Roehampton
Encyclopedia
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth
London Borough of Wandsworth
The London Borough of Wandsworth is a London borough in southwest London, England, and forms part of Inner London.-History:The borough was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea and much of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, but...
. It lies between the town of Barnes to the north, Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
to the east and Wimbledon Common to the south. The Richmond Park golf courses are west of the neighbourhood, and just south of these is the Roehampton Gate entrance to Richmond Park
Richmond Park
Richmond Park is a 2,360 acre park within London. It is the largest of the Royal Parks in London and Britain's second largest urban walled park after Sutton Park, Birmingham. It is close to Richmond, Ham, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Roehampton and East Sheen...
itself—the largest of London's Royal Parks. Roehampton is 6.3 miles (10.1 km) south west of Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...
.
Etymology
The Roe in Roehampton is thought to refer to the large amount of rooksRook (bird)
The Rook is a member of the Corvidae family in the passerine order of birds. Named by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, the species name frugilegus is Latin for "food-gathering"....
which still inhabit the area in large numbers.
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 LutyensEdwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
in 1910. Parkstead House (grade I) built in 1750 for William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough
William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough
William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough PC PC was an Irish and English peer and member of the House of Lords, styled Hon. William Ponsonby from 1723 to 1739 and Viscount Duncannon from 1739 to 1758...
, now forms part of Roehampton University
Roehampton University
The University of Roehampton is a campus university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, south-west London.-History:...
. Mount Clare (grade I) built in 1772 for George Clive, cousin of Lord Clive, which forms part of Roehampton University, along with Grove House (grade II*), built originally for Sir Joshua Vanneck in 1777 (also owned by the University). 'Capability' Brown is reputed to have laid out the grounds. The University also owns Downshire House (grade II*); built in 1770 and once 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 Roehampton Estate in the 1920s and 1930s (renamed the Dover House Estate) and the Alton Estate in the 1950s
Dover House Road Estate is one of a number of important LCC cottage estates inspired by the Garden City movement. The land was previously the estates of two large houses, Dover House and Putney Park House, which were purchased by the London County Council soon after World War I. Dover House was demolished for the new estate, but Putney Park House remains. The common characteristic of the LCC cottage estates is picturesque Arts and Crafts influenced housing. It was the intention at Dover House Estate to create housing in groups that overlooked or had access to open space, to provide a sense of intimacy and individuality, and the estate was laid out with communal green spaces. Allotments were also provided in three backland areas behind houses, two of which remain, the third subsequently infilled by housing.
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 Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
's Unite d'Habitation
Unité d'Habitation
The Unité d'Habitation is the name of a modernist residential housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of painter-architect Nadir Afonso...
.
The installation and construction of a pedestrian entrance to Richmond Park from the Alton Estate was secured by Justine Greening
Justine Greening
Justine Greening is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. She has been the Member of Parliament for Putney since 2005. She was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury in May 2010, and became Secretary of State for Transport on 14 October 2011...
(MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the Putney constituency
Putney (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections 1950–1979:-Elections 1918–1945:-Notes and references:...
, which includes Roehampton) was secured in 2007 although it has not yet materialised.
The Alton Estate has featured as a film and television location. Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 (1966 film)
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 film directed by François Truffaut, in his first colour film as well as his only English-language film. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury....
(1966) used some of the estate as its backdrop for a bleak dystopian society of the future. Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
's film division Euston Films used the Danebury Avenue area of the estate to film the opening scene's of Sweeney 2
Sweeney 2
Sweeney 2 is a 1978 film that is a sequel to the 1977 film Sweeney! which was itself a spin-off from the popular British TV show The Sweeney. Some of the action was transferred from the usual London setting to Malta. Denholm Elliot appears as a corrupt ex-officer, who asks his former subordinates...
(1978) - the sequel to the film Sweeney! (1977) itself spun off from the hugely popular British TV show The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, and the first episode of Minder
Minder (TV series)
Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
, 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.
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
Queen Mary's Hospital
Queen Mary's Hospital Roehampton is a hospital in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1915 to provide care for wounded soldiers, it became a world renowned limb fitting and amputee rehabilitation centre. Recently rebuilt and modernized it has become a unit of the Wandsworth Primary Care Trust...
. 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
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
, 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
Roehampton University
The University of Roehampton is a campus university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, south-west London.-History:...
campus. Much of the old village of Roehampton still remains dominated by large detached houses. An old watering trough for Victorian carriage-horses exists at the junction of Medfield Street and Roehampton Lane. The University has campaigned to have nearby Barnes railway station
Barnes railway station
Barnes railway station is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in south London, and is in Travelcard Zone 3. The station and all trains serving it are operated by South West Trains....
renamed Barnes & Roehampton as the station lies between the two areas.
