CLAPHAM, a parish in the eastern division of the
hundred of BRIXTON, county of SURREY, 4 miles (S.)
from London, containing 7151 inhabitants. This village
has, for many years, been considered as one of
the most respectable in the environs of the metropolis.
The road from London, particularly that part of it
which is called Clapham Rise, has on each side large
and handsome houses, with gardens and lawns in front,
forming a continuous line leading to the common, which
occupies a space of two hundred acres, surrounded by
noble mansions and elegant villas; and, from the
improvements that have been made by the formation
of carriage drives, and the plantation of exotic and
native trees and shrubs, assumes the appearance or
a park. On the east side a handsome crescent has
been recently formed, opposite to which is a range 10
houses, called the Grove: the area is tastefully laid out
in-shrubberies, and planted with evergreens, and the
approach from the common is formed by a handsome
iron palisade, on each side of which is a stately mansion.
In that part of the parish situated towards
Brixton, which was formerly called Bleakhall Farm,
considerable alterations and improvements are taking
place: new roads have been made; a new church and
several villas have been erected, and the spot is now
designated Clapham New Park. The parish, previously
watched and lighted under an act of parliament obtained
in 1785, is now within the limits of the new
police establishment; the road from London is lighted
with gas, main pipes having been laid down by the
Phoenix gas company, from which a plentiful supply
is distributed to every part of the village and its
vicinity. The inhabitants are supplied with water
from the South Lambeth water-works, and from an
excellent spring on the side of the common leading
to Wandsworth, opened in 1825, near another
which had supplied the village for more than a century:
this spring, the water of which is peculiarly
soft, supplies upwards of six hundred hogsheads per
day, and nearly twenty families derive employment and
support by conveying it to the houses of the inhabitants
at a moderate expense. The subscription library,
to which a commodious reading-room has been
added, contains a well-assorted and extensive collection
of volumes, in. various branches of literature; it has
been established for nearly half a century, and is liberally
supported. There is no trade except what is
necessary for the accommodation of the numerous opulent
families residing in the neighbourhood. Clapham
is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates,
who hold a petty session at the office of their clerk,
every Saturday; and within that of the court of re-
quests for the borough of Southwark, for the recovery
of debts under £5, which, by an act passed in the 32nd
of George III., was extended to this parish, in common
with other places in the eastern division of the hundred
of Brixton, not previously included. The acting
coroner for the district is appointed at the court of
the duchy of Lancaster, within the jurisdiction of
which a part of the parish is comprehended: .the
parochial affairs are under the direction of a select vestry.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of
Surrey, and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's
books at £8. 0. 10., and in the patronage of William
Atkins, Esq. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity,
and which anciently belonged to the priory at
Merton, was, with the exception of the north aisle,
which was left standing for the performance of the burial
service, taken down under an act of parliament in
1774, and a new church erected in the following year,
at an expense of £11,000, on the north side of the
common: it is a neat structure of brick ornamented
with stone, with a dome turret, and having a handsome
portico of stone, extending the whole width of
the western front, which was added to it in 1812. The
interior is characterized by a chaste simplicity of style:
the east window is ornamented with a modern and well
executed painting on glass, and there are some monumental
tablets 5 but no person .is buried either in the
church or churchyard, the cemetery of the old church
being exclusively reserved for interments. The remaining
aisle of the old church, which was situated in that
part of the village leading to Wandsworth, and near
the old manor-house, of which an octagonal tower is
still remaining, was taken down in 1815, and a neat
proprietary chapel, in some respects dependent on the
mother church, was erected, under an act of parliament,
at an expense of £5000, and dedicated to St.
Paul. The burial-ground, which is spacious, contains
many ancient tombs and monuments; and such of the
latter as were in the old church have been put up
against the exterior walls of the chapel. A proprietary
episcopal chapel, dedicated to St. James, has recently
been erected at Clapham New Park, under an act of
parliament j it is a small handsome structure, in
the later style of English architecture, with a square
embattled tower crowned with pinnacles. There
are two places of worship for Independents, and one
for Baptists. The parochial school is supported by
subscription: the premises were originally built at the
expense of the inhabitants, on ground given for that
purpose by Richard Atkins, Esq., lord of the manor;
the school-house was taken down and rebuilt in 1781,
and in 1809 it was considerably enlarged: upwards of
two hundred children now receive instruction.