Roehampton is an area in southwest

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in the

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in southwest London; it forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main named areas are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth, Wandsworth ...

. It contains a number of large

council house A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

estates and is home to the

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

Etymology

The ''Roe'' in Roehampton's name is thought to refer to the large number of

rooks Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military *Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

that still inhabit the area.

Location

Roehampton is centred about 6.3 miles (roughly 10 km) south-west of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

. It occupies high land, with

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

to the north,

and

Putney Heath Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 460 ...

to the east, and

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, C ...

and

Richmond Park Golf Course Richmond Park Golf Course, a public, daily fee golf course comprising two 18-hole courses, is located in Richmond Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and is home to Richmond Park Golf Club, Putney Park Golf Club and White Lodge Gol ...

to the west. To the south is Roehampton Vale, that straddles the A3, with

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 460 ...

and

Putney Vale Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

beyond.

History

Roehampton was originally a small village – with only 14 houses during the reign of Henry VII – with the area largely forest and heath. The population gradually increased in the 18th and 19th centuries as it became a favoured residential outlying suburb for summer villas and larger houses set in parkland, following the opening of

Putney Bridge Putney Bridge is a Grade II listed bridge over the River Thames in west London, linking Putney on the south side with Fulham to the north. The bridge has medieval parish churches beside its abutments: St Mary's Church, Putney is built on the s ...

in 1729. Several of the original houses survive.

Roehampton House Roehampton House is a Grade I listed house at Roehampton Lane, Roehampton, London. What is now the central block of the current building was built between 1710 and 1712 by the architect Thomas Archer and named Roehampton House. It was built on b ...

(Grade I) by

Thomas Archer Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque architec ...

was built between 1710–12 and enlarged by

Sir Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memoria ...

in 1910. Until 2008, it was the administrative centre for Queen Mary's Hospital. The building was Grade I Listed in 1978 when it was still being used by the hospital. It was subsequently developed into private flats.

Parkstead House Parkstead House, formerly known as Manresa House and Bessborough House, is a neo-classical Palladian villa in Roehampton, London, built in the 1760s. The house and remaining grounds are now Whitelands College, part of the University of Roehampto ...

(Grade I), built in 1760 for

William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough (1704 – 11 March 1793) was a British politician and public servant. He was an Irish and English peer and member of the House of Lords (styled Hon. William Ponsonby from 1723 to 1739 and Viscount Dunca ...

, was the home of the socialite

Caroline Lamb Caroline Lamb has served as the Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director General of Health and Social Care directorates since 2021. Early life Lamb studied at the King's College London, before training as a chartered accountant with K ...

before being acquired in 1861 for use as a seminary by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and renamed Manresa House.

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...

, the Jesuit poet, lived there. Parkstead House is now owned by

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

, as are a number of other surviving 18th century houses. These include Mount Clare (Grade I) built in 1772 for George Clive, cousin of

Lord Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...

; Grove House (Grade II*), built originally for Sir Joshua Vanneck in 1777 –

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

is reputed to have laid out the grounds; and Downshire House (Grade II*) built in 1770 and once occupied by the

Marquess of Downshire Marquess of Downshire is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, a former Secretary of State. Hill had already been created Earl of Hillsborough and Viscount Kilwarlin of County Down ...

. Templeton House, a Georgian mansion, was built in the 1780s and its first resident was Lady Elizabeth Templetown. In 1930, the building was converted into student flats; during both World Wars, it was used as a hospital. From the winter of 1919 to spring 1920,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

lived at Templeton House while it was owned by

Freddie Guest Frederick Edward "Freddie" Guest, (14 June 1875 – 28 April 1937) was a British politician best known for being Chief Whip of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party, 1917–1921. He was also Secretary of State for Air be ...

and his wife Amy. After its sale in 2010, the new owners again converted the building into a single family home, with the exterior also restored. Some of the filming for series 3 of

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. The series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on P ...

was completed at Templeton House. Originally a part of Putney

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

, Roehampton became a separate parish in 1845, after the building of Holy Trinity Church on Roehampton Lane in 1842. The

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

founded St Joseph Church in Roehampton in 1869 from the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

that became

Whitelands College Whitelands College is the oldest of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton. History Whitelands College is one of the oldest higher education institutions in England (predating every university except Oxford, Cambridge, Lo ...

. The Maharajah

Duleep Singh Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI (4 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son ...

lived for a time in Ashburton House in Roehampton with the family of Sir

John Spencer Login Sir John Spencer Login (9 November 1809 – 18 October 1863) was a Scottish surgeon in British India, best remembered as the guardian of Maharajah Duleep Singh and the Koh-i-Noor diamond following the annexation of Punjab and Last Treaty of Laho ...

and Lady

Lena Login Lena, Lady Login ( Campbell; 1820 – 17 April 1904) was a Scotland, Scottish courtier and author. She was involved with educating Duleep Singh, deposed maharaja of the Sikhism, Sikh kingdom of the Punjab, when he was still a child, and later with ...

. Lady Login wrote in her memoirs that the Prince Consort and the Prince of Wales visited him there on one occasion. Much of the old village of Roehampton still remains, dominated by large detached houses. An old watering trough for Victorian carriage-horses exists at the junction of Medfield Street and Roehampton Lane.

