Last modified: 2 November 2026
John Corris’s plan of the whole of Battersea parish, taken in 1787, in a fair copy by William Ward. It runs from the Thames at Battersea village and the Nine Elms end of the parish down to Battersea’s share of the two commons: the West Common, which is the Battersea side of Wandsworth Common, and the East Common, Battersea’s part of Clapham Common. Every field and plot is numbered, and the colouring shows who held it: Earl Spencer’s freehold red, the leasehold of the Archbishop of York yellow, copyholds of the manor orange, other freeholds blue, and the open fields, marsh and commons green. Zoom in to read the strip names in the open fields.
The map. A Plan of Battersea Parish in the County of Surry, taken by Jno. Corris, 1787, signed as a correct copy by William Ward. Its key is built around the estates of the lord of the manor, Earl Spencer, and its numbered plots are keyed to a separate Book of Reference. It shows Battersea before enclosure, the railways or any building estates.
This copy. The British Library’s photograph of the original, which has been folded. The grey backing and the library’s colour bar have been trimmed away, and the photograph cleaned up to make it easier to read: the cold grey cast of the photograph evened out to a pale ivory, the owners’ colours gently freshened and the pen lines sharpened. The fold lines and the library’s pencilled shelf number remain.
See also. The Battersea tithe map of 1838, Stanford’s Library Map of 1862, and the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map of the 1860s.
Original in the British Library. Prepared by Philip Boys, with Claude.
Build 2.