All About Battersea,
BY
HENRY S. SIMMONDS.
[Illustration: S. MARY'S, built according to Act of Parliament, 14.
Geo. III. Opened Nov. 17, 1777. About 1823 an Entrance Portico of the
Doric Order was added.]
London:
ASHFIELD, PRINTER, BRIDGE ROAD WEST, BATTERSEA.
1882.
This small volume
IS MOST
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED (BY PERMISSION)
TO
THE REV. JOHN ERSKINE CLARKE, M.A.,
_Honorary Canon of Winchester, Vicar of Battersea;_
AND TO THE
INHABITANTS IN GENERAL.
INDEX.
PAGE.
INTRODUCTION.
Nine Elms Lane.--The King's Champion. 3
Thorne's Brewery.--What Battersea has been called. 4
London and South Western Railway Company's Goods
Station and Locomotive Works. 4-7
Mill-Pond Bridge.--New Road. 8
A Royal Sturgeon caught in the wheel of the Mill
at Mill-Pond Bridge. 9
Wallace's Vitriol Works. 10
Sleaford Street.--Coal. 11
Street Lighting. 12-13
London Gas-Light Company's Works and Vauxhall
Gardens. 14-23
On a recently-exposed Section at Battersea. 23-24
Phillips' Fire Annihilating Machine Factory
Destroyed.--Brayne's Pottery.--The Old Lime
Kilns.--Laver's Cement & Whiting Works. 25
The Southwark and Vauxhall Water Works. 26
Water Carriers and Water Companies. 27-29
The Village of Battersea.--Growth of the Parish. 30-31
Boundaries.--A Legal Contest between Battersea
and Clapham Parishes.--Clapham Common. 32-33
Lavender Hill.--The Seat of William Wilberforce.--Eminent
Supporters of the Anti-Slavery Movement.--Frances
Elizabeth Leveson Gower.--Mr. Thornton.--Philip
Cazenove.--Charles Curling, Lady George Pollock,
and others. 34-36
Battersea Market Gardens and Gardeners. 36-37
Stages set out for Battersea from the City.--Annual
Fair.--Inhabitants supplied with Water from
Springs.--The Manor of Battersea before the Conquest. 38
Battersea and its association with the St. Johns. 39
Henry St. John Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. 40-42
A Horizontal Air Mill. 43
St. Mary's Church. 44-46
The Indenture. 47-48
Epitaphs and Sepulchral Monuments. 49-51
Rectory and Vicarage. 52
A Petition or Curious Document. 53
Dr. Thomas Temple.--Dr. Thomas Church. 54
Cases of Longevity.--The Plague.--The Three Plague
Years.--Deaths in Battersea. 55-56
Vicars of Battersea from Olden Times. 56-57
Thomas Lord Stanley.--Lawrence Booth. 57
York House. 58
Battersea Enamel Works.--Porcelain.--Jens Wolfe,
Esq.--Sherwood Lodge.--Price's Patent Candle Factory. 59-62
Candlemas. 63-64
The Saw.--Mark Isambard Brunel's Premises at
Battersea.--Establishment for the preservation of
timber from the dry rot burnt down. 65
History of the Ferry.--The Old Wooden Bridge. 66-67
Albert Suspension Bridge. 68-69
Chelsea Suspension Bridge. 70
The Prince of Wales.--Freeing the Bridges "For Ever." 71-73
The Stupendous Railway Bridge across the Thames. 74
The spot where Cæsar and his legions are stated
by some antiquarians to have crossed the river. 75
A haunted house.--Battersea Fields.--Duel between
the Duke of Wellington and Lord Winchelsea. 76
The Red House. 77
"Gyp" the Raven.--Billy the Nutman.--Sports. 78
"The Old House at Home."--Sabbath Desecration. 79
Her Majesty's Commissioners empowered by Act of Parliament
to form a Royal Park in Battersea Fields.--Wild
Flowers.--Battersea Park. 80-84
London, Brighton and South-Coast Railway Company's two
Circular Engine Sheds and West-End Goods Traffic Department. 85-86
Long-Hedge Farm.--London, Chatham and Dover Railway
Locomotive Works. 87-90
A Canvas Cathedral. 91
H.P. Horse Nail Company's Factory 94
St. George's Church, its clergy, its graveyard, epitaphs
and inscriptions (St. Andrew's Temporary Iron Church 96). 95-99
Christ Church, its clergy. 100
St. John's Church. 101
St. Paul's Church. 102
St. Philip's Church. 103
St. Mark's Church. 104
St. Luke's Chapel-of-Ease. 105
St. Saviour's Church. 106
St. Peter's Church. 107
Temporary Church of the Ascension.--St. Michael's Church. 108
All Saints' Temporary Iron Church.--Rochester Diocesan
Mission, St. James', Nine Elms. 111
St. Aldwin's Mission Chapel.--The Church of our Lady
of Mount Carmel and St. Joseph. 112
Church of the Sacred Heart.--The Old Baptist Meeting
House, Revs. Mr. Browne, Joseph Hughes, M.A., (John
Foster), Edmund Clark, Enoch Crook, I. M. Soule,
Charles Kirtland. 113-116
Baptist Temporary Chapel, Surrey Lane. 116
Battersea Park Temporary Baptist Chapel. 117
Baptist (Providence) Chapel. 118
Baptist Chapel, Chatham Road.--Wesleyan Methodist
