EY TN SO U C P I E

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H Y T The Bulletin

F December 2020 O 9 U 95 NDED 1 Seasons greetings to all our members St Margaret’s Church – often wrongly overlooked When we think of churches in the first thought is always of St Mary’s, host of ! the Putney Debates during the Come and meet us at Protectorate of Oliver the Positively Putney Cromwell and half a century Christmas Fayre, ago the scene of a devastating Upper Richmond fire that required its major Road ­ to the west of reconstruction. St Margaret’s, the High St is often forgotten, overshadowed by 13 December its historically important elder 11am – 3pm tree. St Margaret’s started life (Covid restrictions as a Baptist Chapel in the nineteenth current incumbent, Brutus Green, was an permitting) century, was a Presbyterian Church for Army Chaplain for four years and came to St Margaret’s in 2018, being made Vicar in A fantastic chance to about ten years and was then acquired by support local the Church of England. Truly ecumenical early 2020. He, naturally enough since he is married to the opera singer Rhiannon businesses that have in heritage! It underwent a major been hit by the extension in the 1920’s to accommodate Llewellyn, has developed the musical side of the Church. Nick Miller was appointed challenging the residents of the Doverhouse Estate conditions during the then under construction in the great Director of Music in early 2020. During intervals in the Covid crisis there is a sung pandemic. Stalls will housebuilding programme following the be in the open air to First World War. Eucharist on Sundays at 10.00am performed by the choir, which always minimise risk and During the mid‐twentieth century church welcomes new enthusiasts, and a regular enable social attendances fell throughout the UK and programme of recitals on Sunday distancing. the Church needed to raise money. The evenings. The outward‐looking aspects of Putney Arts Theatre Church Hall, now the site of sheltered the Church are blossoming, too. Brutus will be hosting a two accommodation adjacent to The has arranged for the Church to be open day activities event Pleasance, was sold and replaced by the every day for some of the time. In 2019 on Saturday and present hall next to the Church. Slowly the Glassdoor project became a winter Sunday that weekend. things began to improve and, under the commitment. Lunch is delivered to about Plus there will be a incumbency of Ann Brodie, St Margaret’s fifty people every Thursday and the meet and greet event !"became#$%&'()*#$+",-+$(" more#$,% #community./0&*$+#*1&'#$,.$2# 3orientated.#34*0.'#$5).607 8$The',3%9 #(#$-&("$Church0%%*,%*& 0is(#$ +working,'&09$ with Rackets Cubed, a 6&+(0.'&.:$4#(-##.$",)+#",96+; with Elmer the charity “providing integrated sports, Patchwork Elephant education and nutrition on Sunday. programmes to inner city kids”, to The Putney Society deliver Christmas parcels to about will have a stall and 150 families. Volunteers for and we hope to meet and donations to its activities are always talk to our members welcome! in person for the first (Contact Helen Hargreaves, time in 10 months! offi[email protected] We also hope to $020 8789 5932) recruit some new $ The picture shows the open­air service on Remembrance Sunday, members. complete with appropriate social distancing between households. Upcoming elections for Commons Conservators Wimbledon and Putney Commons are overseen by interests of the charity, and its charitable objects, a Board of eight Conservators and it is their role to at all times. If you are interested in standing as a ensure that , Putney Heath and Conservator and would like further information, are managed in accordance visit the website, or contact the Ranger’s Office. with the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Act 1871 2. Vote! (1871 Act). Standing as a Conservator requires a three‐year Three of the Conservators are appointed by commitment, so this may not be for everyone. Government departments. The other five are However, the next best thing you can do for the elected triennially by local residents who live within Commons is to vote for your preferred candidates. three quarters of a mile of Wimbledon Common, or in the old Parish of Putney. These same residents How and when do I vote? also fund the management of the Commons through Ballot papers will automatically be sent out to all payment of a levy which is collected with your those eligible to vote during February 2021. Votes council tax. The next election will take place in can be cast either online or by post and you can vote March 2021. as soon as you receive your forms and up to 5pm on Why is this election important? If you are a levy‐ 10 March 2021. Voting on‐line saves the charity payer, this is your opportunity to have a say in how money ‐ for example, for every 100 people who vote the Commons are run and managed. There are two electronically the money saved will be enough to ways you can do this: stand as a Conservator and feed one of their patrol horses for one week. If you vote in the election. are an eligible voter, look out for your ballot papers 1. Standing as a Conservator when they arrive in the post early in February 2021 and please vote. Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators is a statutory body corporate and a registered charity, so 150th Anniversary of the Wimbledon Conservators are also charity trustees. Being a and Putney Commons Act 1871 Conservator is a great way to be involved in the local 2021 will be the 150th anniversary of the 1871 Act community, by helping to manage one of south west which established the commons. To celebrate this London’s most important public open spaces. special anniversary, the Conservators are planning a Conservators come from all walks of life and often series of events and activities throughout the year. bring with them a skill that will enhance the charity Coronavirus is adding an element of uncertainty to and help to conserve this ecologically important site these plans, but they remain optimistic that the and to meet statutory requirements. Each elected events will be able to go ahead. As 2021 progresses, Conservator serves a three‐year term and can stand keep an eye on the WPCC website and notices on for re‐election. At the moment four out of five the Commons for further details. elected conservators are residents of Wimbledon – an anomaly given that around 60% of the levy payers live in Putney and – time for some Putney and Roehampton residents to put themselves forward for election. What’s required? To be eligible to stand as a Conservator you must be named on the most recent local government Electoral Register and be proposed and seconded by two other electors. You will need to have a genuine interest in all aspects of the Commons and be available to attend regular board meetings. As a trustee, you will be required to act in the best Transport Panel Convenor: Stephen Luxford. [email protected] Extra traffic in Putney arising from the Hammersmith some more recent diesels may Bridge closure looks likely to be with us for some years to not. Check the ULEZ website come. The Government‐led taskforce examining the to see if your vehicle Bridge is quoting more than six years before vehicles can complies. Note it will operate cross again and some months before pedestrians can do 24 hours so. Something which has attracted little publicity is the a day every day except withdrawal of the government’s public confirmation that Christmas Day. it would support some funding of the works. It is clear Although the Council’s trial of that neither TfL nor the local Hammersmith & Fulham Low Traffic Neighbourhoods was suddenly abandoned in council can do this on their own so hopefully, once September the idea has not disappeared. Look out for negotiations over the likely costs of the engineering new proposals in due course and ensure you engage in solution are finalised, there may be the necessary funds the consultation process. forthcoming to actually repair the Bridge. Transport for London (TfL), London Councils and London's In the meantime pollution levels in our High Street and boroughs are working together on plans for a trial of the main feeder roads remain at pre‐Covid levels, and rental e‐scooters in the capital. This trial aims to well in excess of EU limits. The Society is asking for local promote safety standards and develop a better traffic light phasing to be revisited to try to reduce the understanding of the impact of this emerging mode of level of vehicles queuing in and around the High Street. transport on London's roads. A competition was launched The countdown to the introduction of the Ultra‐Low in November, which is open to all e‐scooter operators. Emission Zone (ULEZ ) approaches. Encompassing the Up to three will be selected to take part in the 12‐month boundaries within the North and South Circulars, it is due trial, which is due to start in spring 2021. Privately owned to come into force in October next year. Most vehicles scooters will remain illegal in public, although they are will comply but petrol cars more than 15 years old and already widely in use, unauthorised, on London roads.

