a related charity, the Royal Patriotic Fund, was set up in 1854 to help those affected by conflict, especially the recent Crimean War. There was also an asylum for orphaned boys, but that's since become Emmanuel School - the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, meanwhile, has gone the route of many nice-looking historical buildings, and now has a restaurant and can even host weddings and other events. From up close, however, one can't not notice the chivalric sculpture at the top of the building, which makes it more obvious why this is a patriotic place. In the distance, a brutalist council flat stands, and an estate surrounds the building - the once isolated asylum isn't so closed off anymore.

And of course I'll mention the small border marker, because why wouldn't I? As you go down the road, you cross the old border between the Wandsworth and Battersea boroughs. The latter contained most of Wandsworth and Clapham Commons, as well as Battersea (of course), and succumbed to a merger with Wandsworth in 1965, when the modern Greater London boroughs were drawn up.

Soon after, I had made one large loop cutting through Wandsworth Common. I had to stop at that point, though not without some satisfaction.

There were some other things I could have mentioned too, including:

• The memorial to those who died in a rail collision in Clapham Junction in 1988, which saw thirty-five deaths and 484 injuries - more here;
  

• The Craig Telescope (which I didn't visit), but apparently used to stand just off Wandsworth Common - the largest refracting telescope built at the time - more here.

 I didn't take any pictures of them, but they're still worth mentioning.