Home › Building histories › Allfarthing (North), Duntshill & Durnsford Park
– Introduction
– The Tithe Map & Apportionment 1841
– The Transformation to Suburbia: I 1860–1880
– The Transformation to Suburbia: II 1881–1910
– The Builders of Allfarthing, Duntshill and Durnsford
– I: Allfarthing (North)
– II: Duntshill
– III: Durnsford Park
– Property Deeds
– Conclusion
– Acknowledgements
– Appendix 1: Tithe Map Landowners & Occupiers 1841
– Appendix 2: Builder Tables
This is the last of a series of papers examining the transformation of the northern half of Wandsworth parish from a largely agrarian landscape into a tract of South London suburbia between 1830 and 1914. Wandsworth differed from many parishes in north-east Surrey in that it had for many centuries been the location of watermills and associated industrial activity. In 1800, Wandsworth was well ahead of its neighbours Putney and Battersea in terms of population, with 4,445, while Battersea had 3,365 and Putney 2,428. By 1901, the populations were 68,403; 168,907 and 24,384, respectively. By 1911, the population of Wandsworth had reached 79,438, comparable in size to many a substantial provincial town.
Three discrete areas are discussed in this paper. The first lies east of South Street (now part of Garratt Lane) and is bounded on the north by Wandsworth’s old burial ground, on the east by The Grove (now part of St. Anne’s Hill), and south by Allfarthing Lane. The second area lies between Garratt Lane and the Wandle. Both these areas were part of the medieval manor of Allfarthing. The third area is further south, on the west side of Garratt Lane. Most lies west of the Wandle, bounded by Merton Road on the west and the Wandsworth–Wimbledon boundary on the south. This area was part of the medieval manor of Dunsford/Durnsford. By the time building development began in these areas, all the local manors had been acquired by the Spencer family.
[Map showing the three study areas.]
[Fig. X: 1633 Map Extract.]
Allfarthing manor was already largely enclosed by the early seventeenth century. Several enclosures retained the names of former open-field furlongs, including Hill Close Pasture and Mill Close, each comprising several smaller enclosures. West of Garratt Lane from north to south were Furnefells Coppice and Mead, Horse Leaz and Dunsh Hill Upland. At the southern end, near the double bend in Garratt Lane, was Duntshill hamlet, part of Dunsford manor. This area had been wholly enclosed by 1787.
The name Dunsford probably derives from OE dene ford ‘valley ford’ which later became Dunes- or Dunnes ford, possibly influenced by the local Down(e). Duntshill is probably from Old/Middle English Duneshull, ‘hill of the manor of Downe’, hence something of a tautology. They may represent two small estates mentioned separately in Domesday Book (1086) from the principal estate of Battersea–Wandsworth which had recently passed from the Crown to Westminster Abbey. The smaller ‘Wandsworth’ comprised a single hide held by the Norman abbey of St. Wandrille. It had formerly been in the hands of Swein, who may also have held land at Tooting. The second ‘Wandsworth’ was assessed at twelve hides and held by William fitzAnsculf. In 1066 it had been held by six sokemen, a group between free and bond tenants. They had two ‘halls’, suggesting some kind of division, possibly the estates later known as Dunsford and Duntshill.
Unfortunately, John Corris’s 1787 map of Wandsworth provides very little information on the owners and occupiers of land in Allfarthing. Thomas Milne’s land-use map of the London area in 1800 shows that most of the land discussed here was market garden and pasture. The northern part was mostly meadow. The strip of land between the road and the Wandle comprised pasture and market garden ground together with some meadow land and pasture. There was some arable near the settlement of Duntshill. Meadows predominated east of Garratt Lane and north of Allfarthing Lane, with a small area of market garden. Milne depicts several clusters of housing in Garratt Lane.
The first large-scale depiction of the study area is the Tithe Map of 1841. This depicts around thirty small houses east of South Street, and a similar number had appeared on the opposite side since 1800. The eastern boundary of the present study area is The Grove (now part of St. Anne’s Hill), which ultimately connected East Hill and Earlsfield Road. The southern boundary is the cutting and embankment of the London & Southampton Railway, opened in 1838 and renamed London & South Western Railway in 1839. A new station named Earlsfield was opened in 1884, when the line was widened from two tracks to four, and soon gave rise to a local house-building boom.
The Tithe Redemption survey and map of 1841 provides the first large-scale plan (25-inch to the mile) and precisely-measured statute acreages (as opposed to the local measures employed in earlier documents). The apportionment also lists landowners and occupiers, and land use. In 1841, there were only seventy-seven houses in the study area, mostly small cottages in short terraces. The population was around 450–475. (See Appendix 1 for full details of landowners, occupiers and acreage. Note that these details are not usually given for the smallest plots, especially those containing houses.)
