16 Facts About Ham London

Ham London is bounded on the west, along the bank of the River Thames, by ancient communal river meadows forming a Local Nature Reserve called Ham London Lands.

Mostly on low-lying river terrace, Ham London today is bounded to the east by Richmond Park, where the land rises at the escarpment of the Richmond and Kingston hills.

Between 1838 and 1848, Ham London Common was the site of a Utopian spiritual community and free school called Alcott House, founded by educational reformer and "sacred socialist" James Pierrepont Greaves and his followers.

Since 1965 Ham has been mostly in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

Ham London always had one or two representatives, but sent very few of its poor to the workhouse, mainly assisting them locally in almshouses.

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The main impact on Ham London was that the northern area was linked with Petersham to create a Sudbrook ward, whilst the boundary with Kingston was moved further north to more or less its present limit with Ham London "losing" the factories and surrounding land and housing.

Ham London was an agricultural community for centuries, with meadow and pasture land mostly along the river, and common grazing.

Ham London had three farms at the time, all on land owned by the Earl of Dysart.

Improvement in transport and the growth of Ham London led to a shift from general mixed agriculture to market gardening by the early 20th century.

The Ham London factory played an integral part in the development of the Hawker Kestrel and Hawker Harrier planes.

Ham London became part of Pinchin Johnson and was acquired by Courtaulds in 1960, continuing under the International Paint group banner from 1968.

Apart from one plant nursery, local community, retail and small scale offices, Ham London today is predominately a commuter residential area dependent on employment outside the immediate area.

Main feature in Ham London is Ham London Common which has a cricket pitch, a pond and a woodland.

Beaufort House in Ham London Street, dating from 18C, is Grade II listed and was the home of Lady Juliana Penn from 1795 to her death in 1801.

In contrast, Langham House Close, to the west of Ham London Common, completed in 1958, is an early example of brutalist architecture.

Former meadow land along the Thames near Ham London House became the location of a King George's Field in the 1930s.