CHAPTER XXXIV
VAUXHALL (continued) AND BATTERSEA.
"Transtiberina patent longe loca."—Tibullus.
Boat-racing at Vauxhall—Fortifications erected here in 1642—A Proposed Boulevard—The Marquis of Worcester, Author of the "Century of
Inventions"—The Works of the London Gas Company—Nine Elms—Messrs. Price's Candle Factory—Inns and Taverns—Origin of the
Name of Battersea—Descent of the Manor of Battersea—Bolingbroke House—A Curious Air-mill—Reminiscences of Henry St. John, Lord
Bolingbroke—Sir William Batten—York House—The Parish Church of Battersea—Christ Church—St. Mark's Church—St. George's Church—The National School—St. John's College—The Royal Freemasons' Girls' School—The "Falcon" Tavern—The Victoria Bridge—Albert
Bridge—The Old Ferry—Building of Battersea Bridge—Battersea Fields—The "Red House"—Cæsar's Ford—Battersea Park and Gardens—Model Dwellings for Artisans and Labourers—Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks—Market Gardens—Battersea Enamelled Ware—How Battersea became the Cradle of Bottled Ale.
Vauxhall, it may here be stated, has other interesting associations besides those connected with its
defunct Gardens; for, like the Nore, it appears or
old to have been the end of the course for small
sailing and racing matches on the Thames. Thus
Strutt writes, in his "Sports and Pastimes," published in 1800:—"A society, generally known by
the appellation of the Cumberland Society, consisting of gentlemen partial to this pastime, gives
yearly a silver cup to be sailed for in the vicinity
of London. The boats usually start from the
bridge at Blackfriars, go up to Putney, and return
to Vauxhall, where a vessel is moored at a distance
from the stairs, and the sailing-boat that first
passes this mark on her return obtains the victory."
It would seem natural that while the chief access
to the Gardens was by the "silent highway" of the
Thames and by the "stairs," the owners of Vauxhall and of Astley's should have shown some
regard for the river and aquatic amusements; accordingly we learn from the same authority that the
proprietors of those places used to give annually
a wherry to be rowed for by the "jolly young
watermen," or Thames apprentices, much like
Doggett's coat and badge are now the objects of
an annual aquatic contest.
We have, at different points of our perambulations round London, spoken of the fortifications
which were erected during the Civil Wars; we may
mention here that "a quadrant fort, with four halfbulwarks at Vauxhall," occurs among the defences
of London which were ordered to be set up by
the Parliament in 1642.
The late Mr. Loudon, as already stated by us, (fn. 1)
proposed to make a series of boulevards round
London. His line, if carried out, would have
come down from Hyde Park to Vauxhall Bridge,
and thence have passed through the heart of
Vauxhall to Kennington, and so on through Camberwell to Greenwich.
The Tradescants and Morlands, of whom we
have already spoken, were not the only distinguished inhabitants of this locality in former times,
for among its residents was the celebrated man of
science, the Marquis of Worcester, so well known
as the author of the "Century of Inventions," if not
as the inventor of the steam-engine. He lived at
Vauxhall for some years after the Restoration, from
1663 down to his death in 1667, probably holding
the post of superintendent of some works under
the Government connected with the army and
navy. Here he set up his "water-commanding
engine," which was naturally a great curiosity in
those days, when science was at a low ebb. On
this he spent nearly £60,000, and had to pay the
penalty of obloquy and calumny, which always
attach to great minds in advance of their age.
His thanksgiving to Almighty God for "vouchsafing him an insight into so great a secret of
nature beneficial to all mankind as this my watercommanding engine," is one of the most touching
evidences at once of his humility and his confidence
in the wonder-working power of time. To show
how little the marquis was known or appreciated
in his day, it may be added that, though he died
in 1667, it is not certain whether he died here or
at the residence of his family, Beaufort House, in
the Strand. (fn. 2)
Near Vauxhall Bridge are the large works of
the London Gas Company, established in 1833.
Though situated on the south of the Thames, the
company is not wrongly names, for its mains are
carried across Vauxhall Bridge, and extend over
a considerable distance of Pimlico, which they
supply.
Close by the gas-works is the Nine Elms pier, so
called from some lofty trees which formerly grew
there, but were cut down before the South-Western
Railway marked the spot for its own. As stated
by us in a previous chapter, the South-Western
Railway originally had its London terminus here,
the line not being allowed to be brought direct into
London; (fn. 3) but upon the extension of the line to
the Waterloo Road, in the year 1848, the old
station was converted into a goods depôt. The
railway works here cover a vast extent of ground
on either side of the main line, and give employment to a large number of hands. Mr. T. Miller,
in his "Picturesque Sketches of London" (1852),
writes:—"Wandsworth had set out in good earnest
to reach Lambeth, and would soon have been near
the Nine Elms Station had not Government stopped
its career by stepping in between them at Battersea
Fields."
OLD BATTERSEA MILL, ABOUT 1800. (From a Contemporary Drawing.)
We have already spoken of the glass-works,
which formed one of the centres of industry for
which Vauxhall was formerly celebrated; another
scene of industry in our own time was Messrs.
Price's candle factory, which was for many years
one of the most interesting sights in London.
There were formerly two establishments in connection with the firm, known as Belmont, at Vauxhall, and Sherwood, in York Road, Battersea; the
latter, however, which was by far the largest, alone
remains, and the large corrugated iron roofs of the
buildings are doubtless well known to the reader
who is in the habit of passing frequently up the
river. The works cover upwards of thirteen acres
of ground, six of which are under cover, and they
give employment to about one thousand hands.
