Balham
Balham is a district in south London in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The settlement appears inside the Domesday Book as Belgeham. Bal signifies ‘rounded enclosure’ and ham a homestead, village or river enclosure. The region 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 area of Balham which is close to Tooting Bec features a block of 1930s Art Deco flats known as Du Cane Court. There is also the Heaver Estate which can be found in Tooting, which comprises substantial homes. It was built within the grounds of the old Bedford Hill House by local Victorian builder Alfred Heaver.
Balham lies amongst 4 south London commons, namely Clapham Common towards the north, Wandsworth Common to the west, Tooting Graveney Common to the south plus the connecting Tooting Bec to the east.
In the Second World War, on 14th October 1940, Balham tube station was badly affected by air raids on London. Families sheltered inside the tube station during 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 people today. Ian McEwan describes the event as part of his novel ‘Atonement’, published in 2001.
