Car Hire in Wandsworth

Tourist information - Wandsworth

The boundaries marking the London Borough of Wandsworth were established in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan borough of Battersea with approximately two-thirds of what then constituted Wandsworth.

The area the borough covers has one thousand years of recorded history and has archaeological evidence of communities predating that.

The Wandsworth Museum introduces the history of Wandsworth from prehistoric times to the present day. You can find out how Battersea, Balham, Putney, Earlsfield, Roehampton, Wandsworth and Southfields grew from country villages to London's biggest borough.With permanent and changing exhibitions, you can 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 is thought that Wandsworth got its name from a Saxon tribal leader known as Wendel - Wendelsworth meaning 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 it's banks. The Middle or Brazil Mill was used for scarlet dye making in Tudor and Stuart times - Wandsworth being being renowned all over Europe for the quality of its products.

As the 19th Century beckoned, the corn mills were producing enough 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 to 1675 with the present Young family taking over in 1830.

Wandsworth High Street from St Anne's Hill - 1900 The High Street was always an important coaching route from the City of London to Southampton and Portsmouth - then, as now, 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 contains monuments dating back to 1687. The famous mock elections that took place annually 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 built in 1851 and originally named 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 the exiled French author Voltaire.

Battersea was the site of a Saxon settlement (Batrices Ege) and its manor once belonged to the Abbey of Westminster. The area was a market garden for London with successive draining of the marshland producing fine farmland until the coming of the railways when extensive tracks were laid throughout.

The railways, of course, brought industrialisation and Battersea has a rich heritage from the 19th century. The parish church of St Mary is set by the river off Battersea Church Road close to the heart of the original village. The present building dates from 1775 although a church is believed to have stood on the site since before Norman times. Old Battersea House in nearby Vicarage Crescent boasts a sundial dated 1699 but the house itself is older still.

Battersea Bridge was rebuilt in 1890 with the current structure replacing a wooden bridge (late 18th century) that was the subject of a nocturne by the American-born artist James McNeill Whistler.

Church of St Mary - Battersea Battersea Park, has a turbulent history to rival Putney. In 1671 Thomas Blood hid in the marsh near 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 opened in 1853 by Queen Victoria on the Thames riverfront and many of the park's notable features date from the late 19th century. It contains a children's zoo, a boating lake, a deer park, athletic grounds and courts, and the Japanese Buddhist Peace Pagoda, which was opened in 1985.

The stretch of river between here and Wandsworth has in the past been dominated by factories with the Price's Candle Works (opened in 1843) - the best 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 famous mainly for Clapham Junction station - reputedly the busiest station in Europe. Before the railways arrived, Clapham was a country crossroads and favourite stop for the gentry traveling between London and the estates of the home counties.

The department store Arding and Hobbs that together with the station dominates Clapham has been there since 1885 and is a good example of Victorian architecture on the grand scale. Clapham Common is an alternatively sedate park and a wild commonland. Graham Greene's book, The End of the Affair - reflects the sometimes bleak aspect of the common and the recent film starring Ralph Fiennes was largely made on location in the area.

On a more historical note, the Clapham Sect was a group of evangelical Christians, centred on 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 the slave trade in Britain was given to Venn and his compatriots.

The Nine Elms district to the east of the borough has always been the most industrialised part of the borough. Apart from the relocated Covent Garden Market and the old Power Station, it's best known building is probably the Battersea Dogs Home which has been a haven for the capital's strays for over a century.

In the west, the present day calm of Putney conceals an altogether more turbulent past. The notorious highwayman Jerry Abershaw operated here on 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 to the west of London. Duels were fought here too on Putney Heath with celebrated combatants including William Pitt and Lord Castlereagh - lined up against George Canning. Oliver Cromwell was always a former resident of Putney

Putney itself was the site of a Roman settlement and was subsequently an Anglo Saxon settlement named 'Puttas Landing', Putta presumably being a Saxon chief who arrived here during the invasions of the dark ages.

Originally a fishing and framing community, Putney can claim to be one of London's first suburbs. Ever since the first bridge was built here in 1729 - replacing an ancient ferry - Putney has been an important route out of London, but away from the busy High Street a quiet and tranquil part of London.

The start of the historic University Boat Race takes place at Putney Embankment and can be followed along the beautiful Putney towpath to the finish at Mortlake.

Roehampton has traditionally been a popular residential area. One of the finest buildings - Roehampton House was built in 1710 and stands today as the administrative centre of the Queen Mary's Hospital complex.

Manresa House stands on 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 before being acquired in 1861 by the Jesuits.