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Battersea in Surrey County England History and GeographyBATTERSEA, a parish partly in the eastern, but chiefly in the western division of the hundred of BRIXTON, county of SURREY, 4 miles (S.) from London, containing, with the hamlet of Penge, 4992 inhabitants. This place, in Domesday-book called Patricesey, or Peters-ey, was so named from having anciently belonged to the abbey of St. Peter, at Westminster: it was formerly of much greater extent than it is at present. The family of St. John had a venerable mansion here, of which there are still some remains: it was the favourite resort of Pope, who, when visiting his friend, Lord Bolingbroke, usually selected as his study a parlour wainscotted with cedar, and overlooking the Thames, in which he is said to have composed some of his celebrated works. The village is pleasantly situated on the southern bank of the river, over which there is a wooden bridge connecting it with Chelsea: the houses are irregularly built, and in detached situations; the inhabitants are supplied with water from springs. The neighbourhood has long been celebrated for the production of vegetables for the London market, and especially for the growth of asparagus, which was first cultivated here; but the quantity of land appropriated to that purpose has, within the last twenty years, been considerably diminished. On part of the site of Bolingbroke house, a horizontal air-mill was erected in 1790, of a conical form, 140 feet in height, and having a mean diameter of 50 feet: it was originally applied to the grinding of linseed for oil, and subsequently of malt for the distilleries, which were at that time in extensive operation here. A silk manufactory has recently been established, but the principal business is confined to the market gardeners, of whom there is still a considerable number in the neighbourhood. There is no market, and the fair, which was held at Easter, has been lately suppressed. The county magistrates hold a meeting at Wandsworth, an adjoining village, where also a court of requests, for the recovery of debts under £5, is held under an actobtained in the 31st of George II., the powers of which were extended to the present sum, by an act in the 46th of George III.; its jurisdiction extends to this parish. The lord of the manor also holds a court leet at Wandsworth, at which a headborough and constables for Battersea are appointed. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Surrey, and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £13. 15. 2½. Earl Spencer was patron in 1808. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was handsomely rebuilt of brick in 1777; it has a tower surmounted by a small spire, and, standing on the margin of the river, forms an interesting object from the water: the window over the altar is decorated with portraits of Henry VII., his grandmother Margaret Beauchamp, and Queen Elizabeth, in stained glass; and the interior contains some interesting sepulchral monuments, among which, are one by Roubilliac, to the memory of Viscount Bolingbroke and his lady, and one to the memory of Edward Winter, an officer in the service of the East India Company, on which is recorded an account of his having, singly and unarmed, killed a tiger, and, on foot, defeated forty Moors on horseback. Collins, author of the Peerage and Baronetage of England; his grandson David Collins, Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, and author of a History of the English Settlement there; and William Curtis, a distinguished botanical writer, were buried here. The chapel of ease, in Battersea-fields, was erected in 1828, partly by a rate, and partly by grant from the parliamentary commissioners; it is a neat building in the later style of English architecture. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists. A school, for the instruction of twenty boys, was founded and endowed by Sir Walter St. John, in 1700: a National school for ninety boys and sixty girls, and an infant school, are supported by subscription. Battersea-rise, a part of the common between Clapham and Wandsworth, is ornamented with several handsome villas, one of which was the residence of that eminent citizen, Sir John Barnard, who died in 1764. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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