Wimbledon Common: Caesar's Camp, Mill Corner, Gravelly Hill, Queen's Mere and The Windmill

Since then Cannizaro House has had a string of wealthy owners and played host to many famous people. Towards the end of the 19th century, the owner, Mrs Shuster, entertained lavishly and her garden parties attracted, among others, the Prince and Princess of Wales. Lord Tennyson, Oscar Wilde and Henry James. The house was named after the Duke of Cannizaro, an impoverished Sicilian who married a wealthy English woman and moved there in 1817.

Just beyond the clubhouse of the Royal Wimbledon Golf Course is Caesar's Camp, now barely discernible, which provides the earliest evidence of settlement in Wimbledon. The site has no known connection with Roman Britain and has been known by this name only since the last century. It is an iron age hillfort of a type found extensively in southern England.

Caesar's Well across the common has no connection with the Romans either. The well is now filled in, but there is still an outlet for the spring which flowed even during the drought of 1976 when the rest of the Common was tinder dry.

From the well, the path runs beside the Queen's Butt. This raised mound is the remains of the firing range used by the National Rifle Association, who held annual competitions on the Common between 1860 and 1889. On the opening day of their first meeting, Prince Albert and the Royal entourage watched as Queen Victoria fired the first shot of the tournament. A special mechanical rest was constructed for her rifle so that all she had to do was pull the silken cord to fire. Not surprisingly, she scored a bull's eye. A little further on is the KRR Stone. This commemorates the King's Royal Rifle Corps, who were encamped on the Common before being posted overseas during World War One.

The windmill overlooking Putney Vale was built in 1817 by Charles March, a Roehampton carpenter. The original mill had a shorter tower and was built entirely of timber above the ground floor level. A chute delivered sacks of flour from the first floor into waiting carts. The mill ceased working in 1860, and five years later the lower part of the building was converted into cottages.

In the 19th century, Thomas Hunt Dann worked at the mill and lived with his wife and son at a nearby cottage. He was also the constable of the common, charged with ensuring that law and order prevailed. This was never an easy task, as in those days, the common was a popular spot for duelling.

The practice of duelling continued as a means of settling disputes long after it had been outlawed. On the 12th of September 1840, a famous duel took place on the common when Lord Cardigan wounded a Captain Tuckett. Thomas Dann arrested Cardigan who stood trial in the House of Lords, but was acquitted.

From the mill, the route follows a bridleway, then branches off across the common, eventually leading back to the starting point near the war memorial.