David Mitchell (1797–1882) was the largest landowner in northern Allfarthing, with 10.67 acres. He was born in the City of London and was living at St. Anne’s Lodge, Allfarthing Lane in 1841, where he remained until his death. Like his neighbours William Nottidge and Robert Davis, Mitchell was involved in the woollen industry. He variously gave his occupation as a woollen draper and merchant and landed proprietor, with two or three resident servants. In the 1881 Census, Mitchell was on the Isle of Wight. He soon returned to London, dying in Wimpole Street. His estate was valued at £37,111.
Like Mitchell, Abraham Borradaile (1789–1857) was another City merchant with a rural seat in Wandsworth. In 1841, he owned 4.50 acres adjacent to Mitchell’s land. Borradaile was involved in various trades including insurance, cotton mills and furs. He was subsequently commemorated in a local street-name.
The Wilkinson Trustees owned 3.48 acres. Hatter Henry Wilkinson (1764–1837) had property in Wandsworth by 1790. Yet another City merchant was William Fallowfield, with 2.40 acres. At the time of his death in 1857, Fallowfield, ‘formerly of Wandsworth’, was residing at the Bavarian spa town of Bad Kissingen.
In the early 1860s the still largely rural landscape of Allfarthing experienced its first, tentative signs of suburban development. Stanford’s Six-inch Library Map of London (1862) shows that virtually no building had occurred since 1841. The most significant was Wandle Terrace on South Street, just south of the old burial ground. Other clusters of houses on the Tithe Map are named Wandle Parade and Brodie’s Buildings.
In South Street near the junction with Allfarthing Lane were Alpha Cottages, two terraces totalling twenty houses. Houses had also begun to appear along the north side of Allfarthing Lane, where there had been a few scattered semi-detached properties in 1841. Thirteen new houses had been built west of recently laid-out Edmund Street (1862), which contained seventeen houses. Further east, the five pairs of houses on the Tithe Map were named as Marter’s Buildings. John Marter gave his occupation as dairyman in 1841 and ‘proprietor of houses’ in 1861, when he lived at no. 7 Wandle Terrace. He died in 1865, leaving an estate of under £6,000. The population of northern Allfarthing in the mid-1860s had reached 550–600. The only hint on Stanford’s Map of the imminent building boom in this area was a road named St. Mary’s Place, as yet devoid of buildings, and soon to be renamed Lower Grove.
David Mitchell made the first application for new streets in July 1864, when Malva Street was approved. This was the short eastern section. Many years later, it was extended to Garratt Lane and renamed Malva Road. Mitchell’s application for Borrodaile Road, along with Ridgemount and Aspley Roads east of St. Ann’s Hill, was approved in August 1866.
In March 1867, Wardley Street was approved, the first sign of development west of Garratt Lane. The applicant, Edwin Carter (1825–1904), came from a family of market gardeners with substantial holdings in Battersea and Wandsworth either side of York Road. Edwin, originally a corn chandler, became a prosperous auctioneer based in Wandsworth High Street, with two or three resident servants. His estate was valued at £5,123.
A few months later, in June 1867, surveyor Charles Lloyd Bowes’s proposal for Bendon Valley was approved. Bowes (1804–78), a lifelong resident of Battersea, left a very modest estate of under £200. The area where Carter’s and Bowes’s new streets were located was already attracting industry, including a large manure factory, followed by a card- and pasteboard factory at the west end of Bendon Valley.
The next application, in September 1867, was also made by Edwin Carter. It comprised Groton, Thornsett and Penwith Roads, in a wedge-shaped area hemmed in between the railway embankment, Garratt Lane and the Wandle. Carter was subsequently active on the east side of Garratt Lane south of the LSWR.
The first edition of the OS 25-inch Plan, surveyed in 1866, clearly shows how much progress had been made in the preceding few years. In Allfarthing (North) the numbers of houses were as follows: Malva Road 37; St Ann’s Hill 16; Garratt Lane East 24; Iron Mill Road 30; Iron Mill Place 72, and Allfarthing Lane (North side) 36. The total of 215 houses was three-and-a-half times larger than it had been in 1841. Only fourteen of these houses were located west of Garratt Lane. The population of the study area in the mid-1860s would have been around 1,200.
The building boom of the mid-1860s was short-lived, however, and was followed by an equally rapid downturn reflecting a much wider financial recession, driven by the Overend, Gurney collapse in April 1866. This wholesale discount bank had debts of £11 million (about £1.3 billion at 2025 prices). Apart from the wider macroeconomic turmoil, the slowdown in house building reflects over-supply in previous years, with new houses often standing empty for several years. Builders had given notice of 156 houses in northern Allfarthing between 1863 and 1869. This fell abruptly to only twenty-one between 1870 and 1878. The comparable figures for Duntshill are 198 houses 1863–69, and thirty-one 1870–78.
Following the collapse in house-building in the later 1870s, the next upturn in the building cycle began in earnest in 1881. By 1890, 197 houses had been added in Allfarthing (North), and sixty-six in Duntshill.
