53-628: Clapham Park is an area in the Borough of Lambeth in London , to the south of central Clapham and west of Brixton . The original Clapham Park Estate was a speculative development by Thomas Cubitt , who bought 229 acres (0.93 km) of Bleak Hall Farm in 1825, and marked out plots for building around the new, broad, tree-lined streets of King's Road, Clarence Road, Queen's Road and Atkins Road. (The first three have now been renamed Kings Avenue, Clarence Avenue and Poynders Road respectively). The estate
106-471: A Victorian bandstand. It is overlooked by large Georgian and Victorian mansions and nearby Clapham Old Town. Holy Trinity Clapham , an 18th-century Georgian church overlooking the park, is important in the history of the evangelical Clapham Sect . Half of the park is within the London Borough of Wandsworth , and the other half is within the London Borough of Lambeth . Originally common land for
159-526: A full restoration of the bandstand and surrounding landscape took place, partly funded by an £895,000 lottery grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund matched by £300,000 from Lambeth Council and a further £100,000 from local fundraising efforts and the proceeds of the Ben and Jerry's Summer Sundae event held on the common. The drainage bund around the bandstand was restored with granite setts during
212-527: A housing association that was formed to take over the ownership and management of houses on the Clapham Park estate following the stock transfer of the estate from the council to Metropolitan Housing in 2006. Since May 2006, Metropolitan Clapham Park has provided a housing management and maintenance service to Clapham Park tenants who are renting their homes. Clapham Park also offers services to leaseholders, shared ownership schemes, and private residents of
265-401: A public open space with the name 'Agnes Riley Memorial Gardens'. Riley gifted two acres in 1937 and work began immediately to develop these, but World War II intervened and the two acres were used for allotments and occupied by the military. Riley himself remained at Oakfield until his death in 1942. However, in 1952, and against his wishes, Lambeth Council decided to drop the word ‘memorial’ from
318-477: A reputation as a place for men seeking anonymous sex with other men in public places. When Welsh politician Ron Davies was robbed at knifepoint in 1998 after he gave a lift to strangers he had met in the park, there was speculation that the incident involved "cruising"; Davies resigned his position in the UK government, denying the incident had anything to do with drugs or sex. There have been several attacks on men in
371-558: A skateboard venue. In 2021, Foot Locker , in partnership with the NBA , completed the refurbishment of the Clapham Common Basketball Court. The park contains three ponds, two of which are historical features, and a more modern paddling pool known as Cock Pond. Eagle Pond and Mount Pond are used for angling and contain a variety of species including carp to 20 lb, roach , tench and bream . Eagle Pond
424-538: Is " Spectemur agendo " ("Let us be judged according to our conduct"). Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham , south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878 . It is 220 acres (89 hectares) of green space, with three ponds and
477-598: Is a London borough in South London , England , which forms part of Inner London . Its name was recorded in 1062 as Lambehitha ("landing place for lambs") and in 1255 as Lambeth . The geographical centre of London is at Frazier Street near Lambeth North tube station , though nearby Charing Cross on the other side of the Thames in the City of Westminster is traditionally considered the centre of London. The area of
530-611: Is the local authority with the highest relative gay or lesbian population in the UK, at 5.5%, with the borough containing the gay village of Vauxhall and the area around Clapham Common. The borough covers London Waterloo railway station , the Waterloo tube station network and (until 2007) the London terminus for Eurostar . National Rail service in Lambeth is provided by South Western Railway , Southeastern , Southern , Thameslink and London Overground . In March 2011,
583-661: The Calling Festival , which had previously been held in Hyde Park under the name Hard Rock Calling Festival, moved to Clapham Common; artists included Aerosmith and Stevie Wonder . Sporting events held in Clapham Common and sports teams based in the park include the Latin American football League, which has played organised football on the red car pitches located on the south side of the park since
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#1732775396157636-596: The Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers and slavery abolitionists , including William Wilberforce , Lord Teignmouth and Henry Thornton . In the early 1770s, during his stay in London representing America in affairs of the state, Benjamin Franklin had written a paper explaining how he used the ponds for science experiments, and in developing a "magic" trick. While traveling on a ship, Franklin had observed that
689-582: The London Borough of Lambeth . It is wholly managed and maintained by Lambeth Council . Policing of the open space is divided between the Wandsworth and Lambeth borough "commands" of the Metropolitan Police , which follow the local government boundaries. The roads surrounding the common fall within the SW4, SW11 and SW12 postcodes. Electoral wards for Lambeth are within the eastern half of
742-688: The London Government Act 1963 . It was a merger of the old borough of Lambeth and the Clapham and Streatham areas from the old Wandsworth borough. When the government was drafting the boundaries for the London boroughs in the early 1960s, it initially suggested that the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark be merged into a new borough; the southern and eastern sections of
