Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CLAPHAM

CLAPHAM, a metropolitan suburb, a parish, and a sub-district, in Wandsworth district, Surrey. The suburb lies 4 miles SSW of St. Paul's, London; has a station, jointly with North Stockwell, on the Metropolitan Extension railway; has also a station, of the name of Clapham Junction, with telegraph, on the Southwestern railway; and has likewise a post office‡ under London S, with a number of subordinate offices and letter-boxes. It took 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 of London merchants. It consists largely of villas, in many styles and of all descriptions. Clapham Common, an area of about 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. All Saints church was erected in 1859, at a cost of £9, 490; Christ church, in 1862, at a cost £4, 700; St. Saviour's church, Clapham Common, in 1864, at a cost of £10, 000; and all three are in the decorated English style, and the last is cruciform and imposing. St. James' and St. John's churches also are modern erections. There are places of worship for. various bodies of dissenters; and one of these, an United Presbyterian church, built in 1863, at a cost of £7, 000, is a handsome Grecian edifice, with a lofty hexastyle Corinthian portico. The Freemasons' Orphan school, Close to the railway station, is a red brick structure with a tower. The British Orphan asylum, near St. John's church, was founded in 1827. Nicholas Brady and Blackwall were rectors of Clapham; Lowman was a dissenting minister here for 40 years; and Bishop Gauden, Henry Thornton, G. Sharp, W. Smith, and other distinguished men were residents. -The parish comprises 1, 233 acres. Real property, £120, 390. Pop. in 1841, 12, 106; in 1861, 20, 894. Houses, 3, 404. Holy Trinity is a rectory, St. P., Chr., St. James, and St. John are vicarages, and All Saints is a p. curacy, in the diocese of Winchester. Value of Holy Trinity, £1, 275; * of St. Paul, £300; of Chr. and St. James, each £500; of St. John, £430; of All Saints, £530.* Patron of Holy Trinity, H. A. Bowyer, Esq.; of St. Paul, Christ church, and St. John, the Rector; of St. James and All Saints, Trustees.—The sub-district is conterminate with the parish.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a metropolitan suburb, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Clapham Holy Trinity CP/AP       Clapham SubD       Surrey AncC
Place names: CLAPHAM     |     CLOPEHAM
Place: Clapham

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