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Barnes and Newsletter 234 December 2020 History Society www.barnes-history.org.uk

The Show Must Go On The 2020-21 season could hardly have opened in less auspicious circumstances – as we contemplated the first lecture of the season, a second wave of Covid-19 appeared imminent. Then our designated speaker for September had to withdraw at the last moment. Still, having come so far, we were determined that the lecture programme should go ahead as planned and we were immensely grateful to Jane Edwards for rescuing the evening with a richly illustrated talk on heraldry, featuring much pageantry and the cut and thrust of an era long past. However, as this newsletter goes to press we find ourselves in the midst of a second national lockdown. Churches have enjoyed some Covid-19 protocol dispensations, so we are hopeful that we may be able to hold our December lecture, but we will not be able to confirm this until nearer the date. In the meantime, the most we can say is that the advance booking arrangements will remain in place and monthly email notifications will continue to be sent out. We have been pleasantly surprised at attendance numbers to date: indeed, the advance booking system has been heavily oversubscribed, and we are anxious to continue with “live” lectures insofar as the rules allow. St Mary’s has been very helpful in keeping us abreast of Covid-19 regulations. We have much in store for 2021 and we remain optimistic that we will be able to resume something approaching normal service early next year, the threat of digital festivities notwithstanding.

Caroline Withall opens our new year on 21 January with a talk on the Forgotten Boys of the Sea which will focus on a lesser known aspect of the Marine Society: the recruitment of poor boys, including some from our locale, as apprentices to merchant ships, and the practice’s wider significance to social and economic history. In Paying the Parson, David Deaton will present the culmination of four year’s work spent digitising the tithe map for Mortlake parish. He will explain, at All Saints Church on Saturday 30 January, how tithes payable in kind became outdated and a subject of ridicule (as in Rowlandson cartoon). Reform of the system in 1838 required a comprehensive survey and the detailed mapping of most English parishes. Charles Pineles will acquaint us with Social Change on the Queen’s Road, Richmond on 18 February. Development of new thoroughfares over Richmond Hill, to combat flooding, and the coming of the railways precipitated the gentrification of this area in the 19th century. The talk will focus on early known landholders and the lives of certain Victorian residents. Julie Chandler will assail our senses with a talk on The Great Stink and Super Sewers on 18 March. By the 1800s the Thames, ’s main water supply, stank; the streets were filthy and cholera was rife, setting the stage for an engineering genius who transformed the environment. 150 years later, a new “super sewer” promises to preempt another “great stink”. This talk will be held at All Saints Church, preceded by the AGM. Lecture Booking On 15 April we take up residence at St Mary the Dates 2020-21 Virgin, Mortlake to hear renowned historian and academic Diarmaid MacCulloch introduce us to 1-8 December : New Perspectives, an 12-19 January* 9-16 February examination of the myths and machinations 9-16 March surrounding the meteoric career of this remarkable 6-13April self-made statesmen. Advance booking is essential for *For lectures on 21 all lectures: please contact Jane Edwards on 020 8878 and 30 January 3756 or email at [email protected]. Linda Andrew and Paul Rawkins

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The 65th Annual General Meeting Covid-19 has produced many strange sights this year, not least our postponed AGM on 17 September, when forty-five masked and socially distanced members took their seats at St Mary’s, Barnes. Nonetheless, people were unfazed by the “new normal” and the meeting was conducted with our customary swiftness. opened the meeting by recapping on my Chairman’s report for 2019-20 before updating members on subsequent developments. The lecture programme had proceeded seamlessly until March when a nationwide lockdown forced the cancellation of the March and April lectures. The West London Local History Conference suffered a similar fate and was postponed to a later date. Reassuringly, virtually everybody had heeded the appeal for membership renewal and Ann Breeze, Membership Secretary, reported that the headcount stood at 384 in September compared with 301 in March. With only one committee member (Helen Deaton) expressing a desire to step down, there had been a high level of continuity in day-to-day management of the Society in the intervening months, mostly by email. The newsletter continued to be produced on schedule. Two new occasional papers had been published and a reprint of Bridge by Charles Hailstone was in the pipeline. Linda Andrew had put together a diverse lecture programme for 2020-21 and an advance booking system was now in place to comply with Covid-19 regulations. Treasurer Peter Hayward updated the meeting on the accounts since the end of March. Subscription income had held up well, but sales of publications had suffered because of the cancellation of meetings and Barnes Fair. Printing costs would rise by the year-end, but the accounts should remain in balance. I was re-elected as Chairman; the rest of the committee was re-elected “en- bloc” with the exception of Helen Deaton to whom the meeting extended a warm vote of thanks for her much valued input over thirteen years, first as secretary and then on publications and publicity. Jim Chester was re-elected as Independent Examiner. There was no other business. Paul Rawkins 3

