CHAPTER VII 
MUNICIPAL PARKS IN SOUTH LONDON 
No freshening breeze—no trellised lower , 
No bee to chase from flower to flower ; 
9 Tis dimly close—in city pent — 
But the hearts within it are well content . 
—Eliza Cook. 
F the South London Parks Battersea 
is the largest and most westerly, 
and the best known to people 
outside its own district. Batter¬ 
sea is entirely new, and has no 
history as a Park, for before the 
middle of last century the 
greater part was nothing but a 
dismal marsh. The ground had to be raised and 
entirely made before the planting of it as a park could 
begin at all. The site was low-lying fields with reeds 
and swamps near the water, and market-gardens 
famous for the asparagus, sold as “ Battersea bundles,” 
growing around it. In the eighteenth century three 
windmills were conspicuous from the river. One ground 
corn, another the colours, and the third served to grind 
the white lead for the potteries. This was during 
the time when Battersea enamel was at its height, and 
snuff-boxes were being turned out in quantities. On 
the banks of the river stood a tavern and Tea Garden, 
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