First to be approved was Edmund Street in July 1879. The applicant was architect and surveyor David Haylock (1820–1907), on behalf of the aged David Mitchell. Haylock lived for many years in Merton Road, Southfields. He died at Chiswick, leaving only £315. Edmund Street connected Iron Mill Place and Allfarthing Lane. The northern end was a single street, which then divided in two, with three parallel terraces, a total of seventy houses. It was renamed in October 1898, the eastern leg becoming Vermont Street, and the western Garton Street. Haylock also laid out Lemuel Street for Mitchell. Approved in March 1881, it completed Iron Mill Place between Lower Grove and The Grove. Haylock maximised the number of building plots, with a dogleg avoiding recently-erected houses on Mitchell’s land.
In April 1882, George Hay Edwards applied for an extension to Malva Road on behalf of Major James Childs (1820–95). Childs was effectively the creator of Price’s Candles, obtaining a patent for soap and candle manufacture which he sold to his brother William in 1858, with the manufacturing rights going to Price’s Patent Candle Co.
[Fig.: James Childs (left) and George Hay Edwards (right). (Source.)]
The extension of Malva Road began with a sharp bend at the south end of the original alignment and ended at Garratt Lane. Wedged between the new extension and the Old Burial Ground was Coimbra Road (renamed Baylin Road 1911).
After a brief lull, the final phase of building comprised thirty-two houses in Allfarthing Lane (north side) between 1893 and 1910 and 151 houses in Duntshill, reflecting its late start. In May 1896, John Howard’s application for Lydden Grove and Guelph Street was approved. Howard was born at Limerick in 1857. In 1891 he was living at no. 66 Ringford Road, giving his occupation as Civil Engineer. By 1901 he had returned to Ireland and was living at Cork.
In December 1897, the application by architect George Edward Withers (1873–1945) on behalf of Withers & Son for the grandiosely-named St. Anne’s Vicarage Estate was approved, comprising Marcus and Denton Streets. (The vicarage had recently moved to a site just south of the church.) Withers managed to cram no fewer than forty-nine half-houses into three acres. Alterations to this scheme were sanctioned by the LCC in January and March 1899. In 1905, when Withers had returned to Stamford Hill, he retained a vote in Wandsworth by virtue of his share in freehold houses and three acres of land on the Old Vicarage Estate. As late as 1924, several members of the Withers family still owned property in Denton Street. In 1881, Edward Withers senior (1842–88) was a builder with thirty-nine employees, living at Hackney, with two resident servants. His estate was valued at £18,705. Three of Edward senior’s sons followed him into the building industry. Richard Edward Withers (1864–1932) described himself as a builder and contractor in 1891, still living at home. His younger brother George was articled to an architect and surveyor. Richard Withers died at Northwood in 1932, leaving £19,830. Alfred Edward (1865–1920), another son, was a builder with one or two domestic servants who lived for many years at Stamford Hill. By 1911 Alfred had become an estate agent at Finchley. His estate was valued at £9,812. Although none of the Withers family moved to Wandsworth, they contributed thirty-six houses.
In May 1898, Rawlings & Son’s application on behalf of W.F. Palmer was approved. This included Esparto, Twilley and Furmage Streets, together with the Garratt Lane frontage.
The penultimate stage in the development of Allfarthing (North) and Duntshill came in April 1899 when William Henry Collier’s application on behalf of A & J Wise for the Durnsford Park Estate was approved. This comprised Acuba Street, Strathville and Ravensbury Roads, together with the extension of Penwith Road across the Wandle. Collier was then a bank clerk living in Crockerton Road. James Wise (1852–1916) was a builder. In 1901 he was living in Earlsfield Road with his family and two servants. By 1911 he was a retired contractor and Borough Councillor.
In November 1906, more than four decades after building had commenced in Malva Road, the LCC approved the application by C.W. Braine, Secretary of the Wandsworth & Putney Gas, Light & Coke Company, for Bodmin Road and an extension to Acuba Street. Charles Braine spent his whole career working in the gas industry, initially in East London. It is unclear why the Company should have acquired land so far from its long-established works at the mouth of the Wandle, and the area north of Bodmin Road remained undeveloped for many years.
This pattern of small-to-medium building estate development is characteristic of many parts of Wandsworth and its neighbours, in part reflecting the fragmented land ownership, much of which was the result of the very late survival of the medieval open fields. Little attempt seems to have been made to amass larger blocs of land by exchange or purchase before building took place. Large estates such as the Southfields “Grid”, and those of the Artizans’ & General Labourers’ Dwellings Company in central Battersea and the Crown on the fringes of Battersea Park were very much the exception.
