Thames Tributary Falcon - Upper Tooting
Thames Tributary Falcon
The Falcon continues to flow in a generally northwards direction
Post to the north Balham
Post to the east Tooting Bec Common
Balham High Road
Balham High Road follows the Roman road, Stane Street, coming from Chichester.
176 was South Eastern Gas showroom
207 Mansbridge House stuccoed house
211 Polish White Eagle Club. Victorian Hall Polish community centre. Has a selection of Slavic lagers and vodka and Polish dancing. Plus a Polish restaurant. The club us used by many of Balham's Polish immigrants who settled here after the Second World War
232 Polish Roman Catholic Church, Kosciól Chrystusa –Christ the King in what was Balham Congregational Church. Founded 1879 closed 1972,
268 United Services Club. This was private Balham Grammar School
312 Wimbledon Sewing Machine Company and the London Sewing Machine Museum
314 French's Motor Jobmasters became French's Garage Motor Works Ltd., running lorries and charabancs
Ducane Court. A large colony of flats 1935-6, grouped round two open quadrangles. There are 647 flats and it is said to be the largest set of flats under one roof. `
Territorial Army building & Drill Hall. Air Training Corps
Upper Tooting Methodist Church
Health Centre built on the site of Temperence Billiard Hall
Kosmon Church Bedford Hill
Dukes of Bedford owned a house here in the 18th.
A curving road between Balham and Streatham which was originally private giving access to Bedford Hill house. Richardson Borradaile laid it out what was the carriageway to Bedford Hill House as a thoroughfare for future housing. In 1891, it was named ‘Bedford Hill’.
Bedford Hill Estate developed by A.Heaver new shops and by the 1970s there were six roads of red brick houses
146 Annaley House Care Home in Old Church. This was St.John the Divine, built 1883 but now part of St.Mary’s.
120 Balham Health Centre
Ryde Vale
Dr. Johnson Avenue
Named for Dr.Johnson who is said to have walk down it when he was staying with the Thrale family. It generally follows the line of the Falcon stream going north westwards. Here the stream was known as the York Ditch and formed the dividing line between Tooting Graveney Common and Tooting Bec Common In the 19th this in the grounds of Bedford Hill House.
Avenue of oak trees planted in the late 16th to commemorate a visit by Elizabeth I.
Keeper's Lodge
Elmbourne Road
The line of the Falcon follows Elmbourne Road and then Streathbourne Road.
Elmfield Road
Balham Leisure Centre in site of Baths. Opened 1915 when it had two clubrooms, one year round bath, and a chlorination plant.
Ravenstone Primary School
Hillbury Road
In the 19th this was in the grounds of Bedford Hill House. The name here alludes to an artificial mound created as part of the landscaping.
Marius Road
Tram depot built by the London Tramways for horse trams in the 1880s. London County Council took it over in 1889 when it housed 35 trams. It was converted for use by electric trams but then used as a depot as horse trams were broken up and burnt out in a local field. Closed 1924. Open front building, with brick sidewalls and corrugated roof. Transverser and forecourt. 1915 trailer. Then sold and became a garage. In the 1950s it was used by British Films but has since been redeveloped.
Ritherdon Road
Bedford Hill House. This stood south of this road. It had been built by Richardson Borradaile, a speculative builder constructed on land once part of Covey's Farm. It was owned by William Cubitt, Lord Mayor of London in 1861.
13 Folk House. Woodcraft Folk Head Office
16-18 Blue Pumpkin pub 67 Metamorphic Association
Rowfant Road
Falcon –the road follows the line of the stream 53 St.Mark’s Church. United Reform
Carlisle Hall Bertrum House School, Church Hall, private nursery
Streathbourne Road
The road follows the line of the Falcon stream but in 1865 the Metropolitan Board of Works spent £30,000 to cover over and redirect it. The valley was known as the ‘holloways’. A farm here belonged to Sir Peter Daniel, MP for Southwark in 1685.
Brickmaking - clay was dug along the banks of the Falcon in the 17th for making bricks and tiles.
Tooting Bec Common
The Common was owned in the middle ages by the Abbey of Bec in France. There had been riots about the right to cut furze, etc. There were many incursions and then the Duke of Bedford put it up for sale. Thompson, a City Broker, bought and put a fence round it. Then the Metropolitan Board of Works bought it at more than Thompson had paid, one of the first taken over by them. There is woodland either side of Bedford Hill and an avenue of trees marks the former boundary line between the two commons, now to all intents and purposes one common.
Sanctuary, north east of the lake and managed as a wildlife area. It includes a prehistoric fossil tree stump.
Ponds Cubitt had the area round the brook landscaped and creating an ornamental lake. So the ponds aren't river-related but old gravel pits The Old Yachting Pond. Nearby are sculptures created from storm-blown trees in 1987
Tea House. 1906,
Tooting Bec Road
9 St.Anselm. Roman Catholic church built 1933. A mixture of Gothic and classical with a dome over the crossing. Former Wesleyan Chapel acquired 1905 for Catholic use.
