Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Gilbert Scott's awesome cathedral of power from 1933, which looks like an upturned
table and featured (along with an inflatable flying pig) on the Pink Floyd album cover
Animals
. Closed down in 1983, it is finally being converted into flats, with Malaysian
money, and may yet have a special branch of the Northern Line built to connect it to
central London. Until the work is completed in 2017, there's a Pop-Up Park that you
can visit most weekends - the entrance is through a gateway under the Grosvenor
(railway) Bridge.
18
Battersea Dogs and Cats Home
4 Battersea Park Rd • Daily 10.30am-5pm • £2 •
T
0843 509 4444,
W
battersea.org.uk •
!
Vauxhall or Battersea Park train station
After the power station, most Londoners know Battersea for just one thing: its Dogs
Home, now the
Battersea
Dogs and Cats Home
, established here in 1871 as the “Home
for Lost Dogs and Cats”. Cats are still catered for, though it's better known for its dogs,
with up to 180 dogs and 80 cats accommodated at any one time, and over sixteen
thousand passing through their doors each year. Visitors are welcome, even if they're
not thinking of adopting a pet.
Battersea Park
Park
Daily 8am-dusk • Free •
T
020 8871 7530,
W
batterseapark.org
Children's Zoo
Daily 10am-5.30pm; closes 4.30pm or dusk in
winter • £8.75 adult, £6.50 child •
T
0845 6016 679,
W
batterseaparkzoo.co.uk • Bus #19 or #319 from
!
Sloane Square or Battersea
Park train station
Battersea being a place of great poverty, the Victorians decided, in the 1850s, to do
something to help ameliorate the social conditions by establishing
Battersea Park
,
connected to Chelsea by the Albert Bridge, one of the campest bridges to span the
Thames, especially when lit up at night with fairy lights, like a seaside pier. Today, the
park is probably best known for its two-tier
Peace Pagoda
, erected in 1985 by Japanese
Buddhists. Made from a combination of reconstituted Portland stone and Canadian fir
trees, the pagoda shelters four large gilded Buddhas. The park's
fountain lake
, to the
southwest, is impressive in summer, and there's a small family-run
Children's
Zoo
,
established during the 1951 Festival of Britain, and home to monkeys, lemurs, mynah
birds, otters and meerkats.
St Mary's Church
Battersea Church Rd • Mon-Fri 9am-1pm • Free •
T
020 7228 9648,
W
stmarysbattersea.org.uk • Bus #170 from
!
Victoria or Imperial
Wharf Overground
The old village of Battersea was originally centred on St Mary's Church, half
a mile upstream from Battersea Park. In 1775, when the current church was built,
Battersea was a peaceful place with a population of less than two thousand, among
them Catherine Boucher, who married the poet and visionary William Blake in
the church in 1782. Another painter associated with St Mary's is Turner, who used
to sit in the oriel vestry window and paint the clouds and sunsets (his favourite
chair is now reverently preserved in the chancel) - both painters now have
commemorative windows.