Community Panel Co­convenors: Victoria Diamond & Val Jones [email protected] & [email protected] 07746 022654

● The usual Charity Christmas Cards for Good Causes is and that smart bins will now be rolled out to sites unable to set up in the Library, but you can order cards across the borough. online www.cardsforcharity.co.uk ● There is a growing need for laptops and tablets, in ● The Police warn us to be careful in the High Street as working order, to be passed on to those who can’t pickpockets have been caught and more are about. afford them, but need them badly in this digital Covid time. Power to Connect collects, refurbishes & ● has designed and implemented a trial redistributes (including wiping all data) donated used, scheme for vehicles – they would like our input. You working laptops and tablets to schools in , can give your feedback on www.royalparks.org.uk for families to keep. The project was set up by under Richmond Park section. Power Station Development Company and ● Trinity Hospice shops are closed, but you can still Wandsworth Council as a direct response to the donate books, CD’s, DVD’s and games at https://www. COVID‐19 pandemic. Since April 2020, local volunteers royaltrinityhospice.london/donate‐books‐cds‐and‐dvds‐ have collected and refurbished over 382 devices, with‐ziffit and you can still support them by buying donating them to families via 50 local schools and 6 things from www.royaltrinityhospice.london/online community organisations. With 6,000 families eligible ● Pets at Home on the Upper Richmond Road and Sports for free school meals in Wandsworth, devices are still Direct in the Exchange are opening any day now needed to meet local demand. Donate your device through the website, or sign up to volunteer at ● Don’t forget Putney Arts Theatre! Although they’ve www.powertoconnect.co.uk been unable to put on their normal performances, they ● are doing online things, and badly need our support. Don’t forget to keep www.putneyartstheatre.org.uk. They’re holding a new active! A little stroll writing competition for short plays where the winning can do you the world pieces will be produced and performed in March 2021, of good. Seeing the whether online or live. swans and geese at extra high tide on the ● Wandsworth will be placing split bins (half for general Embankment was a rubbish and half for recycling items) in parks and Town real treat. Centres in the near future. Good news ‐ as is the information that the smart bin trial has been a success Buildings Panel Co­convenor: Andrew Catto [email protected] 020 8785 0077

