Book on Roehampton's Great Houses Made Available for Free
Dorian Gerhold's definitive work released by the Wandsworth Historical Society
Ashburton House, north of Putney Heath,
drawn by R.B. Schnebbelie in about 1820. (Collection of Michael Bull)
Villas and Mansions of Roehampton and Putney Heath, the much-acclaimed book by Dorian Gerhold is being made available online for free.
Wandsworth Historical Society has decided to release a free-to-download digitised version of the book.
‘A most impressive work’ was how the leading Wimbledon historian Richard Milward described this much praised study when it first appeared in 1997. In essence, it is a history of Roehampton’s great houses and those who lived in them, and the amount of research that went into it was phenomenal. As a consequence, its author, the award-winning local history writer Dorian Gerhold, was able to give an outline architectural history of each of the numerous houses, with as complete a list of their owners and occupiers as was possible, and he accompanied it with a significant collection of contemporary illustrations.
For a long time the book has been out of print, but to make it widely available once again, the Wandsworth Historical Society has produced a fully-searchable, free-to-download digitised version.
To obtain a copy of Villas and Mansions of Roehampton and Putney Heath go to the society’s web site and scroll down to the relevant link and updated notes on a number of the illustrations.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
September 23, 2022