795-427: The Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth (including Clapham , Streatham and Tooting ) would form another. South Shields town clerk R.S. Young was commissioned to make final recommendations to the government on the shape of the future London boroughs, and he noted that the Wandsworth council opposed the partition of its borough. However, Wandsworth's suggestion to merge Lambeth with the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea
848-700: The Metropolitan Police District in 1829. From 1856 the area of the modern borough was governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works , which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London . From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards ;
901-741: The Southbank Centre and National Theatre . Also on the river is the London Eye and Shell Centre . Nearby is St Thomas' Hospital , Lambeth Palace and the Florence Nightingale Museum . Nearby is Brixton , home of Lambeth Town Hall and the Brixton Murals . Landmark church buildings include: The Oval cricket ground in Kennington is the home of Surrey County Cricket. The Basaveshwara statue at
954-515: The Vincennes district of Paris in France since 1955. Lambeth is also twinned with Bluefields , Nicaragua ; Brooklyn , New York; and Spanish Town , Jamaica. The borough's coat of arms is that of the former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth , with two gold stars (mullets) in the second and third quarters of the shield indicating the addition of the districts of Clapham and Streatham . Its motto
1007-591: The 1980s; the British Australian Rules Football League Grand Final, for which the park is the traditional venue; South West London Chargers rugby club formed in 2013 have their home in the park; Sunday league football is regularly played with London Titans and Clapham Alexandra football clubs using the park; various teams from other sports are also active on the park, including softball and korfball. A Lesbian & Gay Pride event, to be termed Pride House,
1060-884: The Albert Embankment erected by the former Mayor of Lambeth Neeraj Patil was unveiled by the Prime Minister of India on 14 November 2015. The local authority is Lambeth Council, which meets at Lambeth Town Hall in the Brixton area of the borough and has its main offices at the nearby Civic Centre. Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly , the borough forms part of the Lambeth and Southwark constituency. The borough has three Parliamentary constituencies: Dulwich and West Norwood (shared with Southwark ), Streatham , and Vauxhall . Lambeth
1113-570: The Clapham Park Project worked with residents and partners to develop a Masterplan to regenerate the Clapham Park area up to. In March 2005, residents voted yes to a stock transfer from Lambeth Council to Clapham Park Homes, which was specifically set up to take over the ownership and management of homes on Clapham Park. The regeneration programme has been funded in part by the Housing Corporation's Social Housing grant;
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#17327753961571166-566: The Clapham Park West Estate. Some of the undeveloped plots on the southern part of the estate were developed with medium-density terraced and semi-detached houses, but the majority of the grounds associated with Oakfield House were transformed into the Poynders Garden Estate and an open green space now called Agnes Riley Gardens. Metropolitan Clapham Park is an estate, run in partnership with Metropolitan,
1219-512: The Clapham Park area was selected by a borough-wide strategic partnership to be Lambeth's New Deal for Communities (NDC) neighbourhood. A successful bid led to the award of £56 million over a 10-year period, starting in April 2000. Clapham Park Project, a community led project team, was formed to take charge of the NDC programme and transform the lives and prospects of this deprived community. From 2001,
1272-436: The NDC grant through Clapham Park Project; and through private loans, a large proportion of which will be paid back through the outright sale of homes, mixed tenures and the balance from rental income. The programme has so far provided (or is on site to provide) a total of 489 new build properties and 512 refurbished properties. From the 1880s the area to the west of Cubitt's land holdings between Clapham Common Southside and
1325-470: The United Kingdom at 78.62%, second to overseas territory Gibraltar 's 95.9%. Lambeth is a long, thin borough, about three miles (five kilometres) wide and seven miles (eleven kilometres) long. Brixton is its civic centre, and there are other town centres. The largest shopping areas are (in order of size) Streatham , Brixton , Vauxhall , Clapham and West Norwood . In the northern part of
1378-567: The borough are the central London districts of the South Bank , Vauxhall and Lambeth ; in the south are the suburbs of Gipsy Hill , Streatham , West Dulwich and West Norwood . In between are the developed and inner-city districts of Brixton , Brixton Hill , Streatham Hill , Clapham , Clapham Park , Herne Hill , Stockwell , Tulse Hill and Kennington , each at different stages of gentrification with suburban and urban elements. Vauxhall and South Lambeth are central districts in
1431-432: The common had been drained, it still remained "quite a wild place". The common was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act in 1878. As London expanded in the 19th century, Clapham was absorbed into the capital, with most of the remaining palatial or agricultural estates replaced with terraced housing by the early 1900s. In 1911, Scottish evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers founded and
