Home › Sources › Brayley › Battersea
Last modified: 7 October 2026
Transcribed in full, keeping Brayley’s spelling, capitals and punctuation, and checked line by line against the printed pages. The original page numbers are shown in grey, like this: [444]. Brayley’s footnotes are numbered as in the book and collected at the end; passages he set in small type are shown slightly smaller. This volume was issued in 1850, but the text was written in the 1840s and brought up to about July 1847, so “the present vicar” and the like mean then, not now. Compare the earlier account in Manning and Bray (1814).
[443] This place is situated about three miles from Westminster bridge, the river Thames forming the boundary of the parish on the north, while it adjoins Lambeth on the east; Camberwell, Streatham, and Clapham, on the south; and Wandsworth on the west. But besides that portion of Battersea parish within these limits, there is a detached district, forming the hamlet of Penge, between Beckingham, in Kent, on the east, and Norwood on the west. A great part of Wandsworth common belongs to this parish, as also does that division of Clapham common called Battersea-rise. Its name was anciently written Battrics-ey, and in the Domesday book Patrices-ey, probably a mistake for Petrice-ey, and signifying St. Peter’s isle,—the termination ey, from the Saxon eȝe or iȝe, often occurring in the names of places adjacent to great rivers; as Putney, Molesey, Chertsey, &c., near the banks of the Thames.
The Manor is thus described in the Domesday book, among the lands belonging to the abbot of Westminster:—
“St. Peter of Westminster holds Patricesy. Earl Harold held it; and it was then assessed at 72 hides; now at 18 hides. The arable land is ———. Three carucates are in demesne; and there are forty-five villains, and sixteen bordars, with 14 carucates. There are eight bondmen: and seven mills at 42l. 9s. 8d., and a corn-rent of the same [444] amount; and 82 acres of meadow; and a wood yielding fifty swine for pannage. There is in Southwark one bordar (belonging to this manor), paying 12 pence. From the toll of Wendelesorde (Wandsworth) is received the sum of 6l. A villain having ten swine pays to the Lord one; but if he has a smaller number, nothing. One knight holds 4 hides of this land; and the money he pays is included in the preceding estimate. The entire manor, in the time of King Edward, was valued at 80l.; afterwards at 30l.; and now at 75l. 9s. 8d. King William gave this manor to St. Peter in exchange for Windsor. The Earl of Moreton holds 1½ hides of land, which in King Edward’s time, and afterwards, belonged to this manor. Gilbert the Priest holds 3 hides under the same circumstances. The Bishop of Lisieux had 2 hides, of which the church (of Westminster) was seised in the time of King William, and disseised by the Bishop of Bayeux. The Abbot of Chertsey holds 1 hide, which the Bailiff of this vill, out of ill-will [to the Abbot of Westminster?] detached from this manor, and appropriated it to Chertsey.”1
Spelman (Glossarium, p. 79), under the word Berewica, states that it means the member of a manor disjoined from the main body, as a vill, or hamlet; and he quotes a passage from the Register of Sulcardus, a monk of Westminster, stating that the king (William the Conqueror), gave to the abbey Batrichesey, with the Berewic (“cum Berewico”), adjoining it named Wendlesworde, or Wandsworth.2
Many grants of privileges, in respect to their manor of Battersea, were made by different sovereigns to the abbots of Westminster; and among them was an exemption from tax for six hides and a half in his manor of Westminster, made by king Stephen, in which his aula, or palace stood, and, also, for forty-four hides in Patrichesea; but the remaining twenty-eight hides in that manor were to be liable to all taxes belonging to the king.
