| Barnes Common | |
|---|---|
 Broom on Barnes Common | |
 Interactive map of Barnes Common | |
| Type | Common land |
| Location | Barnes, London |
| Area | 49.55 hectares (122.4 acres) |
| Open | All year |
| Status | Local Nature Reserve[1] |
 | |
 | |
| Legal status | Not-for-profit membership organisation[2] |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Barnes Common, Barnes, London SW13 0HT |
Main organ | On the Common (newsletter)[3] |
| Affiliations | affiliated to Barnes Community Association and associated with the South West London Environment Network[2] |
| Staff | none |
| Website | barnescommon |
Barnes Common is a local nature reserve oncommon land in the south east ofBarnes, London, England, adjoiningPutney Lower Common to the east and bounded to the south by theUpper Richmond Road.[4] Along withBarnes Green, it is one of the largest zones of common land in London with 49.55 hectares (122.4 acres) of protected commons.[5] It is also alocal nature reserve.[1] Facilities include a full-size football pitch and a nature trail.[1]
The common is made up of mixedbroadleaf woodland,scrubland and acid grassland and is generally flat.[4] It is owned by the Dean and Chapter ofSt Paul's Cathedral, acting through theChurch Commissioners,[4] and managed by theLondon Borough of Richmond upon Thames, advised and assisted by the charity Barnes Common Limited (previously known as Friends of Barnes Common).[1][4][2]
Mill Hill is effectively an enclave of eleven large houses (three of themlisted buildings), surrounded by the Common.
Barnes railway station is just within the common. The common is served byLondon Buses routes33,72,265 and485.[4]
Singer and rock musicianMarc Bolan died on the common on 16 September 1977 when the car carrying him as a passenger slammed into a tree,[6] at what is nowMarc Bolan's Rock Shrine. He was found unconscious in the wreckage of the purpleMini, which, driven by his girlfriend,Gloria Jones, failed to navigate a smallhumpback bridge, near Gipsy Lane on Queens Ride, Barnes, south-west London, lost control and struck a steel-reinforced chain link fence post, and he was pronounced dead at the scene on the arrival of paramedics near the post located in the woods.[citation needed] Jones was critically injured but was conscious after the crash and survived it.
In August 1736, the common hosted a cricket match betweenSurrey andLondon. This is the only time that a reference to the common is found in surviving cricket records.[7]
Parts of the common are the setting forJilly Cooper's diaries, published in 1984 asThe Common Years.[8]
51°28′13″N0°14′13″W / 51.470154°N 0.237007°W /51.470154; -0.237007
