[Note the name "Trinity Road" - adopted only in the recent past - when exactly? But no St Mary Magdalene or the Baptist chapel almost opposite [visible on the 1900 photo]. Nor Thomas Hardy's home in Arundel Terrace, corner of Trinity and Brodrick.]
"Wonderful discovery on Wandsworth Common" — advert for the Surrey Tavern
[BNA Search: "wonderful discovery on wandsworth common" yields a number of variations.
"Lost!!! One Thousand Pounds Reward" — advert for the Surrey Tavern" — somewhat inflated from March
This time, a genuine loss and reward offered...
FIVE POUNDS REWARD — LOST, on the night of 28th December, 1869, from a field opposite the Surrey Tavern. Wandsworth-common, a BAY HORSE, nearly 16 hands high, the near hind hock enlarged. Whoever will give information to G. Smith, at 21 Warwick-street, Pimlico, that will lead to the recovery of the horse, shall receive the above reward.
[BNA: Link]
This reminds us that the area was still largely rural at that time. The Surrey Tavern was used by people of horseback or with carts, carriages etc — hence there would have been stables — but presumably they also turned animals out into the field opposite (and perhaps onto the Common too?).
This field must be today's sports ground, which has had many names (and owners) but is now called "Trinity Fields". A long and interesting sporting history, in which Surrey Tavern played an important part e.g. used as changing rooms etc. Graham Jackson has written about this in A History of Trinity Fields — check and summarise.
Paul Martin, 1896. [I have notes somewhere about how the exposure was 30 minutes. Find and add. See also V&A: Paul Martin: Surrey Tavern (in Trinity Road) Wandsworth Common, ground covered with Snow. ]
At this time the pub was numbered 172 Trinity Road (not Belle-Vue Rd). The front appears to have been painted to resemble marble.
Note the enigmatic 2-metre post with the cylinder on top already in place outside. See young trees and the iron fence on the LHS. The road is pretty rough, clearly showing wheel tracks.
Whether this is indeed from 1900, it was almost certainly photographed later than the policeman image above because the front has now been tiled. The HistoricEngland website refers to
Notice the strange hydrant [?]. Compare the number of crossbars on the telegraph [?] pole in 1900 with the 1923 photograph. Also how the Field is clearly being used for sport. See St Mary Magdalene and the Baptist chapel in the distance.
[September 2021: Many thanks to Jason Hazeley for bringing this wonderful pic to my attention.]
Notice e.g. the single-floor extension on the right, of uncertain date [Bonner-era?]. In the early 2000s [?] it was enlarged to create flats, but done so "authentically" that many people (including me) have assumed it actually dates from the 1860s.
This has given birth to a rather wonderful local urban myth - that the extension was built out of red bricks salvaged when the Craig Telescope was demolished. I personally have told countless people this story, which looks so plausible — indeed, revelatory.
Sadly, this 1923 photograph demonstrates how it cannot possibly be true.
In [date?] Greg Smye-Rumsby speculated that the brick used was from the Scope, dismantled c. 1860?. It's a lovely theory that offered to solve a big puzzle - why even a Time Team investigation in [date?] failed to find much debris from what was clearly an immense brick structure.
Sadly, this 1923 photograph demonstrates how it cannot possibly be true.
Here is the account in CraigTelescope.co.uk:
On driving up to the common along Trinity Road from the south to the traffic lights at Bellevue Road, Rachel, a project member, immediately noticed the walls of the old Surrey Tavern - a section where it was clear a different stock had been used to complete the outer wall!
By comparing the brickwork for texture and colour on that bright sunny day with a sample brick retrieved from the Big Dig of 2003, it was clear we had found the remains of Craig's telescope.
Today, even a cursory look at the outer walls of the building show the sharp line between the bricks used in the original construction of the hotel and those from the tower. One other interesting detail, the bricks are laid in the same flemish bond as when used on the tower.
