Putney Lower Common is a part of Wimbledon and Putney Commons, lying about 1.5 miles north of the rest, between the Lower Richmond Road and the River Thames.
Putney was probably settled during the Roman occupation. Lower Richmond Road was probably a Roman Road, and the Lower Common was probably an open pasture and farmland.
Land was apparently lost in the 19th century when Elm Lodge was built. This was rebuilt in 1912 as Putney Hospital. The common also includes Putney Lower Common Cemetery which was established in 1858.
In 1871 the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Act was passed which prevented further building. The Common still provides traditional activities associated with commons before they were overtaken urbanisation and enclosure - cricket is played in the summer and there is a fairground on bank holidays. In the south-east corner lies All Saints' Church, built in 1874. The number 22 bus route begins at the Spencer Arms, at the North East corner of the common.
Famous quotes containing the word common:
“In the whole vast dome of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind of prescriptive fury which arms all the creatures to their common doom: as soon as you leave the inanimate kingdom you find the decree of violent death inscribed on the very frontiers of life.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)