Shaftesbury Park Estate

The estate occupies a flat area of land at the edge of the River Thames flood plain, just north of the slope rising to Clapham Common.

Taking advantage of this Act, the churchwardens and overseers of Battersea enclosed about 16 acres (65,000 m2) of Latchmoor Common and let it out in allotments at a low rental, to the residents of the parish, for the cultivation of vegetables.

In the 1870s, it became residential when the Artizans, Labourers and General Dwelling Company, a housing co-operative founded in 1867 by William Austin, built several thousand small homes on it.

The company was dedicated to providing decent accommodation for the working classes at a time when overcrowding and squalid living conditions were rife amongst the poor.

Money was raised to undertake small developments for sale, the proceeds of which were then invested in larger estates, like Shaftesbury Park, for renting.

At the same time as the conception of the estate, the social reformer and peer Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury was pushing legislation through parliament to improve the living and employment conditions of working people and sponsoring philanthropic efforts to provide schooling for their children.

Rents and lease prices were raised, excluding many lower paid workers who were originally intended to benefit, and the planned area of open space was built over – Brassey Square in the centre of the estate.

The grid layout, with streets of varying lengths but always straight (except Eversleigh Road, which is aligned with the railway embankment), allows for easy movement throughout the estate.