After four decades of endeavour by landowners, developers, builders and providers of capital, the three areas discussed in this paper had been transformed into yet another network of streets mostly lined with two- and three-storey terraces plus small numbers of semi-detached and half-houses. Also provided were key elements of infrastructure: main drainage and sewers; mains gas for light and heat; schools, shops, public houses and places of worship.
The final tally of houses in the three areas was 1,429, capable of housing between 6,500 and 7,000 at prevailing occupancy levels. Despite their different patterns of pre-urban land ownership, all had similar numbers of houses: Allfarthing North 421; Duntshill 508, and Durnsford Park 500. The number of builders recorded between 1860 and 1910 was: Allfarthing forty-seven, Duntshill sixty-seven, and Durnsford Park eighteen. This progressive increase in builders’ output is matched across suburbia. Overall, builders averaged nine houses in Allfarthing North, eight in Duntshill and twenty-eight in Durnsford Park. Few individuals contributed houses to more than one of the three areas: seven individuals worked in Allfarthing and Duntshill; three in Duntshill and Durnsford.
Between the mid-1860s and the 1900s, forty-seven builders worked in the area bounded by South Street/Garratt Lane, The Grove and Allfarthing Lane. Their total output was 421 houses, averaging nine houses each. There was however a stark contrast in the contribution of those who built ten houses or fewer, and the ten who built eleven or more houses. Nineteen built five houses or fewer, totalling forty-three. Builders of more than twenty houses accounted for 46% of the total. Heading the list is James King, who despite being active between 1882 and 1884, built forty-five houses (11% of the total): nos. 1–10 Malva Terrace in South Street, the rest in the Malva Road extension. In 1871 King was a bricklayer living at Croydon. In 1881 he was in Barmore Street, Battersea and in 1891 in St. Pancras, still a bricklayer. King’s relatively low ranking in the building hierarchy suggests that he was acting on behalf of the developer or landowner.
Seventy-one builders were responsible for 508 houses between the Wandle and Garratt Lane, averaging seven each. Despite the small areas involved, it still took from 1867 to 1905 to complete this small area. This was the area par excellence of the small builder, with forty-seven contributing fewer than five houses, totalling 105 houses. Seven builders of six–ten houses achieved forty-nine between them. By far the most significant contribution, 241 houses (49%), was made by the six builders each with more than thirty houses.
John Thomas Ashling (1833–98) gave notice of seventy houses in June 1867. These were at the southern extremity of the study area, bounded on the south by the railway and east by Garratt Lane. They included all the houses in Penwith Street, Groton Road and Thornsett Road, together with the Garratt Lane frontage. Ashling was born at Thorney, Cambridgeshire, where he was working as a bricklayer in 1861. By 1871, he was living in Church Row, Wandsworth, still describing himself as a ‘bricklayer’, but clearly prospering as he had a resident servant. By 1881, having made a significant contribution to the development of Wandsworth, Ashling had moved to Worthing. He was a builder with twenty-two employees, a substantial enterprise by contemporary standards. In 1891, Ashling was the manager of the Worthing Waterworks Company. He left an estate valued at £5,331.
Well behind Ashling in their contribution to Duntshill were Messrs. Green & Twilley with thirty-eight houses. John Charles Twilley (1856–1924) was a carpenter by trade. Not until 1901 did he describe himself as ‘master builder’, then living in Merton Road, where he remained in 1911. He died intestate. Bricklayer Frederick Green (1856–1919) was born near Henley. He described himself as ‘builder’ in 1901 and 1911. His estate was valued at £2,829.
This estate belongs wholly to the Edwardian era, preceding and then overlapping with the vast Southfields “Grid” west of Merton Road. Gone were the days of myriad builders contributing five houses or fewer. The five largest builders in Durnsford Park achieved no fewer than 316 houses between them, ranging from twenty-four to thirty-eight. At the other end of the scale were three individuals who built fewer than ten houses. The layout of Durnsford Park — basically three long, parallel streets with minimal cross streets — favoured a more organised approach to construction, also found on the neighbouring “Grid”.
Philip Pike and James Vanner built 147 houses, almost one-third of the total in only two years (1901–02). Unfortunately, information on Messrs Pike and Vanner is scanty, and available records seem inconsistent with the large-scale enterprise implied by the records.
James Vanner (1871–1944) came from Blandford in Dorset, where he was working as a carpenter in 1891. In 1901, he was at no. 1 Steerforth Street, off Garratt Lane, where he remained for forty years. Vanner gave his occupation in 1911 as ‘working builder; employer’, with a domestic servant. In 1939 he lived in Kingscliffe Gardens, Southfields. He died at Parkstone, Dorset, in May 1944, leaving an estate of £34,308. The South Western Star for 26th May 1944 contained a brief obituary noting that he had been in business as a builder for more than forty years.
Henry George Pike (1870–1909) was born at South Lambeth. Like scores of builders he began as a carpenter. In 1891 he was living in Havelock Terrace, Battersea with his in-laws. In 1901 he was a builder living at no. 2 Steerforth Street. He was still there at the time of his death, leaving an estate of £5,072.
