SOUTH-WEST LONDON 253 



I have been informed that London Bishops 

 care for none of these things. 



Looking across the river from Fulham 

 Palace grounds, an extensive well-wooded space 

 is seen on the south bank ; this is Barn Elms 

 Park, now occupied by the Eanelagh Sporting 

 Club. It is one of the best private parks in 

 London, with fine old elm-trees and a lake, and 

 would be a paradise of wild birds but for the 

 shooting which goes on there and scares them 

 away. 



Close to Barn Elms is Barnes Common (100 

 acres), a pleasant open heath, not all flat, grown 

 with heather, and dotted with furze and bramble 

 bushes and a few trees. One of its attractions 

 is Beverley Brook, which rises near Maiden, 

 about eight miles away, and flows by Coombe 

 Woods, Wimbledon, through Eichmond Park, 

 and, finally, by Barnes Common to the Thames : 

 the brook and a very pretty green meadow 

 separate the common from Barn Elms Park. 



The London and South-Western Eailway 

 Company have been allowed to appropriate a 

 portion of this open space ; but that indeed 

 seems a very small matter when we find that the 

 parishes of Barnes and Putney have established 



