Wimbledon & Southfields Through Time

This fascinating selection of photographs shows how Wimbledon and Southfields have changed and developed over the last century.

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The district of Wimbledon has become synonymous with its world-famous tennis tournament held here since 1922. This part of south-west London has been inhabited since the Iron Age and has developed over the centuries into two distinct parts: the ‘village’ and the ‘town’. The village developed first as it began to attract wealthy merchants from the city but the arrival of the London & South West Railway in 1838 saw the focus of subsequent developments shift away from the original village towards the town, which is now the main retail centre.

Southfields, meanwhile, was still a largely an area of fields between the villages of Wimbledon and Putney until the coming of the railway in the late nineteenth century, connecting Wimbledon to Putney Bridge. Using a selection of old and new photographs, local historians Simon McNeill-Ritchie and Ron Elam trace the distinct journeys of these two suburban districts over the past century, making this book essential reading for anyone who knows and loves this famous part of south London.