Clapham (/ˈklæpəm/) is a district insouth west London, England, lying mostly within theLondon Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (includingClapham Common) extending into the neighbouringLondon Borough of Wandsworth.
The present day Clapham High Street is on the route of aRoman road.[1] The road is recorded on a Roman monumental stone found nearby. According to its inscription, the stone was erected by a man named Vitus Ticinius Ascanius. It is estimated to date from the 1st century AD. (The stone was discovered during building works at Clapham Common South Side in 1912. It is now placed by the entrance of the former Clapham Library, in the Old Town.)[2][3]
According to the history of the Clapham family, maintained by theCollege of Heralds, in 965 KingEdgar of England gave a grant of land at Clapham to Jonas, son of the Duke of Lorraine, and Jonas was thenceforth known as Jonas "de [of] Clapham". The family remained in possession of the land until Jonas's great-great grandson Arthur sided againstWilliam the Conqueror during theNorman Conquest of 1066 and, losing the land, fled to the north (where the Clapham family remained thereafter, primarily inYorkshire).[citation needed]
Clapham's name derives fromOld English, meaning 'homestead or enclosure near a hill', with the first recorded usage beingCloppaham circa 880.[4]
Clapham appears inDomesday Book asClopeham. It was held by Goisfrid (Geoffrey) de Mandeville, and its domesday assets were threehides, sixploughs, and 5.0 acres (2.0 ha) ofmeadow. It rendered £7 10s 0d, and was located inBrixton hundred.[5]
The parish comprised 1,233 acres (499 ha). The benefice remains to this day a rectory, and in the 19th century was in the patronage of theAtkins family: the tithes were commuted for £488 14s. in the early 19th century, and so the remainingglebe comprised only 11 acres (4.5 ha) as of 1848. The church, on the site of the currentSt Paul's and belonging toMerton Priory was, with the exception of the north aisle which was left standing for the performance of burials, taken down under an act of parliament in 1774.[6] A new church,Holy Trinity, was erected in the following year at an expense of £11,000 (equivalent to £1,748,234 in 2023), on the north side of the common.[7]
In the late 17th century, largecountry houses began to be built there, and throughout the 18th and early 19th century it was favoured by the wealthier merchant classes of theCity of London, who built many large and gracious houses and villas aroundClapham Common and in the Old Town.Samuel Pepys spent the last two years of his life in Clapham, living with his friend, protected at the Admiralty and former servantWilliam Hewer, until his death in 1703.[8]
Clapham was also home toElizabeth Cook, the widow ofCaptain James Cook the explorer. She lived in a house at 136 Clapham High Street[9] for many years following the death of her husband.
Other notable residents of Clapham Common includePalace of Westminster architectSir Charles Barry,[10] Norwegian composerEdvard Grieg[11] and 20th century novelistGraham Greene.[12]John Francis Bentley,[13] architect ofWestminster Cathedral, lived in the adjacent Old Town.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, theClapham Sect were a group of wealthy City merchants (mostlyevangelicalAnglican) socialreformers who lived around the Common. They includedWilliam Wilberforce,Henry Thornton andZachary Macaulay, father of the historianThomas Macaulay, as well asWilliam SmithMember of Parliament (MP), theDissenter andUnitarian. They were very prominent in campaigns for theabolition ofslavery andchild labour, and forprison reform. They also promotedmissionary activities inBritain's colonies. The Society for Missions to Africa and the East (as theChurch Mission Society was first called) was founded on 12 April 1799 at a meeting of theEclectic Society, supported by members of the Clapham Sect, who met under the guidance ofJohn Venn, the Rector of Clapham.[14] By contrast, an opponent of Wilberforce, merchant and slave-traderGeorge Hibbert also lived at Clapham Common, worshipping in the same church, Holy Trinity.[15]
In 1848, Clapham was described in theTopographical Dictionary of England as a village which "has for many years, been one of the most respectable in the environs of themetropolis".[6] At this time, the patronage of Holy Trinity church belonged to theAtkins family.[6]
After the coming of therailways, Clapham developed as a suburb for commuters into central London.Clapham High Street railway station opened in 1862 and the undergroundCity and South London Railway was extended to the area in 1900. By 1900 Clapham had fallen from favour with the upper classes. Many of their grand houses had been demolished by the middle of the 20th century, though a number remain around the Common and in the Old Town, as do a substantial number of fine late 18th- and early 19th-century houses. Today's Clapham is an area of varied housing, from the large Queen Anne-, Regency- and Georgian-era homes of the Old Town and Clapham Common, to the grids of Victorian housing in the Abbeville area. As in much of London, the area also includessocial housing on estates dating from the 1930s and 1960s.