Tom Harding had already built twenty-six houses at Duntshill before moving his attention to Durnsford Park, where he built seventy-eight. Harding was born at Bradford-on-Avon and came from a clothworking background. He had moved to London by 1881, when he was a carpenter in Kensington. In 1891 he and his family were in Chiswick and he had added ‘joiner’ to his job description. Clearly successful, Tom Harding was living at Guelph Street by the Wandle in 1901. Now a ‘builder’, he employed his son as a carpenter. The local building boom in Durnsford Park in the 1900s marked the peak of Harding’s career. In 1911 he was living at one of his own recently-built houses, no. 49 Ravensbury Road. He remained there for the rest of his life. In 1921 he was a ‘retired housebuilder’. Tom Harding died in October 1938, leaving an estate valued at £35,944.
There was a wide gap between the output of Tom Harding and middle-ranking builders of between twenty and thirty-one houses. The Battersea firm of Moody & Lucas built thirty-one “half-houses” in Duntshill Road in 1905–06 (i.e. terraced houses containing two self-contained flats, an increasingly common phenomenon across Wandsworth in the 1900s).
George Moody and Walter Lucas’s business was based in one of their own houses, no. 5 Ravensbury Terrace. Moody failed spectacularly in 1908, and was the subject of a lengthy article in the Wandsworth Borough News of 23rd October 1908. Moody had begun his building career as a bricklayer making £5–6 per week, from which he had saved £240 and commenced as a builder. At the bankruptcy hearing, Moody stated that he had no experience of estimating the costs of housebuilding, only ‘some’ for bricklaying. He drew a weekly wage of £3/10/- from the business.
In November 1905, George Moody had entered into partnership with Walter Lucas, who put £80 into the business (in excess of £12,400 today). Their first ‘job’ was thirty-one houses at Duntshill for which they received £6,700 in advance (more than £1m today). The cost of building the houses was £7,596 (£1.18m). Fortunately, these houses sold quickly and yielded a profit of £1,000 to Moody & Lucas.
After this flying start, Moody & Lucas went on to build houses in Twickenham, Kingston, New Malden, Wembley, Finchley and “elsewhere”, ‘losing money on each job’ as Moody reported to the bankruptcy hearing! Clearly a man with more than his fair share of optimism — or lack of financial know-how — Moody seems to have been an unusually prominent example of the ‘streets paved with gold’ school of Victorian speculative builders. He stated at his bankruptcy hearing that he ‘thought £320 was sufficient capital to start such a business, “if you have luck”’.
The fluid nature of builders’ partnerships is well illustrated in this area. In 1900 Drake & Hill built four houses with shops in Merton Road and ten houses in Penwith Road. In 1901, W.E. Drake (9) and Drake & Webb (1) built ten houses in Penwith Road. In 1902, Drake & Webb built nineteen houses in Ravensbury Road, followed by ten more in 1903. The combined output of Drake and his partners, fifty-three houses over four years, places them in the middle rank of contemporary builders.
John Drake senior (1829–1903) lived for many years in Clapham Road. His occupation evolved over the years from carpenter & undertaker to builder & undertaker to builder & decorator, always with one servant. His estate was valued at a modest £2,695. By the time the Drake family became involved in Wandsworth, his son John William Drake, junior (1867–1937), was head of the firm. He was living in Mitcham by 1901, working as a builder & decorator, usually with one servant. In 1921, Drake junior was still a house builder, but with no servant. He appears to have died intestate.
Every dwelling, however modest, has always generated a paper trail of deeds and other documentation that illuminates the often tortuous process of funding the work and subsequently of the succession of owners and occupiers. Unlike the records of building and builders discussed in earlier sections of this paper, the availability of deeds is a hit-and-miss affair, often depending on the property having been acquired by local authorities for a variety of reasons.
This section briefly examines a selection of deeds relating to properties within the three study areas which have survived in Wandsworth Archives (WA). To avoid lengthy additions to the notes, the WA reference is given in brackets in the following discussion. House deeds are largely formulaic in their language, but reveal many otherwise hidden and complex connections between landowners, builders, financiers and residents.
Several transactions relating to Durnsford Park cover the Edwardian period (1901–10). The owner, James Wise of Earlsfield Road, was a builder turned ‘gentleman’ with two servants. He leased no. 18 Duntshill Road to builder Walter Lucas in March 1906 (WA 3335). The third party to the transaction was Alfred Wombwell Robinson of Brighton who had lived for many years in Battersea, progressing from ‘clerk’ to ‘own means’. James Wise had been associated with Jane Goodall, also of Earlsfield Road, in 1902 in connection with nos. 43–51 Penwith Road (WA 2499–2503). In 1901, Jane’s occupation was ‘own means’; her son was an auctioneer’s clerk.