After the suppression of monasteries, this manor remained vested in the crown until Elizabeth, in the 8th year of her reign, granted it on a lease for twenty-one years to Henry Royden; and in 1593, Joan, the only daughter of Henry Royden, had another lease for a similar term. Subject to this lease, the manor, in 1610, was assigned towards the maintenance of Henry, prince of Wales; and after his [445] decease, it was appropriated in the same manner to his brother, prince Charles, who, about two years after his accession to the throne, granted it (anno 1627), in fee, to Oliver, lord St. John, and Viscount Grandison, of Limerick, in Ireland. That nobleman was the second son of Nicholas St. John, of Lidiard Tregoze, co. Wilts, and had married the above Joan, after the decease of Sir William Holcroft, her first husband. In 1626, he was made an English peer, with the title of Baron St. John, of Lidiard Tregoze. On his decease without issue, in 1630, the English title became extinct, but that of Grandison descended to his grand-nephew, William Villiers, father of the notorious duchess of Cleveland. The Battersea estate also came into the hands of Villiers, who granted it to his cousin, Sir John St. John, bart., who died in 1648. Oliver, the eldest son of that gentleman, having died before him, this manor devolved on his grandson, John St. John, a minor; on whose decease without issue, the baronetcy and family estate became vested in Sir Walter St. John, his uncle; who is stated to have been “eminent for his piety and moral virtues.” He died on the 3rd of July, 1708, at the age of eighty-seven; and was succeeded by his son Henry, who, long previously, viz. in 1684, had pleaded guilty of the murder of Sir Wm. Estcourt, bart., in a sudden quarrel arising at a supper party. This case, however, if the account given by Bishop Burnet be correct, could be regarded only as manslaughter; but he was induced to plead guilty of the greater crime, by a promise of pardon if he followed that advice; or of being subjected to the utmost rigour of the law, on his refusal. No pardon is enrolled, but it is stated that the king granted him a reprieve for a long term of years; and in the Rolls chapel, is a restitution of his estates (Pat. 36 Charles II.), for which it would seem, and the reprieve conjoined, he had to pay 16,000l.; one half of which, Burnet says, “the king converted to his own use, and bestowed the remainder on two ladies then high in favour.”3 In 1716, this gentleman was created baron St. John of Battersea, and viscount St. John, with remainder to the issue-male of his second marriage with Angelique Magdaleine Pillesary (his only son by his first wife being then under attainder); and on his decease in 1742, his titles descended to John St. John, his eldest surviving son by that lady.
By his first wife, Mary, daughter and co-heir of Robert Rich, earl of Warwick, Henry, viscount St. John, had only one son, Henry, who was born at Battersea in October, 1678. In 1710, he became secretary of state to Queen Anne, by whom, in 1713, he was created baron St. John of Lidiard Tregoze, and viscount Bolingbroke, a title to which [446] he gave celebrity by his abilities as a philosopher and a statesman. He was attainted of treason, for intriguing with the partizans of the Pretender, on the accession of George the First: and having fled to France, he entered into the service of the Chevalier de St. George, which after a time he relinquished; and in 1723, having been restored in blood, he returned to England. In 1725, an act of parliament was passed to annul the attainder so far as to enable him to inherit the family estate; in consequence of which, on the decease of his father, he became possessed of the Battersea property, and held it until his death in 1751. He was twice married, but had no issue by either of his consorts; and Battersea, with his other estates, as well as his titles, descended to his nephew Frederick, (the son of his half-brother John, viscount St. John), by whom this manorial property was sold, in pursuance of an act of parliament obtained in 1762, to the trustees of John, earl Spencer; to whose descendant, the present and 3rd earl Spencer, it now belongs.
Bolingbroke-House, the seat of the St. John family, was a large mansion standing near the church, and said to have contained forty rooms on a floor. It was mostly pulled down about 1777; and some years afterwards, an horizontal air-mill, of a peculiar construction, was erected on the site of the demolished part, for the grinding of linseed, for oil. It was afterwards used for grinding malt to supply the distillery of Messrs. Hodgson and Co.; by whom, on the site of the gardens and terrace, extensive bullock-houses were built, capable of receiving 650 head of cattle, which were fattened with the grains from the distillery mixed with meal. This establishment was relinquished many years since; and the upper part of the mill and other buildings were taken down: the lower part is still in use for grinding corn. The situation of the old mansion is indicated by the names of Bolingbroke gardens, and Bolingbroke terrace.
