Leaving the park on the right, we see Mount Clare, built in 1772 by George Clive, and named in honour of Claremont, the residence at Esher of his relative Lord Clive. On the west side of Priory Lane are three mansions, of which one, Clarence House, was for awhile the residence of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV. Clarence Lane skirts the grounds of Grove House, which was in the reign of George IV. the residence of the celebrated danseuse, Mademoiselle Duvernay. The lane comes out into Roehampton Lane opposite Roehampton House, a fine red-brick building, with wings, erected in 1712. The ceiling of the saloon has a painting of the Banquet of the G.o.ds by Sir James Thornhill, the father-in-law of Hogarth.
Southward, nearer to the park, are Cedar Court and Downshire House, two fine old mansions, the latter for a time the residence of the Marchioness of Downshire, and now a training college for army and navy students. At a bend in the road, where it goes downhill, is a quaint old-fashioned house, The Cottage, curiously built. To the west the view is charming toward the park. Holy Trinity Church, now closed, was built in the middle of the nineteenth century, but the original church was consecrated by Archbishop Laud.
A very fine cedar stands in the churchyard, and on the north is the large and costly mausoleum of the Stephens family. Further north is the Convent of the Sacred Heart, standing in Roehampton Park, a s.p.a.cious Gothic edifice, and opposite is the Rookery, alongside of which runs a lane through beautiful meadows past Putney House into Putney Park Lane.
Towards Barnes, in Roehampton Lane, standing in wide grounds, are several family mansions, of which Lower Grove House, Subiaco Lodge, Ellenborough House, and Roehampton Lodge, are some of the best known.
The new polo club, which it is prophesied by its originators will outshine Hurlingham and Ranelagh, has its grounds between Priory and Roehampton Lanes at their northern ends.
Roehampton Lane runs into Upper Richmond Road at its junction with Lower Richmond Road. Barnes Common, one of the prettiest of the bits of wild land near London, is rather cut up by the railroad. To the London boundary in the west, that is the Priests" Bridge over Beverley Brook, the road runs between hedges most of the way, but near the bridge are a few cottages and small shops. The Manor House stands at the junction of the upper and lower roads, and wears an air of solidity, compared with its newer neighbours nearer town. It faces a small angle of lawn, backed by a hedge of rhododendrons, and is a plain, square, two-story dwelling with a porch, flanked by greenhouses; the walls are hidden behind ivy that climbs to the tiled roof. East of the Manor House rows of red-brick cottages on the north side stretch to Dyers Lane, and opposite is Putney Park Avenue, with its small cottages closely built; there are fields before Putney Park Lane which is lined with tall Scotch firs. Workmen digging here disclose the depth of fine sand and gravel which underlies all this region and gives it such perfect surface drainage. A gate marked "Private" leads into Putney Park Lane, and pa.s.sing south under an avenue of magnificent elms, with the remains of orchards and market-gardens to the east and rolling fields to the west, we pa.s.s Putney Park House, and beyond a nurseryman"s gardens see the Granard Presbyterian Church, a stone church with slated spire, standing at the corner of the lane that leads across the fields and past orchards and market-gardens to Howard"s Lane. Westward from the church another lane leads through pleasant meadows, with beautiful views of the mansions that lie back from the roads, and comes out at the convent in Roehampton Lane. Towards Putney Heath two large houses are seen--Granard Lodge in the Putney Park Lane, and Summerfield behind it. Pa.s.sing down the lane from the church and entering Howard"s Lane we find a district of new houses to the north, in straight rows at regular intervals, gauged, apparently, by the size of the backyards. To the south one row of small cottages, Upper Park Fields, juts out into the market-gardens, which, with the fields behind, are still free from buildings. At the western end of Howard"s Lane is a large tennis-ground belonging to a local club, while beyond is seen the advance of bricks and mortar towards the west.
Carmalt Gardens leads into the Upper Richmond Road at its best part, for all the houses here are of a good style and size. At the corner of Gwendolen Avenue stands a Wesleyan Methodist church of stone, with a square tower, and south a few houses flank it; but though all this land was lately open it is now built over. At the St. John"s Road, however, buildings have rapidly risen, and the Church of St. John at the corner of the Ravenna Road is now surrounded by a well-built-up neighbourhood.
Cambalt Road is also new, with strange types of houses, and behind this, again, is another avenue, Chartfield Road, filled with new houses, running through to Putney Hill. South of this rise the well-wooded grounds of the large houses on the hill, with fields to the westward.
And thus we take leave of Putney, one of the pleasantest of the London suburbs, as well as the most accessible. The immense increase in the number of houses in late years testifies to its popularity; but there is still an almost unlimited extent of open ground which cannot be covered; and with wood and water, common and hill, there will always be an element of freshness and openness in Putney seldom to be obtained so near London.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PUTNEY DISTRICT.
Published by A. & C. Black, London.]