Samuel Poupart

The Shaftesbury Park Estate, commonly known as The Shaftesbury Estate, is a residential estate in Battersea in South London, England. It lies north of Lavender Hill and Clapham Common and east of Clapham Junction railway station.

The estate occupies a flat area of land at the edge of the River Thames flood plain just north of the slope rising to Clapham Common. Historically the area was occupied by Battersea Fields, the poorly drained common land covering the area as far as the river. The Heathwall Ditch ran along the foot of the slope and drained into the River Effra and Falcon Brook, making Battersea an island; present day Heathwall Street marks the line of this water course. A stream crossed the area on the line of present-day Grayshott Road.

In the Middle Ages the area was known as Pig Hill because of the large number of piggeries in the area. The Domesday Book says that brickmaking was carried on in some fields on Pig Hill. Cattle breeding also flourished to some extent in the area. Pig Hill formed part of Latchmoor Common, an area of common land belonging to the parish for the common good.

Under the power of the Inclosure Act dating back to William IV, the overseer of any parish had the power to enclose waste or common land, less than 50 acres (200,000 m²), lying in or near the parish. Under the Act, the parish then had to cultivate and improve such waste land for the use and benefit of the parish, and also had the power to let such enclosed land in allotments to the inhabitants of the parish to be cultivated on their own account. Taking advantage of this Act, the churchwardens and overseers of Battersea enclosed about 16 acres (65,000 m²) of Latchmoor Common and let it out in allotments, for Allotment (gardening) at a low rental, to the residents of the parish, for the cultivation of vegetables.

At the commencement of the seventeenth century, the allotments had flourished and Battersea had become famous for its market gardening. The gardeners were known for their quality produce which fetched high prices in the London markets and were the first growers to cultivate and introduce asparagus. One gardener had 40 acres (160,000 m²) of asparagus under cultivation, and at one time there were three hundred acres of market gardens within a mile of St Mary's Church, Battersea. The gardens were most probably improved by the Huguenots who settled in Wandsworth in 1639.

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