Council housing

The

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

(LCC) built the Roehampton Estate in the 1920s and 1930s (later renamed the Dover House Estate) and the

Alton Estate The Alton Estate is a large council estate situated in Roehampton, southwest London. One of the largest council estates (public housing) in the UK, it occupies an extensive area of land west of Roehampton village and runs between the Roehampton ...

in the 1950s, covering many of the large gardens and woodlands in the area.

Dover House Estate Dover House Estate is one of a number of important London County Council cottage estates inspired by the Garden city movement. The land was previously the estates of two large houses, ''Dover House'' and ''Putney Park House'', which were purchase ...

is one of a number of important

cottage estates inspired by the

Garden City Movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

. The land was previously the estates of two large houses, ''Dover House'' and ''Putney Park House'', which were purchased by the LCC soon after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Dover House was demolished for the new estate, but

Putney Park House Putney Park House is a Grade II listed house at 69 Pleasance Road, Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of ...

remains. The common characteristic of the LCC cottage estates is picturesque housing influenced by the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

style. It was the intention at Dover House Estate to create housing in groups that overlooked or had access to open space, to provide a sense of intimacy and individuality, and the estate was laid out with communal green spaces. Allotments were also provided in three backland areas behind houses, two of which remain, the third subsequently infilled by housing. Alton Estate Roehampton London

The

, one of the largest council estates in the UK, occupies an extensive swathe of land west of Roehampton village and runs between Roehampton Lane and Richmond Park Golf Course. The estate has a mix of low and high-rise

modernist architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

consisting of Alton East (1958) styled a subtle

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n-influenced

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

and its slightly later brutalist counterpart: Alton West (1959). At Highcliffe Drive on Alton West the LCC essentially retained the Georgian landscape and placed within it five ultra modern slab blocks: Binley, Winchfield, Dunbridge, Charcot and Denmead Houses, (all grade II*) inspired by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

Unite d'Habitation Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

. At the time of its completion in 1958, Alton West was considered by many British architects to be the crowning glory of post-World War II council housing. The estate is now part of a regeneration scheme with a number of government initiatives such as '' SureStart'' helping to tackle issues of poverty and social exclusion.

Recent history and today

Roehampton contains a number of

conservation areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

, covering much of the Alton and Dover House estates, and the centre of Roehampton Village. This includes the King's Head Inn, at the foot of Roehampton High Street and the

Montague Arms The Montague Arms is a Grade II listed building at 3 Medfield Street, Roehampton, London. Previously a public house, it dates to the 17th century, although has been altered since. The pub was closed in 2006 and converted to offices, and later ...

, Medfield Street, both of 17th century origin. In 2007,

Justine Greening Justine Greening (born 30 April 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education from 2016 to 2018. Prior to that, she served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2010 to 2011, Secretary of State for Transport ...

, the local

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, secured a commitment to install a pedestrian entrance to Richmond Park from the Alton Estate. A footpath and cycleway from Chohole Gate to Richmond Park was opened in 2014. Roehampton is home to a number of well-known educational institutions: the

has approximately 10,500 students housed in 4 colleges and around 4,000 students studying online; the new Queen Mary's Hospital with its renowned amputee rehabilitation centre opened in 2006 is a teaching centre for medical students based in Wandsworth NHS Primary Care Trust;

Kingston University , mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress" , established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute , type = Public , endowment = £2.3 m (2015) , ...

has one of its campuses in Roehampton Vale;

South Thames College South Thames Colleges Group (STCG) is a large further education institution operating four colleges in south-west London: South Thames College, Kingston College, Merton College, and Carshalton College. The four main campuses are in Wandsworth, ...

also has a campus on Roehampton Lane. It has long been a major centre for teacher-training, being the site of two constituent colleges (

Digby Stuart College Digby Stuart College is one of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton. The college was established in 1874 as Wandsworth College, a women's teacher training college, by the Roman Catholic Society of the Sacred Heart, an or ...

and

Froebel College Froebel College is one of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton. History The college was founded as a women's teacher training college in 1892 by followers of Friedrich Fröbel. The Froebel Society had been formed in 1874 ...

) of the former federal Roehampton Institute of Higher Education (now the University of Roehampton), as well as

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...

's only lecturer-training college (

Garnett College Garnett College was a higher education college in London which trained lecturers in further and higher education colleges. Its main focus was on teaching towards post-graduate qualifications awarded by the Council for National Academic Awards (CN ...

) which eventually moved and became part of the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

. Apart from education, other notable institutions based here include:

The Priory The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as The Priory, is a private mental health hospital in South West London. It was founded in 1872 and is now part of the Priory Group, which was acquired in 2011 by an American private equity firm ...

Clinic; the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

Sports Centre; Rosslyn Park Rugby Football Club; and the

Roehampton Club The Roehampton Club is a private members’ sports club in Roehampton in southwest London, England. It is set in of parkland, close to Richmond Park. Originally established in 1901 as an officers’ polo club, the Roehampton Club has sporting and ...

. The

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...

