page_title: Wandsworth
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wandsworth / History
context_page_description: Wandsworth Town is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth 4.2 miles southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
context_section_description: At the time of the Domesday Book (1086), the manor of Wandsworth was held partly by William, son of Ansculfy, and partly by St Wandrille's Abbey. Its Domesday assets were 12 hides, with ​5 ¹⁄₂ ploughs and 22 acres (89,000 m²) of meadow. It rendered £9. Since at least the early 16th century, Wandsworth has offered accommodation to consecutive waves of immigration, from Protestant Dutch metalworkers fleeing persecution in the 1590s, Huguenots in the 17th century, to recent Eastern European members of the European Union.
  Between Wandsworth town centre and the river is the site of Young & Co's Ram Brewery. Shire horse-drawn brewery drays were still used to deliver beer to local pubs. Whilst brewing by Young's stopped in September 2006 when Young & Co merged its operations with Charles Wells of Bedford, brewing does continue on the site by a master brewer albeit in small amounts. A planning application to redevelop the site for residential and shopping/leisure "mixed use" was submitted in 2012.  In 2019 it was announced that Sambrook's Brewery will continue to brew beer on the site moving from their brewhouse on York Road in 2020 with John Hatch (former master brewer of Youngs Brewery) taking an active role in tours.
  Wandsworth gas plant was built in 1834 against the River Thames near Wandsworth Bridge. The undertaking became the Wandsworth and Putney Gaslight and Coke Company in 1854 and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1856. Coal for making coal gas was brought by sea from North East England and unloaded on the Thames beside the gasworks. The firm grew by a series of mergers and takeovers so that by 1936 it served a considerable area of south-west London. The company's name evolved each time it merged with or took over neighbouring gas companies, but from 1936 it was the Wandsworth and District Gas Company. The company was nationalised in 1949 and became part of the South Eastern Gas Board.
caption: A map showing the wards of Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough as they appeared in 1916.