It may be added that this factory covers the site of
old York House, of which we shall have more to
say presently. The neighbourhood would appear
to have been, at the early part of the present
century, pretty well supplied with inns and taverns;
at all events, a manuscript list, dated about 1810,
enumerates "The Bull," "The Elephant and
Castle," "The Bridge House," "The Vauxhall
Tap," "The White Lion," "The King's Arms,"
"The Lion and Lamb," "The White Bear," "The
Fox," "The Three Merry Boys," "The Red Cow,"
"The Bull's Head," "The Coach and Horses,"
"The Henry VIII.," "The Crown," "The Ship,"
"The Red Lion," "The Nag's Head," and "The
Wine Vaults."
Battersea, or Patrick's-eye, is said to have taken
its name from St. Patrick or St. Peter, because in
ancient days it belonged to the Abbey of St. Peter
at Westminster. In Domesday Book, A.D. 1078,
it is recorded that "S. Peter of Westminster holds
Patricesy." The manor, with the advowson, was
granted by King Stephen to the abbot and convent
of Westminster; but at the Dissolution they again
reverted into the hands of the Crown. Charles I.,
however, granted them to Sir Oliver St. John,
ancestor of Lord Bolingbroke, from whose family
they passed by sale to that of Lord Spencer. By
the ancient custom of this manor lands were to
descend to younger sons; but if there are no sons,
they are divided equally among the daughters.
YORK HOUSE (1790). (From a Contemporary Print.)
Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke and Lord
St. John of Battersea, died here in 1751. Hughson,
in his "Circuit of London," writes:—"The family
seat was a venerable structure, which contained
forty rooms on a floor; the greatest part of the
house was pulled down in 1778. On the site of
the demolished part are erected a horizontal airmill and malt distillery. The part left standing
forms a dwelling-house; one of the parlours, fronting the Thames, is lined with cedar, beautifully
inlaid, and was the favourite study of Pope, the
scene of many a literary conversation between him
and his friend Bolingbroke. The mill, now [1808]
used for grinding malt for the distillery, was built
for the grinding of linseed. The design was taken
from that of another, on a smaller scale, constructed
at Margate. Its height, from the foundation, is
one hundred and forty feet, the diameter of the
conical part fifty-four feet at the base and fortyfive at the top. The outer part consists of ninetysix shutters, eighty feet high and nine inches
broad, which, by the pulling of a rope, open and
shut in the manner of Venetian blinds. In the
inside, the main shaft of the mill is the centre of
a large circle formed by the sails, which consist of
ninety-six double planks, placed perpendicularly,
and of the same height as the planks that form the
shutters. The wind rushing through the openings
of these shutters acts with great power upon the
sails, and, when it blows fresh, turns the mill with
prodigious rapidity; but this may be moderated in
an instant, by lessening the apertures between the
shutters, which is effected, like the entire stopping
of the mill, as before observed, by the pulling of a
rope. In this mill are six pairs of stones, to which
two pairs more may be added. On the site of the
garden and terrace have been erected extensive
bullock houses, capable of holding 650 bullocks,
fed with the grains from the distillery mixed with
meal." The above-mentioned mill (see page 468)
has long been removed, or, at any rate, considerably
altered, and a flour-mill now occupies the site. John
Timbs, in his "Curiosities of London," tells us
that the mill resembled a gigantic packing-case,
which gave rise to an odd story, that "when the
Emperor of Russia was in England he took a
fancy to Battersea Church, and determined to carry
it off to Russia, and had this large packing-case
made for it; but as the inhabitants refused to let
the church be carried away, the case remained on
the spot where it was deposited."
When Sir Richard Phillips took, in 1816, his
"Morning Walk from London to Kew," he found
still standing a small portion of the family mansion
in which Lord Bolingbroke had been born, and,
like Hughson before him, he tells us that it had
been converted into a mill and distillery, though a
small oak parlour had been carefully preserved.
In this room Pope is said to have written his
"Essay on Man;" and in Bolingbroke's time the
house was the constant resort of Swift, Arbuthnot,
Thomson, and David Mallet, and all the cotemporary literati of English society. The oak room
was always called "Pope's Parlour," and doubtless
was the very identical room which was assigned to
the poet whenever he came from London, or from
Twickenham, as a guest to Battersea.
Happening to inquire for some ancient inhabitant of the place, Sir Richard was introduced
to a chatty and intelligent old woman, a Mrs.
Gillard, who told him that she well remembered
Lord Bolingbroke's face; that he used to ride out
every day in his chariot, and had a black patch on
his cheek, with a large wart over one of his eyebrows. She was then but a child, but she was
taught always to regard him as a great man. As,
however, he spent but little in the place, and gave
little away, he was not much regarded by the
people of Battersea. Sir Richard mentioned to
the old dame the names of many of Bolingbroke's friends and associates; but she could
remember nothing of any of them except Mallet,
whom she used often to see walking about the
village, wrapped up in his own thoughts, whilst he
was a visitor at "the great house." The cedarpanelled room in Bolingbroke House is still very
scrupulously preserved; its windows still overlook
the Thames, from which the house is separated by
a lawn. In three of the chambers up-stairs the
ceilings are ornamented with stucco-work, and
have in their centres oval-shaped oil-paintings on
allegorical subjects.