York-House, Battersea.—In the reign of Henry the Sixth, Thomas, lord Stanley, possessed a considerable estate in “Batrichesey, Wandsworth, and Wassingham,” which, possibly to avoid its confiscation at that troublesome period, he conveyed to trustees, for his own benefit, and that of Thomas, his son and heir. In December, 1460, the trustees transferred this property to Lawrence Bothe, or Booth, bishop of Durham, and his heirs; and in the following year the grant was confirmed by lord Stanley and his son. Notwithstanding this conveyance, we find that the Stanley estate had escheated to the crown before the 11th year of Edward the Fourth, in consequence of John Stanley having assigned these lands and tenements, in trust, to the abbot of Westminster, in contravention of the statute of mortmain. [447] The bishop, in consequence, found it necessary to apply to the king; and on the payment of 700l. he obtained a grant, under letters patent dated July 10th, 1472, of six messuages, 100 acres of land, 30 of meadow, and 20 of pasture, with all rents, services, hereditaments, &c., in the above places, which had been forfeited by John Stanley. He had, also, the king’s license to inclose his mansion-house called Brygge Court, which he had built at Battersea, “with walls and towers, and to impark his land there, with the right of free warren and free chace therein.”4
Bishop Booth was translated to the archiepiscopal see of York in September 1476; and prior to his decease in May, 1480, he bequeathed this property to the dean and chapter of York, with a view to the accommodation of his successors in the see, as an occasional residence when visiting London. But few of these prelates, however, have ever resided here; and of these, archbishop Holgate, who was imprisoned and deprived by Queen Mary for being a married man, lost much property by illegal seizure.5
During the supremacy of the parliament and suspension of episcopal rule, York-house and its appurtenances were sold to Sir Allen Apsley, and Col. Hutchinson, his brother-in-law, for the sum of 1806l. 3s. 6d.; but they were reclaimed by the see after the restoration, and still belong to it. Since that event, and indeed, from a much earlier period, this estate has been granted on lease for long terms to different persons. Scarcely any part of the ancient mansion remains: much of it was pulled down about forty years ago, when new apartments were built, and the whole modernized.
Besides this mansion, which is pleasantly situated near the Thames, there are several handsome seats fronting the river, and various large manufacturing establishments, chemical works, smelting furnaces, &c., are extended along its banks; greatly to the annoyance of the market-gardeners and florists, who complain grievously of the injury they sustain by the smoke and noxious vapours of the numerous steam-engines now employed in this hitherto rural district.—The establishment here for the preservation of timber from the dry-rot, called Kyanizing, from the name of its inventor, was destroyed by fire on the 20th of March, 1847; and the conflagration extended to other neighbouring works. [448] The process was carried on by forcing tar through the pores of the wood, and here was a large pond of that fluid, the blaze of which set fire to immense piles of timber, which had either undergone the process, or were in a state of preparation for it.
On the river’s bank, nearly opposite to the gardens of Chelsea hospital, is a place of entertainment called the Red-House, which has long been a favourite resort of the patrons of aquatic sports and pigeon-shooting. Both its appearance and accommodations have been considerably improved of late years; the house has been partly rebuilt and enlarged, and the gardens laid out in small arbours and fancifully-formed flower-beds. The shooting ground is about one hundred and twenty yards square, and inclosed by palings.—Nearly adjacent, two small piers have been constructed for steam-boat passengers.
At a short distance, eastward, are the reservoirs and new engine-house of the Southwark and Vauxhall Water company. The reservoirs cover nearly eighteen acres of ground; two of them are used as filters, and are, to a certain depth, filled with sand, through which the water percolates, leaving the impurities on the surface, to be removed at pleasure. Here are two steam-engines, each of 500 horse power, which by forcing up the water through perpendicular iron-tubes, to the height of 175 feet, raise it sufficiently to supply the inhabitants of Brixton and other elevated places.
Among the superior residences at Battersea is The Retreat, a spacious mansion, stuccoed, situated in the midst of an extensive pleasure-ground and shrubbery, and now belonging to Valentine Morris, esq. Near it is Manor-House, the seat of Richard Morris, esq., (son of the above), a large brick edifice in the style of George the First’s reign. Sherwood-Lodge, occupied by Lady Wombwell, is an extensive mansion fronting the river, with numerous attached offices, and a gallery of the Doric order, 76 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 30 feet high; which was built by the late Jens Wolfe, esq., the Danish consul, for the reception of his collection of plaster casts, taken from the most celebrated antique statues. Battersea-House, a substantial brick edifice, with pleasant grounds overlooking the Thames, is at present untenanted.