Mission Room and Sunday School.--United Methodist Free
Church, Church Road, Battersea.--The United Methodist
Free Church, Battersea Park Road. 119
Primitive Methodist Chapel, New Road. 119
Primitive Methodist Chapel, Grayshott Road.--Primitive
Methodist Chapel, Plough Lane. 121
St. George's Mission Hall.--Battersea Congregational
Church, (Independent), Bridge Road. 122
Stormont Road Congregational Church, Lavender Hill. 123
Wesleyan Methodism in Battersea. 124-126
Methodist Chronology. 127
Wesleyan Chapel, Queen's Road. 128
Free Christian Church, Queen's Road. 129
Trinity Mission Hall, Stewart's Lane.--Plymouth Brethren. 130
"The Little Tabernacle."--Thomas Blood. 131
Battersea Priory.--Alien Priories. 132
Ursulines. 132-134
Battersea Grammar School, St. John's Hill. 134
The Southlands Practising Model Schools.--St. Peter's
Schools.--St. Saviour's Infant. 136
Christ Church National Schools.--St. George's National
Schools.--Voluntary Schools. 136
London Board Schools. 137
London School Board, Lambeth Division. 138
The Elementary Education Acts.--Regulations affecting
Parent and Child. 139-140
A Coffee Palace.--Latchmere Grove.--Plague Spots.--The
Shaftesbury Park Estate. 141-142
The Metropolitan Artizans' and Labourers' Dwellings
Association. 143-144
Latchmere Allotments.--Dove Dale Place.--An Old
Boiler.--Lammas Hall.--The Union Workhouse. 145
Old Battersea Workhouse.--The "Cage."--The "Stocks." 146
The Falcon Tavern.--A Cantata. 147
Origin of Bottled Ale in England.--"Ye Plough Inn."--"The
Old House."--Stump of an Old Oak Tree. 148
"Lawn House," Lombard Road.--The Prizes for the Kean's
Sovereigns and the Funny Boat Race.--The Old Swan
Tavern.--Royal Victoria Patriotic Schools. 149
St. James' Industrial Schools.--Royal Masonic Institution
for Girls. 150
Clapham Junction.--Battersea Provident Dispensary. 151
Wandsworth Common Provident Dispensary.--Charity
Organization Society.--The Penny Bank.--No. 54
Metropolitan Fire Brigade Station.--Origin of
Fire Brigades. 152
The Metropolitan Police.--Police Stations, Battersea.--St.
John's College of the National Society. 153
The Vicarage House School.--Various Wharves and Factories. 154
Mr. George Chadwin.--T. Gaines.--Tow's Private Mad
House.--The Patent Plumbago Crucible Company's Works. 155
Silicated Carbon Filter Company's Works. 156
Condy's Manufactory.--Citizen Steamboat Company's Works. 157
Orlando Jones & Co.'s Starch Works. 157-159
Battersea Laundries.--Spiers and Pond's.--Propert's
Factory.--The London and Provincial Steam Laundry. 159-160
St. Mary's (Battersea) Cemetery.--Numerous Epitaphs
and Inscriptions. Scale of Fees, etc. 161-175
The Battersea Charities. 175
Parish Officers.--Vestrymen. 176-178
Battersea Tradesmen's Club.--Temporary Home for
Lost and Starving Dogs. 179-180
London, Chatham and Dover Railway--Battersea Park
Station--York Road Station (Brighton Line).--West
London Commercial Bank. London and South Western
Bank.--Temperance and Band of Hope Meetings.--South
London Tramways in Battersea--Fares. 180-181
[Transcriber's Note.--A list of illustrations has been added in
below. Some obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have also
been silently corrected.]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
St. Mary's Church. 44
Price's Patent Candle Company. 59
St George's Church. 95
St. John's Church. 101
St. Mark's Church. 104
St. Luke's Chapel-of-Ease. 105
St. Saviour's Church. 106
Baptist Temporary Chapel, Surrey Lane. 116
Battersea Park Temporary Baptist Chapel. 117
The New Baptist Chapel. 119
Battersea Congregational Church. 122
Orlando Jones & Co.'s Starch Works. 157
Introduction.
London, after the lapse of centuries, has been compared to an old
ship that has been repaired and rebuilt till not one of its original
timbers can be found; so marvellous are the changes and transmutations
which have come over the "_town upon the lake_" or, _harbour for
ships_ as London was anciently called, that if a Celt, or a Roman, or
a Saxon, or a Dane, or a Norman, or a Citizen of Queen Elizabeth's
time were to awake from his long slumber of death, he would no more
know where he was, and would be as strangely puzzled as an Englishman
of the present generation would be, who had never stirred further than
the radius of the Metropolis, supposing him to be conveyed by some
supernatural agency one night to China, who, on rising the next morning
finds himself surrounded by the street-scenery of the city of Pekin.