In the early 20th century, Clapham was seen as an ordinary commuter suburb, often cited as representing ordinary people: hence the familiar "man on the Clapham omnibus". By the 1980s, the area had undergone a further transformation, becoming the centre for thegentrification of most of the surrounding area. Clapham's relative proximity to traditionally expensive areas of central London led to an increase in the number of middle-class people living in Clapham. Today the area is generally an affluent place, although many of its professional residents live relatively close to significant pockets of social housing.
Clapham was anancient parish in the county of Surrey.[16] Forpoor law purposes the parish became part of the Wandsworth and Clapham Union in 1836.[17] The parish was added to theRegistrar General London Metropolis area in 1844 and consequently it came within the area of responsibility of theMetropolitan Board of Works in 1855. The population of 16,290 in 1851 was considered too small for the Clapham vestry to be a viable sanitary authority and the parish was grouped into theWandsworth District, electing 18 members to the Wandsworth District Board of Works.[18] In 1889 the parish was transferred to theCounty of London and in 1900 it became part of the newMetropolitan Borough of Wandsworth. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1904, becoming part of the single Wandsworth Borough parish for poor law. The former Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth was divided in 1965 and the area of the historic parish of Clapham was transferred to theLondon Borough of Lambeth, along withStreatham.[16] Claphamgave its name to a Parliamentary constituency between 1885 and 1974. Between 1974 and 2024 Clapham was divided between the constituencies ofStreatham andVauxhall. From the2024 General Election Clapham's wards are reunited in the new constituency ofClapham & Brixton.
Translated to the postal system, Clapham fills most of SW4 and as defined, at least since theNorman Conquest until 1885, includes parts of SW8, SW9 and SW12, London.Clapham Common is shared with theLondon Borough of Wandsworth (the border between the two boroughs runs across the common), but Lambeth has responsibility for its management. According to the 2011 census, the Clapham Area has a population of 40,850.[19] For administrative and electoral purposes, Clapham is made up of three Lambeth wards:Clapham Common and Abbeville,Clapham Town andClapham East. Parts of the Clapham East ward like in neighbouringStockwell
Much of southernBattersea is often incorrectly referred to as Clapham, because of the name ofClapham Junction railway station, and to stress Battersea's proximity to Clapham Common, as well as their relative distance from Battersea's historicnucleus.[citation needed] The railway station now known as Clapham Junction was originally named Battersea Junction by its architect to reflect its geographical location.[citation needed]
According to the 2021 census, Clapham has a population of 48,478. White is the largest ethnic group, at 64% of the population, followed by 19% Black.[20] Clapham is home to one of the largest Australian communities in London.
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Clapham Common comprises 220 acres of green space, criss-crossed by footpaths, with three ponds, a Victorian bandstand and a large number of mature trees, including horse chestnuts and a significant avenue of London plane trees along Long Road. It is overlooked by a variety of buildings, including a number of Georgian and Victorian mansions. It also hasHoly Trinity Clapham, an 18th-centuryGeorgian church, important in the history of the evangelicalClapham Sect. Clapham Town comprises Clapham High Street and residential streets including Clapham Manor Street, home to Clapham Leisure Centre, as well as Venn Street with a cinema, restaurants, and a food market held every weekend throughout the year.
The neighbourhood, where used, derives its name from atube station—it has no fixed boundary from the rest of Clapham. Taking any definition in informal use, it is predominantly mid-rise and low-rise residential land, and usually takes in major parts of the Common. Where regard to historic Clapham parish and some street signs is had, this area includes adetached part: the land bounded by Nightingale Square, Oldridge Road and Balham Hill.
Clapham North lies on either side of Clapham Road and borders the relatively modern creation 'Stockwell' in the historic Lambeth parish on Union Road and Stirling Road. There is a "Stockwell Town" Partnership sign north of Union Road demarcating the boundary between Clapham and Stockwell. The northern part of Clapham in the Larkhallward includes the Sibellaconservation area. The southern part is Ferndale ward and includes Landor, Ferndale and Bedford roads leading up to Brixton.
As well as an extensive bus network, which connects the area with much of south and central London, Clapham has three tube stations and two railway stations.
There are two railway stations in the district onLondon Overground'sWindrush line:
London Underground'sNorthern line passes through Clapham, with three stations:
In 2012, theOverground East London line was extended to Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road stations.[21] This links Clapham directly to stations including Shepherds Bush, Canada Water,Shoreditch and Highbury and Islington.
Clapham Junction is one of the major railtransport hubs and network ofrailway junctions in England. There are frequent services toLondon Victoria andLondon Waterloo.
Shopping areas comprise:
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