The number of acres estimated and titheable in this parish is about 2130; of which, in 1839, nearly 347 acres were arable; 615, meadow; 379, market-gardens; 109, other gardens; 92, plantations; 179, sites of houses, &c.; and 392, wastes and roads. Many acres have been since appropriated to building purposes; and there can be little doubt, that if the design for forming a new Park here be not shortly proceeded with, that the whole of Battersea fields will in the course of a few years be converted into building ground.
[449] Rectory and Vicarage.—About the year 1159, Laurence, abbot of Westminster, obtained the appropriation of the great tithes for his monastery: out of which the monks were to receive two marcs; and sufficient to be reserved to support the vicar. In the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, 1291, the rectory was rated at 26½ marcs, or 17l. 13s. 4d.; and the vicarage at 6 marcs and 40 pence, or 4l. 3s. 4d. In the King’s books, this benefice, which is in the deanery of Southwark, is valued at 13l. 15s. 2½d. Queen Elizabeth, in her 23rd year, granted the rectory and advowson to Edward Downing and Peter Ashton; who “probably sold them to the St. Johns, and they have passed ever since with the manor, and now belong to Earl Spencer.”6 At the present time the rectorial rent-charge, including 2l. on glebe, is 45l.: and the vicarial rent-charge, 969l. 9s. 9d., exclusive of 10l. 16s. on a glebe of about sixteen acres.
The Registers commence in 1559; but are very imperfect in the former part of the last century. The following instances of Longevity occur among the entries:—
Goody Hazleton, aged 108 years, was buried Oct. 29, 1703.
William Abbots, ætat. 101, buried Jan. 5, 1733.
Oct. 1790, buried —— Wiat, aged 100 years.
Dec. 27, 1803, buried William Douse, aged 100 years.
Vicars of Battersea in and since the year 1800:—
John Gardnor, A.M. Instituted in October, 1778: buried on the 6th of January, 1808.7
Joseph Allen, D.D., prebendary of Westminster. Instituted on the 21st of January, 1808: preferred to the see of Bristol in October, 1834.
Hon. and Rev. Robert John Eden, A.M., chaplain in ordinary to the Queen. Instituted in December, 1834: resigned in 1847, on his promotion to the see of Sodar and Man, in May the same year.
James S. Jenkinson, A.M. Instituted in June, 1847.
Battersea Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is conspicuously situated on the banks of the river, at about a quarter of a mile above the bridge; but has no pretentions to architectural beauty. The present structure, which is of brick with rustic quoins, was erected in place of an older church, under the provisions of an act of parliament (14 Geo. III., cap. 95), and at a cost of something more than 5,000l.; it was first opened on the 17th of November, 1777. About 1823, an entrance portico, of the Doric order, was annexed to the tower at the west end. The tower is surmounted by a low, heavy-looking octagonal [450] spire, and contains a clock and eight bells. At the east end is a recess, partly curvilinear, for the communion-table, above which is a central window, in three divisions, filled with old stained glass that was preserved from the former church, and had been executed at the expense of the St. Johns. It includes the half-length portraits of Henry the Seventh, his grandmother the Lady Margaret Beauchamp, and Queen Elizabeth, together with many enrichments, and numerous shields of arms, shewing the alliances of the family.8 Here, also, in two circular windows, pierced for additional light, are figures of the Holy Lamb and Dove, of modern execution.
The interior is handsomely fitted up, and well pewed, and an air of much neatness pervades the whole. The galleries are supported by columns painted in imitation of scagliola marble; and there is a large organ in the west gallery. Most of the old monuments were replaced against the walls of the side-galleries, but several modern ones are now intermingled with them: those of recent date are chiefly at the back of the aisles.
Among the memorials of the Bolingbrokes is that of Henry St. John, viscount Bolingbroke, (the friend of Swift, Pope, and Gay, and author of many political and metaphysical works),9 who died at the age of seventy-three, on the 12th of December, 1751;—and his 2nd lady, Mary Clara des Champs de Marcilly, marchioness de Villette, a niece of Madam de Maintenon: she died on the 18th of March, 1750, aged seventy-four. This monument, which is of grey and white marble, was executed by Roubiliac. The upper part displays an urn with drapery, surmounted by the viscount’s arms; and the lower portion records the characters of the deceased, flanked by their medallions in profile, in bas-relief.
