The land here was owned by Magdalen College Oxford and in the early 20th century it was planned to build Magdalen Park Estate as a Garden Suburb here. By World War I houses between Garratt Lane and Swaby Road, and between Lyford Road and Ellerton Road had been built but the scheme was stopped when in the 1920s Wandsworth Borough Council bought the area between Swaby Road and Open View for the Openview Estate. In the 1930s Godley Road Recreation Ground was provided as a central area of public open space.