Ever since Lockdown 1 our local planners been making car parking space in Dryad Street (I bet most of you need to decisions without visiting sites. We just hope this doesn’t look this up in the A‐Z). Clever. become a habit as restrictions ease and applications rise in the The only thing refused by the October planning applications New Year. Big increases in numbers have been reported committee was a proposal to remove the big illuminated nationally, although not yet locally. Is Putney full, or could it be billboards at Rosslyn Park’s ground facing the Upper Richmond that there are too many unsold flats? Road. Everyone had believed that these were originally It seems that the Government may be listening to some of the permitted on a temporary basis, but it seems that a five year concerns about the White Paper on radical changes to the ‘temporary’ permission is automatically renewed. Bad news planning system. They have announced that there may be for the local environment and for the local campaigners who changes to the algorithm (yes, another one) that would have been against these signs from the start. allocate housing targets. The proposed version equated the However, sometimes the planning department can get it right need for affordable homes with house prices, resulting in huge unasked. The recent consent to convert the upper floors of the targets for much of London, particularly and Star & Garter pub into a hotel contains a condition removing Kensington, but also Wandsworth. We wait to see if the new the automatic right for telecoms masts and dishes on the roof. version will really push some of this to the north. National We approve. targets have not been hit since building was stopped in the 1980’s. Some may be wondering what’s happening at the now that Wandsworth have approved their own application for There has also been a lot of criticism that designation of wholesale demolition and rebuilding. We are expecting this to Growth Areas will remove the chance for residents and local be ‘called in’ by the Mayor of London’s office. Meanwhile a societies like ours to comment on the planning applications new local group, Alton Action, have enlisted help from the that come forward. planning school at UCL to talk to residents and come up with Changes to some poorly considered policies do come, if slowly. an alternative proposal of the type we have long advocated, The freedom to convert commercial space to flats has been mixing renovation with infill blocks. We shall watch and wait. with us for several years, but recently a requirement has been I wish you all a Happy Christmas, but before that don’t forget announced for those flats to have good daylight. Sadly not in the panel is still online and still meeting on the first Wednesday time for Wandsworth to have had no option but to agree to a of every month. We would love to hear from you. scheme for 3 tiny windowless flats in Roehampton. Two of these will be just 20 sq.m. (215sq.ft) each. The Association of Stop Press: As we go to print the government has announced Consultant Architects, of which I am President, is amongst that the deadline for Green Home Grants applications is to be those campaigning for this loophole to be closed and for space extended to 2022 – this is a more reasonable timescale for standards to apply however consent is achieved. tradesmen to become TrustMark approved and to get in We have also seen a proposal for a tiny house of a different applications for installing new insulation and/or low carbon stripe ‐ four storeys but just two bedrooms to be built on a two heating.