Another monument commemorates the descent and preferments of Oliver St. John, viscount Grandison, &c., who was the first of his family that settled at Battersea. When a young man and studying the law at one of the Inns of court, he became involved in a quarrel with — Best, a captain of the guard to queen Elizabeth, and champion of England, whom he killed in a duel, in 1584. Being obliged to leave the kingdom, he afterwards served in the army under Lord Vere; and eventually in Ireland, of which country, by the favour of Villiers, duke of Buckingham, he was made both lord-treasurer and [451] lord-deputy. He died December 29th, 1630, in his seventieth year. Joan, his lady, daughter of Sir Henry Roydon, who died in the following March, was also buried here. They are represented on the monument (which must have been altered when replaced), by Busts in white marble: above the inscription, are the arms and quarterings of St. John, impaling Roydon.
The above are in the north gallery, where, also, is an upright marble tablet for Sir George Wombwell, bart., of Sherwood-Lodge, who died on October 28th, 1846, in his 77th year;—and, at the east end, the monument of Sir John Fleet, knt., alderman, and lord-mayor of London in 1693. He died on the 6th of July, 1712, aged sixty-five.
The monument of Sir Edward Wynter, in the south gallery, has obtained much notice on account of the singular exploits recorded by the inscription and sculpture. He appears to have been a friendless but adventurous youth, who by his courage, diligence, and good conduct, became eminent as an East-India merchant, and, as the epitaph states,
“Nor less in martial honour was his name,
Witness his actions of immortal fame!
Alone, unarm’d, a Tyger he oppress’d
And crushed to death the monster of a beast.
Twice twenty mounted Moors he overthrew
Singly on foot, some wounded, some he slew,
Dispers’d the rest,—what more could Sampson do?
True to his friends, a terror to his foes,
Here now in peace his honour’d bones repose.”
At the top is a large Bust of Sir Edward, in a flowing peruke, and lace cravat; and underneath the inscription are sculptures, in low-relief, of his struggling with the tyger, and his combat with the Moors. He died on the 2nd of March, 1685-6, aged sixty-four.
Near the above is a monument formed of Coade’s artificial stone, which exhibits a small statue of a mourning female leaning upon an urn. This was erected by the benevolent James Neild, (the follower of the great Howard in his endeavours to mitigate the evils of imprisonment), in memory of his wife Elizabeth, and of her father, John Camden, esq. The former died on the 30th of June, 1791, in her 36th year; the latter, on October 17th, 1780, aged fifty-seven.—At the east end of the south aisle, a neat tablet records the memory of Thomas Astle, esq., F.S.A., keeper of the records in the Tower, and author of an ingenious work “On the Origin and Progress of Writing.” He died in his 68th year, on the 1st of December, 1802.
In the church-yard was buried, in March 1760, aged seventy-six, Arthur Collins, esq., a laborious writer on genealogy and history;—and on the grass-plat opposite the west porch, is the grave-stone of [452] Mr. William Curtis, author of the Flora Londinensis, and other botanical works; who died on the 7th of July, 1799, aged 53 years.
The great increase in the population of this parish, and indeed in all the suburban districts around London, during the last twenty or thirty years, has occasioned a necessity for additional places of worship; and besides a Chapel-of-ease, dedicated to St. George, erected about midway between Nine-elms and Battersea, a new Church is now in progress, on a plot of ground given by the last vicar beyond the upper extremity of Battersea-fields. The Chapel, which is a composition in the early lancet style, by Edward Blore, esq., architect, was commenced in September, 1827; and consecrated by the bishop of Winchester on August 5th, 1828; the Rev. John G. Weddall, A.M., having been appointed minister. It is constructed of brick, with stone dressings, and its gable roof is slated; the west end is surmounted by a small bell-turret. On the north side is a neat entrance-porch. The ground-plan is a parallelogram, with a small projecting chancel at the east end. The interior is extremely plain: the galleries are sustained by slender cast-iron columns. About 3,000l. was expended on this edifice, which was partly defrayed by a grant, and partly by subscription.—The first stone of the elegant Church now building was laid by the bishop of Sodar and Man, on the 27th of May, 1847. The architects are Messrs. Lee and Bury.
