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Location Information:
Clapham Common is an 89 hectare (220
acre) triangular area of grassland
situated between Clapham, Battersea
and Balham in south London, England.
It was historically common land for
the parishes of Battersea and
Clapham, but was converted to
parkland under the terms of the
Metropolitan Commons Act 1878.
43
hectares (108 acres) of the common
(the area historically known as
Battersea Common) are within the
London Borough of Wandsworth.
Although the Common is wholly
managed and maintained by the London
Borough of Lambeth, the policing of
the open space is divided between
the Wandsworth and Lambeth borough
"commands" of the Metropolitan
Police, which follow the local
government boundaries.
Clapham Common is also the name of
an electoral ward in the London
Borough of Lambeth covering the area
of housing to the southeast of
Clapham Common Southside better
known as "Abbeville Village" - see
Clapham Town ward. In the centre of
the common is the Clapham bandstand
constructed in 1890. It is the
largest bandstand in London and a
Grade II Listed Building. For many
years it was also erroneously
thought to be one of the bandstands
first erected in 1861 in the Royal
Horticultural Society's gardens in
South Kensington, which would have
made it the oldest surviving cast
iron bandstand in Europe. However,
recent research has shown that these
bandstands went to Southwark Park
and Peckham Rye, and it appears that
the Clapham bandstand was fabricated
to a very similar design almost
thirty years later. [2] The
bandstand's maintenance had been
neglected by Lambeth Council for
thirty years, and by 2001 it was
thought to be in danger of collapse
and had to be shored up with
scaffolding for five years. In
2005-2006, a full restoration of the
bandstand and surrounding landscape
took place, partly funded by an
£895,000 lottery grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund matched by
£300,000 from Lambeth Council and a
further £100,000 from local
fundraising efforts and the proceeds
of the Ben and Jerry's Summer Sundae
event held on the Common.
Local
Weather:
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