Resources for Research Property Survey on the Eve of the Great War

Taxation, like death, is one great certainty, but it can provide a very useful source for the historian. The Finance Act of 1909-10 imposed a duty on increases in land value which resulted from public money spent on communal infrastructure. To facilitate the calculation of this duty, a full survey of land ownership was mounted which provides a unique snapshot of land and property in the Edwardian era. The country was divided into “Income Tax Parishes” with each having a marked-up Ordnance Survey map (example above) and a series of field books – in our case, 34 for Barnes and 56 for Mortlake. The field books provide information on the names of owner and occupier, details of tenancy, the market value of the property, the number of rooms and the state of repair. These records are not available online but can be viewed in the Map Room of the National Archives at . A reader’s ticket is needed and at present advanced booking is necessary and seats limited. The National Archives guide suggests consulting the maps first in order to find the appropriate field book. However, to make the process of finding a particular entry easier, the Society’s website now provides tables for both parishes showing the roads and properties covered by each field book. David Deaton 4

A History of Charles Hailstone’s excellent book has been reissued The reissuing of Charles Hailstone’s book on Hammersmith Bridge could hardly be more timely, as its future is being hotly debated. The original work was an exhaustive history of the bridge up until the mid-1980s, covering everything from the weight of iron used in its construction and the price of the land used for the approach roads, through to various types of damage inflicted on it and the heroism that prevented its destruction. The opening of Tierney Clark’s bridge (pictured) in the 1820s clearly had a huge effect on the local area, just as the closure of its successor has had nearly 200 years later. It is interesting to hear echoes of the current discussions in the historical account, from the role of tolls in financing the bridge through to the necessity for a temporary bridge. There have been concerns about the bridge’s future for many years. In 1927 the Royal Commission on Cross-River Traffic in London recommended that it should be rebuilt to take four lanes of traffic, and in 1938 it was designated a “weak bridge”. In the 1960s it was nearly replaced with a flat deck bridge carrying six lanes of traffic, but despite the Borough of Barnes expressing its willingness to widen Castelnau to accommodate this, it didn’t happen. The text is brought to life with a wealth of drawings, photographs and diagrams. My favourites include a lithograph showing the tollgate and tollhouses on the original bridge and an aerial photo showing the steam boat pier in the 1920s. Bazalgette’s alternative designs for the ornamental tower casings provide a glimpse of what might have been. The editors of the second edition have added a brief epilogue outlining the major developments over the past 33 years. At this pivotal moment in the life of the bridge, we await the next few critical chapters of its story. Hailstone’s book is available from Jane Edwards (details on p15) at £12.00, including postage and packing. Lucy Handscomb

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News and Forthcoming Events

Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held on Thursday 18 March 2021 at 8.00pm at All Saints Church, . Archives and Galleries The November lockdown closed libraries, archives and galleries. Before that they were open with a restricted service and conditions. The following describes the position before the lockdown and may be a useful guide to the likely rules in December, but it is advisable to check before visiting. Local Studies Library and Archive Open by appointment only from Tuesday to Friday. To make an appointment email [email protected] or phone 020 8734 3309 at least one working day in advance (eg Tuesday appointments by the Friday before). At the time of making the appointment you will be asked what papers you wish to consult so that the archivist can prepare them for you. Visitors are met at the front door in Whittaker Avenue and shown up to the Local Studies Room. The National Archives The only facilities open are the first floor reading room and the second-floor map/large document reading room from Tuesday to Friday by appointment. at nationalarchives.gov.uk. Documents must be ordered in advance . A reader’s ticket is required but can be issued to anyone without one. Only two items out of a list of: camera, laptop, tablet or phone, may be taken into the reading rooms. History Centre Open to visitors to access original documents by appointment only on Tuesday to Thursday. To make an appointment email [email protected] or phone 01483 518737. 6