In this parish, in the Lower Wandsworth road, a new Baptist Chapel was erected about the year 1829, in place of a smaller one originally built in 1738. Of the earlier congregation little is known; but after the late Rev. Joseph Hughes became pastor here, in 1794, the zeal, energy, learning, and eloquence, which he displayed, attracted so much attention, that many of the neighbouring gentry were induced to join the assembly. His connexion, also, with different local societies for the promotion of religious worship, brought him acquainted with Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Percival, and other gentlemen of station and influence, by whose aid he established the Surrey Mission Society. At a meeting of the Religious Tract Society, he afterwards promulgated the idea of an Institution for supplying, not only the inhabitants of the British Isles, but the whole world, with copies of the Holy Scriptures;—and hence arose the Bible Society, of which Mr. Hughes was the active agent and secretary until his persevering exertions in the cause of piety and religion were arrested by death in October, 1834.—The Rev. Israel May Soule is the present minister of this chapel. Near it, is an Infant school supported by the congregation.—A Wesleyan Chapel has been recently built on the west side of the Bridge road; where many new houses have been erected.
[453] The National Society’s Training College.—This important Institution, designed for the training of young men to become Schoolmasters, owes its origin to Dr. J. P. Kay, and E. C. Tufnell, esq., assistant poor-law commissioners; whom the ignorance and immorality of pauper children prompted to investigate and make trial of some means of securing to that large class of the community an education of such quality and extent as are essential to their well-being and social elevation.
These gentlemen, lamenting the prevalent incompetency of the teachers entrusted with the education of the poor, resolved to make an effort for the production of a better description of school-masters. They, accordingly, visited Holland, Prussia, Switzerland, Saxony, Paris, &c., for the purpose of examining the operation of the establishments projected by Pestalozzi, De Fellenberg, and other enlightened promoters of the education of the poor;—and the result of their observations was a desire and hope to establish in this country a Normal School, for imparting to young men that due amount of knowledge, and training them in those habits of simplicity and earnestness, which might render them useful instructors to the poor. With this view they were led to select “a spacious manor-house close to the Thames at Battersea, chiefly on account of the very frank and cordial welcome with which the suggestion of their plan was received by the vicar, the Hon. and Rev. R. Eden.” That gentleman offered the use of his village schools in aid of the training school, as the sphere in which the Normal students might obtain practice and direction in the art of teaching. He also undertook to superintend the training school in all that related to religion.
Boys were at first obtained from the school of Industry at Norwood, and were intended to remain three years in training. With these were afterwards associated some young men whose period of residence was necessarily limited to one year. The Institution was first put in operation at the commencement of 1840; and it continued under the direction of Dr. Kay and Mr. Tufnell, supported by their private means, and conducted in its various departments of instruction and industrial labour by tutors and superintendents appointed by them, until the close of the year 1843; when the establishment was put on a foundation of permanency by the directors transferring it into the hands of the National Society. Several continental modes of instruction had been adopted by Dr. Kay and Mr. Tufnell, such as Mulhauser’s method of writing, Wilhem’s method of singing, Dupuis’ method of drawing, &c.; and the results of their benevolent experiment were so satisfactory, that a grant of 2,200l. for the extension and improvement of the premises was made to them by the Committee of Council on Education, which grant was transferred to the National Society, and forthwith expended in the requisite alterations. New dormitories, a dining hall, lavatories, &c., were then built; and in the early part of 1846, a large new class room was erected, and filled with every kind of apparatus for the use of the students. At this time, the Institution is supported by the National Society’s special fund for providing school-masters for the manufacturing and mining districts. Only young men are now received as students; and the usual term of training is generally one year and a half. The present number of scholars is eighty-three.10
[454] The Institution is now conducted by the Rev. Thos. Jackson, A.M., as principal; the Rev. John Hunter, vice-principal; Mr. Tate, mathematical master; Mr. Taylor, master of method and of the model school; Mr. Hullah, singing master; Mr. Martin, resident music master; Mr. Zurhurst, writing master; Messrs. Viner and Kenworthy, drawing masters; Mr. Bowley, industrial master; and Mr. Cousins, drill master. The Principal resides on the premises, which inclose about five acres of well-cultivated and highly adorned ground.