In Allfarthing (North), subsequent involvement of the local authority had provided a considerable body of deeds. In 1869, landowner David Mitchell leased several properties in Borrodaile Road, Lower Grove and Sandown Place to James Scotts, builder late of Pimlico, now Enfield, and William Scotts of Pimlico, pork butcher. (WA 1149/1150).
At the southern end of the study area, records of various transactions relating to Thornsett Road have survived (WA 3366). In October 1867, the auctioneer Edwin Carter, who had been closely involved with this development from its inception, conveyed three plots: 17a in Groton Road and 65/66 in Thornsett Road. The lessee was Henry Hansom, gentleman, of Newington. Hansom was an architect and for many years District Surveyor for Battersea, who lived at Grove End House, Falcon Road.
Other assorted individuals involved in local development include Henry Marson of Egham and Alfred Verlander, saddler, of Iron Mill Road in Thornsett Road in 1867 (WA 3369). In November 1882, land in Groton Road was conveyed by John Dagnall, rope & twine manufacturer of Fulham and James Langton, brewer of Wandsworth, to William Robinson of Duntshill, builder (WA 1709). Also in Groton Road, nos. 16–22 were leased by James Wood, timber merchant of Balham (late of Wandsworth), to William Mulliner of Battersea, builder (WA 1710). Mulliner was one of a family of builders who made a major contribution to the development of Wandsworth.
While every building estate development across Wandsworth, its immediate neighbours and scores of suburbs of Victorian London has its own unique features, there are equally many similarities. Although this was an era of rapid technical change in many sectors of the economy, the building industry remained overwhelmingly dependent on skilled craftsmen, notably bricklayers, carpenters, roofers and glaziers. Despite this fragmentation and lack of mechanisation (still a characteristic of housebuilding in the 2020s), thousands of houses replaced the rural landscape of Wandsworth at a speed which would put many modern developments to shame.
The finances of builders and others involved in the creation of suburban Wandsworth are largely unrecorded, but as today were crucially dependent on the workings of the wider money market, which led to the repeated highs and lows of the building cycle. They built to last, and despite more than a century having elapsed from the completion of the streets and houses, most of Victorian and Edwardian Wandsworth is still as they left it.
Given that concepts such as “zoning” had yet to be invented, much of the building in the area discussed in this paper was cheek by jowl with often substantial industrial premises along the Wandle. Nineteenth-century developments such as the railway, the provision of gas and universal primary education further transformed everyday life.
First and foremost, this paper and its predecessors on the suburban revolution in northern Wandsworth owe a huge debt of gratitude to the willingness of Philip Boys to provide document copies and moral support that kept the project moving, albeit more erratically than both of us might have hoped. Other invaluable support came from archivists in Wandsworth and Surrey. The anonymous heroes of the genealogy revolution and providers of on-line newspapers have assiduously made vast troves of source material available at the touch of the metaphorical button.
| Plot | Owner | Occupier | Land Use | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 306 | Borradaile, Abraham | Borradaile, Abraham | Meadow | 2.07 |
| 307 | Borradaile, Abraham | Delafosse, D Revd. | Garden etc/Ho | 2.43 |
| 308 | Mitchell, David | Mitchell, David | — | 3.80 |