Henry St. John was born at Battersea in 1678,
and was educated at Eton, where he became acquainted with Sir Robert Walpole, and where a
rivalship was commenced which lasted through
life. At an early age he was distinguished for his
talents, fascinating manners, and remarkable personal beauty; and he left college only to continue
a course of the wildest profligacy. On his elevation to the peerage, in 1712, his father's congratulation on his new honours was something
of the oddest:—"Ah, Harry!" said he, "I ever
said you would be hanged; but now I find you
will be beheaded!" Three years later, having been
impeached for high treason, Bolingbroke fled to
Calais; and shortly afterwards, by invitation of
Charles Stuart, he visited him at Lorraine, and
accepted the post of his Secretary of State, which
caused his impeachment and attainder. In 1723
he was permitted to return home, and his estates
were restored to him; but the House of Lords
was still closed against him. In 1736 he again
visited France, and resided there until the death
of his father, when he retired to the family seat
here for the rest of his life. He died of a cancer
in the face in 1751.
Lord Bolingbroke wrote several works which
have handed his name down to posterity. During
his life there appeared a "Letter to Swift," the
"Representation," "His Case," "Dissertations upon
Parties," "Remarks on the History of England,"
"Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism," "On the
Idea of a Patriot King," and "On the State
of Parties at the Accession of George I." His
correspondence, state papers, essays, &c., were
subsequently published in a collected form by
David Mallet, his lordship's literary legatee.
Lord Marchmont was living with Lord Bolingbroke, at Battersea, when he discovered that Mr.
Allen, of Bath, had printed 500 copies of the "Essay
on a Patriot King" from the copy which Bolingbroke had presented to Pope—six copies only were
printed. Thereupon, we are told, Lord Marchmont
sent a man for the whole cargo, and they were
brought out in a wagon, and the books burned on
the lawn in the presence of Lord Bolingbroke.
The history of Lord Bolingbroke may be read
in his epitaph in the parish church close by, which
is as follows:—"Here lies Henry St. John, in the
reign of Queen Anne Secretary of War, Secretary
of State, and Viscount Bolingbroke; in the days
of King George I. and King George II. something
more and better. His attachment to Queen Anne
exposed him to a long and severe persecution; he
bore it with firmness of mind. He passed the
latter part of his life at home, the enemy of no
national party, the friend of no faction; distinguished under the cloud of proscription, which
had not been entirely taken off, by zeal to maintain the liberty and to restore the ancient prosperity of Great Britain."
"In this manner," says Oliver Goldsmith, in his
life of this distinguished man, "lived and died
Lord Bolingbroke; ever active, never depressed;
ever pursuing Fortune, and as constantly disappointed by her. In whatever light we view
his character, we shall find him an object rather
more proper for our wonder than our imitation;
more to be feared than esteemed, and gaining our
admiration without our love. His ambition ever
aimed at the summit of power, and nothing seemed
capable of satisfying his immoderate desires but the
liberty of governing all things without a rival."
Of Lord Bolingbroke's genius as a philosopher,
the same author observes that "his aims were
equally great and extensive. Unwilling to submit
to any authority, he entered the fields of science
with a thorough contempt of all that had been
established before him, and seemed willing to
think everything wrong that he might show his
faculty in the reformation. It might have been
better for his quiet as a man if he had been
content to act a subordinate character in the
State; and it had certainly been better for his
memory as a writer if he had aimed at doing
less than he attempted. As a novelist, therefore,
Lord Bolingbroke, by having endeavoured at too
much, seems to have done nothing; but as a
political writer, few can equal and none can exceed
him."
Tindal, the historian, confesses that St. John
was occasionally, perhaps, the best political writer
that ever appeared in England; whilst Lord
Chesterfield tells us that, until he read Bolingbroke's "Letters on Patriotism," and his "Idea of
a Patriot King," he "did not know all the extent
and powers of the English language. Whatever
subject," continues his lordship, "Lord Bolingbroke speaks or writes upon, he adorns with
the most splendid eloquence; not a studied or
laboured eloquence, but such a flowing happiness
of diction, which (from care, perhaps, at first) is
become so familiar to him that even his most
familiar conversations, if taken down in writing,
would bear the press, without the least correction
either as to method or style."
Among the residents of this village was Sir
William Batten, the friend of Pepys, who records
in his "Diary," January 30th, 1660–1, how Lady
Batten and his own wife went hence to see the
bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw hanged
and buried at Tyburn.
York House, which stood near the water-side, on
the spot now occupied by Price's Candle Factory,
and is kept in remembrance by York Road, is
supposed to have been built about the year 1475
by Lawrence Booth, Bishop of Durham, and by
him annexed to the see of York, of which he
was afterwards archbishop, as a residence for himself and his successors when they had occasion to
be near the Court.
Lysons speaks of the house as standing in his
time (the end of the last century), and states that
it was formerly an occasional residence of the
archbishops; but that for more than a century it
had been occupied only by tenants. "Tradition,
with its usual fondness for appropriation," he adds,
"speaks of Wolsey's residence there; and the
room is yet shown in which he entertained Anne
Boleyn; but besides the improbability that Wolsey—who, when he was Archbishop of York, lived in as
great and sometimes in greater state than the king
himself, and was owner of two most magnificent
palaces—should reside in a house which would not
have contained half his retinue, it is well known
that these entertainments were given at York
House, Whitehall."
