In the Domesday Book, the name appears as Patricesy, and it then went through a few variations including Battrichsey and Battersey before settling on the modern-day spelling. The area was largely farmland where it supplied produce to London from its market gardens. It was particularly well-known for its pig farms, watercress, asparagus (sold in Battersea Bundles) and lavender (grown on what is now known as Lavender Hill). In the 1830s railway lines began to be constructed through the area and in 1863 the world-famous Clapham Junction station was opened just inside Battersea's southern border. Clapham Junction is the country's busiest railway station based on the number of passenger interchanges undertaken there. The new train lines provided a boost to Battersea's industries where it became home to a number of large companies producing starch, silk, malt, chemicals and candles. The large number of industrial premises led to Battersea being heavily bombed during the Second World War.
The most famous landmark in the area, Battersea Power Station was built between 1929 and 1955. It consisted of two coal-fired power stations (Battersea A and Battersea B) which is what gives it its distinctive and iconic four chimney design. At its peak it was producing one fifth of London's power. One of its architects, Giles Gilbert Scott was also the designer of Liverpool Cathedral and the iconic red telephone box. The power station was closed in stages with the A station ceasing operations in 1975 followed by the B station which closed in 1983. The building was declared a heritage site in 1980 and was given Grade II Listed status, and as of 2007 this was raised to Grade II* status.
The building was featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album 'Animals'. It also appeared in the 2006 film 'Children of Men' and in 2008's Batman: The Dark Knight. The site (but not the power station itself) was used in 'Superman 3' (1983). It has also featured in a couple of video games, in 'Dirt 3' it is included in its disused state where the player can drive around and inside the building as part of a Gymkhana stage, and also in 'Watch Dogs: Legion' where it is a shopping centre. The building has now been regenerated and features a shopping centre, although its quite different from the one portrayed in the game. The power station is just next door to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home (currently known as 'Battersea') which has been a permanent fixture in the area since 1871.
The first real cluster of housing was in the Battersea Village area around the High Street, but the large residential expansion started at the end of the 18th century when wealthy Londoners began to build large villas. This was followed in the mid 19th century by the building of the two and three storey terrace houses, many of which still make up a large amount of the area's housing. In 1846, following the passing of The Battersea Park Act, a 320-acre plot of land alongside the river, previously known as Battersea Fields, was acquired by the 'Commission for Improving the Metropolis' for the creation of a brand new Royal Park. This land had previously been used by the market gardens, and was also a popular spot for duelling. 200-acres were used for the park while the remaining land was put aside for residential developments.
It was laid out to the designs of Sir James Pennethorn, who designed the nearby Kennington Park and also Victoria Park, in east London. 750,000 tonnes of soil excavated during the creation of Surrey Docks, in Rotherhithe, was shipped over to Battersea in order to raise the level of the park to prevent flooding from the River Thames. The park's grand carriageways were created along with a lake and other features such as gardens designed by the park's first superintendent, John Gibson. In 1858, Battersea Park was officially opened to the public by Queen Victoria. The first exhibition football match to be played under Football Association rules took place in the park on 9 January 1864. It was also used as the home venue for Wanderers F.C. who were the first-ever winners of the F.A. Cup (they actually won it five times between 1872 and 1878).
Over the years, the park has remained a crucial green space for local residents to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. During the Second World War the land was again used for growing crops, and it also housed anti-aircraft guns, barrage balloons and shelters. It was a central part of the 1951 Festival of Britain where the pleasure gardens were created which included the Guinness Clock, a roller coaster and fun fair, along with a miniature railway and the forerunner of what would become the park's children's zoo. Later on, in 1970, the roller coaster suffered from a fire and in 1972 a derailment resulted in the deaths of five children. The roller coaster never re-opened and the whole fun fair closed down shortly after. The northern half of the park is still home to the remnants of a some of the festival's original installations. It has also been used as a filming location for scenes in a number of films including The Death of Stalin (2017), The Great Muppet Caper (1981) and 101 Dalmations (1996).
