45 Squared 34) BATTERSEA SQUARE, SW11
Borough of Wandsworth, 60m×60m×50m
The thing about Battersea Square is that it's always been a triangle. That's because it used to be the village green, back when Battersea was a small farming-and-fishing-focused settlement on a bend in the Thames, nowhere near the power station and dogs' home that bear its name today. Archaeologists have even found the remains of a Saxon cottage here, where now you can buy vegan crêpes and fatoush because that's progress for you.
The parish stocks are long gone, as indeed is the grass, in favour of a triangular piazza surrounded by trees and mostly-Victorian buildings. Wandsworth council did their best to keep vehicles out when they repaved the square in 1990, restricting through traffic to the northern side and adding planters and an al fresco dining area to bring the space alive. The project won a Civic Trust commendation at the time and has been much appreciated since by local estate agents, of which there are two right here.
The east side retains its shopfronts, several now occupied by attractively independent restaurants, plus an intriguingly dated dry cleaners on the corner which wouldn't look out of place in a provincial cathedral town. I looked in vain initially for the oldest surviving building on the square, the 17th century Raven Inn, but that's because its Dutch gables are currently sheathed in scaffolding and blue canvas, which can't be helping business at the pizzeria underneath.
On the north side is jaggedy London House, formerly home to a dynasty of linen drapers by the name of Bennett as huge lettering on the upper wall confirms. The west side once fronted a set of granaries, since residentialised, with the smart brick building facing the square originally their office block called Ship House. Alongside was the Cotswold Laundry, also now flats with a mews courtyard paved with original setts behind a buzzered gate. A red Penfold pillarbox aids the throwback illusion, and the neighbouring parcel postbox alas shatters it.
The only chain to have moved in is Gail's, squirreling into number 32 in 2019 to serve Squash & Chipotle Fritters and Pain aux Raisins to the willing wallets of SW11. It's not yet too late in the season to graze at an outdoor table, watching a white van unloading floral arrangements destined for the Indian restaurant opposite while listening to the bells of St Mary's ringing out down by the slipway, calling the faithful to Parish Eucharist With Godly Play. Local residents must be delighted that the rest of London always goes to the wrong Battersea and leaves them to enjoy the delights of their former village triangle.