All items from the strongrooms must be ordered at least two working days before the visit. These items can be identified from the online catalogue. No additional items may be ordered during the visit but library items in locked cabinets and open access shelves, including maps, may be requested from duty staff. Gallery The gallery is open from Tuesday to Sunday. The new NHS COVID-19 QR code for track and trace is in use. It will require visitors to down- load the app on to their smart phones. Visitors without smart phones must give their names and contact details on arrival. of Richmond The museum is open Tuesday to Friday, 11.00am to 5.00pm and Saturday 11.00am to 4.00pm for pre-booked visits only. Visits are limited to 45 minutes to allow time for the museum to be cleaned between visits. To book a visit phone 020 8332 1141 or go to: [email protected]. The Environment Trust This is a charity based in East which runs volunteer projects to look after the natural environment, green spaces and our built heritage. Projects in our area are the conservation of the St Leonards Court air raid shelter and an ap- peal to raise money to conserve Sir Richard Burton’s Mausoleum (pictured) to coincide with the bicentenary of his birth in 1821.To find out more go to: [email protected] or phone 07860 878462. Jane Edwards and Marion Earle

7 Barnes Church by John Hassell landscape painter, engraver, illustrator, writer, publisher and drawing-master. He first appeared as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy in 1789 with a View of This 1823 watercolour of St Mary’s Barnes is one of many painted by John Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. He engraved in aquatint and coloured many of his Hassell and his son Edward of our area. A catalogue published by Surrey drawings of local scenery. They were published in various topographical works Archaeological Society lists over 2000 of their pictures including 13 of Barnes notably Picturesque Rides and Walks, with Excursions by Water, Thirty Miles and 18 of Mortlake. John Hassell (1767-1825) was an English watercolour Round the British Metropolis (1817).

John Juxon’s Will Juxon’s Almshouses stand at the Upper Richmond Road end of Milton Road, East Sheen backing on to Church Path. Their origin dates back to the will of John Juxon who died on 17 August 1626. Extracts from the will can be seen at the Surrey History Centre in Woking. John Juxon, a sugar baker and liveryman of the Merchant Taylors’ Company of the City of London, bought the manor of East Sheen and Westhall from Thomas Whitfield in 1619. He left £5 4s a year to the churchwardens of Mortlake out of the rent from the lands and tenements he had bought from Anthony Calcott. The wardens were to use this to pay six pence each to four poor widows every Sunday, two of the widows were to be from Mortlake and two from London, and they were to be placed in four houses or rooms in the parish of Mortlake. In addition he left £3 18s a year to be used to provide the widows with a gown of broadcloth embroidered with two silver Js every three years and a pair of cloth stockings, a pair of shoes and a smock every year. He also left £10 a year to the collectors of the poor so that they could buy coal at the time of year when it was cheapest and sell it on to the poor at the same price when it had become more expensive in the market. John’s son, also John, did not build almshouses for the four widows until ordered to do so by the court in 1631 as a result of an action taken by Sir , director of the Tapestry Works. There is a stone inscription on the side of the present building which records in Latin that the almshouses, built to meet John Juxon’s bequest to poor widows in 1626, were rebuilt by John Whitcombe in 1911. Jane Edwards 10