Costumes, manners, language, inhabitants have all changed! Viewed from
a geological stand-point, even the soil on which New London stands
is not the same as that on which Old London stood. The level of the
site of the ancient city was much lower than at present, for there are
found indications of Roman highways, and floors of houses, twenty feet
below the existing pathways. There are probable grounds for supposing
the Surrey side to have been some nineteen hundred years ago a great
expanse of water. London so called for several ages past, is a manifest
corruption from Tacitus's _Londinium_ which was not however its
primitive name this famous place existed before the arrival of Cæsar in
the Island, and was the capital of the _Trinobantes_ or _Trinouantes_,
and the seat of their kings. The name of the nation as appears from
Baxter's British Glossary, was derived from the three following British
words, tri, nou, bant, which signify the 'inhabitants of the new
city.' This name it is supposed might have been given them by their
neighbours on account of their having newly come from the Continent
(Belgium) into Britain and having there founded a city called _tri-now_
or the (new city) the most ancient name of the renowned metropolis of
Britain.[1] Some have asserted that a city existed on the spot 1107
years before the birth of Christ, and 354 years before the foundation
of Rome. The fables of Geoffrey of Monmouth state that London was
founded by Brute (or Brutus) a descendant of the Trojan Æneas the son
of Venus and called New Troy, or _Troy Novant_ until the time of Lud,
who surrounded it with walls, and gave it the name Caer Lud, or Lud's
town etc. _Leigh._ A certain Lord Mayor when pleading before Henry VI.
assumed from this mythological story with a view to establish a claim
to London's priority of existence over the city of Rome. The Celts the
ancestors of the Britons and modern Welsh were the first inhabitants
of Britain. The earliest records of the history of this island are the
manuscripts and the poetry of the Cambrians. Britain was called by the
Romans _Britannia_ from its Celtic name Prydhain. _Camden._ We need
not tarry to discuss whether Londinium originally was in _Cantium_
or Kent the place fixed by Ptolemy and some other ancient writers
of good authority, or whether its original place were Middlesex, or
whether situated both north and south of the _Tamesis_ Thames. The
_Trinobantes_ occupied Middlesex and Essex, they joined in opposing
the invasion of Julius Cæsar 54 B.C.; but were among the first of the
British States who submitted to the Romans their new City at that time
being too inconsiderable a place for Cæsar to mention. Having revolted
from the Roman yoke they joined their beautiful Queen Boadicea and were
defeated by Suetonius Paulinus near London A.D. 61. But before reducing
the Trinobantes who had the Thames for their southern boundary, it is
the opinion of some antiquarians that the Romans probably had a station
to secure their conquests on the Surrey side, and the spot fixed upon
for the station is St. George's in the Fields a large plot of ground
situated between Lambeth and Southwark, where many Roman coins, bricks,
chequered pavements and other fragments of antiquity have been found.
Three Roman ways from Kent, Surrey and Middlesex intersected each
other in this place. It is thought that after the Normans reduced the
Trinobantes the place became neglected and that they afterwards settled
on the other side of the Thames and the name was transferred to the
New City. The author of a work entitled "London in Ancient and Modern
times." p.p. 12 and 13 writes.--Let the reader picture to himself the
aspect of the place now occupied by the great Metropolis, as the Romans
saw it on their first visit. He should imagine the Counties of Kent and
Essex, now divided by the Thames, partially overflowed in the vicinity
of the river by an arm of the sea, so that a broad estuary comes up
as far as Greenwich, and the waters spread on both sides washing the
foot of the Kentish uplands to the south, and finding a boundary to the
north in the gently rising ground of Essex. The mouth of the river,
properly speaking was situated three or four miles from where London
Bridge now stands. Instead of being confined between banks as at
present, the river overflowed extensive marshes, which lay both right
and left beyond London. Sailing up the broad stream, the voyager would
find the waters spreading far on either side of him, as he reached the
spots now known as Chelsea and Battersea--a fact of which the record
is preserved in their very names. A tract of land rises on the north
side of the river. It is bounded to the west by a range of country,
subject to inundations, consisting of beds of rushes and osiers and
boggy grounds and impenetrable thickets, intersected by streams. It is
bounded to the north by a large dense forest, rising on the edge of a
waste fen or lake, covering the whole district now called Finsbury and
stretching away for miles beyond. This tract of land, rising in a broad
knoll, formed the site of London.
An old writer says "it is now certain that the spot, (viz. St. George's
in the Fields) on which the city was described to have stood, was an
extensive marsh or lake, reaching as far as Camberwell hills, until by
drains and embankments, the Romans recovered all the lowlands about the
parts now called St. George's Fields, Lambeth etc. London never stood
on any other spot than the Peninsular, on the northern banks, formed by
the Thames in front; by the river Fleet on the west; and by the stream
afterwards named Walbrook on the East. An immense forest originally
extended to the river side, and, even as late as the reign of Henry
II. covered the northern neighbourhood of the city, and was filled
with various species of beasts of chase. It was defended naturally by
fosses, one formed by the creek which ran along the Fleet ditch, the
other by that of Walbrook. The south side was protected by the river
Thames, and the north by the adjacent forest."
In the reign of Nero the first notice of Londinium or, Londinum occurs
in Tacitus (Ann xiv. 33.) where it is spoken of, not then as honoured
with the name _Colonia_ but for the great conflux of Merchants, its
extensive commerce, and as a depôt for merchandise. At a later date
London appears to have been _Colonia_ under the name Augusta (Amm.
Marcell.; xxvii. 8.) how long it possessed this honourable appellation
we do not know but after the establishment of the Saxons we find no
mention of Augusta. It has received at various times thirteen different
names, but most of them having some similarity to the present one.
However as it is not a history of England's Metropolis but _All about
Battersea_[2] we write, we will at once commence at Nine Elms.
[Footnote 1: The inhabitants of ancient Britain derived their origin
partly from an original colony of Celtæ, partly from a mixed body
of Gauls and Germans. None of them cultivated the ground; they all
lived by raising cattle and hunting. Their dress consisted of skins,
their habitations were huts of wicker-work covered with rushes. Their
Priests the Druids together with the sacred women, exercised a kind of
authority over them.
