Prospect Place was a grand mansion on Copse Hill. Its estate was created just after 1800 by James Meyrick when he bought Prospect Place and added to it all of the land between Copse Hill and Coombe Lane. The grounds was landscaped by Humphrey Repton and a model farm built. In 1831 the estate was bought by Charles Pepys. When he died in 1851, Prospect Place was broken up - 40 acres were acquired by St George’s Hospital.

Developers bought most of the rest of the estate in 1851 after the death of Charles Pepys, now entitled 1st Earl of Cottenham.

New roads were laid out and given aristocratic names that had associations with the estate.

Few building plots were bought before the 1890s, except those along Copse Hill and Richmond Road.

Development of the area did not get underway in earnest until after 1891 with the extension of Worple Road to Raynes Park and the coming of the trams in 1907. By the start of the First World War and thriving new residential area had sprung up.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the rest of the area was built up on the land of the still-surviving Cottenham Park Farm.

Cottenham Park is also home to a recreation ground with the same name. The park was opened in 1897 under the name Melbury Gardens.

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Main source:	Hidden London
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