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Roehampton
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Roehampton is a large district in south-west London, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies between the town of Barnes to the north and the large Wimbledon Common to the south. Richmond Park Golf Courses (Dukes and Princes) are west of the neighbourhood, and just north of these is the Roehampton Gate entrance to Richmond Park itself - the largest of London's royal parks. Roehampton is 6.3 miles (10.1 km) south west of Charing Cross.
Description
Roehampton emerged as a favoured residential suburb of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries following the opening of Putney Bridge in 1729 and the development of a number of large private estates from which several of the original houses survive.
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Encyclopedia
Roehampton is a large district in south-west London, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies between the town of Barnes to the north and the large Wimbledon Common to the south. Richmond Park Golf Courses (Dukes and Princes) are west of the neighbourhood, and just north of these is the Roehampton Gate entrance to Richmond Park itself - the largest of London's royal parks. Roehampton is 6.3 miles (10.1 km) south west of Charing Cross.
Description
Roehampton emerged as a favoured residential suburb of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries following the opening of Putney Bridge in 1729 and the development of a number of large private estates from which several of the original houses survive. Roehampton House (grade I) by Thomas Archer was built between 1710-12 and enlarged by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1910. Parkstead House (grade I) built in 1750 for William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough, now forms part of Roehampton University. Mount Clare (grade I) built in 1772 for George Clive, cousin of Lord Clive, also forms part of Roehampton University, along with Grove House (grade II*), built originally for Sir Joshua Vanneck in 1777. 'Capability' Brown is reputed to have laid out the grounds. Nearby Downshire House (grade II*) was built in 1770 and soon occupied by the Marquess of Downshire. Roehampton Village has retained something of its rustic Georgian charm, best exemplified by the King's Head Inn, at the foot of Roehampton High Street and the Montague Arms, Medfield Street, both 17th century in origin. Dramatic change came to Roehampton when the London County Council built the massive Dover House Estate of the 1930's and the Alton East and West Estates of the 1950's. At Highcliffe Drive on Alton West, the LCC essentially retained the Georgian landscape and placed within it five ultra modern slab blocks: Binley, Winchfield, Dunbridge, Charcot and Denmead Houses, (all grade II*) inspired by Le Corbsusier's Unite d'Habitation.
Roehampton was originally a village which became a popular residential area for the wealthy within easy reach of London. Roehampton House was built in 1710 and was until 2008 the administrative centre for Queen Mary's Hospital. It is now being developed into private flats. Parkstead House was built in 1763 by the second Earl of Bessborough, and was the home of the socialite Caroline Lamb before being acquired in 1861 for use as a seminary by the Jesuits and renamed Manresa House. Gerard Manley Hopkins, the Jesuit poet, lived there. Many other 18th century aristocratic summer villas were set in parkland near Richmond Park and Putney Heath. Parkstead (Manresa) House, Downshire House, Grove House and Mount Clare are now all part of the Roehampton University campus. Much of the old village of Roehampton still remains dominated by large detached houses. An old watering trough for Victorian carriages exists at the junction of Medfield Street and Roehampton Lane.
Roehampton is home to a number of well known institutions: Roehampton University has 8000 students housed in 4 Colleges; the new Queen Mary Hospital with its renowned amputee rehabilitation centre opened in 2006 is a teaching centre for medical students based in Wandsworth NHS Primary Care Trust; Kingston University has one of its campuses in Roehampton Vale; South Thames College is also based here. It has long been a major centre for teacher - training, being the site of two constituent Colleges (Digby Stuart College and Froebel College) of the former federal Roehampton Institute of Higher Education (now Roehampton University), as well as South-East England's only lecturer-training college (Garnett College) which eventually relocated and became part of the University of Greenwich.
Apart from education other notable institutions based here include: The Priory Clinic; the Bank of England Sports Centre; Rosslyn Park Rugby Club; and Roehampton Club. The International Tennis Federation moved to Roehampton from Barons Court in 1998, and in 2007 the Lawn Tennis Association made the same short journey across London to their newly built headquarters next door to the ITF. Roehampton has long been an exclusive London address.
The notable Alton Estate, one of the largest council estates (public housing) in the UK, runs along the edge of Richmond Park in the south of the district. The estate is renowned for its mix of low and high rise modernist architecture, with Alton West (1959) inspired by the work of French architect Le Corbusier and Alton East (1959) in a more subtle Scandinavian-influenced style. The estate has also featured as a film and television location. Fahrenheit 451 (1966) used some of the estate as its backdrop for a bleak dystopian society of the future. Thames Television's film division Euston Films used the Danebury Avenue area of the estate to film the opening scene's of Sweeney 2 (1978) - the sequel to the film Sweeney! (1977) itself spun-off from the hugely popular British TV show The Sweeney, and the first episode of Minder, Gunfight at the O.K. Laundrette (1979). The estate is now part of a regeneration scheme with a number of Government initiatives such as SureStart helping to tackle issues of poverty and social exclusion.
Famous residents
Famous residents have included two Prime Ministers, William Pitt the Younger and the Earl of Derby; William Harvey, who discovered the principles of blood circulation; poet Gerard Manley Hopkins; The Sweeney actor Dennis Waterman; The Devil Wears Prada star Emily Blunt; James Bond star Sean Connery and Middlesex County Cricket Club player Dawid Malan.
Nearest places
Bibliography
- Putney and Roehampton, A Brief History The Putney Society, (1992)
- Putney and Roehampton Past Dorian Gerhold, (1994)
- Putney in 1636 Nicholas Lane's Map Dorian Gerhold, (1994)
- Roehampton in 1617 The Village Surveyed Dorian Gerhold, (2001)
- Villas and Mansions of Roehampton and Putney Heath Dorian Gerhold, (1997)
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