Britain according to Aristotle, was the name which the Romans gave to
Modern England and Scotland. This appellation is, perhaps derived from
the old word _brit_, partly coloured, it having been customary with the
inhabitants to paint their bodies.
According to the testimony of Pliny and Aristotle, the Island in
remotest times bore the name of Albion.
The Sea by which Britain is surrounded, was generally called, the
_Western_, the _Atlantic_, or _Hesperian_ Ocean. Herodotus informs us
that the Phœnicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians, especially the first
were acquainted with it from the earliest period and obtained tin there
and designated it _Tin Island_. The name Great Britain was applied to
England and Scotland after James I. ascended the English throne in
1603. England and Scotland however had separate Parliaments till 1st of
May 1707, when during the reign of Queen Anne the Island was designated
by the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The terms at first
excited the utmost dissatisfaction; but the progress of time has
shown it to be the greatest blessing that either nation could have
experienced.]
[Footnote 2: The Manor is thus described in Doomsday-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 villians, and sixteen bordars with
fourteen carucates, there are eight bond men: and seven mills at £42
9_s._ 8_d._ and a corn rent of the same amount, and eighty-two acres
of meadow and a wood yielding fifty swine for pannage. There is in
Southwark one bordar belonging to the Manor paying twelve pence. From
the roll of Wendelesorde (Wandsworth) is received the sum of £6. A
villian having ten swine pays to the Lord one; but if he has a smaller
number, nothing. One knight holds four 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 £80, afterwards at £30; and now at
£75 9_s._ 8_d._
"King William gave the Manor to St. Peter in exchange for Windsor.
The Earl of Moreton holds one and a half hides of land, which in King
Edward's time and afterwards belonged to this Manor. Gilbert the
Priest holds three hides under the same circumstances. The Bishop of
Lisieux had two hides of which the Church of Westminster was seized in
the time of William and disseised by the Bishop of Bayeaux. The Abbot
of Chertsey holds one hide which the Bailiff of this will, out of
ill-will (to the Abbot of Westminster) detached from this Manor, and
appropriated it to Chertsey."
Hide of land in the ancient laws of England was such a quantity of land
as might be ploughed with one plough within the compass of a year, or
as much as would maintain a family; some call it sixty, some eighty,
and others one hundred acres. Villian, or Villein, in our ancient
customs, denotes a man of Servile or base condition, viz, a bond-man or
servant. (Fr. Vilain. L. Villanus, from Villa, a farm, a feudal tenant
of the lowest class.)]
ALL ABOUT BATTERSEA
NINE ELMS LANE it is said derived its name from nine Elm Trees which
stood in a row facing a small mansion known as "Manor House"--on the
site there has recently been erected, partly out of some of the old
materials, the offices and premises belonging to Haward Bros. Forty
years ago, Londoners wending their way to Battersea fields regarded
themselves in the country away from the smoke of town where they
could rusticate at pleasure as soon as they entered Nine Elms Lane on
their pedestrian excursions. Here were hedgerows, and green lanes,
and market gardens, and orchards, meadows, and fields of waving corn,
where reapers might have been seen in harvest-time reaping and binding
sheaves of golden grain. Dikes and ditches had to be crossed.[1] In the
event of high tide, which was of no uncommon occurrence, the district
would be partially inundated with water, in some places people might
ply in small rowing boats as easily as on the River Thames. On the
site where now stands the wharf of John Bryan and Co., the celebrated
Contractors for Welsh, Steam, Gas, and household Coals in general, were
situated the pleasure grounds and tea gardens belonging to Nine Elms
Tavern--the old tavern is still remaining. By the side of the Coal
Wharf is the Causeway where watermen used to ply for hire in order to
ferry people across the river. Steel has given us a lively description
of a boat trip from Richmond on an early summer morning when he fell
in "with a fleet of gardeners.... Nothing remarkable happened in our
voyage, but I landed with ten sail of Apricot boats at Strand bridge
after having put up at Nine Elms to take in melons." Within the
immediate vicinity is Thorne's Brewery with its clock turret at its
summit which at night is illuminated with gas so that the passers-by
looking at the clock might know the hour. On the spot where Southampton
Streets are, stood in olden time a large mansion surrounded by
extensive grounds, said to have been inhabited by the King's Champion.
The Champion _of the King, (campio regis)_ is an ancient officer,
whose office is, at the coronation of our Kings, when the King is at
dinner to ride armed _cap a pie_, into Westminster Hall, and by the
proclamation of an herald make a challenge "that if any man shall deny
the King's title to the crown, he is there ready to defend it in single
combat, etc., which being done," the King drinks to him, and sends him
a gilt cup with a cover full of wine, which the Champion drinks, and
hath the cup for his fee.
[Footnote 1: About ten years ago a brick sewer was constructed under
the supervision of the Metropolitan Board of Works where the filthy
black ditch which partly formed a boundary line between Battersea,
Clapham, and Lambeth Parishes was filled up. T. Pearson constructed the
sewer, and Mr. Benjamin Butcher was Clerk of the Works.]
On the north side of Nine Elms Lane, nearly opposite the place where
the "Southampton Arms" Tavern is situated was a windmill.