1484-650: The common; mainly in the Clapham Common and Abbeville ward with smaller parts divided between the Clapham Town ward and Clapham East ward. In Wandsworth, most of the western half of the common is in the Northcote ward and a small part of the south-western corner is in the Balham ward. Clapham Common has a range of sporting facilities, including tennis and netball courts, a running track, bowling green, cricket, football, rugby and Australian rules football pitches, and
1537-547: The community garden had fallen into a state of disrepair. So, in March 2009, Vernon De Maynard discussed the issue with CPWRA and Poynders Garden TRA, and applied to the London Community Foundation for a grant to restore the community garden. In June 2009, a grant was awarded, and this was used to restore the garden. London Borough of Lambeth Lambeth ( / ˈ l æ m b ə θ / )
1590-659: The edge of the common at its easternmost and southernmost points respectively. Both stations are served by the Northern line . In the centre of the park is a bandstand constructed in 1890. It is the largest bandstand in London and a Grade II listed building . For many years it was also erroneously thought to be one of the bandstands first erected in 1861 in the Royal Horticultural Society 's gardens in South Kensington , which would have made it
1643-417: The estate. Formerly known as Clapham Park Homes, the housing association was renamed Metropolitan Clapham Park in April 2012. Metropolitan Clapham Park is a limited company and is managed by a board that is responsible for the organisation. The board is made up of residents, local authority, local councillors, nominees and independent members. All board members serve in a voluntary capacity. In February 1999,
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1696-400: The independent local shops that gave the area a distinct character until the 1990s have made way for restaurants, cafes and bars, as the street has become the centre of local night life for the professional middle classes, and shop rentals have increased considerably. Frederick George Riley gifted Oakfield House and its grounds to London County Council, on the proviso that it made the site into
1749-514: The modern borough had historically been part of the county of Surrey , and generally corresponds to the three ancient parishes of Lambeth , Clapham and Streatham . The parish of Lambeth included the archiepiscopal Lambeth Palace , and formed part of the Hundred of Brixton . It was an elongated north–south parish with two miles (three kilometres) of River Thames frontage opposite the cities of London and Westminster . Lambeth became part of
1802-470: The name of the small park, which was completed in 1954. The southern part of the park is devoted to a children's playground, paddling pool, and hard games area; the rest is laid out with trees, shrubs, lawns, and an ornamental pond. A park lodge was built but this fell into disrepair and was demolished in 2002. Since 2005, the Friends of Agnes Riley Gardens (FoARGS) had worked with Lambeth Council to convert
1855-530: The oldest surviving cast iron bandstand in Europe. However, further research has shown that these bandstands went to Southwark Park and Peckham Rye , and it appears that the Clapham bandstand was fabricated to a very similar design almost thirty years later. The bandstand's maintenance had been neglected by Lambeth Council for thirty years, and by 2001 it was thought to be in danger of collapse and had to be shored up with scaffolding for five years. In 2005–2006,
1908-472: The parish of Lambeth was governed by its vestry , whilst Clapham and Streatham were both included in the Wandsworth District . In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs . The parish of Lambeth became the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth , and the old Wandsworth District became the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth . The modern London borough was created in 1965 under
1961-466: The parishes of Battersea and Clapham, William Hewer was among the early Londoners to build adjacent to it. Samuel Pepys , the diarist, died at Hewer's house in 1703. The land had been used for cricket in 1700 and was drained in the 1760s, and from the 1790s onwards fine houses were built around the common as fashionable dwellings for wealthy business people in what was then a village detached from metropolitan London. Some later residents were members of
2014-490: The pond and community garden had been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. He was told that funding issues and other priorities had resulted in these local amenities not being maintained to a satisfactory standard and that he should contact the FoARGS to find out what was happening with the community garden. It transpired that the FoARGS had been working on it since 2005, but due to financial constraints, and other priorities,
2067-521: The primary forms of transport borough residents used to travel to work were the London Underground, metro, light rail or tram (21.4 percent of residents aged 16–74); bus, minibus or coach (10 percent); train (10 percent); automobile (8.6 percent); bicycle (5.7 percent), or walking (5.4 percent). A small percentage (3.2 percent) worked mainly at—or from—home. The former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and its successor have been twinned with
2120-489: The process of redevelopment with high-density business and residential property. Streatham lies between suburban London and inner-city Brixton , with the suburban and developed areas of Streatham , Streatham Hill and Streatham Vale . The London Borough of Southwark lies to the east of the Borough of Lambeth. To the west is the London Borough of Wandsworth ; to the south-west is the London Borough of Merton ; and to
