Bostall Heath to Plumstead Common

Bostall Heath to Plumstead Common: A South London Landscape History

Starting at Bostall Heath in the south-east and finishing at Putney Heath in the south-west, a chain of commons runs in a wide arc across the whole of South London.

This series of zines mixes history, ecology, psychogeography, architecture, poetry and memoir to unpack how, taken together, the commons provide the key to the South London landscape.

The first zine in the series explores the first three commons in the chain. Written by landscape historian John Gray, it features photos shot on 1960s film stock by Woolwich-based photographer Sam Walton, as well as Risograph-printed reproductions of vintage postcards.

44pp, A5. Wraparound cover designed and printed on a letterpress by Peckham’s Nice & Graphic studio, using Victorian type. The interior was printed by the legendary PageMasters Risograph studio out of Lewisham.

CONTENTS: A potted history of the South London landscape, from the Anglo Saxons to the Victorians—the glories of Thamesmead—acorns in the leaf mould—gorse and clay—Bostall Woods, how they were saved—on finding and not finding the heath—edgeland flatscape—architectural smorgasbord—“In the midst of life we are in death”—Winn’s Common—the bronze age in Plumstead—an early masterpiece by Berthold Lubetkin—the five idlers of Plumstead Common—a manic man in a manic time—tearing down fences, burning effigies of landowners—the origins of Arsenal FC—the lost commons of South London—the Commons Preservation Movement: how the commons were saved and where it got us—“When will we begin turning golf courses into woods, office blocks into fields, industrial estates back into wetlands?”