The modern-day park continues to provide the same escape as it always has and is extremely popular. The park currently contains the original carriageways, a bandstand, a number of gardens including the Old English Garden, Sub Tropical Garden, and the Russell Page Garden, an events venue called Evolution London, the Pump House Gallery, sculptures by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, and The London Peace Pagoda. There are two playgrounds, the Battersea Park Children's Zoo and a Go Ape tree top adventure facility. The lake still exists and boats can hired throughout the summer months, plus there are all-weather pitches, tennis courts, cricket nets, a bowling green, an athletics track and gym facilities in Battersea Park Millennium Arena. There's also bike hire (including trikes, recumbents and tandems) from London Recumbents and a pitch and putt golf course. In short this park has pretty much everything you could ask for.
Battersea Park is also a well-known haven for runners. There are a number of regular running events that take place in the park including the popular long-standing Sri Chinmoy 5k, 10k and relay races and the RunThrough 5k, 10k and half-marathon events which take place throughout the year. I've visited Battersea Park many times over the years, some of those were for the Battersea Park Mo-Running 5k event which I took part in on four consecutive occasions in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2024 I visited the park, but this time it was to take part in Battersea parkrun, which is a fully inclusive, free, weekly, timed 5k event which takes place on Saturday mornings at 9am. It is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk and wheelchair users. It also offers the perfect opportunity to engage in a bit of volunteering.
Travel to the venue is fairly easy as it has extremely good public transport connections. Firstly, the closest railway stations are Battersea Park, served by Southern trains running from London Victoria towards the south coast and Queenstown Road which is served by South Western Railway between London Waterloo and Weybridge. Battersea Park station is technically also served by London Overground trains, but the services may be quite limited, so check the timetable beforehand. Wandsworth Road is also served by London Overground services. London Underground's Northern Line runs into Battersea Power Station tube station. Another Underground option would be to use the District or Circle lines and alight at Sloane Square where you could walk south and cross over Chelsea Bridge to reach the park (approx 1 mile).
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| 100/500 photo credit: sharon maria boland |
There are of course many buses that also pass close to the venue. The 44, 137, 211, and 452 services all stop on Queenstown Road on the eastern border of the park. The 44 also stops to the south of the park on the A3205, as does the 344. To the west of the park there are bus stops that are served by the 49, 319, 345, 639 and 670. Lastly, on the opposite side of the river, the 170 stops on Chelsea Embankment where you can simply walk across Albert Bridge and into the park. Please note that this is London, so there are probably many other buses that get within walking distance of the park that I haven't covered. If cycling the park has numerous sets of bicycle racks dotted around. Plus there are a few Santander Bicycle Docking Stations on Prince of Wales Drive and Albert Road, should you wish to hire a bike for the journey.
For those brave enough to drive to the venue there are a few parking options. The park has three different parking areas within its boundary, but only two of them are usable when visiting on the morning of the parkrun. Each one is accessed via a different entry point and charged at a weekend rate of £3.40 for up to three hours or £6.80 for over three hours (note: the weekday rate is much more expensive). The car parks have payment machines but payment can also be made via RingGo which may cost slightly more due to an added convenience fee. Albert Car Park is closest to the parkrun meeting point and this can be accessed via Albert Gate from Albert Bridge Road. The second is towards the north-east corner of the park and can be accessed via Chelsea Gate from Chelsea Bridge / Queenstown Road.
The third car park is accessed via Rosery Gate from a roundabout called Queen's Circus at the park's south east corner. However, there is a sign at this gate which notes that from 11 October 2024 it is closed between 10.30pm on Friday evenings until 10.30am on Saturday mornings. My understanding is that this closure is in place to help facilitate the parkrun by ensuring the course remains vehicle-free. The final option for car parking would be to use the free-at-the-weekend on-street parking which can be found on most of the side roads to the south and west of the park. If parking on Prince of Wales Drive the western end seems to have better availability of spaces. Wandsworth Council has a really helpful map showing the full car parking arrangements in the immediate vicinity of the park.