2173-549: The scheme the Clapham Park Estate became the largest single council estate within the London Borough of Lambeth. London Borough of Lambeth Council also built tower blocks west of Clarence Avenue, including three tower blocks (Barnsbury, Belgravia and Bloomsbury houses) commemorating Cubitt's more successful developments. An air raid shelter is still situated within the former grounds of Clarence House, now
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2226-401: The site of Lincoln House was also developed. This area borrowed the name of Clapham Park, presumably because of its original social cachet, and its streets have predominantly remained in owner occupation. The grid of late Victorian era streets around Abbeville Road is frequently referred to by estate agents, such as Orlando Reid, Jacksons estate agents, as "Abbeville Village", although many of
2279-426: The site of the lodge into a community garden. Although the pond is much reduced in size compared to 1938, it and the community garden together form a much-loved local amenity, and residents in the neighbourhood wanted to see it restored to its original state for the benefit of the public. In December 2008, Vernon De Maynard, (Chair – Clapham Park West Residents Association (CPWRA)) contacted Lambeth Parks to find out why
2332-522: The south is the London Borough of Croydon and the London Borough of Bromley . Lambeth's open spaces include Brockwell Park and Lido , Streatham Common , half of Clapham Common , West Norwood Cemetery , Archbishop's Park , Norbury Park , Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and Ruskin Larkhall and Kennington Parks . Along and around the South Bank , a tourist area has developed around the former Greater London Council headquarters of County Hall and
2385-563: The summer of 2011 at a cost of £12,000 to resolve design faults in the earlier works. The park has hosted various musical festivals, including Colourscape Music Festival since 1989,; Get Loaded in the Park , from 2004 to 2011 when Razorlight were the headline act; South West Four Eurodance music festival annually in August since 2004; and other music events, such as Subway Picnic Rocks in 2008, organised by Action Against Hunger In 2014
2438-523: The wake of a ship was diminished when the cooks scuttled their greasy water. He studied the effects at Clapham Common on a large pond there. "I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropt a little of it on the water ... though not more than a teaspoon full, produced an instant calm over a space of several yards square." He later used the trick to "calm the waters" by carrying "a little oil in the hollow joint of my cane." J. M. W. Turner painted "View on Clapham Common" between 1800 and 1805, showing that even though
2491-419: Was extensively refurbished in 2005 when it was completely drained, landscaped and replanted to provide a better habitat for the fish it contained. Long Pond has a century-old tradition of use for model boating. Holy Trinity Church (1776) is close to the north side of the park. An Anglican church, it hosts its fete in the park every summer. Clapham Common and Clapham South Underground stations are on
2544-706: Was heavily damaged during the Blitz . The area immediately to the east of the Estate had been developed by the London County Council (LCC) in the 1920s as council housing , mostly in characteristic blocks of neo-Georgian brick flats. After 1945, most of the Cubitt houses were demolished and the northern part of the original area was redeveloped by the LCC in a very different Modern Movement style. On completion of
2597-530: Was laid out on the site. British statesman Arthur Henderson once lived at number 13 and there is a Blue Plaque on the house indicating this. With the adoption of Poynders Road as the arterial "South Circular" road, this area is now severed from the area further south by traffic, and the streets south of Poynders Road are not generally referred to as being part of Clapham Park. Following World War II , Oaklands House, Oakfield House, Clarence House, and their associated grounds underwent much development as this area
2650-418: Was planned to consist of large detached houses in Cubitt's characteristic Italianate villa style, with each house set in extensive grounds. However, Cubitt's ambitions were never fulfilled, and some plots remained undeveloped at the outbreak of World War I . Cubitt's own residence, Lincoln House, was demolished in 1905, and Rodenhurst Road, a street of large, double-fronted, semi-detached Edwardian houses,
2703-399: Was planned to take place on the park during the 2012 Summer Olympics, but ran into opposition from the Friends of Clapham Common and was eventually cancelled for lack of funding. Every Easter and February half-term George Irvin's Funfair visits the park. On 13 March 2021, a vigil was held on the common following the death of Sarah Everard , who was kidnapped nearby. Clapham Common has
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#17327753961572756-649: Was principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham Common, an "embarrassingly elegant" property situated at 45 North Side that had been purchased by the Pentecostal League of Prayer. During World War II , a heavy anti-aircraft artillery site had been set up on the common. Storage bunkers were built on the Battersea Rise side; two mounds remain. Half of the common is within the London Borough of Wandsworth and half within
2809-409: Was rejected by both councils involved. Young believed that residents of Clapham and Streatham would be more familiar with Brixton than with Wandsworth, and recommended a new borough formed from the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and six wards and portions of two others from the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth. In the 2016 European Union referendum , Lambeth had the highest share of Remain votes in
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