Barn Elms

There are facilities for much amateur sport, such as football, rugby, tennis, softball and cricket, and an athletics track (home to London Athletic Club). It is also the home ground for Barnes RFC, Barnes FC, Barnes Eagles FC,[http://www.barneseagles.com/ Barnes Eagles FC website] Stonewall FC,[http://www.stonewallfc.com/ Stonewall FC website] London French RFC.[http://www.londonfrenchrfc.com London French RFC website] and London Exiles RFC.[http://www.london-exiles.co.uk/info/where-are-we/ London Exiles website] The facilities were under threat of commercial development until the local community petitioned Richmond Council. To ensure the future of Barn Elms as playing fields the community has created the Barn Elms Sports Trust.[http://www.bestfields.co.uk/ Barn Elms Sports Trust]

Barn Elms Sports Centre is a 52 acre, multi-sports facility, with a multi-station gym, 4 beach volleyball courts, 16 tennis courts, artificial hockey playing surfaces and a range of grass sports pitches. It is also the home ground for the semi-professional Barnes RFC.[https://enablelc.org/besc Barn Elms Sports Centre]

File:Barn elms.jpg

Its name is derived from the Georgian house and parkland, the original manor house of Barnes, which stood on the site, until it was burnt out and demolished in 1954.Christopher Hibbert; Ben Weinreb; John Keay; Julia Keay. The London Encyclopaedia, 3rd ed, 2011. In earlier times the manor house of Barnes was in the ownership of the Archbishop of Canterbury and then of the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral. The Georgian house replaced the earlier one occupied by Sir Francis Walsingham, "Elizabeth's Spymaster".Robert Hutchinson, Elizabeth's Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the Secret War That Saved England, 2007. Queen Elizabeth I would visit Barn Elms to see her Spymaster. Barn Elms features in English literary history from the time the royalist poet Abraham Cowley moved to the house belonging to John Cartwright in 1663.Cartwright advertised the house "to let" in 1659 (Colovin 1995, s.v. "Marshall, Edward".

In the 1660s Barn Elms became a fashionable destination for boating picnics. Samuel Pepys, who arranged many a Sunday afternoon or moonlit evening boating party to Barn Elms himself, recorded that on 26 May 1667:

I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great pleasure saw some gallant ladies and people come with their bottles, and basket, and chairs, and form,A trestle table. to sup under the trees, by the water-side, which was mighty pleasant.Pepys, Diary, 26 May 1667; see also under 5 August 1666, 28 April, 9 June, 21 July and 25 August 1667; 23 March and 2 August 1668.

File:Barney - Barn Elmes Plane MG 4859 sm.jpg and one of the oldest examples of the species in London{{cite book |author= |title=The Great Trees of London |publisher=Time Out Guides Ltd |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84670-154-2 |pages=59}}]]

The oldest, and one of the largest London plane trees is in Barn Elms.{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/londons-best-trees-8613763.html|title=London's best trees|website=Evening Standard|access-date=9 September 2018}}

When Barn Elms was in the possession of the bookseller Jacob Tonson, the Kit-Cat Club met at Barn Elms for many years. Here the "Kit-Kat portraits" hung;[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43024 Victoria County History: Surrey, vol. 4: Barnes]; Harry M. Geduld, Prince of publishers: a study of the work and career of Jacob Tonson, 1969. Tonson's extensions to the house, c1703, seem to have been made under the general advice of John Vanbrugh, a Kit-Kat member.Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840, 3rd ed. 1995, s.v. "Vanbrugh, John".

John James Heidegger, the opera impresario, resided at Barn Elms, where he entertained George II, and as Heidegger's guest Georg Friederich Handel stayed here at his first arrival in England, in 1711.Barrett 1884:27.

The house was later remodelled or rebuilt for Sir Richard Hoare, who died at Barn Elms,George Lipscomb, The History and Antiquities of the county of Buckingham 4, 1847:390 and enlarged in the early 19th century by his son, Richard Colt Hoare. When Hammersmith Bridge was erected in 1824–27, the company that undertook the work bought Barn Elms and drove the access road, Upper Bridge Road, now Castelnau, across the park.[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43024 Victoria County History: Surrey, vol. 4: Barnes] The house was also the home of Sir Lancelot Shadwell, who was Vice Chancellor of England in the 19th century: on one occasion he delivered an injunction while up to his neck in the cool lake.Barrett: 1884:29f. From 1883 to 1939 Barn Elms was used as the club-house of the Ranelagh Club.They were removed from Ranelagh Ground, Fulham (Barrett 1884:33)

In 1891 Barn Elms for a short time played host to Queens Park Rangers. The club was forced to move there after it became impossible to play soccer at their home ground in Brondesbury which was shared with London Scottish rugby club.Macey, Gordon (1999). The Official History of Queens Park Rangers Football Club (London: Queen's Park Rangers F.C.). The house became derelict and was demolished following a fire in 1954.C. J. Barrett, The History of Barn Elms and the Kit Cat club: now the Ranelagh Club, 1889.

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.bestappeal.org.uk/ Barn Elms Sports Trust]
• [http://www.barneseagles.com/ Barnes Eagles FC]
• [http://www.runtrackdir.com/details.asp?track=london-b/ Barn Elms Athletics Track]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091204034317/http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit/wetlandcentre Wetlands Centre]
• [http://www.barnes-history.org.uk/index.html Barnes History]

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Category:Barnes, London

Category:Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Category:Fulham F.C. home grounds

Category:Sport in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Category:Queens Park Rangers F.C.