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Home , Central London, Streatham, Streatham Common, Tooting Bec, Wandsworth Common

Capital Ring section 5 page 1

Section 5 of 15 to

Section start: Streatham (junction of Estreham Road with Lewin Road) Nearest station to start: (Rail)

Section finish: Wimbledon Park station

Nearest station to finish: Wimbledon Park station (District line)

Section distance 5.5 miles plus 0.2 miles of station links Total = 5.7 miles (9.2 km)

Introduction Much of this section is beside roads, but the route goes through some interesting and leafy residential streets as well as Bec and Commons.

The walk is entirely level on tarmac paths or pavements.

There are cafés and pubs at Streatham, Common, , , Earlsfield and Wimbledon Park. There are public toilets at Streatham Common and on Tooting Bec Common by the café.

Follow the route with the distinctive Capital Ring signs. There are bus stops and rail and underground stations at Streatham, Streatham Common, Balham, Wandsworth Common, Earlsfield and Wimbledon Park, as well as buses along the route.

Note that many of the metal 'fingers' on this section's signposts have been bleached by sunlight. Keep a look-out for white signs.

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Capital Ring section 5 page 2

Walking directions If continuing from section 4, turn right out of Lewin Road into Estreham Road.

If starting from Streatham Common station, turn left along the approach road and continue ahead along Estreham Road to the footbridge, where section five of the Capital Ring starts in an area dense with criss- crossing railway lines heading into .

Follow the railway line by Estreham Road. Where it meets Hambro Road and Natal Road at the bend, turn left through the subway under the railway to Potters Lane, then turn right along Conyers Road. On your left the odd mosque-like building is Thames Water's Streatham Pumping Station, built in 1888.

Carry on towards Lane, cross the Lane and keep ahead along Riggindale Road. At the end bear left on to Tooting Bec Road, and after crossing over the railway line, cross the road at the traffic lights and go to the entrance of 's car park. There is a large Capital Ring Did you know? signpost here. Tooting Bec Lido has one of the largest Bear half right along a tarmac footpath across Tooting Bec Common. There swimming pools in Europe. It was opened is a lake just off to the left and further on a café to the left. Cross over in 1906 as a Bedford Hill road and continue ahead to the northern part of the common. conventional pool, but The path bears left, parallel to the railway line. rebuilt as a lido, Italian for beach, in 1936. After about 200 yards from the Bedford Hill crossing, turn left down a wide alleyway to come out on to Culverden Road. Cross ahead into Fontenoy

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Capital Ring section 5 page 3

Road and then right into Bedford Hill. Turn first left, then cross over at the Did you know? island and into Ritherdon Road, walk down this, then cross over into The rather austere Cloudesdale Road and at the end turn left into Elmfield Road past Balham exterior of Du Cane leisure centre. At Balham High Road (on the other side of the road) is Du Court hides some of the Cane Court. most elegant in . Many Break point celebrities have lived To leave the walk here, keep straight on Balham High Road and under the here and it was the railway bridge for Balham Underground and railway station. location for the television series Poirot. To continue, walk towards the railway bridge, cross Balham High Road by The building dates from traffic lights. Having crossed, turn left back towards Du Cane Court and the 1930s, the Art Deco then right into Balham Park Road alongside Du Cane Court. period, and is the largest single block of flats in Europe. Continuing on Balham Park Road, cross Boundaries Road and keep ahead to where the road bends to the left. At this bend turn right into an alleyway leading to the first part of Wandsworth Common

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Capital Ring section 5 page 4

Follow the path beside the railway line and go through the ticket office of Did you know? HM Prison Wandsworth Wandsworth Common railway station. Follow the station approach road to was built in 1851 as the St. James's Drive passing another large Capital Ring signpost. Cross at House of the lights to the Hope Pub, then cross Bellevue Road to the second part of Correction. Oscar Wilde Wandsworth Common. Bear half right to rejoin the path alongside the was imprisoned here in 1895 before being railway line. moved to Reading Gaol where he wrote his Having passed the ponds to the left, bear left at the footbridge over the famous ballad of the railway and bear left again when approaching the houses. There are toilets same name. Great train and a café in the former Neal's farmhouse, the cream building to your right robber, Ronnie Biggs, was here for two years which now houses park offices and a nature study centre. before he escaped in 1965. Derek Bentley Continue ahead with the houses to your left and cross Trinity Road to the was hanged here in County Arms pub, then keep ahead along Alma Terrace towards the 1953 for the murder of a forbiddingly high wall of Wandsworth prison. policeman; his conviction was overturned in 1998.

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Capital Ring section 5 page 5

At the end of Alma Terrace, turn left along Heathfield Road to a mini roundabout and turn right into Magdalen Road. This very straight road runs for three quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometres), passing the pleasingly-named Beatrix Potter primary school on the left over half way down.

Alternative route An alternative route to Magdalen Road follows a parallel path through the Did you know? cemetery (the gate at the end is narrow and not suitable for wheelchairs). The , which gives its name to After leaving the cemetery, pass Earlsfield public library and at the end of Wandsworth, is one of the fastest flowing Magdalen Road, cross over and turn right to pass under the rivers in the London railway bridge. Earlsfield railway station is on the right. area with a drop of 200 feet in just ten miles. It Take the second left turning, Penwith Road, and cross the River Wandle. powered many Then first left into Ravensbury Terrace. Follow the road as it bends to the watermills which produced flour, metal, right, passing Rufus Business Centre. Ravensbury Terrace then becomes leather, paper, textiles Haselmere Avenue. Continue along on Haslemere Avenue which then and even gunpowder. becomes Mount Road. Turn left down Lucien Road and proceed to the The river is accompanied by the metal fence at the end. Pass through the gate, which you should close . behind you, and into Durnsford Road recreational ground. The path turns

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Capital Ring section 5 page 6

to the left and then very sharply right to pass between Wimbledon Park Did you know? Wimbledon Park is one school and a playground into Wellington Road. Turn left out of the park and of the few Underground almost at the end of the road, right into a short alleyway past Field Court. stations to see mainline This comes out onto Durnsford Road. trains. The station was built as part of a branch Turn left to cross immediately at the lights opposite Wimbledon Mosque, from the lines out of Waterloo. In 1915 its built in 1977 and left again along Dursford Road. Turn first right up Arthur services were the first Road. Continue along Arthur Road to find Wimbledon Park station on your to be electrified on the left. Section 5 of the Capital Ring finishes at Wimbledon Park station. third-rail system. Eventually the line joined the District Next steps Railway, now the To continue on Section 6, stay on the right-hand side and keep ahead past District Line. Mainline the station. trains pass-through when the line between Junction and Wimbledon is at reduced capacity.

Updated by members of the Ramblers for Transport for London In this format: text © Ramblers 2020, maps © OpenStreetMap Downloaded from: http://innerlondonramblers.org.uk/capital-ring