When Archbishop Holgate was committed to the
Tower by Queen Mary, in 1553, the officers who
were employed to apprehend him rifled his house
at Battersea, and took away from thence "£300
of gold coin, 1,600 ounces of plate, a mitre of fine
gold, with two pendants set round about the
sides and midst with very fine-pointed diamonds,
sapphires, and balists; and all the plain, with other
good stones and pearls; and the pendants 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." Holgate was
afterwards deprived of the archbishopric of York,
to which he was never restored.
Of the structural details of the ancient parish
church of Battersea, dedicated to St. Mary, little
or nothing is now known, further than that it is
said to have been a "twin sister" church to that
of Chelsea on the opposite side of the river, which
it much resembled. The edifice was rebuilt with
brick in the middle of the last century, and in
a style quite worthy of that era. It is an utterly
unecclesiastical and unsightly structure, without
aisles or chancel, and almost defies description.
A church had stood on the same site for centuries;
but the present edifice dates only from 1777, when
it was erected at a cost of £5,000. The tower
is surmounted by a low, heavy-looking octagonal
spire, and contains a clock and eight bells. At
the east end is a recess for the communion-table,
above which is a central window in three divisions.
The painted glass in this window, which was replaced from the old church, contains portraits of
Henry VII., his grandmother, Margaret Beauchamp,
and Queen Elizabeth, together with many enrichments and several coats-of-arms. Most of the
old monuments were replaced against the walls
of the side galleries. Against the south wall is
a monument to an heroic person, Sir Edward
Wynter, who seems to have outstripped the
boldest knights of chivalry by his exploits, if we
may take the epitaph literally:—
"Alone, unarm'd, a tyger he oppressed,
And crushed to death the monster of a beast;
Twice twenty Moors he also overthrew,
Singly on foot; some wounded; some he slew;
Dispersed the rest. What more could Sampson do?"
Among the memorials of the St. Johns is that
of Lord Bolingbroke, already mentioned, and of
his second wife, Mary Clara des Champs de
Marcilly, Marchioness de Villette. 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, who was the first of
his family that settled at Battersea. He died in
1630. Sir George Wombwell, of Sherwood Lodge,
in this parish, who died in 1846; and Sir John
Fleet, Lord Mayor of London in 1693, who died
in 1712, are also commemorated by marble tablets.
In the churchyard are buried Arthur Collins, editor
of the "Peerage" which bears his name, and
William Curtis, the botanist, author of the "Flora
Londinensis."
The parish register dates from the year 1559.
In 1877–8 the interior of the church underwent
a partial restoration, being re-paved and re-seated
with open benches, in place of the old-fashioned
pews.
Of late years several other churches and chapels
have been erected in the parish. Christ Church,
at South Battersea, is an elegant Decorated structure; it was built by subscription, and opened
in 1849. St. Mark's, Battersea Rise, is of the
Geometric Middle-pointed style of architecture; it
was built from the designs of Mr. W. White, and
was consecrated in 1874. Around the apse is an
ambulatory, with steps leading to it from a crypt.
St. George's Church, in Lower Wandsworth Road,
dates its erection from 1827; it is a large edifice
of the Pointed style of architecture in vogue in the
thirteenth century, and was built from the designs of
Mr. Blore. It was enlarged and repaired in 1874.
There are National and British and Foreign
Schools for boys, girls, and infants. The National
School, in High Street, was founded and endowed
for twenty boys in 1700, by Sir Walter St. John,
Bart.; it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1859, and
now affords instruction to about 300 boys. Christ
Church Schools are neat buildings in the Grove
Road, and were erected at a cost of £4,800.
The Normal School of the National Society,
known as St. John's College—for the training of
young men who are intended to become schoolmasters in schools connected with the Church of
England—owes its origin to Dr. J. P. Kay and
Mr. E. C. Tufnell, assistant Poor-law Commissioners. These gentlemen, with a view of making
an effort for the production of a better description
of schoolmasters than had hitherto generally been
met with, visited Holland, Prussia, Switzerland,
Paris, and other places, for the purpose of examining the operations 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 schools, as the sphere in which
the "normal" students might obtain practice and
direction in the art of teaching. Boys were at first
obtained from the School of Industry at Norwood,
and were intended to remain three years in training. With these were subsequently 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, Wilhelm's
method of singing, Dupuis' method of drawing,
&c.; and the results of their benevolent experiment were so satisfactory, that a grant of £2,200
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 dininghall, 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. The institution is supported by the National Society's special fund for
providing schoolmasters 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 general
number of scholars is from eighty to one hundred.
Another invaluable institution in Battersea is the
Royal Freemasons' Girls' School. This institution was founded in 1788, and was originally
located in St. George's Fields; (fn. 4) but was a few
years ago removed to its present site on St. John's
Hill, Battersea Rise. It was established for the
purpose of educating and maintaining the daughters
of poor or deceased Freemasons. The school,
which stands near Clapham Junction Station, and
close by the side of the railway, is a red-brick
building, of Gothic architecture, and was erected in
1852, from the designs of Mr. Philip Hardwicke;
it is chiefly noticeable for its great central clocktower, and watch-towers at the corners.
At Battersea Rise, which forms the north-western
extremity of Clapham Common, many pleasant
villas and superior houses have been built; this
being "a most desirable situation and respectable
neighbourhood." Here the first Lord Auckland
had a suburban villa, where he used to entertain
his political friends, Pitt, Wilberforce, and others.