On the site now occupied by Thorne's Brewery there used to be a Tan
Yard and Fellmonger's Establishment. When the ground was opened for
the purpose of drainage some old tanks were discovered in which the
hides were soaked containing remains of lime and hair. In the rear
of the Brewery there was a Hop Garden where that bitter plant much
used for brewing was cultivated. The only regular vehicle that passed
through Nine Elms Lane was the carrier's cart--the few inhabitants of
the place used to "turn out" to see it pass--a marked contrast to the
present hurried and incessant traffic! Facing the Railway Terminus
were two Steamboat Piers for landing and taking up passengers. At
race times the excitement between the rival steamboat companies was
intense--"touters," men hired expressly by each of these companies to
induce passengers to go down their respective piers, became at times so
exasperated with each other that they fell to blows, a sight which the
baser sort of the crowds assembled on such occasions enjoyed to their
hearts' content.
Many things have been said by way of disparagement of Battersea and
not at all reflecting credit on certain localities within the parish.
Battersea has been called "the Sink Hole of Surrey." Europa Place,
Bridge Road, has been designated "Little Hell," and the spot where
Trinity Hall has been erected at the end of Stewart's Lane, received
the epithet of "Hell Corner." Persons in the habit of receiving
stolen property were said to reside in the neighbourhood; moreover,
there was a gang called "Battersea Forty Theives!" "Sharpers" are
said to have abounded in every direction, so that strangers going to
Battersea would be "cut for the simples." But we who know something of
London life know that other Metropolitan parishes have their "dens of
infamy" and localities of "Blue Skin," "Jack Sheppard," and "Jonathan
Wild" notoriety, that beneath the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral
and Westminster Abbey, our Houses of Parliament and Mansions of the
Nobility and Aristocracy, squalor and crime, vice and grandeur walk
side by side, and oftentimes hand in hand.
Adjoining Thorne's premises and Swonnell's Malt houses, is the London
and South Western Railway Company's Goods Station, which, before
the extension of that Company's line in 1848 to Waterloo Road, was
originally the Metropolitan Terminus. Though this part of the line
crosses the most grimy portion of Lambeth, a distance of two miles and
fifty yards, yet it cost the Railway Company £800,000. The London and
Southampton Railway (as it was first called) was opened on the 11th of
May, 1840, which, in connexion with the opposite wharf and warehouses
on the banks of the river, at that time occupied an extent of between
seven and eight acres. The entrance front of the (then) Metropolitan
Terminus at Nine Elms, erected from designs by William Tite, Esq.,
Architect to the Company, was not unhandsome though at present it has
rather a dingy appearance for want of renovation, and has a central
arcade which originally led to the booking office and waiting rooms
now used for the manager's and clerks' offices for the goods traffic
department. The railroad was commenced under the authority of an Act of
Parliament which received the Royal assent on the 5th of July, 1834 (it
was opened as far as Woking Common on the 21st of May, 1838). By this
Act the Company were empowered to raise £1,000,000 in £50 shares, and
a further sum of £330,000 by loan. Since that time several additional
Acts have been passed authorizing the Company to extend their line and
increase their capital. The Company's capital for the present year
(1879) is £17,000,000. Mr. Wood was the Company's first Locomotive
Superintendent. When the London and Southampton line was first opened
all the workmen in the Company's service had a half holiday and one
shilling each given to them. The Richmond Railway--this though an
offshoot of the South Western, and worked by that Company, was executed
by a private one. It was however sold to the South Western Company in
October, 1846. It had been opened on the 27th of July previous. Number
of miles open 648. The gross receipts for the year ending December
31, 1873, were £2,195,170. The railroad intersects Battersea parish
to the extent of two miles and a half. The Goods Department comprises
the hydraulic shed, down goods shed, carriers' shed, egg shed, the old
warehouse and granary by the riverside; down office, Wandsworth Road
Gate; cartage office, Nine Elms Lane. Officers of the Company.--General
Manager, Archibald Scott, Esq.; Locomotive Superintendent, W. Adams,
Esq.; Resident Engineer, William Jacomb, Esq.; Treasurer, Alfred
Morgan, Esq.; Goods Manager, J. T. Haddow, Esq., Nine Elms; Assistant
Goods Manager, Mr. W. B. Mills, Waterloo; Superintendent, R. H. Ming,
Esq., Nine Elms; Chief Inspector, Mr. Robert Lingley, Nine Elms; Law
Clerk, M. H. Hall, Esq.; Mr. H. B. Terrill, Cashier; Mr. J. E. Hawkins,
Chief Clerk; Superintendents of the Line, E. W. Verrinder, Chief
Superintendent, Waterloo Station; John Tyler, Western Division, Exeter
Station; William Gardiner, Assistant Superintendent, Waterloo Station;
W. H. Stratton, Storekeeper, Nine Elms Works.
Soon after the opening of the London and Southampton Railway a
collision between two passenger trains occurred at the Nine Elms
Terminus resulting in the death of a young woman, a domestic servant,
who, with a fellow servant, had been spending the day at Hampton Court.
The Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of accidental death _a deodand_
of £300 was levied on the "Eclipse" locomotive engine, the moving cause
of death. The Railway Company paid the £300 to Earl Spencer as Lord
of the Manor, who most generously divided it amongst the deceased's
relatives.
_Omnia qua movent ad mortem sunt deodanda:_
What moves to death, or kills him dead,
Is deodand, and forfeited.
On the South Western Railway Stone Wharf are the agents' offices of the
several depôts for the sale of Portland stone, Bath freestone, etc.
Huge blocks of stone direct from the quarries are here deposited and
piled block upon block. A single block in some instances weighing ten
tons elevated and removed by means of a steam traveller moving on a
gantry.
When the workmen were engaged in "digging out" the ground for the
foundation of the goods sheds a human skeleton was discovered, on
which Mr. Carter (coroner) held an inquest. Dr. Statham, who made the
_post mortem_ examination, stated that the skeleton was that of a male
person, that there were three severe cuts upon the head either of which
was sufficient to cause death. As no further evidence was procurable a
verdict was given in accordance.
