SOUTH-WEST LONDON 253 



I have been informed that London Bishops 

 care for none of these things. 



Looking across the river from Pulham 

 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 



