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Ivy House, Wandsworth Common

Croquet on the lawn, Ivy House, c.1862

MJ=?, GB=Geoffrey Bevington, MF?=?, RP=?

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[A clearer version of this image also appears on the Croquet Association website, uploaded by John Bevington, "the author's great-grandfather's brother".]

Early garden croquet. Players: GB = Geoffrey Bevington. Others unknown. Venue: Ivy House, Wandsworth. Event Date: 1860s. Author: John Bevington. Uploaded: 23 Nov 2008. This photograph is taken from an album made by Geoffrey Bevington (1838-1872), a keen amateur photographer and the author's great-grandfather's brother, and shows the equipment in use at the time.

[Source: Croquet Association website.]

Wikipedia: Croquet.
Born in 1808: Frolicks and flirtation - the Victorian game of croquet.

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Note: The size of the specimen trees suggests that the house/garden was already at least 20 or 30 years old when this photograph was taken c.1862. Were they planted by the Bevingtons in the 1830s? Notice the very large windows in the two-floor section of the house closest to view, but seemingly very small in the ivy?-covered section behind - which appears to be three or even four floors high. (See below, on a possible view of Ivy House from Wandsworth Common.)

Above: Mary [GB's mother?] in her garden, Wandsworth.

Below: Contemplation [GB]

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Above: Hazel leaves, Ivy House Garden.

Below: The Misses Barker [in the Ivy House Conservatory]

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Ivy House

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Ivy House

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Anna Hezlet, Conservatory, Ivy House

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Above: Ivy House Workshop.

Below: Repairs.

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Major Bevington [presumably GB's brother Samuel, in the Conservatory at Ivy House]

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Geoffrey
Ivy House

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Mrs Bevington [Mother] with Geoffrey [in Conservatory, Ivy House]

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Above: Anna Hezlet [in Conservatory, Ivy House].

Below: Building the Billiard Room.

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Could this view help locate Ivy House?

From Ivy House Garden

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Could this be Ivy House in the distance? Against: there are three floors in the main building, and other photographs of Ivy House in the album chiefly show two (is there a hint of a third in some images?). But since these appear to be of new additions seen from gardens at the rear of the house, there could indeed have been a third floor at the front. A higher-resolution image might help.

Wandsworth Common [where?]

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Plan of Ivy House and garden

When I put together the images above I still didn't know where Ivy House and garden was located, or what its layout was. However, the discovery of a highly detailed map (OS 60 inches to the mile of c.1893) was a revelation, because it allows us to pin-point exactly where many of the people in the photographs were standing, and exactly where Geoffrey took the pictures.

Sometimes rather spooky, actually.

Ivy House and garden mapped c.1869, outlined by PB.

Ivy House and garden on the OS Town Plan published c.1869

Plot and buildings outlined by PB. The image I located was quite low-resolution. I have tried to clan things up but it would be good to find a better copy to work on.

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Ivy House and garden mapped c.1893, tinted by PB.

Notice a number of greenhouses and the large conservatory. Also the wooded area, with a small pond, at the rear. A path runs around the edge, enclosing lawns. All of these feature in Geoffrey's photographs. Judging from the width and direction of the path, no horse-drawn carriage was ever kept - though of course the layout may have changed between the 1830s, when the Bevingtons moved here, and 1893. [Source: Ordnance Survey, 60-inch to the mile, c.1893. [ref/link].]