(ITF) moved to Roehampton from Baron's Court in 1998, and in 2007 the

Lawn Tennis Association The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Founded in 1888, the LTA promotes all levels of lawn tennis. It believes that tennis can provide "physical ...

moved to a newly built headquarters next to the ITF.

Demography

In the 2011 census, the Wandsworth ward of Roehampton and Putney Heath did not record a single majority ethnic group. The largest ethnicity in the ward was

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...

at 45%, followed by

Other White The term Other White is a classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom and has been used in documents such as the 2011 UK Census to describe people who self-identify as white (chiefly European) persons who are not of the English, Welsh, S ...

(18.4%),

Black African Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...

(7.9%), and Other Asian (4.6%). In 2011, 59.1% of people living in Roehampton and Putney Heath were born in England. The other most common census responses were those born in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(5.6%),

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

(1.8%),

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

(1.6%), the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(1.6%),

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

(1.2%),

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

(1.1%),

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(1.0%), and

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

(1.0%). The religious make up of Roehampton and Putney Heath is 52.9%

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 23.6% No religion, 11.1%

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 1.4%

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 1.1%

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, 0.7%

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, 0.4%

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

, and 0.2%

Agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

Transport

Roehampton is served by bus route 170 (to Victoria), 265 (to Putney and Tolworth), 493 (to Richmond and Tooting), 430 (to South Kensington) and 85 (to Putney and Kingston).

and

are the nearest railway stations. Roehampton University has campaigned to have nearby Barnes station renamed ''Barnes & Roehampton'', as the station is situated between the two areas.

Depiction in fiction, film and television

Roehampton is an important location within H.G. Wells' novel ''

The Sleeper Awakes ''The Sleeper Awakes'' is a dystopian science fiction novel by English writer H. G. Wells, about a man who sleeps for two hundred and three years, waking up in a completely transformed London in which he has become the richest man in the world ...

''. Roehampton (along with 5 other locations in London; namely

Wimbledon Park Wimbledon Park is the name of an urban park in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon and also of the suburb south and east of the park and the Wimbledon Park tube station. The park itself is in area. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is immedi ...

, Norwood,

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

and

Shooter's Hill Shooter's Hill (or Shooters Hill) is a district in South East London within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It borders the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north of Eltham and south of Woolwich. With a height of , it is the highest point in t ...

) form a series of rudimentary airports known as "Flying Stages". The Flying Stage at Roehampton is the scene for a major battle within the plot. The Alton Estate has featured as a film and television location. ''

Fahrenheit 451 ''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often regarded as one of his best works, ''Fahrenheit 451'' presents an American society where books have been personified and outlawed and "firemen" burn any that ar ...

'' (1966) used some of the estate as its backdrop for a bleak dystopian society of the future and

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

's film division

Euston Films Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network. ...

used the Danebury Avenue area of the estate to film the opening scenes of ''

Sweeney 2 ''Sweeney 2'' is a 1978 British action crime drama film. It was made as a sequel to the successful 1977 film '' Sweeney!.'' Both films are an extension of the popular British ITV television series '' The Sweeney'' (1975–78). Some of the actio ...

'' (1978), the sequel to the film ''

Sweeney! ''Sweeney!'' is a 1977 British action crime drama film and extension of the ITV television series ''The Sweeney'' which aired on ITV from 1975 to 1978. The film did well enough at the box office that a sequel, ''Sweeney 2'', was released in cine ...

'' (1977).

Notable residents

James Beck Stanley James Carroll Beck (21 February 1929 – 6 August 1973) was an English actor who played the role of Private Walker, a cockney spiv, in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'' from the show's beginning in 1968 until his sudden death in 1973. Ea ...

(1929-1973), actor *

Sam Bird Sam Jamie Bird (born 9 January 1987) is a British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship. Career Formula BMW Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula BM ...

, racing driver *

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards. ...

, actress *

Simon Le Bon Simon John Charles Le Bon (born 27 October 1958) is a British singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the new wave band Duran Duran and its offshoot Arcadia. Le Bon has received three Ivor Novello Awards from the British ...

, lead singer of

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

* Earl of Cork and Orrery, author * Gwendolen Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk * William Harvey, physician (discovered the principles of blood circulation) * Jack Hawkins, actor *

, poet * Roy Kinnear, actor * Dawid Malan, cricketer (Middlesex County Cricket Club, MCCC) * William Pitt the Younger, prime minister * Brian Rix, farceur * Ryan Sessegnon, footballer * Sir Joseph Simpson (police officer), Joseph Simpson, Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Metropolitan Police * Peter Westbury, racing driver

Nearest places

Bibliography

* ''Putney and Roehampton, A Brief History'' The Putney Society, (1992) * ''Putney and Roehampton Past'' D J Gerhold, (1994) * ''Putney in 1636 Nicholas Lane's Map'' D J Gerhold, (1994) * ''Villas and Mansions of Roehampton and Putney Heath'' D J Gerhold, (1997) * ''Roehampton in 1617 The Village Surveyed'' Dorian Gerhold, (2001)

References

External links

Local History
London Borough of Wandsworth {{authority control Roehampton, Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Wandsworth