Should an overnight stay be required there are a couple of options near the park, the closest being the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel which overlooks the park or the art'otel right next to Battersea Power Station. For those that prefer the familiarity of a Premier Inn, the closest ones are at Clapham or Victoria. I should also note that Victoria is London's largest and main coach station so if travelling to London by coach, Battersea is quite an easy location to reach from the terminus, with the onward walk being just 0.7 miles to the park's entrance. If you happen to have access to a helicopter, London's only licensed heliport is located on the south bank of the Thames just to the west of the park. There is a river boat service that stops at Battersea Power Station, however it does not run early enough to make it a viable travel option to reach the venue pre-parkrun.
The park can be accessed from the east, west or south sides and the parkrun meeting point can be found at the junction of Carriage Drive West and Central Avenue, to the west of the park's bandstand and adjacent to the Albert car park. There are three main public toilet facilities present in the park. The closest ones to the meeting point are the Fountain Toilets located next to the fountains just to the north of the avenue. The additional two are the Beechmore Toilets located on South Carriage Drive near the Sun Gate on the southwest corner, and the Pierpoint Toilets which are located on North Carriage Drive next to the zoo. All three sets of toilets have an 8am opening time all year round. They are helpfully marked in red on this map on the Enable Leisure and Culture website.
Battersea Park has been a desired location for a parkrun for as long as I can remember, so when the event finally started in October 2024, it was an instant hit. In fact its initial regular attendance figures (excluding event 1) which are in excess of 1000 people per week are unprecedented for such a young parkrun. The nearby Clapham Common parkrun, which itself is very well attended, took 36 events to reach a four-digit number of finishers, but even that was a one-off at that point. The mighty Bushy parkrun didn't break into a four-digit number of finishers until their 392nd event, in 2012, and not regularly until 2015. The point is that the team at Battersea parkrun did not had the luxury of slowly growing into their event, and they should be commended for how they have quickly learned and adapted to ensure the event goes smoothly.
The first timers' briefing and the main event briefing both take place at the meeting point. When I visited there were such a large number of people gathered around that it was difficult to get close enough to hear properly. The participants are then sent to the start line on Central Avenue in seeded order with those expecting to complete the course fastest starting closest to the front. In order to ensure the start line is formed correctly, the participants are directed around a side path and enter the start area from the rear, filling the start pen from the bandstand side.
The course is a simple two-and-a-bit anti-clockwise lap comprising the Central Avenue and the southern section of the Carriage Drive loop. Underfoot is entirely tarmac, which makes standard road shoes the best choice at all times of year. The course is as flat as a pancake, which makes it one of the capital's fastest venues (I ran my first-ever sub-19 5k here in 2013). Participants with buggies are welcome as are those who wish to participate with a dog. The nature of this course makes it particularly suitable for wheelchair users.
From the start on the beautiful tree-lined central avenue, the participants head to the west. The fixed-width of the avenue coupled with the very high number of participants means that those in the middle or back of the pack may get off to a slower start, but considering the number of people things flow surprisingly well. It doesn't take long for the participants to naturally spread out. As this is an anti-clockwise course all of the turns are left-handers and the first one is reached as the participants reach the original meeting point where they course transfers onto Carriage Drive West. The path itself is reasonably wide all the way around so once that initial congestion has eased, there is plenty of space for everyone, but participants are requested to keep to the left.
The path of Carriage Drive West seamlessly merges into Carriage Drive South as it passes the Sun Gate, Go Ape and then the Battersea Park all-weather sports pitches. The route continues along the drive with absolutely zero chance of getting lost. The areas to the sides of the path soon open up to reveal the Rosery car park (which will be empty for reasons mentioned above), and to the left the park's lake comes into view. It's all very scenic and it is certainly one of London's finest Victorian parks. The drive itself is also open to cyclists, roller-skiers and skaters so keep an eye peeled for them passing by, possibly at speed. The far end of Carriage Drive South passes the Rosery Gate and the route merges (again, seamlessly) onto Carriage Drive East.
