I learned during the part of the acorn digression noticed at reference 1 about an important specimen of Pyrus amygdaliformis in Streatham Cemetery on Garratt Lane, the small pears of which are a minor food of Sardinian wild boars. Given that for some years I used to walk up said lane from Earlsfield to the Wetherspoon's at Tooting Broadway and once knew the lane pretty well, it was clearly time for another visit - which came to pass a couple of weeks ago.
No trolleys sighted on the way to the station, but there was one black cab on the rank. The rank was still working. As were the builders of the flats next to the station as scaffolding had reappeared - not that it is many years since these flats were built. Less than twenty I should think.
No figs to be seen on the fig tree across the rails from the town platform, this despite the leaves having dropped, leaving a clear view.
There was something wrong with the intercom on the train, with lots of short segments - a few seconds each - being dropped from whatever it was that the guard was trying to tell us. While the computer generated messages were fine.
Off at Earlsfield and headed south down Garratt Lane, past the 'Leather Bottle', with the first thing that caught my eye being the Tesco's which used to be a public house, at the top of the street called Summerstown. A rather sleepy sort of house which I used to use occasionally, if I was early, and which used to run to a seafood stall outside on Fridays. Maybe the 'Prince of Wales', maybe a Young's house. It looked like quite an old building, so maybe I could track in down in the old map service provided by Scottish National Libraries.
Starting with 1870 or so, when the area was not very built up at all and while the railway was there, Earlsfield Station was not. But Summers Town was (middle left above), without any clues as to why it was so called. Gemini tells me that the name is a bit of a local mystery, but one theory is that the River Wandle, a little to the west, was apt to flood, and the land was at its best in the summer. Maybe this has something to do with why the area as a whole was not much developed until the end of the 19th century.
Summers Town then ran to a church, a parsonage and some alms houses. And the buildings where the public house was were called 'Church Row'. The church seems to have vanished. Gemini tells me that it became too small and was replaced by the nearby church - a very substantial looking building - probably worth a visit if one could get in - in Wimbledon Road at the turn of the century. During a transitional period there was temporary iron church (often called a 'tin tabernacle') next to the old church, an iron church which survived as a church hall until 1968.
Nothing much changed on the pub front, but Streatham Cemetery has arrived, along with some light industry and some more houses.
Public house not marked, although it must have been there. While the rather older 'Leather Bottle' and the 'Fountain' (not far from Tooting Broadway, demolished some years ago) are both present and named.
The bigger picture in 1870. No Earlsfield Station - and, as I recall, the Epsom trains did not start stopping there until some years after we arrived. They more or less all do now. Lambeth Cemetery, but no St. George's Hospital. Lunatic asylum, but no Springfield Hospital. And we do get the St. Clement Danes almshouses.
So not much further ahead. But regular search gave me reference 2, which tells me that this Youngs' house went up at the turn of the century, part of a wave of pub building at about that time. Clearly need to visit the Tesco's it now is to see whether any of the interior survives.
Back with the important tree, I am now approaching the cemetery, just visible right. The flats in the middle caught my eye, looking a bit new to have chimneys, just visible at the roof line. Another story to be dug up some time.
The picture of the tree at reference 1 looks to be up against a wall, with some distinctive flats behind, so it seemed like a good plan to walk around the inside perimeter, in so far as that was possible, until I found it.
You can read all about the chambers at the back of the snap above at reference 3. Clearly a go-ahead sort of place.
A rather unhappy looking birch tree. Google Images thinks that all the lumps and bumps are more to do with heavy pruning than galls. I was not at all convinced.
But luckily, he also supplies the image above. About which the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says '... Galls can result from fungal infection, bacterial infection or insect activity. / Sometimes, galls can be found in impressive numbers on a single tree, although their presence generally doesn’t lead to rapid or widespread tree death ... One type of gall, phomopsis, can present a particularly impressive appearance. The result of a native fungus, phomopsis mostly occurs on oak, hickory and maple in Wisconsin...'. I settle for galls. And I now know that galls are not necessarily to do with wasps. Maybe not tannins and ink either.
A sensible and decent memorial to Wandsworth citizens who died as a result of enemy action - presumably bombing - during the Second World War. I dare say some would like the lettering to be picked out again - it is visible under zoom - but I think I prefer it the way it is. Let it slowly fade away.
Bingo! The tree in question, having lost a fair amount of leaf for the year. Complete with likely looking flats.
Plus some junior, rather smaller trees to the right.
Some of the small pears, perhaps half an inch across. For this pear in particular and pears in general see references 4 and 5. I sticks in my mind that the French are keen on pears and used to produce elaborate, lavishly illustrated catalogues, rather as we did with apples, the sort of thing to be found in RHS libraries. Perhaps pears really like it to be warmer than here, although I have not checked up on that point.
There were a fair number of big trees, interesting trees and sick trees, so perhaps some past superintendent had used his position to plant interesting trees, rather as the directors of some of the Epsom mental hospitals. A gardener also told me that there was a busy volunteer group which helped look after the place, help which ran to running some bee hives.
Some interesting monuments, some memorialising people who came, to judge by their names, from interesting parts of the world. Nothing terribly grand though, none of the sort of thing you sometimes come across in inner city graveyards. No Wellingtonias either.
This chapel, one of two, was firmly shut. Impressive pull-in for the funeral carriage.
Some big pine cones - which I found later were oozing some kind of resin. Not unpleasant smelling but sticky.
Closer to.
Google Images' effort. What with that, his deep dive and reference 6, Pinus wallichiana looks to be a good fit. But he is a bit vaguer, offering more choice, when I feed him the first snap, so it is a pity I did not look more carefully at the needles.
Although zoom suggests that they might indeed be in bundles of five. And I did keep a couple of cones, so perhaps I will see what I can do with them in the morning.
Some new graves, complete with floral tributes.
[Cemetery top right]
Outside, I failed to look into the gardens behind Diprose Lodge, once the gardener's cottage. See reference 7. Something else for next time.
Thus completing the outbound leg of the expedition. The return will be reported shortly.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/acorn-statistical-endeavours.html.
Reference 2: https://londonpubsgroup.camra.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=28354. The source of the snap of the 'Prince of Wales' at the top of this post.
Reference 3: https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/bereavement-services/our-cemeteries-crematoria/streatham-cemetery.
Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrus_spinosa.
Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pear.
Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_wallichiana.
Reference 7: https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/stclementdanes.html.
Reference 8: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/search?q=garratt. A sample of past notices of Garratt Lane.