Battersea Bridge was erected in pursuance of an act of parliament of the 6th of Geo. III., chap. 66, obtained under the sanction of John, earl Spencer, lord of the manor, and proprietor of a ferry across the Thames. It was built in the years 1771 and 1772, by the late Mr. Holland, at the expense of fifteen proprietors, each of whom subscribed 1,500l. The roadway, which is slightly curved and guarded by iron railings, forms the communication between Battersea and the upper part of Chelsea. The present yearly income of this bridge is estimated at 5,000l.
At Battersea-Rise, forming the north-west extremity of Clapham common, many pleasant Villas, and superior houses, have been built; this being a most desirable situation, and respectable neighbourhood.
Battersea Park.—Since the year 1843 a design has been entertained of converting Battersea fields into a public Park; and a more eligible situation for the purpose is not to be found.11 The attention of “Her Majesty’s Commissioners for Improving the Metropolis” was first directed to the subject by Mr. Thomas Cubitt, the celebrated builder and engineer; and it was subsequently pressed upon their attention by the then vicar, now bishop of Sodar and Man. The Commissioners directed further inquiries to be made, and the whole of their 5th Report, which was laid before parliament and printed in 1846, is devoted to a consideration of the advantages and practicability of the scheme, accompanied by a large Plan of the proposed park, and other engravings respecting a communicating bridge with the opposite shore below Chelsea college.
Of the several plans submitted to them, the Commissioners best approved and recommended the one devised by their professional adviser, Mr. James Pennethorne, architect, which comprises an area of 320 acres, extending from the Thames to the Lower Wandsworth road in a north and south direction, and from St. George’s chapel to [455] nearly the Bridge road in the opposite direction. The expense of purchasing and laying out the ground, forming roads, planting, &c., is estimated at 154,250l.; and that of a new embankment of 3600 feet on the river side, at 25,000l.: the whole making an outlay of 179,250l. This plan includes the erection of twenty-six villas within the park, and 120 villas fronting the several roads; together with twenty-one terraces for about 480 houses on the outskirts east and west; the rental of all which is assumed to amount to the full sum of the required outlay. The building of a large public edifice, or institution, for museums and libraries, and also of a church on the Wandsworth road, is connected with this scheme. Twenty-six acres of the entire area are proposed to be appropriated to the various roads, 132 acres to building ground and gardens, and 162 acres (inclusive of 20 acres of water for bathing, skating, &c.), to the park itself, for the enjoyment and recreation of the public. A Suspension-bridge of iron, 750 feet in length and forty feet wide, is designed to unite the park with the northern embankment at Chelsea, at a cost of 60,000l.; the expected tolls of which are estimated at 6,000l. per annum.
Near the eastern verge of this parish, at Nine-Elms, is the present (July 1847) metropolitan terminus of the London and Southampton rail-road, which, in connexion with the opposite wharf and warehouses on the banks of the river, occupies an extent of between seven and eight acres. The entrance-front, erected from the designs of William Tite, esq., architect to the company, is not unhandsome, and has a central arcade leading to the pay-offices and waiting-rooms. The rail-road was commenced under the authority of an act of parliament, which received the royal assent on the 5th of July, 1834; and it was first opened as far as Woking common, on the 21st of May, 1838. By their act, the company were empowered to raise 1,000,000l. in 50l. shares, and a further sum of 330,000l. by loan. Since that time, several additional acts have been passed, authorizing the company to extend their line, and increase their capital in nearly a fourfold proportion to its original amount. The rail-road intersects this parish to the length of about two miles and a half.
St. Mary’s Church, Battersea.—At the east end of the south aisle is the monument of Sir John Fleet, knt., who was lord-mayor of London in 1693; and M.P. for that city during thirteen years. The inscription testifies that “He was a mercifull and just Magistrate, constant to the Church, loyall to his Prince, and true to his Country.” He died at the age of sixty-five, July 6th, 1712.
