Place Name
As the name suggests this Putney Common and immediate surrounds remained open pasture and farmland for all, that is until its enclosure in 1469 by a John Twigge, who used it raise sheep for wool production. This enclosure was known as the Pightells (literally meaning enclosed land). Despite a number of attempts to enclose more common land, local resistance limited further loss to the building of Elm Lodge (rebuilt in 1912 as Putney Hospital) and the cemetery, laid out in 1855. Until the mid-19thCentury, little building took place around the Common, but during times of recurrent plague, temporary wooden structures, known as pesthouses, were erected to quarantine the sick and removed when the danger had passed. A couple of barns are shown on the east side of the Common in Lane’s map of 1636, in the present location of the Cricketers and Spencer Arms pubs, presumably to house agricultural produce. A brick pesthouse built in 1665 lasted until 1860, when it was demolished to make way for the building of cottages in Commondale. The cottages built on Commondale were amongst the earliest permanent development in the area.
