Sir Richard Phillips in his "Morning Walk from London to Kew" (page 42) says, "at the distance of a hundred yards from Battersea Bridge an extensive pile of massy brick work for the manufacture of soap has recently been erected, at a cost it is said of sixty thousand pounds. I was told it was inaccessible to strangers and therefore was obliged to content myself with viewing it at a distance." This soap factory stood by the water side, a little to the east of the Bridge, erected by Mr. Cleaver. There were some large turpentine works in this parish, which belonged to Mr. Flocton. Battersea has three bridges across the Thames communicating with Chelsea. The history of the Ferry prior to the erection of the OLD WOODEN BRIDGE at Battersea can be traced back some two or three centuries. It was much used as a means of transporting passengers, goods, etc., over this part of the river. At the commencement of the reign of James I. the Ferry from Battersea to Chelsea or Chelchehith Ferry was in full operation. When James I. ascended the throne "by Letters Patent for the sum of £40, the King gave his dear relations Thomas Earl of Lincoln, and John Eldred and Robert Henley, Esquires, all the ferry across the river Thames called Chelchehith Ferry, or Chelsea Ferry." In addition to which some grants of land were included and the Grantees were empowered to transfer their rights to "our very illustrious subject William Blake." In 1618 the Earl of Lincoln, who owned Sir Thomas More's house in Chelsea which Sir Thomas More had purchased from Sir Robert Cecil, sold the ferry to William Blake. In 1695 it belonged to one Bartholomew Nutt. The ferry appears to have been rated in the parish books in 1710 at £8 per annum. Between the year 1765 and 1771 the ferry produced an average rental of £42 per annum. Sir Walter St. John by virtue of his manorial rights held possession of the ferry, at his death in 1708, the ferry with the rest of the property went to his son Henry, who died in 1742 having left the family estate to his son Henry the famous Viscount Bolingbroke, at whose death in 1751, in consequence of his having no issue or progeny of his own, the estates with the title descended to his nephew Frederick (son of his half-brother, John Viscount St. John) who obtained an Act of Parliament in 1762 to sell his estate, which, as we have already observed, was purchased in 1763 by the Trustees of John, Earl Spencer. Earl Spencer being anxious to replace the ferry with a bridge, in 1766 obtained an Act of Parliament which empowered him to build the present bridge. The bridge is in Battersea and Chelsea Parishes (the marks defining the boundary line of these Parishes meet in the centre) it was not to be rated to the land tax, or any public or parochial rate; nor deemed a County bridge, so as to subject the Counties of Surrey and Middlesex to repair the same. In the event of any casualty occurring to the bridge thereby rendering it "dangerous and impracticable" the