At Penge Common, a pleasant hamlet of Battersea, is an Asylum for decayed watermen and lightermen, which was erected in the summer of 1840. It is a neat and commodious edifice, including forty-one houses; and a spacious committee-room, in which divine service is performed every Wednesday.—At Penge, also, a small Episcopal Chapel has been recently built, of which the Rev. M. H. Vine, of Beckenham, is minister.—This is a much-increasing neighbourhood; and the Croydon and Brighton railroad company have a station here, adjoining the Anerley tavern and tea-gardens.
1 The hide and a half of land held by the Earl of Moreton was, probably, the same that is stated, in the account of the Earl’s manor of Streatham, to have been held by Harold. The land held by the Bishop of Lisieux no doubt was Peckham, mentioned among the estates of Bishop Odo, and expressly said to have been held by Harold in the reign of the Confessor, to which it is added that it lay in Battersea. The land in the tenure of the abbot of Chertsey may have been at Tooting, where Haimo the sheriff held 1 hide of the abbot which had been held of King Edward by Osward, who could remove whither he pleased.
2 The following document relative to this grant, or transfer, has been published in Dugdale’s Monasticon, from a manuscript in the Cottonian Library; viz. Cartularium Cenobii Westmonasteriensis: Faust. A. iii. fol. 112, b.
“Willem king gret Stigan Arcebiscop & Eustaties Eorll, & alle mine thegnes on Surrejie freondlice & icc kithe eow that icc habbe se unnen that land at Batericheseye & Piriford to Crist and Saint Petre into Westminstre, swa full & swa ford swa Harold is firmist hafte on allen thingen thas dage the he was cwicu & dead.”
3 Burnet, History of his own Times; fol.; 1724; vol. i. p. 600.
4 Patent Rolls, 14 Edw. IV. n. 2.
5 In Strype’s Life of Cranmer, p. 308, it is stated that the officers who were employed to apprehend the archbishop, rifled his house at Battersea, and took away from thence 300l. of gold coin; 1600 ounces of plate; a mitre of fine gold, with two pendents set round about the sides and middle with very fine pointed diamonds, sapphires, and balists, and all the plain with other good stones and pearls, and the pendents in like manner, weighing 125 ounces; some very valuable rings; a serpent’s tongue, set in a standard of silver gilt, and graven; the archbishop’s seal in silver; and his signet, an antique in gold.
6 Manning and Bray, Surrey, vol. iii. pp. 334, 335.
7 The Rev. Mr. Gardnor was a somewhat clever artist, and a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy.
8 These emblazonments are fully described in Manning and Bray’s Surrey, vol. iii. pp. 335, 336.
9 It was to this nobleman that Pope addressed his Essay on Man, which was written under his advice and recommendation, and partly composed in a “cedar parlour” of Bolingbroke house, fronting the Thames, which is reported to have been the poet’s favourite study.
10 For the above account of the Battersea Training school we are chiefly indebted to the Rev. Thos. Jackson, principal.—Further interesting particulars of the preliminary inquiries made by Dr. Kay and Mr. Tufnell; and of the course of instruction pursued in the school, may be found in the two Reports made by those gentlemen, and published in the “Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education, 1842-43,” 8vo., pp. 189—282; 1844. In the same volume is a valuable Report of the Battersea Training and Village Schools, made by the Rev. John Allen, A.M., Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools, in August, 1843; accompanied by three Plans of the building and arrangements of the Training School, which is situated at a short distance from the old church.
11 Battersea fields were entirely overflowed by the river at high water until about three hundred years ago, when an embankment was raised, and the land thus reclaimed went to the lord of the manor, but was subject to some ill-defined rights of inter-commonage exercised by the inhabitants of Battersea at stated periods of the year. From various causes, those rights have been nearly extinguished, and most of the land is now held as freehold by different proprietors, and partly let for building and other uses. In the lower portion of the fields, near Nine-Elms, is an enclosure called Lechmore, in the occupation of the poor, on the allotment system.
Transcribed by Philip Boys, with Claude, October 2026. Build 1.