| 309 | Mitchell, David | Mitchell, David | — | 1.70 |
| 310 | Mitchell, David | Mitchell, David | — | 1.92 |
| 311 | Mitchell, David | Tibbutt, Charles | Meadow | 1.14 |
| 311a | Mitchell, David | Mitchell, David | Meadow | 0.49 |
| 312 | Mitchell, David | Mitchell, David | Meadow | 0.90 |
| 330 | Mitchell, David | Tibbutt, Charles | Garden | 0.66 |
| 330a | Mitchell, David | Tibbutt, Charles | Ho/Garden | 0.06 |
| 331 | na | na | 1 House | na |
| 332 | Watney, James | Pryer | Ho/Paddock | 0.87 |
| 333/334 | na | na | 2 Houses | na |
| 335 | Wilkinson Trustees | Bennett, J et al | Garden | 1.86 |
| 336–340 | na | na | 6 Houses | na |
| 341 | Wilkinson Trustees | Gunson, Edward | Garden | 0.63 |
| 341a | Wilkinson Trustees | Gunson, Edward | Garden | 0.99 |
| 342 | Spering, Robert | Spering, Robert | Garden | 0.70 |
| 343 | na | na | 3 Houses | na |
| 344 | na | na | 1 House | na |
| 345 | na | na | 3 Houses | na |
| 346 | Wilkinson Trustees | Gunson, Edward | 5 Houses | na |
| 347 | na | na | 2 Houses | na |
| 348 | Wilkinson Trustees | na | 4 Houses | na |
| 349 | na | na | Ho. > later Hall | na |
| 350 | Wilkinson Trustees | Gunson, Edward | — | na |
| 351–354 | na | na | 22 Houses | na |
| 353a | Wilkinson Trustees | Bottomley, James | Garden | 1.01 |
| 355 | Nicholson, David | Nicholson, David | Garden | 0.67 |
| 356 | Bainbridge & Young | Thurlow, Jonathan | Ho/Garden | 0.12 |
| 357 | Tallowfield, William | Coleman, Mrs | Ho/Garden | 1.00 |
| 358 | Tallowfield, William | Chaundy, George | Meadow | 1.40 |
| 359 | Spyers, Thomas | Bell, R | Ho./Garden | 1.75 |
| 360 | Edwards, Dr | Tweedie, Janet | Ho./Garden | 0.50 |
| 361 | na | na | 3 Houses | na |
| 362 | Marter, John | Hampton, Joseph | Mkt Garden | 1.92 |
| TOTAL | 28.59 | |||
| Plot | Owner | Occupier | Land Use | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 422 | Holland, John | Langton, William | Garden | 3.43 |
| 423 | Holland, John | Langton, William | Paddock | 2.37 |
| 424 | Barker, Sarah | Barker, Sarah | Garden | 3.93 |
| 425 | Barker, Sarah | Stimpson, W | Meadow | 4.96 |
| 426 | Peacock, Henry | Cupitt, G | Meadow | 3.46 |
| 427 | Holland, John | Cupitt, G | Meadow | 1.21 |
| 428 | Holland, John | Wallis, Edward | Meadow | 0.63 |
| 429 | Middleton, Lord | Stimpson, W | Meadow | 3.80 |
| 430 | York, Archbishop of | Fuller, James | Garden | 0.37 |
| 431 | York, Archbishop of | Rowe, William | Garden | 0.16 |
| 432 | York, Archbishop of | Peacock, Henry | Garden | 0.16 |
| 433 | Nottidge, William | Rowe & Peacock | Garden | 0.84 |
| 435 | Nottidge, William | Wallis, Edward | Meadow | 0.94 |
| 436 | York, Archbishop of | Wallis, Edward | Meadow | 4.50 |
| 437 | York, Archbishop of | Wallis, Edward | Garden | 0.20 |
| 452 | Wandsworth Parish | Townshend, T | Meadow | 0.79 |
| 453 | Reynolds, Charles | Townshend, T | Meadow | 1.73 |
| 454 | Grint, George | Townshend, T | Meadow | 0.45 |
| 455 | Hoare, S | Pattison, William | Meadow | 2.61 |
| 456 | Reynolds, Charles | Townshend, T | Meadow | 1.79 |
| 457 | Hoare, S | Lee & Reynolds | Meadow | 0.73 |
| 458 | Reynolds, Charles | Townshend, T | Meadow | 0.43 |
| 459 | Reynolds, Charles | Reynolds & Lee | Meadow | 4.58 |
| TOTAL | 44.07 | |||
| Date | Builder | Houses | Date | Builder | Houses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1882–84 | King, J | 45 | 1865 | Lewis, Evan | 6 |
| 1889 | Tytherleigh, Wm | 29 | 1881 | Price, J | 6 |
| 1865–67 | Mulliner, T A | 28 | 1907/10 | Rashbrook, F | 6 |
| 1890 | Brunsden, S | 27 | 1878 | Maddison, James | 5 |
| 1864/66 | Champion | 25 | 1868 | Prout, W | 5 |
| 1865/66 | Randall, George | 21 | 1883 | Cottins, T | 4 |
| 1863/79 | Strong, W | 20 | 1864 | Dowden, G R | 4 |
| 1882 | Arons, N | 15 | 1862 | Easton | 7 |
