Streatham, Surrey
Historical Description
Streatham, a village and a parish in Surrey. The village is included in the parliamentary borough of Wandsworth, and has four stations on the L.B. & S.C.R.-viz., Streatham, Streatham Hill, Streatham Common, and Balham-and stands 6 miles SSW of London. It derives its name from its situation as a ham or village on the Roman street or road, and is mentioned in Domesday. The parish contains also Upper Tooting, Streatham Common, and Balham, and it includes a detached tract called Knights Hill, between Lambeth and Camberwell. Acreage, 2914; population, 42,972. There are numerous good residences. Streatham Park was the seat of the Thrales, and was long the domicile of Dr Johnson. The church was rebuilt in 1830, and its spire in 1842. The parish has been divided into eight ecclesiastical districts other than the mother parish of St Leonard-viz., Emmanuel, Christchurch, St Mary's, Holy Trinity, St Peter's, St. Alban's, St Aurelius', and St Andrew's. The populations and values of the livings of these parishes are given in the article LONDON. There are Wesleyan, Congregational, Presbyterian,. and Baptist chapels, an endowed school, almshouses, a British home for incurables opened in 1894, a home for penitent fallen women, and numerous other charities. In 1650 a cathartic mineral spring, known as Streatham Wells, was discovered on the east side of the village. Streatham Common' is about 60 acres in extent.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Surrey | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Streatham St. Leonard | |
Hundred | Brixton | |
Poor Law union | Wandsworth |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Surrey History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Surrey online.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Streatham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Streatham (St. Leonard))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Surrey is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Streatham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Surrey papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Surrey, 1662-1668 is available on the Heraldry page.