This attractive London suburb is known from many references in popular culture, frequent appearances on film and television and, of course, as the starting point of the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race. Recorded as Putelei in the Domesday Book, it has many historic associations, not least as the birthplace of Thomas Cromwell and post-war Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Putney’s very first bridge, a toll bridge opened in 1729, was once the only Thames bridge between London and Kingston and led to the development of nearby Roehampton as a desirable residential area.

Putney is well supplied with open spaces, such as Putney Common, and for centuries it was the place to which Londoners flocked to play games and enjoy the clean air. Putney Heath was a mute witness to notorious duels between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, and Queen Elizabeth I was a frequent visitor to the area from 1579 to 1603. Today the London suburb is changing, and this photographic tour provides an insightful comparison between Putney and Roehampton past and present.