"In the last quarter of the eighteenth century,"
writes Robert Chambers, in his "Book of Days,"
"there flourished at the corner of the lane leading
from the Wandsworth Road to Battersea Bridge a
tavern yclept 'The Falcon,' kept by one Robert
Death—a man whose figure is said to have ill comported with his name, seeing that it displayed the
highest appearance of jollity and good condition.
A merry-hearted artist, named John Nixon, passing
this house one day, found an undertaker's company
regaling themselves at 'Death's door.' Having
just discharged their duty to a rich nabob in a
neighbouring churchyard, they had . . . found
an opportunity for refreshing exhausted nature;
and well did they ply the joyful work before
them. The artist, tickled at a festivity among such
characters in such a place, sketched them on the
spot. This sketch was soon after published, accompanied by a cantata from another hand of no
great merit, in which the foreman of the company,
Mr. Sable, is represented as singing as follows, to
the tune of 'I've kissed, and I've prattled with
fifty fair maids:'—
"'Dukes, lords, have I buried, and squires of fame,
And people of every degree;
But of all the fine jobs that ere came in my way,
A funeral like this for me.
This, this is the job
That fills the fob;
Oh! the burying a Nabob for me!
Unfeather the hearse, put the pall in the bag,
Give the horses some oats and some hay;
Drink our next merry meeting and quackery's increase,
With three times three and hurra!'"
Mr. Death has long since submitted to his
mighty namesake; the "Falcon" is gone, and the
very place where the merry undertakers regaled
themselves can scarcely be distinguished among
the spreading streets which now occupy this part
of the environs of the metropolis.
Three bridges communicate across the river with
Chelsea: the first is a handsome structure, built on
the suspension principle, and called the Victoria
Bridge. It connects the Victoria Road, on the
east side of Battersea Park, with Chelsea Bridge
Road and Grosvenor Road, and has been already
described by us. (fn. 5) The next is also a suspension
bridge, known as the Albert, built about 1873,
and uniting the roadway, on the west side of the
park, with Chelsea Embankment and Cheyne Walk,
close by Cadogan Pier. The third bridge is the
venerable wooden structure known as Battersea
Bridge, which connects the older portion of the
parish with the oldest part of Chelsea. For more
than a century prior to 1874—when certain altera
tions were effected upon it by its new proprietors,
the Albert Bridge Company—this ancient timber
obstruction, by custom and courtesy called a
bridge, had been an object almost of dread to all
who were in the habit of navigating the abovebridge portion of the "silent highway." The
history of the bridge stretches away considerably
into the past, and taken in connection with the
ferry which it was built to supersede, and which
belonged to the original proprietors of the bridge,
it is directly traceable to the commencement of
the seventeenth century. As a rule, river bridges
have generally been preceded by ferries, and to
this rule Battersea Bridge forms no exception. A
ferry which preceded it was in full operation when
James I. came to the throne, and presumably
belonged to the Crown, inasmuch as by royal
letters patent, and for the sum of £40, the king
gave "his dear relation Thomas, Earl of Lincoln,
and John Eldred and Robert Henley, Esquires, all
that ferry across the River Thames called Chelchehith Ferry, or Chelsey Ferry." Some adjacent
lands were included in the grants, and the grantees
had the power to convey their rights to "our very
illustrious subject, William Blake." The Earl of
Lincoln was the owner of Sir Thomas More's house
in Chelsea, (fn. 6) he having purchased it from Sir
Robert Cecil. In 1618 the earl sold the ferry to
William Blake, who also had a local interest in
Chelsea, inasmuch as he owned Chelsea Park,
which had once belonged to Sir Thomas More, and
was at one time known as the Sand Hills. This
park was sold by Blake to the Earl of Middlesex
in 1620.
OLD BATTERSEA CHURCH (1790).
When the ferry changed hands is not quite
certain, but in 1695 it belonged to one Bartholomew
Nutt. The ferry appears to have been rated in
the parish books in 1710 at £8 per annum. It
afterwards came into the possession of Sir
Walter St. John, who, as we have seen,
owned the manor of Battersea and other
estates in Surrey. He died in 1708, and
the ferry, with the rest of the property,
went to his son Henry, who died in 1742,
having left it to his son, Henry, the famous
Viscount Bolingbroke, who died childless
in 1751, bequeathing his estates to
his nephew, Frederick. In the year
1762 the nephew obtained an Act of
Parliament, under which he sold the
manorial property to the trustees of John, Earl
Spencer. In 1766 Earl Spencer obtained an Act
of Parliament which empowered him to build the
present bridge at his own expense at the ferry,
and to secure land for the approaches. The tolls
named in the Act are one halfpenny for footpassengers, as at the present time, and fourpence
for a cart drawn by one horse, or double the toll
now charged. The framers of the Act appear
to have contemplated the possibility of the bridge
being only a fragile structure, as special powers are
granted to the earl to sue watermen injuring it by
boat or vessel. Provision is also made on behalf
of the public by a clause which enacts that in the
event of a tempest or unforeseen accident rendering
the bridge "dangerous or impracticable," the earl
shall provide a convenient ferry,
charging the same tolls as on
the bridge. The bridge, however, was not constructed until
several years after the Act of
Parliament had been obtained,
and between the years 1765
and 1771 it is on record that the ferry produced
an average rental of £42 per annum. In the
latter year Lord Spencer associated with himself seventeen gentlemen, each of whom was to
pay £100 as a consideration for the fifteenth share
in the ferry, and all the advantages conferred on
the earl by the Act of 1766. They were also
made responsible for a further payment of £900
each towards the construction of a bridge. A
contract was entered into with Messrs. Phillips and
Holland to build the bridge for £10,500. The
works were at once commenced, and by the end of
1771 it was opened for foot passengers, and in the
following year it was available for carriage traffic.
