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Revision as of 12:09, 12 May 2009 by 82.41.58.246 (talk) (→Barnes Common)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Human settlement in EnglandBarnes is a riverside London suburb in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located around 5.8 miles (9.3 km) west south-west of Charing Cross in a loop of the River Thames, with Hammersmith Bridge at the north end. Barnes has a number of elegant 18th and 19th century buildings of exceptional quality and is often noted for having an attractive pond which forms part of the Barnes Village conservation area.
History
Historically part of Surrey, Barnes appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Berne". It was held by the Canons of St Paul of London. Its Domesday assets were: 8 hides, paying tax with Mortlake; 5 ploughs, 20 acres (81,000 m) of meadow. It rendered (in total): £7.
The original Norman chapel of St Mary's, Barnes' village church, was built at some point between 1100 and 1150. It was subsequently extended in the early thirteenth century, and again in c1485 and 1786. After a major fire in 1978 destroyed the Victorian and Edwardian additions to the building, restoration work was completed in 1984.
Some of the oldest housing in London can be found on The Terrace, a road lined with Georgian mansions which runs along the west bend of the river. Construction of these mansions began as early as 1720. Gustav Holst and Ninette de Valois lived in houses on this stretch, both of which have corresponding blue plaques. The Terrace also has an original red brick police station built in 1891. It was recently re-modelled as apartments.
The listed Barnes Railway Bridge was originally constructed in 1849 by Joseph Locke and dominates the view of the river from The Terrace on the western side of Barnes. In 2009 a project began to re-paint the bridge.
Castelnau in north Barnes, on the banks of the river, has an small church, Holy Trinity. The area beween Castelnau and Lonsdale Road contains a 1930s council estate (including roads such as Nowell Road, Stillingfleet Road and Washington Road), mostly consisting of "Boot Houses", constructed by the Henry Boot company. These houses no longer meet building regulations and need to have their external walls reconstructed. This means that new buyers cannot get a mortgage on un-reconstructed houses and so residents of this area have usually lived in their houses for a long time (in some cases it being passed down).
In recent years, Barnes has been cited as the leading area in the United Kingdom for internet shopping, with £150 pa per head being spent.
Barnes Common
Barnes Common is an important open space and a local nature reserve. Its 120 acres (0.49 km) dominate the south of Barnes, providing a rural setting to the village and a wealth of habitats with acid grassland, scrub, woodland and wetland. Beverley Brook passes through part of the common before meeting the Thames at Putney.
Barnes Common is the site of the Barnes Fair held each year in the first week of July, organised by the Barnes Community Association (BCA) who have their headquarters in Rose House, a distinctive pink-painted building on Barnes High Street.
Tourist attractions
A permanent tourist attraction in Barnes is the WWT London Wetlands Centre, next to Barn Elms, comprising over 40 hectares of artificial wetlands created on the site of a former reservoir as a bird sanctuary. Barnes also has a common and duck pond. The duck pond dramatically emptied overnight a few years ago - the reason for which is unknown (as is where the water went) and as a result was entirely reconstructed in a project organised by the Barnes Community Association and funded locally.
A popular cultural attraction is the Olympic Studios on Church Road. Relocated from central London in 1966, the studios have played host to many of rock and pop music's greatest stars down the decades, from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin to The Verve, Massive Attack, Duran Duran, Coldplay, Madonna, and Will Young.
Facing the Thames, at the end of Lonsdale Road, The Bull's Head pub is known as the suburban Ronnie Scott's and was one of the first and most important jazz venues in Britain from the postwar years onward.
The Old Sorting Office arts centre adjacent to Barnes Pond is a venue for art and fringe theatre, hosting numerous exhibitions and theatre productions. Well-known names to have performed at the venue include Patricia Hodge, Stephanie Cole, Timothy West and Julian Glover.
The site of pop musician Marc Bolan's fatal car crash on Queen's Ride in 1977, now forms Bolan's Rock Shrine. The memorial receives frequent visits from his fans, and in 2002 a bronze bust of Bolan was installed to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death. In 2007, the site was recognised by the English Tourist Board as a 'Sight of Rock 'n' Roll Importance' in their Guide 'England Rocks'.
Sport
Barnes has a place in the history of football. Firstly, a former High Master of St Paul's School, Richard Mulcaster is credited with taking mob football and turning it into an organised, refereed team sport that was beneficial for schoolboys. St Paul's School is currently sited on Lonsdale Road, although in Mulcaster's time it was located at St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London.
Further, Barnes was home to Ebenezer Cobb Morley who in 1862 was a founding member of the Football Association. In 1863, he wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for football, and this led to the first meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern where the FA was created. He was the FA's first secretary (1863-1866) and at his home in Barnes he set out the first set of rules for modern football and these were adopted by the FA and subsequently spread throughout the world. As a player he took part in the first match played according to today's rules. Morley may be considered the father of football for his key role in establishing modern Association Football.
Finally, Barnes Rugby Football Club has evidence to show that it is the oldest club in the world in any football code. Its ground is next to the WWT London Wetlands Centre at Barn Elms.
The loop of the Thames surrounding Barnes forms part of the Championship Course used for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race and several other major Tideway head races. This stretch of the river is popular with rowers throughout the year.
Education
Main article: List of schools in Richmond upon ThamesPolitical representation
Barnes lies within the parliamentary constituency of Richmond Park. The current Member of Parliament is Liberal Democrat and former London mayoral candidate Susan Kramer.
Chris Patten, the last UK Governor of Hong Kong, chose Barnes as the basis for his title when he was raised to the Peerage of the House of Lords in 2005, as Baron Patten of Barnes.
Nearest places
| Places adjacent to Barnes, London | ||||||||||||||||
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(enter location)
Railway stations
References
- Domesday Book for Surrey
- http://www.stmarybarnes.org/pdfs/history_St_Marys.pdf
- http://www.barnes-history.org.uk/timeline.html
- Barnes tops home shopping league
- Barnes Common Conservation area - Richmond Council
- TAG’s Marc Bolan & T-Rex Web Site - Legal Guardians of Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine
- Get your Free England Rocks Guide Here
External links
- The Old Sorting Office arts centre website
- Barnes Rugby Football Club
- Holy Trinity Church, Barnes
- Save The Heart of White Hart Lane
- Barnes and Mortlake History Society
