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- This article refers only to the town of Wandsworth. For the wider area generally referred to as Wandsworth, see the separate article on London Borough of Wandsworth.
| Wandsworth | |
  Wandsworth shown within Greater London |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| London borough | Wandsworth |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | London |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | SW18 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| European Parliament | London |
| UK Parliament | Battersea |
| London Assembly | Merton and Wandsworth |
| List of places: UK • England • London | |
Wandsworth is a town on the south bank of the River Thames in south-west London. Wandsworth takes its name from the River Wandle, which enters the Thames at Wandsworth.
Wandsworth appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Wandesorde and Wendelesorde. It was held partly by William, son of Ansculf and partly by St Wandrille's Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 12 hides. It had 5½ ploughs, 22 acres of meadow. It rendered £9.1
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Description
Wandsworth, like its neighbour Battersea, is a town of extremes (a fact highlighted in the film Love Actually) containing some light industry and warehouse sites, rapidly being surrounded by luxury riverside housing. The last twenty years has seen Wandsworth join the ranks of the most expensive and desirable London towns. In February 2007 the Evening Standard placed Wandsworth as a borough with the third most million-pound property sales in the capital, behind Kensington/Chelsea and Westminster. Many of these sales are due to Wandsworth's (The Town) rapid riverside development, catering for the Chelsea overspill.
Since at least the early 16th century, Wandsworth has offered accommodation to consecutive waves of immigration; from Protestant Dutch metalworkers fleeing persecution in the 1590s, to recent Eastern European members of the European Union.2 An influx of French Huguenot refugees in the early 17th century is remembered in many local street names. There is a band of small and expensive terraced housing (known as The Tonsleys) behind Old York Road — the former centre of old Wandsworth — rising to an area of grander, terraced, semi-detached and detached housing along the roads bounded by West Side Wandsworth Common, Earlsfield Road and East Hill. In contrast, at the base of East Hill is a collection of high-rise council blocks.
According to an article in The Guardian in 2004:
Wandsworth has a greater proportion of people whose lifestyle, views and trends shape the zeitgeist more than anywhere else in the UK. Wandsworth, in other words, is groovier than everywhere else in Britain.
According to the Evening Standard"Wandsworth is the hotspot" for those people in London earning over £100,000.
On 2 October 2008 Robert Tuttle, United States Ambassador, anounced that a new US Embassy would be built in Wandsworth, and the existing one in Grosvenor Square would be sold.
Areas in Wandsworth
The River Front
A former wharf area, and now a long river walk towards Battersea Village and the West End. It is now lined with new apartment blocks, with several bars and restaurants. Notable pubs include The Ship Inn near Wandsworth Bridge. The Waterfront on Battersea Reach is a very large bar with excellent view towards Chelsea Harbour.
Wandsworth Common
Set back from the river, at the top of East Hill, containing an area known locally as "the Toast Rack" that has some of the most expensive townhouses in London2 across from Bellevue Road containing several boutiques and the famous restaurant Chez Bruce, formerly Harveys, where chef Gordon Ramsay learned his trade, and voted one of London's favourite restaurants in 2006.citation needed The area also contains one of Wandsworth's most impressive buildings, the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, which now contains flats, a theatre school and the "Le Gothique" restaurant.
St John's Hill
There are many independent cafés, bars and restaurants on St John's Hill, including the Evening Standard award winning Fish Club and Out Of The Blue, a popular wine bar.
The Tonsleys/Old York Road
A residential area of old Wandsworth close to the river and town centre, so called because many of the street names have the word "Tonsley" included. It has a village feel with the Old York Road's cafes and shops at its heart. The area contains three notable pubs, the Royal Standard, the East Hill and The Alma. Brady's Fish Restaurant serves traditional fish and chips in comfortable middle class surroundings. The area was recently used as the location for the BBC TV series Outnumbered. Houses in this area, although small, sell from £600k to over £1 mil, and are desired because they retain their Victorian character and are in close proximity to the Wandsworth Town train station. The houses are very popular with city workers, lawyers, advertising executives and other professionals.
East Hill
An area of Large Victorian houses bordered by the west side of Wandsworth Common. The De Morgan Centre houses a collection of Victorian artwork.