Open Spaces Panel Co­convenor: Judith Chegwidden [email protected] 020 8788 4489

New contracts for the supply, planting and maintenance of park Wandsworth Tree Wardens (all volunteers) have done an and street trees were awarded following the November excellent job in persuading some local residents to water newly Community Services and Open Spaces Overview and Scrutiny planted trees in their area but this does not replace the need Committee. In the coming year the council plan to plant nearly for robust contractual conditions for tree maintenance. Some 700 trees in parks, commons and in streets, which is very loss of newly planted trees is to be anticipated, but there must welcome. be a critical point where the cost of lost trees is greater than The contract for supplying trees in Wandsworth has been the cost of an effective watering regime. awarded to Barcham Trees. It is not totally clear if this nursery We understand that the council’s tree officers are updating grow all their own trees as opposed to importing trees, but their database of trees to determine how many trees have they have a very welcome commitment to biosecurity on their been lost over the last three years – we hope that they have website. It is essential to prevent importation of tree pests and included the dead trees that we have identified in Luttrell diseases – as is all too clear from the spread of Oak Avenue and Hazelwell Road. Processionary Moth from just one imported tree. The Friends of are currently undertaking a The contract for both planting trees and maintaining them has Community Swift Conservation Project. They have applied for been awarded to Green Garden Company (a name so generic, a Wandsworth Grant Fund and are awaiting that decision it throws up many matches on Google!). From the paper shortly. In the interim, the local RSPB received a £296 grant submitted to the Committee, it is not at all clear what the from the Putney Waitrose Community Fund and the Friends maintenance part of the contract comprises, particularly in were honoured that they have allocated it to their project. The terms of watering. DEFRA’s urban tree manual recommends Friends are grateful for all the community support and hope to that once planted and secured in place in its new location, have 100 swift boxes along the Fawe Park Road area in East effective weed control and watering are essential during the Putney by April 2021. They will be encouraging the community first three to five years of the tree’s life. In the past, the Putney to enjoy and partake of this exciting swift project though walks Society has been told by tree officers that they expect trees to and talks. be watered for two years, which is probably inadequate. Letters to the Editor Low Traffic Neighbourhood The cost to build Dover House Road Schemes. houses in 1921 was £1150, which Royal Mail is introducing a was equivalent to 5.6 times the weekend extension for Dear Editor average annual salary at the time. some priority post boxes from 21 November. I refer to the letter in the October Hardly what anyone would exactly In order to facilitate the Bulletin from Richard Carter describe as cheap? collection of Covid‐19 test concerning Low Traffic One of these houses has been kits the Royal Mail is Neighbourhoods. He complains occupied by my wife's family since providing a Sunday about the summary in an earlier the 1920s and has never suffered collection service at over Transport Panel report stating that from any structural faults or 15,000 priority post “Sensibly… the Council pulled the boxes. You can find out building problems. People find the plug” and views the Council’s which post boxes near 'Arts and Crafts' cottage style of the reaction as “gutless”. you will offer this priority estate houses with their varied service at It is disappointing to me as a Putney designs, front and back gardens, https://www.royalmail.co Society member and Executive brick walls and Crittall windows very m/services‐near‐you#/. A Committee member that there are attractive. quick check indicates that members of the Transport Panel many of our local boxes The estate as a whole, with its 50 who are keen to make life more will offer extended greens, allotments, privet hedges, difficult for the normal people who collection. and front and rear gardens, is a use the roads for which they have great example of the spirit of paid. I consider that the purpose of regeneration in London after the the Putney Society, and for that First World War To quote 'The Online lectures from matter the Council, is to make life Dover House Estate ... would the Royal Hospital for better for people and businesses in become a show place in its day… Neuro­Disability Putney and Roehampton, not visited by many from all over the worse. Good for the Council in The following lectures are world'. Darrin Bayliss, Council pulling these unsatisfactory free and can be accessed Cottages and Community in schemes. from https://www.rhn.org Interwar Britain: A Study of Class, Mark Poulter .uk/events/?filter_purpos Culture, Community and Place, e=educational&offset=0 Queen Mary and Westfield College Thursday 3 December Response to the letter by Maritz PhD, 1998. 6pm ­ 7pm: Vandenberg regarding the Dover I suggest that houses on the Dover Taking round the hat: House Estate' House Estate, occupied by people historical fundraising and Christmas appeals, Dear Editor, from all walks of life, can well stand comparison with the modern, 1872‐1937 As Chair of the Dover House Estate gated, and socially divisive Thursday 21 January Residents Association I would like to properties in Angel Mews. 1pm­2pm The first year question his disparaging description of the National Lottery of the properties in Dover House Yours truly Heritage Fund project at Road as 'more cheaply built' when Julian Berry the Royal Hospital for compared to the modern Angel Neuro‐Disability Mews. The Editor reserves the right to edit letters.