Money had to be laid out in the formation of
approach roads, so that at the end of 1773 the
total amount expended was £15,662.
THE TROPICAL GARDENS, BATTERSEA PARK.
For many years the proprietors realised only a
small return upon their capital, repairs and improvements absorbing nearly all the receipts. In the
severe winter of 1795 considerable damage was
done to the bridge by reason of the accumulated
ice becoming attached to the piles, and drawing
them on the rise of the tide; and in the last three
years of the eighteenth century no dividends were
distributed. In 1799 one side of the bridge was
lighted with oil lamps, and it was the only wooden
bridge across the Thames which at that time
possessed such accommodation. In 1821 the
dangerous wooden railing was replaced by a handrail of iron; and in 1824 the bridge was lighted
with gas, the pipes being brought over from Chelsea,
although Battersea remained unlighted by gas for
several years afterwards.
Further structural improvements were made from
time to time, one of which consisted of laying
the bridge with a flooring of cast-iron plates, on
which the metal of the roadway rests. At various
times, too, the proprietors have expended considerable sums of money in making a road on
Wandsworth Common, and, in conjunction with
Battersea parish, in improving ways of approach to
the bridge. The proprietors, moreover, have often
expressed their willingness to contribute towards
some alteration of the water-way of the bridge for
the benefit of the public. In this, however, it
was but reasonable that they should expect to be
joined by the Conservators of the Thames, or others
interested in the improvement. This expectation
not being realised, they declined to bear the
whole cost. Until 1873 the bridge remained in the
hands of the descendants or friends of the original
proprietors. In that year, however, the bridge
came into the possession of the Albert Bridge
Company, under their Act of Incorporation; and
it was by this company, as stated above, that the
recent improvements were carried out, the same
being made obligatory by that Act.
The extreme length of the bridge is 726 feet,
and its width twenty-four feet, including the two
pathways. It originally consisted of nineteen openings, varying from thirty-one feet in the centre to
sixteen feet at the ends, the piers being formed of
groups of timber piles. There is a clear headway
of fifteen feet under the centre span at Trinity highwater. The bridge does not cross the river in a
direct line, but is built upon a slight curve in plan—the convexity being on the upper or western
side. The alterations above mentioned comprise
the widening of the water-way at two points in the
bridge, for which purpose four of the spans have
been converted into two. The centre opening is
now seventy-five feet wide, with the same headway
as before. The other widening of the water-way is
at a point near the northern or Chelsea end. By
these alterations greater facilities for river traffic
have been afforded, while the old bridge has been
considerably strengthened by means of the iron
girders and extra piles which have been added
to it.
A quarter of a century ago the locality then
known as Battersea Fields was one of the darkest
and dreariest spots in the suburbs of London. A
flat and unbroken wilderness of some 300 acres, it
was the resort of costermongers and "roughs," and
those prowling vagabonds who call themselves
"gipsies." The week-day scenes here were bad
enough; but on Sundays they were positively
disgraceful, and to a great extent the police were
powerless, for the place was a sort of "no man's
land," on which ruffianism claimed to riot uncontrolled by any other authority than its own will.
Pugilistic encounters, dog-fights, and the rabble
coarseness of a country fair in its worst aspect
were "as common as blackberries in the autumn."
But at length the "strong arm of the law" interfered, and the weekly "fair"—if such it might be
called—was abolished by the magistrates in May,
1852.
Duels have sometimes been fought in Battersea
Fields, the lonely character of the neighbourhood
causing it to be selected for this special purpose.
One of the most noted of these "affairs of honour"
took place in 1829. In that year the Duke of
Wellington got into "hot water" for the part he
had taken in the passing of the Catholic Relief
Bill. Abuse fell upon him fast and furious; and
the young Earl of Winchilsea—one of the leaders
of the anti-Catholic party—went so far as to
publish a violent attack on his personal character.
The duke having vainly endeavoured to induce the
earl to retract his charges, sent him a challenge,
and the combatants met in Battersea Fields on
the 21st of March, but fortunately separated without
injury to either. Lord Winchilsea, after escaping
the duke's shot, fired in the air, and then tendered
the apology which ought to have been made at the
outset.
On the river-side the monotony of blackguardism
was somewhat relieved by a glaring tavern, known
as the "Red House"—but more frequently called
by cockneys the "Red-'us," as every reader of
"Sketches by Boz" will remember—in the grounds
of which pigeon-shooting was carried on by the
cream of society till superseded by the more
fashionable Hurlingham. In Colburn's "Kalendar
of Amusements" (1840), we read that "pigeonshooting is carried on to a great extent in the
neighbourhood of London; but the 'Red House'
at Battersea appears to take the lead in the quantity
and quality of this sport, inasmuch as the crack
shots about London assemble there to determine
matches of importance, and it not unfrequently
occurs that not a single bird escapes the shooter."
