Facts about Roehampton
Roehampton History
Few cottagers worked the land at Roehampton which was in large part forested and heath, thus with so little built upon it emerged as a favoured residential outlying suburb for large houses of the 18th and 19th centuries following the opening of Putney Bridge in 1729 and the more intensive developments of these “parks” or more modest grounds. Several of the original houses survive.
Roehampton House by Thomas Archer was built between 1710–12 and enlarged by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1910. Parkstead House built in 1750 for William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough, now forms part of the University of Roehampton. Mount Clare built in 1772 for George Clive, cousin of Lord Clive, which forms part of the University of Roehampton, along with Grove House, built originally for Sir Joshua Vanneck in 1777.
General Info
Roehampton is a suburban district 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 Wandsworth. It occupies high land in the south that adjoins its northern part, Richmond Park, Richmond Park Golf Courses, and Putney Heath. At its southern extreme, it forms an east–west strip heritage conservation area and a street built in the 1980s comprising Roehampton Vale.
Altogether, Roehampton takes up a long area between the former village of Barnes to the north, Putney to the east, and the green areas around its southern part, beyond which are Kingston Vale and Raynes Park, uniquely in its borough distant from a railway station. Roehampton’s most densely populated area has a long border with the largest of London’s Royal Parks, Richmond Park.
