Clapham sits on a hill and travelling south was the first piece of high ground travellers encountered, so in the old days it was attractive to settlers wishing to escape the Thames floodplain. Nothing from these times still exists and you must move to the late 1700’s to discover anything that remains, mainly in Old Town and along North Side. In this new book I discover much of this history, placed in a modern context together with some wonderful photography of the Common thought the seasons, especially some of the wildlife attracted here. The locals are rightly proud of their open space, one of the largest in London and its one of the main reasons that Clapham is such a desirable place to live and work.