An Introduction to Royal Heraldry As mentioned in our lead article on the lecture programme, a last minute change to our first talk for the 2020-21 season saw Jane Edwards step into the breach with a fascinating talk about royal heraldry. Royal heraldry began in the 12th century with Richard the Lionheart. At that time the language of the court was Norman French, and that has remained the language of heraldry, so Jane introduced us to an entirely new vocabulary, from “gules” and “or” to “rampant” and “passant”. Heralds were originally people who delivered messages on the battlefield, but because it was difficult to distinguish between knights in suits of armour, they put identifying devices on their shields. Arms were inherited by the eldest son; other sons bore their father’s arms with differences. Edward III, son of Edward II of and Princess Isabel of France, claimed the French throne on the death of her father and quartered the English lions with the French fleur de lis on his shield. English Kings and Queens continued to style themselves as French sovereigns right up until the beginning of the 19th century, by which time France had become a republic. Scotland was first incorporated into the royal coat of arms when James VI of Scotland became James I of England. The Hanoverians collapsed the English and Scottish lions into one quarter in order to make room for the symbols of Brunswick, Hanover, Lüneberg and the crown of Charlemagne. These devices were dropped by , who could not be ruler of Hanover because she was a woman, and her coat of arms is the same as our current Queen’s. The shield (pictured) is divided into four quarters representing England, Scotland, Ireland and England again. A gentleman in the audience remarked upon the omission of Wales, and Jane explained this is because Wales is a principality, not a kingdom. By the end of the talk we had all learned a great deal about royal heraldry, but we are a long way from having Jane’s mastery of her subject. Lucy Handscomb 11

The Story of London’s Docks On 15 October, Jeremy Batch, a dyed-in-the-wool boating enthusiast and one time lock keeper at Limehouse, gave us a highly orchestrated PowerPoint presentation on The Story of London’s Docks. The contours of London’s Docks can be traced back to the Romans in AD 43 and the construction of the first Londinium harbour in AD 50. Numerous incarnations followed until the 16th century when all imports were required to pass through a small number of “Legal Quays” ranged between the and London Bridge. By the late 18th century it was clear that this arrangement was no longer “fit for purpose” and parliament was petitioned to end the 250-year monopoly of the City Legal Quays. The ensuing 1795 West India Dock Act marked a new era for the Port of London.

What followed was the construction of the largest network of inland docks the world had ever seen, starting with the West India Dock, pictured above in 1802, sited on the virgin pasture land of the . London Dock opened in 1805 and East India Dock in 1806. Jeremy acknowledged that the triangular slave trade was a driving force behind this expansion. St Katherine’s Dock made its debut in 1828, followed by Victoria Dock (featuring a novel hydraulic lift) in 1855 and Albert Dock in 1880. The last dock to be constructed was the King George V opened in 1921. Tough times would follow with the General Strike in 1926, World War Two and the Blitz, and the economic ups and downs of the 1970s and 80s. The final nail in the coffin was containerisation. Paul Rawkins 12

The Old Days of Sheen People’s memories of times past are inevitably subjective. Nevertheless, however imperfect they may be, they often evoke the comforting spirit of a bygone age that we can still relate to today. In the early years of the Society, lectures periodically drew on the personal reminiscences of members who had lived in our catchment area all of their lives. Miss E M J Hovenden, daughter of a well-known local doctor, took to the podium in January 1965 to recount her memories of the early 20th century. She grew up in Compton Lodge, a pleasant Victorian house on the Upper Richmond Road where the streets were lit by gas and the calls of street traders like the muffin man could be heard. She remembered the gipsy caravans meandering along the hedge-lined high road and the stage coaches which changed horses at The Bull before continuing their journey to Box Hill. Then there were the early motor cars: her father drove a Stanley steam car, which was not allowed in because of its steam emissions. Colston’s Almshouses, opposite Milestone Green, held a special attraction for a young child – here, old ladies used to look out over their stable-type half doors and chat with neighbours and passers-by. Miss Hovenden’s talk concluded with memories of the orchards bordering the Upper Richmond Road from Blind Lane (now Temple Sheen Road) – depicted opposite by Alfred Betts in 1895 – to the Richmond boundary, and the nearby market gardens, staffed mostly by Irish labourers from Hampton and Columbia Squares. By the early 1900s this bucolic landscape was already poised to disappear under bricks and mortar, a victim of the spread of suburbia. 13