COMMUNITY TRANSPORT BUILDINGS OPEN SPACES FUTURE PANEL MEETINGS 10 December, 14 January 8 December, 12 January 2 December, 6 January 3 December, 7 January For the moment all panel meetings are by Zoom (18.30) by Zoom (19.30) by Zoom (18.00) by Zoom (18.00) held on Zoom. We will let you know as Co­convenors: Convenor: Convenor: Convenor: soon as the guidance allows us to meet Vicky Diamond & Val Jones Stephen Luxford Andrew Catto Judith Chegwidden in person. If you are new to panel meetings, please contact the panel [email protected], Stephen.luxford46 [email protected] [email protected] convenor by email if you want to take [email protected] @gmail.com T: 07831 761327 T: 020 8788 4489 part in the Zoom meeting and they will T: 07746 022654 (Vicky) send out an invitation. T: 07780 674114 (Val)

Lime Grove – a reminder of Putney’s past To some of us of a certain age, Lime Grove evokes 1950s BBC TV programmes. To others, it was one of Putney’s ‘great houses’, of which the sole survivor is Winchester House on Lower Richmond Road. It was a large, approximately 50 acre estate in the south‐east angle of Upper Richmond Road and Putney Hill, from the 15C to the 19C. It is unclear whether the house, demolished c.1862, was rebuilt or just altered and extended over the centuries. It changed hands some twenty times and notable owners and/or occupiers include Sir John Lawrence (1656­1692) Lord Mayor of London during the plague of 1665, John Pettiward (1711­14), Edward Gibbon Snr. (1714­70), historian Edward Gibbon Jnr. (1737­ 46), historian and explorer Robert Wood (1770­71), the Duke of Norfolk (1772­74) and widow Ann née Skottowe, who lived there until c. 1793. Sir John, 5th Baronet St Aubyn (1838­39). There seems She died in 1803 and their listed tomb is in Putney Old to have been a Lime Grove curse, in that two of the Burial Ground. above – Robert Wood and Sir John St Aubyn – died the Sir John, 5th Baronet St Aubyn (1758­1839). The St year after moving in. Aubyns were a prominent Cornish dynasty, whose family John Pettiward (1652­1716) was a member of one of seat was Clowance, near Helston; they also owned St Putney’s wealthy families (owners of Fairfax House in the Michael’s Mount. Sir John, the most ‘colourful’ if brief High Street) and grandfather of Rev. Roger Pettiward occupant of Lime Grove, had fifteen illegitimate children (1712‐74), who sold the parish land on Upper Richmond by three/four different women! The Road, known then as Richmond Lane, for the creation of mother/s of the first two is/are Putney Old Burial Ground (POBG) in 1763. Although John unknown; the next five were by Pettiward briefly owned Lime Grove, it is not clear that he Martha Nicholls, whose father lived there. John was a landscape gardener Edward Gibbon Jnr (1737­94), and Clowance ‘groundsman’; the author of The History of the last eight by Marazion‐born Decline and Fall of the Roman Juliana Vinicombe, daughter of a Empire (1776‐88), was born at farm labourer (or blacksmith), Lime Grove and spent part of whom he finally deigned to marry in his childhood there before 1822, seven years after the birth of going to Dr Woddeson’s their last child. He took a lease on Lime Grove in 1838, boarding school in Kingston in died in 1839 and was buried at Crowan, Cornwall. Lady 1746, then Westminster School in 1749. Juliana stayed on at Lime Grove, dying there in June 1856, aged 87 – its last private occupant before it was Robert Wood (c. 1717­71), historian, explorer, demolished c. 1862. Their 6th child (his 13th), Rev. archæologist and MP for Brackley (Northants.) 1761‐71, Richard John St Aubyn (1807‐49), is buried in Putney Old was born in Riverstown Castle, Co. Meath. Chiefly Burial Ground. Born in 1960, novelist Edward St Aubyn, remembered for his influential books The Ruins of creator of the egregious Patrick Melrose, is his g‐g‐g‐ Palmyra (1753) and The Ruins of Balbec (1757), he grandson. bought the estate from the executors of Edward Gibbon Snr. in 1770 and died in 1771. Ownership passed to his Many thanks to Philip Evison for contributing this article and to Dorian Gerhold for his input.

Chair: Robert Arguile Bulletin Editor: Judith Chegwidden PUTNEY SOCIETY 020 8788 4554 [email protected] 020 8788 4489 [email protected] Secretary: Carolyn McMillan Membership: Chris Orriss CONTACTS 38 Disraeli Road, SW15 2DS 020 8789 6692 020 8785 7115 [email protected] [email protected] 22 Pentlow Street, London SW15 1LX See website for full details: Website Editor: Robert Arguile Treasurer: Andrew Nichol www.putneysociety.org.uk [email protected] 07894 982 020 [email protected]

Published by The Putney Society (registered charity no. 263242) www.putneysociety.org.uk