About forty years ago, when Mr. Gooch was Locomotive Superintendent,
a fire broke out at the London and South Western Railway Works, Nine
Elms Lane, which caused great destruction of property, including a
very handsome clock tower. Various metals were fused and mingled into
shapes fantastic, portions of which were substituted for chimney-piece
ornaments in the homes of the workman and kept as mementos of this
conflagration! A man of the name of Dover who it is said accidentally
set the stores on fire was so frightened that it turned the hair of his
head grey in one night!
At Nine Elms Locomotive, Carriage and Stores Departments are fire
precautions which the Railway Company insist upon being strictly
observed. A fire engine with hose and all necessary appliances is
kept in a building set apart for it adjoining Heman's Street Entrance
gate. A properly qualified fireman is appointed to look after the
whole of the buildings by night, as a precaution against fire. The
fireman's name is Thomas Lewin, and his residence is 51, Thorne
Street, Wandsworth Road. His hours of duty are from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30
a.m. It is the fireman's duty to perambulate the whole of the works
during the night, and to make a daily report of the circumstances in
the book provided for that purpose. He is responsible that the fire
engine, hose, hydrants, etc., are kept in working order and tried once
a week. A statement of the trial is to be made in the fireman's report
book with any suggestions or remarks. Positions of Hydrants at Nine
Elms Works--There are 120 hydrants (always charged) distributed as
follows:--15 in the offices, paint loft and shops beneath; 4 in the
general stores; 4 in wheelwrights' and signal shops; 2 in bonnet shop;
5 in waggon shop; 4 in new waggon shop and saw mill; 5 in smiths' and
carriage fitting shops; 9 in erecting shops; 2 in turning shop; 3 in
tender shop; 4 in new erecting shop; 1 in permanent way shop; 4 in
arches under the Viaduct; 52 in running shed; 4 at outlets of water
tanks, and 2 on the coal stage. Positions of Tell-tale Clocks:--1 in
the office; 1 in general stores; 1 in wheelwrights' shop; 1 in paint
shop; 1 in saw mill. It is the fireman's duty to commence to "peg" each
of these blocks four times every night at the following hours, viz., 8
p.m., 10.30 p.m., 1 a.m. and 3.30 a.m.
Facing the Goods Station are the Company's Wharves with an extensive
river frontage. Here also formerly stood Francis' Cement Works,
adjoining is Nine Elms Steamboat Pier. The South Western Railway
Locomotive Works and Goods Department occupy a vast area. It is
computed that about 2,000 persons are employed in the various
departments. Here were formerly orchard-grounds--many a goodly tree
bearing fruit and pleasant to the eye has been felled. "Woodman spare
that tree!" though spoken by feminine lips would have no force of
appeal in this fast age of iron railways and steam locomotives, when
Railway Companies scruple not by virtue of Acts of Parliament to pull
down by hundreds the dwellings of the poor, it is not to be supposed
for an instant that a few fruit trees however delicious their produce
or delightful their shadow should prove a peculiar obstacle in the way
of this March of Civilization! On payment of sixpence, children at
half-price, persons might enter these orchards with full liberty to eat
as much fruit as they liked on condition that they brought none away.
The old Spring Well near Nine Elms Lane, Wandsworth Road, is within the
recollection of many, who by descending some six or eight steps reached
with their hands the iron ladle out of which they often drank cooling
draughts of nature's sparkling aquatic refreshment. Ah, everything has
a history and its lesson if we did but know. We all exert unconscious
influence either for good or evil,--some secret action performed; some
deed of kindness done; some public boon conferred with the benefactor's
name concealed shall by-and-by be proclaimed upon the house-top. A cup
of cold water given in the name of a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth
shall not lose its reward. Some persons wish to be remembered by
posterity, even wicked parents would not like after death to be
obliterated from the memories of their children. The best of all human
monuments is a good character,--Solomon says, "a good name is rather to
be chosen than riches."
Our forefathers never dreamed of erecting such drinking fountains[1]
as we have in these days with troughs for cattle and smaller ones for
mongrel barking curs to slake their thirst; the pond by the way, the
wooden horse trough outside the road-side Inn, the long-handled iron
pump, in some instances resembling the head and tail of the British
Lion having the body of a greyhound, pleased them and suited their
purpose. The site now environed by the London Gas Works was formerly
a large market ground, here too grew apple, pear, and cherry trees,
gooseberry bushes and currants, roses were cultivated and rendered the
air fragrant with their sweet perfume. In the ditches and trenches or
small channels and streams occasioned by the tidal overflow from the
river, juveniles of both sexes might have been seen catching with hand
and cap sticklebacks and utilizing a medicine phial or gin bottle for
an aquarium. Senior boys and hobbledehoys with jovial facial aspect
who had not studied ichthyology or that part of zoology which treats
of fishes, attempted to catch larger fry by adopting the Izaak Walton
method of angling with rod and line, and thought themselves amply
rewarded if after much patient endurance the motion of their floats
indicated that their baits had taken, their eyes would glisten at the
sight of a few roaches and perches. Youngsters would amuse themselves
by watching the newts and tadpoles, the leaping and swimming of that
amphibious reptile of the _batrachian_ tribe, wondering perhaps,
supposing their biblical knowledge to have extended thus far, whether
those were the kind of creatures that crawled out of the river Nile
and crept into the houses of the Egyptians.