The "Red House" has been the winning-post
of many a boat-race. In the "Good Fellows'
Calendar" of 1826, we read that, on the 18th of
August in the previous year, "Mr. Kean, the performer," gave a prize wherry, which was "rowed
for by seven pairs of oars. The first heat was
from Westminster Bridge round a boat moored
near Lawn Cottage, and down to the 'Red
House' at Battersea." The other heats, too, all
ended here; and the Calendar adds that, though
Westminster Bridge was crowded with spectators,
the "Red House" was "the place where all the
prime of life lads assembled," and describes the
fun of the afternoon and evening in amusing
terms.
It is said that about fifty yards west of this spot
Caesar crossed the Thames, following the retreating
Britons; but the fact is questioned. Nevertheless,
Sir Richard Phillips, in his "Morning's Walk from
London to Kew," tells us that he had more than
once surveyed the ford, from the "Red House"
to the opposite bank, near the site of Ranelagh.
"At ordinary low water," he adds, "a shoal of
gravel not three feet deep, and broad enough for
ten men to walk abreast, extends across the river,
except on the Surrey side, where it has been
deepened by raising ballast. Indeed, the causeway from the south bank may yet be traced at low
water, so that this was doubtless a ford to the
peaceful Britons, across which the British army
retreated before the Romans, and across which
they were doubtless followed by Cæsar and the
Roman legions. The event was pregnant with
such consequences to the fortunes of these islands
that the spot deserves the record of a monument,
which ought to be preserved from age to age, as
long as the veneration due to antiquity is cherished
among us."
As lately as 1851 Battersea Fields formed, as
we have said, a dreary waste of open country. A
"Metropolitan Guide" of that year speaks of them
as "destined to be shortly converted into a park,
with an ornamental lake, walks, and parterres, for
the recreation and enjoyment of the people." The
fact is, the disgraceful scenes to be witnessed here
had become such a glaring scandal that urgent
measures had long been in contemplation for its
suppression. Happily, just then the demand for
open spaces in the outskirts of the metropolis had
taken firm hold of public attention, and about this
time these fields, instead of being handed over to
speculative builders, were devoted to the purposes
of a public park. The "Red House," with its
shooting-grounds and adjacent premises, was purchased by the Government for £10,000; and,
under the Metropolitan Board of Works, in the
course of a few years, the wilderness was converted
into a pleasant garden, and now Battersea Park
ranks among the very first of those health and
pleasure resorts which Londoners prize so highly
and justly. It is now one of the prettiest of
London parks, and every year adds charms to its
many attractions, the choicest of which, perhaps,
is the Acclimatisation Garden, which may be said
to flourish here not far from the heart of the
metropolis. In Battersea Park palm-trees actually
grow in the open air—not under glass cases, as
at Kew: indeed, this park is no mean or contemptible rival to Kew Gardens.
The park, which was opened to the public in
1858, contains about 185 acres ornamentally laid
out with trees, shrubs, flower-plots, and a sheet of
water. For the land £246,500 was paid, and
the laying-out made the total cost amount to
£312,000. The Avenue is one of the principal
features, and forms the chief promenade of the
park. The trees are English elms. "To rightly
appreciate Battersea Park," observes a writer,
"it must not be approached in a hurry. Its
numerous beauties are worth much more than
a bird's-eye view. And here we would parenthetically remark that a vast amount of good has
been done towards the cultivation and encouragement of flowers in our parks within the last two
decades. . . . But the palm-trees we would
speak of do not flourish in the more aristocratic
parks of the metropolis—they have found a home
over the water in Battersea Park, the access to
which is easy in all directions. Steamers ply to it
at all hours of the day; but we prefer to approach
it from quaint old Chelsea and on a bright Sunday
in summer.
"Passing among a wealth of vegetation and
pavilions which seem to be devoted to the accommodation of the cricket-playing fraternity, a
short walk brings us, after deriving much necessary
assistance from finger-posts, to the tropical garden;
and a pleasanter sight we have not seen for many
a long day. Here is the Acclimatisation Garden of
London; and if we may believe our own eyes, we
are certainly not far behind the brilliant city of
Paris, as regards the flourishing condition of these
out-of-door palms and rare flowering shrubs. Nearly
all the books of travel we know are recalled by the
charmingly varied character of the foliage and the
quaint peculiarities of the plants. Here is a noble
palm, here an aloe, here an enormous nettle-leaved
shrub, here a plant with prickles starting up in an
angry and porcupine manner all over the leaves,
here rare specimens of Alpine flowers, and everywhere beds of brilliant colour artistically arranged.
"It certainly would appear that it is the fashion
now-a-days to frame in flower-beds with the rare
variations which now exist of the Sempervivum
echeria and saxifrage plant. Many of these are
best explained as an idealised version of the wellknown house-leek, and the compact little bosses
of plants, though over-stiff, perhaps, to some
tastes, make an excellent and compact bordering
for flower-beds. They are, no doubt, extremely
fashionable, as Kew testifies, and all the largest
landscape gardens in the kingdom. No visitor
to the Battersea Park Gardens will fail to notice
what great attention is now paid to the foliage
of plants in contradistinction to the bloom or
flower. Plants with grey and brown leaves and
sage-green leaves are preferred to bright blossoms;
geraniums are encouraged with leaves painted as
brilliantly as a chromatrope; variations of the
Perilla nankinensis, or Chinese nettle, are everywhere seen. And, in order to increase the strange
effect of these quaker-like beds, it is the fashion to
intermix the plants with paths and mazes of very
finely-powdered gravel or silver sand. . . . It
is a charming sight, this tropical garden; and
amateur or professional gardeners—to say nothing
of general lovers of nature—may well study it."
