Wandsworth is among the least beautiful and the most cut-up of the commons. Large and straggling in extent, it has been so much encroached upon that roads, and houses, and railways cross it. It is narrowed to a strip in places, and all the wildness and all the old trees have gone. Some young avenues by the main road have been planted, and no more curtailments can be perpetrated, as it was acquired for the use of the public in 1871. For many years the encroachments had roused the inhabitants, and about 1760 a species of club was formed to protect the rights of the commoners. When enclosures took place, the members all subscribed and went to law, and often won their cases. The head was called the "Mayor of Garratt," from Garratt Lane, near the Common, where a "ridiculous mock election" was held. A mob collected, and en- couraged by Foote, Wilkes, and others, witty speeches were made. Foote wrote a farce called "The Mayor of Garratt," which for some time gave the ceremony no small celebrity. The rowdyism becoming serious at the sham elections, they were suppressed in 1796. When the Common was eventually saved, it was in a bad and untidy state: quantities of gravel had been dug, and holes, some of them filled with water, were a danger; the trees had all disappeared, and the whole surface was bare and muddy. It has improved since then, but there is nothing picturesque left. The "Three Island Pond," which is supposed to be its greatest beauty, is stiff, formal, and new-looking, with a few straggly trees growing up. Still it is safely preserved as an open space, and makes a good recreation ground.
