Clapham, Surrey

Historical Description

Clapham, a metropolitan suburb, a parish, and parliamentary borough in Surrey. The suburb lies 4 miles SSW of St Paul's, London. It took its name from Osgod Clopa' or Clapa the Danish jarl, and was known at Domesday as Clopeham. It stood for ages as a detached village, but is now united with London through Lambeth, and it has long been a favourite residence. It consists largely of villas in many styles and of all descriptions. Clapham Common, an area of 200 acres, was an almost impassable marsh till about 1760, but is now dried by drains, intersected with carriage-drives, and tastefully adorned with trees and shrubs. Clapham New Park also is an ornate area, and both are surrounded with elegant dwellings. Holy Trinity Church was built in 1775 at a cost of £11,000, is a plain brick edifice, and contains the ashes of Dr Martin Lister, Dr Gillies the historian of Greece, and Bishop Jebb. St Paul's Church was built in 1814, on the site of the old parish church, which belonged to Merton priory, and it contains a monument for John Wilson by Chantrey, and has, against the exterior wall, a monument removed from the old church, of Treasurer Hewer of the time of Charles II., the "Will Hewer" of Pepys's Journal. There are various other churches and places of worship for all denominations of dissenters. The Freemasons' school, close to Clapham Junction railway station, is a red brick structure with a tower, and has accommodation for upwards of 300 daughters of deceased Freemasons. Nicholas Brady and Blackwall were rectors of Clapham; Lowman was a dissenting minister here for forty years, and Bishop Gauden, Henry Thomton, G. Sharp, W. Smith, and other distinguished men were residents. The parish comprises 1137 acres; population in 1841, 12,106; 1861, 20,894; 1891, 43,698. The population of the parliamentary borough is 96,021.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

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.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Clapham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Clapham (Holy Trinity))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Surrey is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Clapham 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:

• Surrey Mirror
• Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
• Surrey Advertiser

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Surrey, 1662-1668 is available on the Heraldry page.