Roehampton is home to a number of well known institutions: Roehampton University has approximately 8000 students housed in 4 Colleges; the new Queen Mary's 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
Kingston University
Kingston University is a public research university located in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, United Kingdom. It was originally founded in 1899 as Kingston Technical Institute, a polytechnic, and became a university in 1992....
has one of its campuses in Roehampton Vale; South Thames College
South Thames College
South Thames College incorporating Merton College is a further education college situated in the south west of London. The college recently merged with Merton College.- History :...
also has a Campus on Roehampton Lane. 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
Roehampton University
The University of Roehampton is a campus university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, south-west London.-History:...
), as well as South-East England's only lecturer-training college (Garnett College
Garnett College
Garnett College was a higher education college in London specialising in further and higher education lecturer training by offering training for lecturers in further and higher education colleges. Its main focus was on teaching towards post-graduate qualifications awarded by the Council for...
) which eventually relocated and became part of the University of Greenwich
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich is a British university located in the London Borough of Greenwich, London, England. The main campus is located on the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, a central location within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.-History:The history of the...
.
Apart from education other notable institutions based here include: The Priory Clinic; the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
Sports Centre; Rosslyn Park
Rosslyn Park
Rosslyn Park may refer to:* Rosslyn Park, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide* Rosslyn Park F.C., a rugby union team in England...
Rugby Club; and Roehampton Club
Roehampton Club
The Roehampton Club is an exclusive private members’ sports club in Roehampton in southwest London, England.Roehampton Club is set in of parkland, close to Richmond Park...
. The International Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
moved to Roehampton from Barons Court in 1998, and in 2007 the Lawn Tennis Association
Lawn Tennis Association
The Lawn Tennis Association is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.As the governing body, the LTA is responsible for the coaching and development of junior players, offering courses and qualifications on coaching, as well as the...
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.
In October 2009 a planning application was submitted to restore the King's Head and convert the existing buildings with extensions into a 51 bedroom hotel, as part of the regeneration of Roehampton Town Centre. The application is due to be considered in February 2010.
Furthermore Roehampton is an important location within H G Wells' novel The Sleeper Awakes
The Sleeper Awakes
The Sleeper Awakes is a dystopian novel by H. G. Wells about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where, because of compound interest on his bank accounts, he has become the richest man in the world...
. Roehampton (along with 5 other locations in London; namely Wimbledon Park
Wimbledon Park
Wimbledon Park is an urban park in Wimbledon and the suburb south and east to which it lends its name. It is the second largest park in the London Borough of Merton and also gives its name to Wimbledon Park tube station. To the immediate west of the park resides the All England Lawn Tennis and...
, Streatham
Streatham
Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, , Blackheath
Blackheath, London
Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...
and Shooter's Hill
Shooter's Hill
Shooter's Hill is a district and electoral ward in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. It lies east of Blackheath and west of Welling, south of Woolwich and north of Eltham...
) form a series of rudimentary airports known as 'Flying Stages'. The Flying Stage at Roehampton is the scene for a major battle within the plot.
Famous residents
- William Pitt the Younger, prime minister
- the Earl of DerbyEarl of DerbyEarl of Derby is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end of the reign of Henry III and died in 1279...
, prime minister - William HarveyWilliam HarveyWilliam Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...
, who discovered the principles of blood circulation - Gerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
, poet - Peter WestburyPeter WestburyPeter Westbury is a British former racing driver from England. He participated in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, scoring no championship points. In 1969 he raced a Formula 2 Brabham-Cosworth, driving in his first Grand Prix in the 1969 German Grand Prix. He finished ninth on the...
, former racing driver - Dennis WatermanDennis WatermanDennis Waterman is a British actor and singer, best known for his tough-guy roles in television series including The Sweeney, Minder and New Tricks.-Early life:...
, actor - Emily BluntEmily BluntEmily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
, actor - Dawid MalanDawid MalanDawid Johannes Malan is an English cricketer.Malan is a left-handed opening batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler who has represented Boland in South Africa and the MCC Young Cricketers in 2006...
, Middlesex County Cricket ClubMiddlesex County Cricket ClubMiddlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
player
Nearest places
- PutneyPutneyPutney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
- Barnes
- MortlakeMortlakeMortlake is a district of London, England and part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes with East Sheen inland to the south. Mortlake was part of Surrey until 1965.-History:...
- WimbledonWimbledon, LondonWimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
- WandsworthWandsworthWandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...
- North SheenNorth SheenNorth Sheen, an area of London, England in the former Municipal Borough of Richmond ,was incorporated into Kew in 1965 when the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames was created....
- SouthfieldsSouthfieldsSouthfields is a suburban district in the London Borough of Wandsworth, England, situated 5.6 miles south-west of Charing Cross where Serena Frazer lives. Southfields is located partly in the SW18 postcode area and partly in SW19....
- New MaldenNew MaldenNew Malden is a town and shopping centre in the south-western London suburbs, mostly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and partly in the London Borough of Merton, and is situated from Charing Cross...
- NorbitonNorbitonNorbiton is a place in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London. It lies approximately east of Kingston upon Thames's town centre, and from Charing Cross. Its main landmarks include Kingston Hospital and Kingsmeadow football stadium, which is currently used for the home matches of both...