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You can trace the history of Clapham back well
over a thousand years to a fairly insignificant
ninth century collection of cottages on a hill.
Over the next few centuries the huddle of cottages
rapidly grew into a thriving Surrey village.
The original village of Clapham was centred on
the area around Rectory Grove (to the north of
the Old Town) and the original parish church stood
on the site of the present St Paul's in that street.
North Street was the main road leading into the
village.
On the other side of the village lay what is
now the Common which owes its existence to the
poor quality of the soil there (since much improved).
While the land around it was converted to agricultural
use, the scrubby area that was to become the Common
was shunned.
The existence of the High Street itself owes
as much to Rome as it does to some ninth century
hut dwellers. It is in fact an ancient "diversion"
of the Roman military road Stane Street, which
ran from London to Chichester. This road followed
the line of Clapham Road and then onward along
the line of Abbeville Road. Whether the road originally
kinked here is not known, but the straight line
would have taken it close to a shallow valley
bottom that would have inevitably become boggy.
Even the Romans, with their love of straight roads,
must have quickly realised this was an unpromising
line for their road. Sadly history does not tell
us whether or not there were yellow diversion
signs in latin, but thanks to a small stream the
High Street is where it is today.
Whatever the case the main street from London
to the South West has long followed its current
High Street route. With quite modest houses dating
from the middle and early 18th Century quite a
way down the High Street (numbers 101 to 107 and
94 to 96) it is obvious that Clapham had become
a significant village by 1700. (Enlargement had
been speeded by the rush out from the city after
the plague and the Great Fire of London in 1666.)
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In fact by the late 17th century grander new
houses had started to appear some way away from
the village proper. These were the original Clapham
yuppies, merchants and professional men who wanted
to move out of the squalor of the city, but who
still needed to be close enough to easily get
into town to conduct business. Then, as now, the
focus of the real money was in houses around the
edges of the Common.
This trend really took off in the 18th century
when many grand houses were built. (Sadly most
of these were torn down to make way for later
developments.)
In the 19th century, with the arrival of public
transport, a new wave of development began with
entrepreneurs developing whole new streets of
houses for the gentry.
But the price of transport was still high. In
the 1830s stage coaches were replaced by horse-drawn
omnibuses but the fares were still out of reach
of most ordinary folk. But in 1871, when the first
horse drawn tram service arrived, "the common
man" could afford the cost of transport to and
from London. With the advent of 1900 the "tube"
reached Clapham and the village had finally, and
irrevocably, been cemented in as a part of London
proper. It is perhaps no coincidence that Clapham
experienced a significant downturn in the latter
part of the 19th century just as it became accessible.
The transformation from an exclusive suburb, to
a more prosaic role was painful for the parish.
The 20th century has seen Clapham continue to
transform. Most of the larger houses have now
gone, with several smaller properties built in
their place. The Second World War transformed
the area and especially the High Street. The two
huge entrances to the deep shelters are a blot
on the landscape and significant bomb damage opened
up many development opportunities at significant
cost. (We will be developing a separate section
on Clapham during the War, probably next year.)
If you would like to contribute to future history
pages. Please get in touch.
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