St.Anselm’s RC Primary School 21 Christian Education Centre Rose and Crown
Upper Tooting Park
Flowersmead flats. Built 1951 by architect R.G.Covell
The Falcon continues to flow in a generally northwards direction
Post to the north Balham
Post to the east Tooting Bec Common
Balham High Road
Balham High Road follows the Roman road, Stane Street, coming from Chichester.
176 was South Eastern Gas showroom
207 Mansbridge House stuccoed house
211 Polish White Eagle Club. Victorian Hall Polish community centre. Has a selection of Slavic lagers and vodka and Polish dancing. Plus a Polish restaurant. The club us used by many of Balham's Polish immigrants who settled here after the Second World War
232 Polish Roman Catholic Church, Kosciól Chrystusa –Christ the King in what was Balham Congregational Church. Founded 1879 closed 1972,
268 United Services Club. This was private Balham Grammar School
312 Wimbledon Sewing Machine Company and the London Sewing Machine Museum
314 French's Motor Jobmasters became French's Garage Motor Works Ltd., running lorries and charabancs
Ducane Court. A large colony of flats 1935-6, grouped round two open quadrangles. There are 647 flats and it is said to be the largest set of flats under one roof. `
Territorial Army building & Drill Hall. Air Training Corps
Upper Tooting Methodist Church
Health Centre built on the site of Temperence Billiard Hall
Kosmon Church Bedford Hill
Dukes of Bedford owned a house here in the 18th.
A curving road between Balham and Streatham which was originally private giving access to Bedford Hill house. Richardson Borradaile laid it out what was the carriageway to Bedford Hill House as a thoroughfare for future housing. In 1891, it was named ‘Bedford Hill’.
Bedford Hill Estate developed by A.Heaver new shops and by the 1970s there were six roads of red brick houses
146 Annaley House Care Home in Old Church. This was St.John the Divine, built 1883 but now part of St.Mary’s.
120 Balham Health Centre
Ryde Vale
Dr. Johnson Avenue
Named for Dr.Johnson who is said to have walk down it when he was staying with the Thrale family. It generally follows the line of the Falcon stream going north westwards. Here the stream was known as the York Ditch and formed the dividing line between Tooting Graveney Common and Tooting Bec Common In the 19th this in the grounds of Bedford Hill House.
Avenue of oak trees planted in the late 16th to commemorate a visit by Elizabeth I.
Keeper's Lodge
Elmbourne Road
The line of the Falcon follows Elmbourne Road and then Streathbourne Road.
Elmfield Road
Balham Leisure Centre in site of Baths. Opened 1915 when it had two clubrooms, one year round bath, and a chlorination plant.
Ravenstone Primary School
Hillbury Road
In the 19th this was in the grounds of Bedford Hill House. The name here alludes to an artificial mound created as part of the landscaping.
Marius Road
Tram depot built by the London Tramways for horse trams in the 1880s. London County Council took it over in 1889 when it housed 35 trams. It was converted for use by electric trams but then used as a depot as horse trams were broken up and burnt out in a local field. Closed 1924. Open front building, with brick sidewalls and corrugated roof. Transverser and forecourt. 1915 trailer. Then sold and became a garage. In the 1950s it was used by British Films but has since been redeveloped.
Ritherdon Road
Bedford Hill House. This stood south of this road. It had been built by Richardson Borradaile, a speculative builder constructed on land once part of Covey's Farm. It was owned by William Cubitt, Lord Mayor of London in 1861.
13 Folk House. Woodcraft Folk Head Office
16-18 Blue Pumpkin pub 67 Metamorphic Association
Rowfant Road
Falcon –the road follows the line of the stream 53 St.Mark’s Church. United Reform
Carlisle Hall Bertrum House School, Church Hall, private nursery
Streathbourne Road
The road follows the line of the Falcon stream but in 1865 the Metropolitan Board of Works spent £30,000 to cover over and redirect it. The valley was known as the ‘holloways’. A farm here belonged to Sir Peter Daniel, MP for Southwark in 1685.
Brickmaking - clay was dug along the banks of the Falcon in the 17th for making bricks and tiles.
Tooting Bec Common
The Common was owned in the middle ages by the Abbey of Bec in France. There had been riots about the right to cut furze, etc. There were many incursions and then the Duke of Bedford put it up for sale. Thompson, a City Broker, bought and put a fence round it. Then the Metropolitan Board of Works bought it at more than Thompson had paid, one of the first taken over by them. There is woodland either side of Bedford Hill and an avenue of trees marks the former boundary line between the two commons, now to all intents and purposes one common.
Sanctuary, north east of the lake and managed as a wildlife area. It includes a prehistoric fossil tree stump.
Ponds Cubitt had the area round the brook landscaped and creating an ornamental lake. So the ponds aren't river-related but old gravel pits The Old Yachting Pond. Nearby are sculptures created from storm-blown trees in 1987
Tea House. 1906,
Tooting Bec Road
9 St.Anselm. Roman Catholic church built 1933. A mixture of Gothic and classical with a dome over the crossing. Former Wesleyan Chapel acquired 1905 for Catholic use.
St.Anselm’s RC Primary School 21 Christian Education Centre Rose and Crown
Upper Tooting Park
Flowersmead flats. Built 1951 by architect R.G.Covell
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