Wandsworth Common

Facilities and features
Wandsworth Common has many features similar to Tooting Common, including strong involvement from local users. Its 73 hectares (175 acres) contain ecological and ornamental areas, sports pitches, tennis and bowling, a lake (fishing in season, membership required), trim trail and children's playground.

See the Stock Pond for further episodes in the diary of enhancements to this pond by Bolingbroke Grove, July 2004. 

An overview of Wandsworth Common
The manor of Battersea and Wandsworth, which included Wandsworth Common, dates back to the 11th century. On the common people had rights which included the cutting of wood and shrubs, the grazing of animals and the digging of gravel. As London expanded, pressure to develop the common increased and large areas passed into private hands and others were dissected by road and rail links. To protect the common from further development it was purchased by a body of conservators in 1871. However this did little to help and when management was passed over to the metropolitan board of works in 1887 it was bare, muddy and almost without trees.

In 1971 management was passed to us. A number of improvements have since taken place. Wandsworth Common today covers 175 acres and includes many trees, two lakes, woodlands and grasslands along with sports and play facilities. The common is home to a wide variety of urban wildlife including foxes, squirrels and numerous bird and invertebrate species.

Part of the common known as the scope is managed specifically for wildlife. Its name is derived from an enormous telescope (once the largest in the world) which was constructed in 1852 by the Rev. John Craig. The expansion of London resulted in poorer air quality making the telescope useless - it was removed in the 1870's. The scope contains young oak and silver birch woodland, different types of grassland and scrub habitats.

Brief description from the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust
Wandsworth Common is an important historic common, the remains of more extensive commonland which earlier went by a number of names including Battersea West Heath and Wandsworth East Heath. It was part of the wastes of the Manor of Battersea and Wandsworth; by the 19th century it had been sub-divided by the railway and encroached upon by building as London was developed, with some 53 enclosures between 1794 and 1866. The larger areas enclosed were taken for building the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, the industrial school of St James, Allfarthing Piece, McKellar's Triangle, the Justices of Surrey. Attempts by local people to preserve the common against further encroachment began in earnest in 1868 when appeals were made to the metropolitan board of works to take over responsibility, following the metropolitan commons act of 1866, but this was initially unsuccessful. In 1870 a common defence committee was set up, later to become the Wandsworth Common preservation society. Action was taken in April to try and keep Plough Green open and in the months following fund-raising efforts and lobbying of support accelerated. Eventually Earl Spencer, Lord of the Manor, agreed to transfer most of the common to the defence committee excluding the area which later became Spencer Park. A bill went through Parliament in July 1871, the Wandsworth Common Act, and the common was then transferred to a group of conservators elected by inhabitants of Battersea and Wandsworth for a £250 annuity paid to Earl Spencer. This annuity and maintenance costs were raised by a special rate levied of the inhabitants. In 1887 it transferred to the metropolitan board of works who carried out a number of improvements including planting, paths layout, creation of the ornamental lakes from old gravel pits as well as the smaller Three Island Pond near Bolingbroke Grove. In 1898 the common became the responsibility of the new London County Council who in 1912 purchased an area of 20 acres of open land to extend the common. This had belonged to the Royal Patriotic Fund Company but prior to the 1850s had been part of the common. The cost of £12,000 included building a wall between the open space and the Royal Patriotic Fund Company's land. However, before this area could be provided for the public's use, it was taken over in WWI for the third London General Hospital by the Government. When it was reinstated after the war, facilities were provided including a bowling green and tennis courts. Since 1971 responsibility for the common transferred to Wandsworth Council and again improvements were carried out. Around the common's boundaries are many early 19th century and Edwardian housing as well as the White Cottage by Voysey (1905) and St Mark's Church at Battersea Rise. On Windmill Road is a weather-boarded windpump built in 1837-40 to restore the water supply which had been disrupted by the nearly railway cutting, redundant by the 1870s and now without its sails. Today the common includes 25 acres known as the scope, an area designed to create an ecologically rich environment. The nature study centre is based here and provides support for ecological and educational work in the borough.

Sites of importance for nature conservation (WaBI01)
(Greater London Authority/London Borough of Wandsworth November 2002): Wandsworth Common is classed as a site of borough importance grade 1.  The habitat is acid and neutral grassland, secondary wodland, and lakes. A rather fragmented common, dissected into 10 sections by roads and railways, it is nevertheless a popular and well used open space. Habitats are a mosaic of secondary oak and birch woodland, acid and neutral grassland and scattered gorse scrub.  The acid grassland contains typical species such as tormentil (Potentilla erecta) and purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea). Three lakes support common waterfowl and a range of fish, and are popular with anglers. These have recently been restored and marginal vegetation introduced. An environmental education centre is well used by local schools. Since the 1992 schedule, a small area of scrub, part of the grounds of the former John Archer School (formerly WaBII08, the rest of which has been redeveloped) has been added to the site. 

Feedback and suggestions, contact us at parks@wandsworth.gov.uk