South Wimbledon map

The priory or abbey, identified by a 3rd name Priory of St Mary of Merton was launched by Gilbert Norman in 1114 on a niche site close to today's Sainsbury's store. In 1117 it became an Augustinian establishment and developed a higher track record of scholarship . It's believed to were the birthplace of Walter de Merton, founder of Merton university, Oxford. In 1235 Henry III's here presented negotiations together with his Barons for Statute of Merton. The Abbey supplied the education of St. Thomas Becket and Nicholas Breakspear, the only English Pope.

The abbey joined just about all others in closing its existence in 1538, having held land through the entire location in amount, particularly holdings in Cuddington and tithes in Effingham, as a result of Dissolution of Monasteries. Its structures were dismantled in addition to products removed for re-use somewhere else. It is thought that in 1496 a hospice for travellers ended up being erected opposite the site of Sainsbury's store. An inn ended up being built truth be told there in 1594 and beer ended up being offered truth be told there from that day until 2004, whenever (The) King's Head, sealed. The present building dates from 1931, however it has been designated as a Local Listed Building.

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries[edit]

The River Wandle streaming north towards Wandsworth, had for centuries driven watermills and supplied liquid for several commercial procedures. Inside 1660s a silk mill was at procedure at Merton Abbey in addition to Jacob household had been operating a fabric bleaching ground close-by - an ongoing process calling for large quantities of liquid. Title remained linked to the locality as 200 many years later on, Stanford's 1862 Library Map of London and its Suburbs, shows Jacob's Green at the junction of exactly what are today Christchurch path and west path.

In 1764, vendor Richard Hotham a member of the East India Company purchased Moat House Farm, a house south of Merton High Street. He started building the property, enlarging your house and renaming it "Merton spot". He first leased after that later sold your house to a single for the lovers in a nearby calico works, Charles Greaves.

Hotham next built another household, towards the north-west of the junction of Kingston Road and Morden Road. This he called "Hotham House" (later "Merton Grove") therefore remained inside the control until their demise in 1799.

nineteenth century[edit]

Despite the manufacturing development across the Wandle, Merton had been, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, still mainly a rural agriculture neighborhood. The population features seen spurts of fast development, largely accompanied by housing and demonstrated to the proper: about doubling 1811-1841, then reasonably fixed for 40 years, nearly trebling when you look at the a decade to 1911 and lastly, already residential district above doubled from 1921-1951, producing a largely urban core.

In 1803, the Surrey Iron Railway exposed between Wandsworth and Croydon following shallow Wandle valley and moving through Merton and Mitcham to the south. Although horse-drawn, the railway offered a freight service for companies along the low lake to deliver their items to wharves regarding Thames. From Merton High Street the railroad ran along the route of Christchurch Road before turning to a more south-westerly path before Mitcham tram stop.

In 1802, Admiral Horatio Nelson, bought Merton Put through the widow of Charles Greaves featuring its farm and woodland for £8000 equal to £717, 681 in 2016. Nelson extended the property utilizing the buy of extra land south of their home until his Merton home covered all the area western regarding the Wandle and north of Morden Hall Park, such as the area between Merton Road, Southern Park Road and Haydons Road. Between trips to ocean, Nelson existed at Merton destination together with his mistress Emma Hamilton and jilted husband Sir William Hamilton, which died at their London 2nd home in 1803.

Nelson had spent very nearly four years here as he wasn't at water before their death in the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805. In recognition of Nelson's success and sacrifice at Trafalgar their older sibling ended up being made Earl Nelson and Viscount Merton in November 1805.