| 1884/86 | Peters, J C | 12 | 1877 | Johnson, W | 4 |
| 1880/81 | Cobb, Wm | 11 | 1877 | Cox, Hy | 2 |
| 1866/67 | Broughton, F | 10 | 1888 | Gilbert, B | 2 |
| 1888 | Burridge, Wm | 10 | 1883 | Hindler | 2 |
| 1901 | Fuller, F A | 10 | 1865 | Holliday, Wm | 2 |
| 1867/68 | Harrison & Edwards | 10 | 1858 | Mitchell, D | 2 |
| 1858 | Nicholson | 10 | 1866 | Mulliner, W | 2 |
| 1867/68 | Scott, James | 10 | 1866 | Taylor, W | 2 |
| 1866 | Brighten, G C | 9 | 1870 | Atkinson | 1 |
| 1898/99 | Withers, W or E & Son | 9 | 1867 | Cooper, James | 1 |
| 1880 | Hitchins, Thomas | 8 | 1868 | East, C | 1 |
| 1893 | Bullen, W | 7 | 1877 | Haylock, D | 1 |
| 1877 | Cox, Hy/Rivers, Herbert | 7 | 1879 | Jewell | 1 |
| 1883 | Keen, E | 7 | 1873 | Ronald, R | 1 |
| 1869 | Room, Thomas | 7 | 1859 | Skinner, M | 1 |
| 1889 | Harmer, Walter | 6 | 1884 | Humphreys, J C | Church |
| TOTAL | 421 | ||||
| Date | Builder | Houses | Date | Builder | Houses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1867 | Ashling, J T | 70 | 1878 | Loat, John | 3 |
| 1900–05 | Green & Twilley | 38 | 1880/88 | Plumridge, Joseph | 3 |
| 1868/77–81 | Robinson, Wm | 37 | 1882 | Price, J | 3 |
| 1901 | Green, F | 33 | 1869 | Shelver, Andrew | 3 |
| 1867/68 | Newman, Edward | 32 | 1866 | Thilthorpe | 3 |
| 1905/06 | Moody & Lucas | 31 | 1878 | Vokes, Francis | 3 |
| 1898/99 | Harding, Tom | 26 | 1883 | Fullwood, Hy | 2 |
| 1898/99 | Lamplough & Borradaile | 24 | 1863 | Gardener, Thomas | 2 |
| 1906 | King, Frank | 17 | 1868 | George & Taylor | 2 |
| 1897/98 | Spicer, George | 16 | 1881 | Gess, M | 2 |
| 1883/90/91 | Myring, J B R | 14 | 1867 | Grimsdall, M | 2 |
| 1867/9/79/83 | Hiatt/Hyatts, Fredk | 11 | 1869 | Hails, Henry | 2 |
| 1868 | Lawrence, D | 11 | 1879 | Hewett, R | 2 |
| 1879 | Neal, G & R | 11 | 1878/79 | Jewell, R A | 2 |
| 1879 | Dickinson, John | 8 | 1868 | Knight, H | 2 |
| 1867 | Flitton, Jno | 8 | 1888 | Merrett, C S | 2 |
| 1867 | Thornton, William | 8 | 1867 | Picking, Messrs | 2 |
| 1866 | Clarke, Charles | 7 | 1887 | Salmons, J | 2 |
| 1881 | Anstee, Wm | 6 | 1867 | Ward, J R | 2 |
| 1863/65 | Brighten, George | 6 | 1871 | Tilly, W | 2 |
| 1880 | Strong, W | 6 | 1913 | Waterer, R | 2 |
| 1880 | Carter, Jas | 5 | 1878 | West, E | 2 |
| 1861/64 | Easton, E W | 5 | 1887 | Wheeler, Charles | 2 |
| 1869 | McCrea, Robert | 5 | 1874 | Bridger, Wm | 1 |
| 1888 | Spratt, L | 5 | 1868 | Elliott, Wm | 1 |
| 1880/81 | Cobb, Wm | 4 | 1887 | Ford, James | 1 |
| 1869 | Coster, Samuel | 4 | 1883 | Hoskins, J | 1 |
| 1868 | Cranch, J W | 4 | 1866 | Mallinson, George | 1 |
| 1883 | Hooper, Allen | 4 | 1899 | Pike & Vanner | 1 |
| 1891 | Mulliner, Wm jnr | 4 | 1873 | Ronald, R | 1 |
| 1881 | Strong, Wm | 4 | 1886 | Shorter, George | 1 |
| 1867 | Ward & Pierce | 4 | 1879 | Strong, Fredk | 1 |
| 1875 | Buchanan, Wm | 3 | 1880 | Strong, N F & H C | 1 |
| 1874/79 | Cook, A | 3 | 1868 | Tomkins, George | 1 |
| 1881 | Field, L | 3 | 1891 | Parsons & Co | Mission |
| 1881 | Foster, Samuel | 3 | — | — | — |
| TOTAL | 508 | ||||
| Date | Builder | Houses |
|---|---|---|
| 1901/02 | Pike & Vanner | 147 |
| 1901–06 | Harding, Tom | 78 |
| 1905/06 | Moody & Lucas | 31 |
| 1901–03 | Drake & Webb | 30 |
| 1901–05 | Mitchell, R | 30 |
| 1905/06 | King, Frank | 28 |
| 1901 | Baury, C | 26 |
| 1901–02 | Fone, Charles | 20 |
| 1906/07 | Turtle & Appleton | 18 |
| 1902–03 | Evans, Percy | 15 |
| 1900 | Drake & Hill | 14 |
| 1905 | Ackerman, E | 11 |
| 1901 | Flett, J S | 10 |
| 1901 | Harding, F | 10 |
| 1901 | Serff, Christopher | 10 |
| 1901 | Drake, W E | 9 |
| 1902 | Saunders, F | 7 |
| 1901 | Brown, W & C | 6 |
| TOTAL | 500 | |
Draft version, April 2026. © Keith Bailey, Cornhill-on-Tweed, June 2025. All rights reserved.