A long, sweeping left-hand curve takes the course past the circular building that is home to the Pear Tree Cafe, before continuing past the children's playground and the trim trail. The lake also comes back into view here and depending on the time of year, you may see the boats being prepared for use. Immediately after this, the course turns onto the eastern end of Central Avenue where you can really enjoy the tranquil inner area of the park. After a short while the route reaches the bandstand which is the park's central point. It has a 9 metre diameter and is used for a variety of the usual public bandstand events as well as being available for private events such as weddings.
After passing to the left of the bandstand, the course reaches the start line where the second lap begins. At the end of the avenue there are signs for those starting their second lap to keep right and for those that have completed both laps stay on the left during their approach to the finish funnel. Caution should be advised at this point as those who have just started lap two may drift across the flow of those entering the finish funnel. The finish is located at the very end of Central Avenue just before the turn onto Carriage Drive West.
Owing to the high number of attendees Battersea parkrun has adopted the same finish funnel solution that you'll find at Bushy parkrun which consists of a triple funnel system. Upon finishing, stay in order as per usual and just follow the instructions of the marshals who will advise exactly which part of the funnel they would like you to go to. Should you finish towards the back you may find that things have reverted to the more-familiar single funnel set-up.
Barcode scanning takes place just after the funnel and once scanned you are free to continue your morning. If that involves some refreshments, the Pear Tree Cafe is the place listed on the parkrun's course page as the official post-event refreshments get-together. There are other refreshments options in the park including the cafe at the park's miniature golf course Putt in the Park which offers pizzas from their wood-fired oven, and the Pierpoint Cafe (kiosk) next to the zoo. I recorded the course using my Garmin and the resulting GPS data can be viewed on Strava. That data was also turned into a fly-by video courtesy of the Relive app. The video has been uploaded to YouTube.
The results were published online a short while later and 1143 finishers were recorded at event number 6. The event was made possible due to the efforts of the 56 people who were credited as having volunteered so a huge thank you to everyone that helped out. The number of attendees was broadly inline with the previous few events, so it looks like this parkrun is destined to remain a very well attended event which will certainly feature very high, if not at the top, on the list of most-attended parkruns. Owing to the demographic in this part of London, it naturally attracts quite a high number of speedy runners. At time of writing sub-20 finishers have accounted for approximately the top 150 positions. But don't let that put you off because at the other end of the field, the walkers seem to be very well represented too.
Another important thing to note is that this parkrun is likely to be liable to quite a few planned cancellations, so remember to check their news, social media and the parkrun cancellations page before organising a visit. The park is home to quite a few other events, so expect a cancellation around bonfire night as the park hosts the annual Battersea Park Fireworks display. Over the August Bank Holiday weekend the Battersea Park in Concert is a relatively new event that is likely to cancel the parkrun. There may also be cancellations for other events, including other running events, but the park is a very popular venue for all sorts of things. It hosted races in the 2015 and 2016 Formula E motor racing season, but due to some controversy around the location's suitability for motor racing, this is not likely to happen again. Weather-related cancellations could happen and are most-likely to occur in snowy, icy or dangerously stormy conditions.
The park is very nice, so if visiting for parkrun don't forget to explore a little before leaving. I'd especially recommend checking out the London Peace Pagoda which was built in 1985. It features four bronze installations which depict the stages of a Bhudda's life; birth, first preaching of dharma, enlightenment and parinirvana. It is tended to daily by the same monk that took on the role in 1985. The lake is beautiful and there are some interesting lakeside areas to find and explore. Plus there are various statues and other interesting features dotted all around the park. Of course, being right next to Battersea Power Station means you can simply pop across to the road to explore the historic building's new shopping centre, cinema or even take a ride on Lift 109 which goes right to the top of the north-west chimney giving a fantastic panoramic view of London.
We ended up having a full day out at the park and the power station, finally leaving as it was starting to get dark just after 4pm. A huge thank you goes to all of the volunteers that put on the parkrun.
Related Links:
- My GPS data for Battersea parkrun (Event 6 / 30 November 2024)
- The Relive course fly-by video (Event 6 / 30 November 2024)
- The London parkrun venues (blog7t page)
