Long-time London resident and avid museum and theatre-goer. I started this blog in 2014, and got serious about it in 2020 when I realised how much I missed arts and culture during lockdowns. I go to a lot more events than anyone would think is sensible, and love sharing my thoughts in the forms of reviews, the occasional thought piece, and travel recommendations when I leave my London HQ.
A description of a walking tour around Battersea, following a 1970s guidebook. An autumnal stroll reveals that there is much more to Battersea than parks and power stations.
The book we will follow in today’s walk is Discovering London Villages by John Wittich, published in 1976.
Discovering Battersea
It has been a while since I have published any walks from the assorted 1970s books of John Wittich, but autumn is quite a nice time to go out exploring. In London this time of year often means crisp, sunny days – perfect for a leisurely stroll. On this particular day I was also after a walk that would keep me out of central London as the marathon was taking place. So I settled on Battersea: easily reachable by train from my home in South East London, and not somewhere I have spent much time.
The prominence of Battersea Power Station in the London landscape lulled me into a false sense of security that I knew what Battersea was about. A power station. A cats’ and dogs’ home. A park. I was convinced that, out of all the walks I’ve done from these books, this one would be changed beyond all recognition. The area around the power station certainly is. In the time I’ve lived in London it’s gone from derelict post-industrial wasteland to an urban area teeming with new build flats, and even its own brand new tube station.
But I was wrong. I had overlooked the fact that the power station is at one end of Battersea, and that there was an original village somewhere. This is what John Wittich takes us to explore. Some things have changed, beyond a doubt, but it’s still possible to see the bones of Battersea as a nice little riverside community. Read on to see some of these sights for yourselves, including a Dutch-style pub that welcomed a king, and a church that connects Turner, William Blake and Benedict Arnold.
Battersea Power Station to Battersea Park
Battersea Power Station is where our walk today begins. As you can see, however, this photo is a bit of a cheat, as I took it from the train on the way home. I think it gives a good perspective nonetheless on the views you can still get of the station and the ongoing construction works. When Wittich wrote his book, Battersea Power Station was still providing electricity as far as Greenwich, Maidenhead and Chesham. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s design didn’t require cooling towers, as the station also provided central heating to the Pimlico Estate. Battersea Power Station was decommissioned in the 1980s, and stood empty until 2014.
The other notable institution over on this side of Battersea, and which I also photographed from the train, is the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. Mary Tealby founded it in 1860 to do something for the thousands of stray dogs then on London’s streets. It started life in North London before moving to Battersea in 1871. By the 1970s over 2 million dogs had been rehomed by the charity, with a condition of purchase being that you would not use the dog for experiments or public entertainment (!). Cats have also been taken in here since 1883.
Battersea Park is on the site of former market gardens. Market gardening was the original usage of this area, which actually dates back to the Domesday Book under the name Patricsey Island (Peter’s Island). It was marshy land owned by the monks of Westminster Abbey and later the Spencer family. This area produced a lot of London’s medicinal herbs as well as making early forays into asparagus. The first Duke of Wellington also fought a duel here. The marshland was filled in with earth from the excavation of London Docks.
Battersea Park (Continued) to Battersea Square
Something Wittich does not mention (because it did not exist then) is this peace pagoda. Something like this seems like it should be older, but dates to the mid 1980s. It is the work of Nichidatsu Fujii, a buddhist monk and founder of a buddhist religious order. This is one of 80 peace pagodas gifted to cities around the world. Volunteers completed its construction in 1985. In the background of the first image you can see the Albert Bridge, one of the few surviving 19th Century suspension bridges over the Thames. It is the work of R. M. Ordish who also designed the roof of St Pancras Station.
In 1951 the Festival of Britain took over a large part of Battersea Park for its pleasure gardens. They showed a lighter side to the Festival and long outlived it, only closing in the mid 1970s. They look like a lot of fun in these pictures.
And now onwards to Battersea Village proper! The first sight we come to is the Sir Walter St John School. The St John family were important around these parts and will crop up again. The school dates to 1700, and was the only school in the area for a long time. It was originally ‘for the education of twenty free scholars.’ The motto over the doorway is the St John family motto. The building is not original – there were major expansion works in 1859 and 1915.
And then we come to the former village square. Many London suburbs which were once villages still have rather nice squares or greens. This isn’t one of them. It’s sort of like a giant traffic island – its original purpose largely forgotten. There are some nice cafes around though, and benches in the sun.
The Raven to the Church of St Mary the Virgin
On Battersea Square, Wittich told me to look out for a Dutch-style gabled pub called The Raven. I couldn’t find The Raven, but this is Dutch-style and definitely a former pub. The point of locating The Raven was that Charles II apparently came here after taking the ferry from Chelsea. “Doubtless”, says Wittich, “he had been to see the lovely Nell Gwynne.”
For me the star attraction of this Battersea walk was the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin. It is a lovely 1777 building at a peaceful spot by the river. William Blake was married here. William Wilberforce witnessed a different marriage. Turner would sit in the vestry (third image) and paint the sunset. Benedict Arnold is even buried here. I’m only sorry that I couldn’t go inside to see the apparently amazing stained glass (we visited on a Sunday).
Right next to the churchyard is Church Dock, a local hithe (which as we recall is a place to land small boats). Locals cut this hithe into the river bank to unload their goods from barges and lighters.
A look back at the Church of St Mary from the riverfront walk.
Vicarage Crescent to The Castle
Back towards Battersea Square are a few historic buildings which indicate the types of homes that were once typical in this area. The cream building is Devonshire House. This is an 18th Century house with original iron gate and railings and some original panelling inside. Next door is the former vicarage. The blue plaque commemorates Edward Adrian Wilson, who died on Scott’s ill-fated South Pole expedition.
Just around the corner from the houses we just saw is Old Battersea House, which some say is a Christopher Wren design. In the 1930s its tenants were Colonel and Mrs Stirling, the latter being the sister of Evelyn de Morgan. Their home became a de facto museum for their collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings and works by Evelyn and William de Morgan. When Wittich was writing in the 1970s he hoped that Old Battersea House would become a museum for their collection. This has obviously not happened, but Mrs Stirling’s collection did became the basis of the De Morgan Foundation
And to finish, a site that shows that things change in London as much as they stay the same. This was formerly the site of The Castle pub. To begin with, it was a 16th Century tavern. In the 1970s when Wittich was writing, a newer pub had replaced the original one, but the Tudor sign still hung outside. And now, even this replacement pub has been replaced, this time by a childcare centre and flats. I looked online, but couldn’t find any indication of what happened to the pub sign.
And that brings our Battersea walk to an end, as we head back across the park to Victoria station and home. Unlike many of my London walks which have shone a new light on an area I was somewhat familiar with, this one was fun because Battersea was brand new to me. I hope you enjoyed it too!
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One thought on “A Walking Tour Of Battersea, London”
One thought on “A Walking Tour Of Battersea, London”