Wandsworth (All Saints)

WANDSWORTH (All Saints), a parish, and the head of a union, in the W. division of the hundred of Brixton, E. division of Surrey, 6 miles (S. W.) from London; containing 7614 inhabitants. The name is derived from the river Wandle, which falls into the Thames here. The town consists chiefly of one street, occupying the declivities of two hills, on each of which are several mansions of a superior description; the inhabitants are supplied with water from springs. The manufactures comprise scarlet-dyeing, established at Wandsworth for more than a century; hat-making, introduced by some French emigrants who settled here in the time of Louis XIV.; the making of bolting-cloths, the printing of kerseymeres and silk handkerchiefs, the whitening and pressing of stuffs, and calico-printing. There are also three corn-mills, and some mills for the preparation of iron, white-lead, and linseed-oil, now on the decline; some vinegar-works, distilleries, and a large brewery; the whole furnishing employment to several hundred persons. The Richmond railway crosses the valley of the Wandle by a brick viaduct 1000 feet long, consisting of 22 arches, three of which are of 70 feet span each: here is a station. An act was passed in 1846 for a railway from Wandsworth to Croydon. A fair is held on Whit-Monday, for cattle, horses, and pigs; and there is a pleasure-fair on the two following days. The town is under the metropolitan police: pettysessions for the Western division of the hundred of Brixton are held here every Saturday; and the powers of the county debt-court of Wandsworth, established in 1847, extend over the two registration-districts of Richmond, and Wandsworth and Clapham. The parish comprises 2245a. 3r. 4p., of which about 463 acres are arable, 1020 meadow and pasture, 131 in market-gardens, and 201 common and waste.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £15. 5. 5.; net income, £840; patron, the Rev. Dr. Pemberton; impropriators, the Trustees of Marshall's charity. The church is a plain brick structure in the Grecian style, built in 1780, with the exception of the square tower at the west end; it contains several monuments. An additional church, also in the Grecian style, capable of accommodating nearly 2000 persons, and dedicated to St. Anne, was erected in 1822, at an expense of £14,600, by Her Majesty's Commissioners for building new churches: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £270; patron, the Vicar. The parish has been divided into two ecclesiastical parishes, under the 16th section of the act 58th George III., c. 45. There is also a chapel, with a parsonage-house, in the hamlet of Summer's-Town, the former erected at the cost of James Gordon and Joshua Stanger, Esqrs., and the latter at the sole expense of Mr. Stanger, who also gave about half an acre of garden-ground: the minister is appointed by the latter gentleman. The Baptists, the Society of Friends, the Independents, and Wesleyans, have places of worship; and there is a Roman Catholic chapel, consecrated in November 1847. In a school belonging to the Society of Friends, Sir John Barnard, the eminent citizen, was educated. The first Presbyterian congregation established in the kingdom was at this place, in the year 1572. On the south-west portion of the common is the Surrey Pauper-Lunatic Asylum, erected in 1841, at an expense of nearly £65,000, after a design by Mr. W. Moseley, and having 96 acres of land attached. It is a spacious and handsome building of red brick with stone dressings, in the Elizabethan style, 535 feet in length, and consisting of a centre and two wings, the latter projecting 85 feet from the line of the principal range, of which the central portion has also a projection of 47 feet. Fifteen watermen of the parish receive £4 per annum each, the produce of bequests; and amongst the miscellaneous charities, those of the famous Alderman Smith, who was born and buried here, deserve particular notice, extending not only to Wandsworth, but to most of the parishes in the county. The poorlaw union of Wandsworth and Clapham comprises six parishes, and contains a population of 39,853. In Garratt or Garrett lane, between Wandsworth and Tooting, a mock election used to be held after every parliamentary election, to which Foote's dramatic production of "the Mayor of Garratt" has given celebrity. Mulberry Cottage, on the common, was the residence of Grose the antiquary.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.