THE LOCAL HISTORY PAGE

Facts about Morden and Merton

Merton is now the name of the London Borough covering the areas of Wimbledon, Colliers Wood, Raynes Park, Morden and Mitcham. Morden was a small village of relatively little importance throughout its history. It became more well-known (and populous) with the arrival of the southern end of the Northern Line of the London Underground (mid 1920's) and the establishment of the St Helier housing estate (finished in the 1930's). The estate was built by the London County Council to relocate the people moved out from increasingly decrepid housing in the centre of London.

 

A dozen things that you possibly didn't know about Morden and Merton:

  1. Merton Priory - built in the 12th century - was the place at which St Thomas Becket was educated
  2. Merton Priory gives its name to Merton College, Oxford: its founder, Walter de Merton (later Bishop of Rochester) was educated at Merton Priory c. 1230. Merton College was the first secular college to be founded: its scholars were prevented from entering any religious order.(More...)
  3. Admiral Lord Nelson bought a house in Merton - Merton Place - in which he lived with Emma Hamilton prior to the Battle of Trafalgar.
  4. William Morris had his studios at Merton Abbey Mills in the late 19th Century
  5. The St Helier Estate, Morden, built by the London County Council in the 1930's, has its street names arranged in alphabetical order, from the north-east corner (Abbotsbury Road) to the south-west corner (Woburn Road) - and are all named after religious establishments.
  6. The River Wandle had a mill at Colliers Wood continuously from the time of the Domesday Book, until the last mill was replaced by a hypermarket in the late 1980's.
  7. Morden has the distinction of being the one of the termini of one of the longest tunnels in the world (17.25 miles - about 28 Km) - the London Underground's Northern Line tunnel between Morden and East Finchley.
  8. The "Colliers" referred to in Colliers Wood were charcoal burners, in the days when the area had a few more trees..

(More to follow...)

Extracts from the Domesday Book (1086) for Merton and Morden

MERTON

In the Brixton Hundred:

 

The King holds Meretone. Earl Harold held it. It was then assessed, and is now, for 20 hides. The land is for 21 ploughs. In demesne there are two ploughs, and 56 villeins and 13 bordars with 18 ploughs. There is a church and 2 mills worth 60 shillings and 10 acres of meadow. Wood worth 80 hogs.

In the time of King Edward [The Confessor] it was worth 25 pounds and afterwards 16 pounds, now 35 pounds yet he who holds it pays 43 pounds. In Southwark 16 houses worth 18 shillings and 2 pence belong to this manor.

One named Orcus holds two hides which always lay in this manor although in another hundred. He held them in the time of King Edward. It was assessed for 2 hides, now for nothing. There is one plough in demesne and two acres of meadow. It was always worth 20 shillings.

The Bishop of Lisieux holds in Kent (in Greenwich) 2 solins which belonged to this manor in the time of King Edward and of King William as these men of the hundred testify.

MORDEN

In the Wallington Hundred:

 

The Abbey itself of Westminster holds Mordone. In the time of King Edward it was assessed for 12 hides now for three hides. the land is ...[blank in manuscript]. In demesne there are three ploughs and 8 villeins and 5 cottars with 4 ploughs. There is one serf and a mill worth 40 shillings. In the time of King Edward it was worth 6 pounds, now 10 pounds and yet it renders 15 pounds.

References

Classes: In Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, peasants were divided into two classes: villeins, and bordars or cottars. Villeins were villagers - relatively free men. Cottars or bordars were cottagers, and usually worked as labourers for others, although they may as well have possessed a small portion of the open fields (about 5 acres). Serfs (more common in Surrey than Kent) were basically slaves and attached entirely to the lord's demesne.

Pre-decimal Currency: prior to the introduction of decimal currency, the British currency consisted of:

Demesne: Strips of land either in the open-field system or within fenced-in home farms.

Solin: Kentish measurement of land - about 200 acres


References from "A History of Merton & Morden" (1951) by Evelyn M Jowett.

AREAS OF THE LONDON BOROUGH OF MERTON

(References from "The London Encyclopaedia" - Weinreb and Hibbert)

Colliers Wood: Was originally woodland where charcoal was presumably burnt for fuel. Farms existed here on the fertile banks of the Wandle by the time of the Norman Conquest (1066). Colliers Wood High Street follows the track of the Roman Road Stane Street and would have been the route of King and Court between London and Guildford and Winchester. From the 16th century, Huguenot and Flemish refugees deveopled calico printing and felt manufacture, and textile mills existed into the 19th century, polluting the once pure Wandle. The 18th century saw the intoduction of toll gates on the Epsom road, including the Merton Singlegate - dismantled in about 1870, but commemorated in the name of the local primary school.

Mitcham: Cricket has been played on the Cricket Green for at least 290 years (but not the same game...). Also renowned for the exotically-named Figge's Marsh, named after William Figge, a local farmer in the mid-14th century.

Wimbledon: Now famed for the Lawn Tennis Champoinships held each year, the open area of Wimbledon Common (1,100 acres) is noteworthy for the activities of wildlife volunteers and Wombles.

Raynes Park: The family of Edward Rayne lived in the West Barnes area, south of Wimbledon Common. He sold part of his estate to the South Western railway in 1855, and in return for his co-operation had a station named after him - Raynes Park. The station gave its name to the surrounding area. The "West Barnes" mentioned above was in fact the area in which the west barns of the Merton Priory estate were located!

Last Updated on 18 May 2003

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