Balham is a district in south London within the London Borough of Wandsworth. The settlement appears in the Domesday Book as Belgeham. Bal signifies ‘rounded enclosure’ and ham a homestead, village or river enclosure. The area has been settled since Saxon times, and Balham Hill and Balham High Road follow the line of the Roman road Stane Street to Chichester.
Balham encompasses the A24 north of Tooting Bec along with the roads coming off it. The southern part of Balham which is near Tooting Bec features a block of 1930s Art Deco flats referred to as Du Cane Court. There's also the Heaver Estate which can be found in Tooting, which comprises substantial houses. It was constructed inside the grounds of the old Bedford Hill House by local Victorian builder Alfred Heaver.
Balham is located amongst four south London commons, namely Clapham Common towards the north, Wandsworth Common to the west, Tooting Graveney Common towards the south as well as the connecting Tooting Bec towards the east.
During the Second World War, on 14th October 1940, Balham tube station was badly affected by air raids on London. Individuals sheltered in the tube station throughout the raids, but a bomb fell in the High Road and through the rooftop of the Underground station, bursting a water and gas mains and killing about 64 individuals. Ian McEwan describes the event in the novel ‘Atonement’, published in 2001.