Wandsworth High Street
A rather traffic-choked street, picking up much of the traffic from the A3, the High Street is dominated by the recently-regenerated Southside shopping centre, cinema and restaurant complex (formerly, and still and more commonly, referred to as the Arndale Centre).
Trivia
Nearby is Wandsworth prison, which is the largest prison in the London area, and the second largest in Britain, after Liverpool.citation needed
Between the town centre and the river lies the site of Young & Co's Ram Brewery, in the heart of Wandsworth. Traditional draught beer was produced on the site from 1581, which made the Ram Brewery the oldest site in Britain on which beer had been brewed continuously.citation needed Until late in 2006, shire horse-drawn brewery drays were still used to deliver beer to local pubs. However, beer production was stopped in September 2006 when Young & Co merged their brewing operations with Charles Wells of Bedford and a new use for the site is being discussed. Young & Co however still have their Headquarters in Wandsworth.
One of the underpasses under Wandsworth roundabout was used in the opening scene of A Clockwork Orange, where a gang of youths beat up a rough sleeper using baseball bats.
The Pet Shop Boys' Iconic "west End Girls" Cover was shot in Charterhouse Works.
In December 2006, Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of Wandsworth were the seventh most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 27.2% of the population participate at least three times a week for 30 minutes.3
In the Genesis song "The Battle of Epping Forest" (from their album Selling England by the Pound) about a street fight between rival hoodlum gangs, the nearby prison is referenced: "And his friend, Liquid Len by name, Of wine, women and Wandsworth fame..."
Famous residents
- Naveen Andrews — actor
- Alun Armstrong — actor
- Marcus Brigstocke — comedian
- Martin Bashir — journalist
- Tony Blair — former Prime Minister (shared a house with Charlie Falconer in the Tonsleys on Bramford Road)
- Jack Dee — comedian/actor
- Sophie Dahl — model
- Daniel Defoe — author
- George Eliot — author
- Lord Charlie Falconer — politician (shared a house with Tony Blair in the Tonsleys on Bramford Road)
- Jason Flemyng — actor
- Edward Gibbon—English historian
- Mark Owen — singer
- Ainsley Harriott — TV chef
- Keira Knightley — actress
- David Lloyd George — former Prime Minister
- Daniel Massey: Actor
- Pinelope Wilton: Actor
- Kevin Pietersen — cricketer
- Gordon Ramsay — chef
- Prunella Scales — actor
- Jessica Taylor — singer with Liberty X
- Paul Theroux : travel writer
- Louis Theroux: TV presenter
- William Makepeace Thackery — novelist
- Johnny Vaughan — television presenter
- Voltaire — French philosopher
- Emma Ferguson — actress
- Timothy West — actor
- Holly Willoughby — TV Presenter
- Thomas Craig — actor
- Michael Nicholson — journalist
- Marcus Jones — philanthropist
- Jonathan Ansell — singer
- Phil Spencer — TV presenter
- Frank Bruno — boxer
Nearest places
Local Attractions
Notable Restaurants
- Chez Bruce, Wandsworth Common
- Piccolino, Wandsworth Common
- Ditto Wandsworth, East Hill
- Konnigans,Old York Rd.
- Brady's Fish Restaurant, Old York Rd
- Le Gothique, The Royal Victoria Patriotic Building
Notable Bars and Pubs
- The Old Sergeant, Garrat Lane
- The Oak, East Hill
- Space Lounge, Wandsworth Highstreet
- The Ship
- The Alma, Old York Rd
- The Waterfront, Battersea Reach
- The County Arms
- The Cats back
- The East Hill, Alma Rd
Places of Interest
- Wandsworth Museum and Local History Service
Transport
Nearest railway stations:
- Wandsworth Town railway station
- Wandsworth Common train station, (one stop from Clapham Junction, and 12 minutes train ride from Victoria)
- Earlsfield railway station, (one stop from Clapham Junction, and 12 minutes train ride from Waterloo Station)
See also
References
- ^ Surrey Domesday Book
- ^ a b 'Time Out London for Londoners. London: Ebury Publishing. 2006. ISBN 978-1-904978-52-7.
- ^ Sport England. "Active People Survey". Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
External links
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 16 November 2008, at 21:18.
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