Here the visitor may see, on a small scale, the
flora of the Alpine region as well as of the tropics.
These and the other beauties of the park are thus
described with minute accuracy in "Saturday
Afternoon Rambles:"—"Here is the lake, with its
fringe of aquatic plants and its beautifully-wooded
island, and studded with water-fowl from various
latitudes, from the sub-Arctic and sub-tropical
regions. . . . Here are Japanese teal, Egyptian
geese, South African and Buenos Ayres ducks.
Here also are ducks from the far north of Europe,
partial to a winter temperature, but still staying on
the Battersea Park waters for the whole year round.
Among the self-invited guests on this lake is a
colony of moor-hens, who 'make themselves at
home' along with widgeon, teal, and Muscovy,
and pintail ducks. Here the moor-hen has forgotten the sound of the gun, and her behaviour
before Saturday afternoon visitors is as tame as
that of the familiar Dorking hen. . . . How
beautiful is that island yonder, with pendulous
trees drooping over its margin! The ground
seems well clothed with tall grasses and low
brushwood. It should afford a good home and
abundant cover for the water-fowl. Doubtless,
the swans have good landing-places, a plentiful
supply of dead rushes, coarse grass twigs, and
other nest-making materials. As we stand looking
at the lake, there comes rowing up to us, past the
water-lilies, a proud maternal white swan, with
quite a flotilla of little mouse-coloured cygnets in
her wake—
"'The swan, with arched neck,
Between her white wings soaring proudly, rows
Her state with oary feet.'
There are black swans from Australia here as well.
Yonder goes a squadron of ducks, making an
arrow-headed track in the water. They sail round
the headland in beautiful order, and disappear,
uttering strange shrieks. But our afternoon is
waning. We must take our leave of the subtropical and sub-Arctic scenery at Battersea Park.
To what other horticultural grounds, be they public
or private, around London shall we go for such
sights as these? Here in this park—not in any
huge glass conservatory or 'Wardian' case, but
under the open sky—are living side by side the
Arctic saxifrage, the English rose, the tropical
palm, and the desert cactus. . . . Then let
no Londoner remain any longer unacquainted with
this wonderful vegetation at Battersea. Let him
give at least two afternoons of the summer to these
sub-tropical and Alpine gardens. None the less
will he enjoy the purely English landscape scenery.
The more, too, will he delight in the vegetable life
and scenery of the zone which lies between these
sub-Arctic and sub-tropical regions at Battersea."
Close by the park are some blocks of houses,
erected by the Victoria Dwellings' Association as
homes for the working classes. The buildings,
which were opened in 1877, were intended as
models of the dwellings for artisans and labourers,
to replace the habitations condemned in various
parts of the metropolis under the Act of 1875.
At a short distance eastward of the park are the
reservoirs and engine-house of the Southwark and
Vauxhall Waterworks Company. The reservoirs
cover nearly eighteen acres of ground; and the
steam-engines have sufficient power to force the
water through perpendicular iron tubes to the
height of 175 feet, by which means it is raised
sufficiently to supply the inhabitants of Brixton and
other elevated places.
Some portion of the ground immediately contiguous to the park is still cultivated as marketgardens; but before the formation of the park, and
the recent railway extensions near Clapham Junction Station, some hundreds of acres were devoted
to that purpose. The gardens here were long noted
for producing the earliest and best asparagus in
the neighbourhood of London. Indeed, that this
parish at one time enjoyed the reputation of being
a place for early fruit and vegetables is shown by
the following satirical lines on air-balloons, from
the Spirit of the Times for 1802:—
"Gardeners in shoals from Battersea shall run
To raise their kindlier hot-beds in the sun."
The produce of these gardens was likewise referred to in the addresses of the candidates at the
mock elections of the "Mayor of Garratt," in the
neighbouring parish of Wandsworth, as we shall
presently see.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
whilst its neighbour Vauxhall was acquiring fame
in consequence of the glass manufactured there,
Battersea was celebrated for its enamelled ware,
which still fetches good prices, although the manufacture has died out.
But Battersea has other claims to immortality:
in spite of the claims of Burton and Edinburgh,
there can be little doubt, if Fuller is a trustworthy
historian, that one of the ozier-beds of the riverside here was the cradle of bottled ale. The
story is thus circumstantially told in "The Book
of Anecdote:"—
"Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's and
Master of Westminster School in the reign of
Queen Mary, was a supporter of 'the new opinions,'
and also an excellent angler. But, writes Fuller,
while Nowell was catching of fishes, Bishop Bonner
was after catching of Nowell, and would certainly
have sent him to the Tower if he could have caught
him, as doubtless he would have done had not a
good merchant of London conveyed him away
safely upon the seas. It so happened that Nowell
had been fishing upon the banks of the Thames
when he received the first intimation of his danger,
which was so pressing that he dared not even
go back to his house to make any preparation for
his flight. Like an honest angler, he had taken
with him on this expedition provisions for the day,
in the shape of some bread and cheese and some
beer in a bottle; and on his return to London and
to his own haunts he remembered that he had left
these stores in a safe place upon the bank, and
there he resolved to look for them. The bread
and the cheese, of course, were gone; but the
bottle was still there—'yet no bottle, but rather a
gun: such was the sound at the opening thereof.'
And this trifling circumstance, quaintly observes
Fuller, 'is believed to have been the origin of
bottled ale in England, for casualty (i.e. accident)
is mother of more inventions than is industry.'"