SOUTH LONDON PARKS 165 



suggestion of the Prince Consort, a piece of land, then 

 market-gardens, was let by the Duchy to the Surrey 

 Cricket Club, which was formed for the purpose of 

 maintaining it. This is the ground that has since 

 gained such notoriety as the Oval, the scene of many 

 a match historical in the annals of cricket. The 

 Common, too, was famous for the masses that collected 

 there to hear Whitfield preach. His congregations 

 numbered from 10,000 to 40,000 persons, and his 

 voice would carry to the "extremest part of the 

 audience." He notes in his diary, Sunday, May 6, 

 1 73 1 — "At six in the evening went and preached at 

 Kennington ; but such a sight I never saw before. Some 

 supposed there were above 30,000 or 40,000 people, and 

 near fourscore coaches, besides great number of horses ; 

 and there was such an awful silence amongst them, and 

 the Word of God came with such power, that all seemed 

 pleasingly surprised. I continued my discourse for an 

 hour and a half." The last time he preached there was 

 a farewell sermon before he went to America in August 



1739. 



Two other incidents are connected with Kennington 



Common, neither so pleasant — the scenes of the execu- 

 tion for high treason, with all the attendant horrors, 

 of the " Manchester rebels " after the '45 ; and the 

 great Chartist revolutionary meeting under Feargus 

 O'Connor in 1848. The precautions taken by the 

 Duke of Wellington saved the situation, and the 

 200,000 people who it had been proposed should 

 march to Westminster melted away, and the whole 

 thing was a fiasco. 



It was soon after this episode that the Common was 

 converted into a Park. The ground, including all the 