Mrs Gearing Thomas, writing to the Richmond Herald in 1955, conjured up a similar rural idyll. “When we came to Palewell Park some fifty-five years ago, the east side of the road was not yet built. There were fields extending as far as ; and once we had a fair with swings and roundabouts in that space which extended to East Sheen Avenue. All Saints Church did not exist. Some of these meadows were known as Dunkley's meadows on account of Dunkley's cattle grazing there”. Again, Betts captures the scene for us in the adjacent 1901 drawing, Vanishing Palewell. She continued: “My two little girls used to go with their nurse to paddle in Beverley Brook, and play in the hay at hay-making time. They were also thrilled when going to ‘the village’, having to cross a little green with a stile at each corner, and seeing a donkey grazing where now stand Vernon Road, Church Avenue and Howgate Road. “It was a short cut to the station. Church Avenue was called Church Path, and had chestnut fencing on each side as far as South Worple Way, and the railway line could be crossed only on foot through a gate which closed automatically before the passage of steam trains. “In those days, grocers, greengrocers, fishmongers and butchers called in Palewell Park for orders. The milkmen had three rounds per day in two- wheel carts drawn by horses, and the milk (3d a pint) was delivered in pewter cans. The bakers pushed their barrows, and the large loaves only cost two pence-halfpenny each”. Living on Parkside, the big houses located in the vicinity of Sheen Lane provided an endless source of fascination for Mrs Gearing Thomas: “One of them was The Cedars, and another, Temple Sheen College for boys (in fact, she was referring to Temple Grove School), whose chapel was Edgar Hall. Sheen Lodge grounds extended as far as Fife Road. On several occasions I saw Queen Alexandra drive in or out of Sheen Lodge in an open caliche” (a light four-wheeled horse-drawn open carriage). Paul Rawkins

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Contacts

Chairman: Paul Rawkins 30 Bracken Gardens, SW13 9HW Tel: 020 8748 4415 [email protected] Secretary: Jane Edwards 25 Thornton Road, SW14 8NS Tel: 020 8878 3756 [email protected] Treasurer: Peter Hayward 115 East Sheen Avenue, SW14 8AX Tel: 020 8878 9292 [email protected] Membership Secretary: Ann Breeze 6 Glendower Road, SW14 8NY Tel: 020 8878 0629 [email protected] Newsletter Online Distribution: Lucy Handscomb [email protected]

@BMhistorysoc barneshistory

The BMHS website contains news of our lectures and other local events; a timeline of local historical events; details of all our publications and how to buy them; interactive maps; a large collection of pictures; and links to other websites with local history information. You can visit our website at: www.barnes-history.org.uk

If you would like to make a contribution to the newsletter please send your copy to Paul Rawkins or contact him for further details.

Registered Charity Number 292918

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Lecture Programme for 2020-21

Lectures are held at St Mary's Parish Church, Barnes at 8pm except where otherwise stated. Advance booking is essential.

Thursday 10 December: Royal Celebrity and Scandal Tim Millett

Thursday 21 January 2021: Forgotten Boys of the Sea: Marine Society Merchant Sea Apprentices 1772-1873 Caroline Withall Saturday 30 January: Paying the Parson: Exploring Mortlake’s Tithe Map David Deaton This lecture will be held at All Saints Church, East Sheen at 2.30pm Thursday 18 February: Social Change on the Queen’s Road, Richmond Charles Pineles

Thursday 18 March: The Great Stink and Super Sewers Julie Chandler All Saints Church, East Sheen at 8pm and preceded by the AGM Thursday 15 April: Thomas Cromwell: New Perspectives Diarmaid MacCulloch This lecture will be held at St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake at 8pm

Membership Subscriptions for 2021 Members are reminded that their subscriptions for 2021 are due on 1 January. Subscription rates remain unchanged at £10 for an individual or £15 for a couple at the same address. There has been no increase in sub- scription rates since 2008. A renewal form is enclosed with this newsletter. It would be very helpful if you could fill this in even if you are paying by standing order and return it to Ann Breeze, the membership secretary, at the address on the form. Before making a payment by cheque or cash, please check that you have not already set up a standing order – we would not want you to pay twice.

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