The Memorial Stones (Contd)

The Tangier Stone

The KRR Stone

Hartley's Obelisk - The Fire House

By the A3, near Tibbet's Corner, stands an Obelisk commemorating the "Fire House" built in 1776 by Mr David Hartley. Mr Hartley was the inventor of a system for fire-proofing houses by means of what he called "fire-plates". His invention consisted of iron plates fixed over the joists of the upper floors, below the normal floor boarding. Explaining the system he said that "the efficiency of the fire plates depends partly upon their preventing the immediate access of the fire itself to the timbers of the house and partly on their preventing that exterior draught of air without which no house can be set on fire" (he also drew attention to other "subordinate conveniences" such as cleanliness, the prevention of dust falling from floor to floor and the interruption of the free passage of vermin).

His "Fire House" was built, using this construction and on 2nd September 1776 he began a series of demonstrations in which the lower floor of the house was set on fire. The first of these demonstrations was witnessed by the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City of London who were said to be greatly impressed. No doubt with the Great Fire of London in mind, the Corporation resolved that for new buildings in the City, (wherever thought proper) "the said Fire Plates shall be ordered as part of the plan" and they presented Mr Hartley with the Freedom of the City. At a further demonstration, King George III and Queen Charlotte are said to have taken breakfast on the upper floor of the house while a fierce fire raged below. Hartley went on to produce an even more fire resistant system using iron plates above and below the floor joists with dry sand packed between and experimented with combinations of iron and copper plates. Ultimately, a Parliamentary grant was awarded to him to meet his expenses, which must have been considerable, and the obelisk was set up near the site of the house to record the experiments and the grant.

Pounds

There are two cattle pounds on the Commons, one at the junction of Cannizaro Road and Parkside and the other on Putney Heath near the Green Man. Although the timbers have been renewed over the years, they originally date from the time when sheep and cattle grazed on the Common lands. They were not only used to house cattle which had strayed but to impound those seized in payment of debt.