[Footnote 1: His Grace the Duke of Westminster is the President of the
Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.]
Many a dainty dish of stewed eels have the miller's men had at
Mill-pond Bridge, who not unfrequently caught alive this precious kind
of anguilla as it lay concealed between the stones and mud, without the
aid of eel-pot or basket. Mill-Pond Bridge derives its name from the
old tidal water flour mill, the only vestige of the mill remaining is
the outward carcase, which is in a ruinous condition; beneath its cover
are the lock gates, the entrance of the creek where thousands of tons
of coal are conveyed in barges to the London Gas Works.
NEW ROAD, as it is designated, leading from Battersea fields to the
Wandsworth Road was a lane with a mud bank on both sides. In a line
with the centre of the South Western Railway "Running Shed" was
formerly Mill-Pond which answered the purpose of a large reservoir of
water raised for driving the mill wheel.
Water mills used for grinding corn are said to have been invented by
Belisarius, the General of Justinian while besieged in Rome by the
Goths, 555. The ancients parched their corn and ground it in mortars.
Afterwards mills were invented which were turned by men and beasts
with great labour, yet Pliny mentioned wheels turned by water. _See
Telo-dynamic Transmitter._
The simplest mill for bruising grain was nothing more than two stones
between which it was broken. Such was often seen in the country of
the Niger by Richard and John Lander on their expedition to Africa.
The manna which God gave to the children of Israel in the desert "the
people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in
a mortar," _Numbers xi._ 8.
From mills and mortars thus rudely constructed there must have been
obtained at first only a kind of peeled grain which Dr. Eadie says
may be compared to the German _graupe_, the English _groats_, and the
American _grits_ or _hominy_. Fine flour was laboriously obtained from
household mills like our coffee mills. The oldest mention of flour is
in Gen. xviii. 6; but bread which is made of flour or meal is named
in Gen. iii. 19. In order to reduce the flour to a proper degree of
fineness it was necessary sometimes to have it ground over again and
cleared by a sieve.
Samson when a prisoner to the Philistines was condemned to the
mill-stone to grind with his hand in the prison-house, Judges xvi. 21.
In England prisoners are sent to the treadmill as a punishment.
The Talmudists have a story that the Chaldeans made the young men of
the captivity carry mill-stones with them to Babylon where there seems
to have been a scarcity at that time. They have also a proverbial
expression of a man with a mill-stone about his neck which they use to
express a man under the severest weight of affliction.
Windmills are of great antiquity and stated to be of Roman or Saracen
invention, they are said to have been originally introduced into Europe
by the Knights of St. John, who took the hint from what they had seen
in the crusades (_Baker_). Windmills were first known in Spain, France
and Germany in 1299 (_Anderson_). Wind saw-mills were invented by a
Dutchman in 1633, when one was erected near the Strand in London.
Acorns was the coarse fare of the old inhabitants of Britain, when
wild Britons painted their skin to make themselves appear more fierce,
and native tribes in a still more barbarous condition, half naked or
clad in the skins of beasts, not cultivators of the soil, subsisted
on the flesh of their cattle or on the precarious produce of the
chase. Packs of hungry, growling, cruel wolves[1] prowled in the woods
and forests, and Druidical Priests exercised an entire control over
the unlettered people they governed, and human captives seized on
Britannia's shores were offered as victims in sacrifice, a holocaust to
the divinities and false gods which ancient Britons worshipped!
[Footnote 1: Wolves were very numerous in England, King Edgar
unsuccessfully attempted to effect their total destruction by commuting
the punishment of certain crimes into the acceptance of a certain
number of wolves' tongues from each criminal; their heads were demanded
by him as a tribute particularly 300 annually from Wales, A.D. 961.
In 1289 Edward I. issued his Royal Mandate to Peter Corbet for the
extermination of wolves in the several counties of Gloucester,
Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and Stafford; and in the adjacent county of
Derby.
Camden at page 900 informs us certain persons at Wormhill held their
lands by the duty of hunting and taking the wolves that infested the
country, whence they were styled _Wolf Hunt_.
In Saxon times and during Athelstan's reign wolves abounded so in
Yorkshire that a retreat was built at Flixton in that county "to defend
passengers from the wolves that they should not be devoured by them."
On account of the desperate ravages these animals made during winter
the Saxons distinguished January by the name of the Wolf month. An
_outlaw_ was called a _wolf's head_ as being out of the protection of
law and liable to be killed as that destructive beast.]
The Accipenser, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes belonging to the
Amphibia Nantes of Linnæus. The Accipenser has a single linear
nostril; the cirri are below the snout, and before the mouth. There
are three species of this genus. The ruthenus has four cirri, and
fifteen squamous protuberances; it is a native of Russia. The huso has
four cirri; the body is naked, has no prickles or protuberances. The
ichthyocollo, or _isinglass_ of the shops, famous as an agglutinant,
and used also for the fining of wines, is made from its sound or
scales. The Sturio, or Sturgeon with four cirri and eleven squamous
protuberances on the back. This fish annually ascends our rivers (it
has occasionally been seen in years gone by as high up the river Thames
as Wandsworth) but in no great numbers, and is taken by accident in the
salmon nets. It seems a spiritless fish making no manner of resistance
when entangled, but is drawn out of the water like a lifeless lump.