The Surrey Tavern was built around 1864, obtaining its license in 1865, fitting perfectly with the evidence. But why build in such a strange way - adding old brickwork to new? Possibly, work on the Surrey Tavern had already commenced when an opportunistic foreman noticed the tower being dismantled only few hundred yards off to the north east.
Today, the Surrey Tavern is no longer a hotel or public house but a modern apartment block with a restaurant covering the ground floor.
A Problem Solved
During the Big Dig archeological excavation of the site in 2003, it was noticed how little evidence there was of demolition. The radar had shown only a vague imprint of the tower and virtually no outlines of pathways leading to or from the site during its use or its dismantling and removal. There was also a noticeable lack of staining from the mortar and rendering which would have fallen to the ground while each of the bricks was loosened from its position.
It now seems that the passage of time from the last attempted operation of the telescope to its demise and the many projects to which the salvage had been applied had effectively prevented any pathways becoming established. Some parts would have been transported due north towards Wandsworth town centre while Mr Stilwell's ironwork, west, towards the Wandle River.
The tower's brick, south, to be incorporated into the Surrey Tavern.
[CraigTelescope: Demise]
Notice also the road surface at this time - which appears to be wooden blocks rather than stone setts, and has not been thickly tarred in the modern way (which I think dates from the 1930s?). How different from the potholes and puddles of Edward Thomas's account at the start of In Search of Spring!
Surrey Tavern, 172 Trinity Road, Wandsworth SW18
The Surrey Tavern, Wandsworth Common in the 1871 census
1867/Mr George Ferris, Surrey Tavern, Wandsworth common, Upper Tooting/../../Licensed Victuallers Association
1871/George Hayman/Licensed Victualler/34/Whimple, Devon/Census
1871/Fanny Hayman/Wife/31/Dorrington, Lincolnshire/Census
1871/Fanny Louisa Hayman/Daughter/8/Paddington, Middlesex/Census
1871/Charles Pierce/Uncle in Law, Retired Steward/55//Census
1871/Mary Ann Cooper/Servant/20/Chelsea, Middlesex/Census
1871/Robert Jenkins/Potman, Widow/64/Shropworth, Wiltshire/Census
1871/John Gustney/Waiter/18/St Georges east, Middlesex/Census
1878/John T Bonner/../../../Post Office Directory of Surrey **
1881/John Thos Bonner/Licensed Victualler/48/Queensborough, Kent/Census
1881/Harriet Bonner/Wife/31/Swallowfield, Buckingham/Census
1881/Mary E Bonner/Daughter/15/Battersea, Surrey/Census
1881/William G Bonner/Son/13/Battersea, Surrey/Census
1881/Thomas E C Bonner/Son/6/Swallowfield, Buckingham/Census
1881/Henry C Bonner/Son/5/Wandsworth, Surrey/Census
1881/Mary Charlton/Wife Sister, Barmaid/24/Heckfield, Hampshire/Census
1881/Mary A Cowdrey/Nurse/16/Farley Hill, Buckingham,/Census
1881/Charley E Troy/Waiter/27/Cambridge/Census
1881/Anne Troy/Cook/26/Truro, Cornwall/Census
1891/Jn. Ths. Bonner/../../../Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex **
1901/George Ruston/Licensed Victualler/42/City, London/Census
1901/Ellen Ruston/Wife/37/Scotland/Census
1901/Ada Jones/Domestic Servant/23/Birmingham/Census
1901/Ada Barker/Barmaid/20/London/Census
1901/Edward Stewart/Billiard Marker/21/London/Census
1906/Harry Sampson/../../Post Office Directory
1908/Mrs Frances Still/../../../Post Office London Suburbs Directory **
1914/Jn. Hy. Henderson/../../../Post Office London Suburbs Directory **
1919/John William George Fenn/../../../Post Office London Suburbs Directory **
** Provided By Stephen Harris
Pubwiki: Surrey Tavern, 172 Trinity Road, Wandsworth SW18 [downloaded 27 September 2021].