Three new Heritage Interpretation Boards – a fourth on The Scope will follow shortly - have been installed at the Friends’ Corner by Skylark cafe, by the Three Island pond on Bolingbroke Fields, and on the path traversing N-S on Northside. They are designed to give users of the Common a visual glimpse of its history and heritage. We hope it will increase understanding and appreciation of the Common and its rich past - one of the aims of the Management Plan for the Common published in 2019.
It was quite a challenge to whittle down all the wonderful history of the Common into just 4 boards. I hope you will feel that they give a flavour of the history and some visual memories too. Some things are no longer here but plenty remain to see today, notably the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, the Windmill and the boundary markers. The Boards complement our book “The Wandsworth Common Story” where you can find out much more about the features illustrated on the Boards.
We hope the Boards will be of interest to both regular and new visitors and help you all enjoy the Common. So please use them to point out the key attractions to friends and family when you explore the Common with them. We also plan to arrange some walk and talks centred on the Boards to explain in a little more detail the features shown on each of them.
It has been quite a long journey from original idea to actually getting the Boards onto the Common. And thanks are due to many people – Aviva Walton for getting things started over a decade ago, major contributions from local historian Philip Boys, FoWC co-chairs Julia and Richard, Stephen Midlane chair of the FoWC Heritage group plus other members of that group. And we are very grateful for the support of Enable throughout the project, in particular Valerie Selby. It would not have happened without her.
I would also like to thank the funders – Wandsworth Grant Fund and generous sponsorship from Emanuel School and Neal’s Nurseries. And thanks also to those who have given permission to use their images on the Boards – Wandsworth Heritage Service, Orleans House Gallery, Christine Brown, Barbara Littlechild, and Stephen Midlane.
Anne Lambert