This cartilaginous fish is highly prized for food, not unlike in taste
to veal. About thirty-six years ago a Royal Sturgeon was caught in
the wheel of the mill at Mill-Pond Bridge then in the occupation of
Mr. Hutton the Miller (who was noted as a breeder of game fowls), now
the property of the London Gas-Light Company. It appears that a local
tradesman named Henry Appleton was going to town and saw a great crowd,
some with guns shooting at a great fish, but the Sturgeon's natural
armour resisted the force of their small shot such as they were then
using. Mr. Appleton upon seeing the state of affairs hastened to
procure a bullet or two as a more effectual means of capturing the
prize and the first shot or bullet fired was fatal to the poor sturgeon
which was then landed and conveyed into the garden of Mr. Hutton's
private house upon the exact spot of which at the present time stands
the house (since erected) on the banks of the Creek in the occupation
of Mr. Methven. It then became after the usual ceremony of asking the
Lord Mayor, the property of Mr. Appleton, and was exhibited by him in
York Street (now Savona Street), on premises now in the occupation of
Mr. Dulley, Butcher. After being exhibited several weeks great crowds
coming from all parts of London to see it, the Sturgeon was sold to a
Fishmonger residing in Bond Street, who publicly exhibited it in his
shop for some years with a description stating particulars, where it
was captured and by whom and its length, being upwards of 9-ft. It is
said to have been equal in weight to a sack of flour viz., 280 lbs.
The Sturgeon is more abundant in the Northern Coasts of Europe. It is
also found in the more Southern parts. It was esteemed by the ancients
as a very great luxury and it was held in high repute for the table
by the Greeks and Romans and at their banquets it was introduced with
particular ceremonies.
In England when caught in the Thames within the jurisdiction of the
Lord Mayor of London it is a _Royal Fish_ reserved for the Sovereign.
The flesh is white, delicate, firm and nutritious. It is used both
fresh, generally stewed. The largest species of Sturgeon is the
Bielaga, or Huso. Huso (_A. Huso_) of the Black and Caspian seas and
their rivers. It attains the length of 20 or 25 feet and has been known
to weigh nearly 3000 lbs.
Near the site where now stands the Park Tavern at the corner of the New
Road, opposite Mr. Featherstonhaugh's Brewery and not far from "The
Plough & Harrow," were the flower gardens and beautiful residence of
John Patient, Esq., afterwards occupied by Mr. Carne the Barge Builder.
The house where Mr. Bennett, Lath-render, resides, and the house
adjoining were used as a Private Asylum for the insane and was called
"Sleaford House."
The picturesque and retired Country Parsonage, the residence of the
Rev. J. G. Weddell, stood a considerable distance from the main
road--"The Prince Alfred" tavern situate in Haine Street occupies the
site. In this locality was a tenter-ground the entrance to which from
the road was through a white gate.
A gateway at the commencement of "Hugman's Lane" which had "no
thoroughfare" led to the works belonging to Peter Pariss and Son, Oil
of Vitriol Manufacturers and Manufacturing Chemists. Mr. Wallace, who
subsequently held these premises had them considerably enlarged to
facilitate his project in working up gas liquor for making Sulphate
of Ammonia, which is extensively used for agricultural purposes. The
sewers in the neighbourhood became impregnated with a deleterious gas
and the stench from the drains was intolerable. After considerable
litigation with the Board of Works Mr. Wallace became a bankrupt.
By order of the Mortgagees on Wednesday and Thursday, March 3rd and
4th, 1880, Mr. Douglas Young sold by auction the plant and machinery
of the above extensive works, including 5 large Cornish steam boilers,
tubular boiler, 3 egg boilers, a bottle boiler, a 4000 gallon wrought
iron tank, 12 smaller ditto, 4 large circular tanks, 5 steam barrel
of various sizes, flange pipes, 3 large iron coils, about 70 tons
old metal, several copper and iron boilers of various sizes, furnace
fittings, weighing bridge by Hodgson and Stead, self-feeding
boiler and engine, about 150,000 sound bricks, a large quantity of
sound timber including balk timber, yellow deals, planks, battens,
die-square, floor and lining boards, and 50 tons of breeze, several
stacks of firewood, pantiles, drain pipes and other plant materials.
SLEAFORD STREET appears to have obtained an amount of respectability
that it had not of yore. Once upon a time one side was nicknamed
"Ginbottle Row," and the opposite side was called "Soapsuds Bay!"
Mill-Pond Bridge was very narrow, about half its present width, with a
low parapet on both sides.
If the following statement could be relied on, it would perhaps allay
the fears created by certain alarmists respecting the physical limits
to deep coal mining and duration of the coal supply. "There are coal
deposits in various parts of Great Britain at all depths down to
10,000 or 12,000 feet. Mining is possible to a depth of 4,000 feet,
but beyond this the high temperature is likely to prove a barrier. The
temperature of a coal mine at a depth of 4,000 feet will probably be
found as high as 120º Fahr.; but there is reason to believe that by
the agency of an efficient system of ventilation the temperature may
be reduced, at least during the cooler months of the year, as to allow
mining operations without unusual danger to health. Adopting a depth
of 4,000 feet as the limit to deep mining there is still a quantity of
coal in store in Great Britain sufficient to afford the annual supply
of twenty-two millions of tons for a thousand years."--_Hull._[1]
[Footnote 1: More than a quarter of a century ago, Professor Buckland
when examined before the House of Commons, limits the supply to 400
years. Mr. Bailey in his Survey of Durham limits the supply to 200
years only. But some proprietors when examined in 1830 extended the
period of total exhaustion of the mines to 1,727 years; they assumed
that there are 837 square miles of coal strata in this field and that
only 105 miles had been worked out.