Barn Elms

The site is one of the Borough’s major areas for sport pitches with facilities for athletics, rugby, soccer, hockey, cricket, baseball and tennis. There is a small fishing lake, managed by Barnes & Mortlake Angling and Preservation Society, near the athletics track. At the north of the site, within a small woodland area, there is a glade – the Scouts’ and Guides’ campsite.

The sports fields were formerly part of church lands belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury. A manor house known as Barn Elms stood on the site until 1949, when it was destroyed by fire. In the 1770’s the formal lake was enlarged and made into a serpentine formation in the Capability Brown style. Some large Plane trees remain from the late 17th century - one of exceptional size is mentioned in Alan Mitchell’s Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Now listed as one of the Great Trees of London, it takes six people to reach around the trunk!