 |
|
| |
|
||||
Morden is a place in the London Borough of Merton. It is located approximately 10 miles South-southwest of central London between Merton Park (to the north), Mitcham (to the east), Sutton (to the south) and Worcester Park (to the west).
Origin of nameMorden gets its name either from the Saxon words "Mawr" (high) and Don (a hill), or possibly "The Den on the Moor". A brief history of MordenEarly historyHuman activity in Morden dates back to the prehistoric period when Celtic tribes are known to have occupied areas around Wimbledon, but the first significant development in Morden was the construction of the Roman road called Stane Street from Chichester to London. The route of Stane Street through Morden followed the current A24, London Road up Stonecot Hill from the south west crossing Morden Park to the west of the current dual carriageway road and passing through the pitch and putt golf course and the grounds of St Lawrence's Church. The road then descended the other side of the hill towards the town centre passing west of the Underground station and crossing the north corner of Morden Hall Park heading in the direction of Colliers Wood and Tooting. Small Roman artefacts, mainly coins and pottery, have been found at various locations within the area although there is no evidence of any settlement. Ethelstan the Etheling, son of Ethelred the Unready, left "land at Mordune" to the abbey of Christ and St. Peter in his will of 1015, which became the site of the first Saxon parish church of St Lawrence. Later in the 11th century Morden is mentioned in the Domesday Book when it belonged to Westminster Abbey and just 14 people lived in the area. The manor and village remained abbey property until the dissolution of the monasteries in Henry VIII's reign when the manor was sold to Sir Richard Garth. The Garth Family owned the land and maintained their connection with the parish for the next four centuries, until the late 19th century. The prominence of the Garth family is recorded locally in the name of Garth Road, Lower Morden and the former Garth School. The two lions included in the present civic arms of the London Borough of Merton are taken from the arms of Sir Richard. 19th CenturyDespite the rapid suburban development of nearby Wimbledon, Merton Park and Sutton occassioned by the arrival of the new railways constructed in the mid 19th century, Morden remained a fairly rural parish up until the third decade of the 20th century. The first Ordnance Survey map of the parish produced circa 1871 shows the small village of Morden clustered around St Lawrence’s church at the top of the hill on the road from London to Epsom (now the A24, London Road/Epsom Road). Close to the church were the George Inn (a 17th century coaching inn which remains, in a much modernised form, as part of a national pub restaurant chain) and the estate of Morden Park. Approximately half a mile to the west of the main village and the grounds of Morden Park stood the hamlet of Lower Morden.
In 1871 to the north east of the main village in 1871 stood at the bottom of the hill the Crown Inn where now stands the fourteen-storey 1960's office tower Crown House. The rest of what is now the commercial centre of Morden was fields. Local landmarksThe Tube station here is the furthest south, not only on the Northern Line but of the whole network. The bus station to the front of the underground station takes commuters from central London into Surrey and back. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has built the largest mosque in Western Europe in Morden (in London Road on the site of the former Express Dairy depot), and it was opened in October 2003. There is also a small National Trust park called Morden Hall Park, known locally as "The Deer Park", which used to form part of Admiral Lord Nelson's estate. The remainder of the estate, however, has been swallowed up in housing developments stretching between Morden, South Wimbledon and Collier's Wood and an industrial estate at Deer Park Road. A large part of Morden is covered by the St Helier Estate, built by the London County Council in the 1930's and named after Lady St Helier — now the name of a local pub. The Estate 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, reflecting the fact that many centuries ago the land on which Morden is situated used to be owned by Westminster Abbey. Nearest tube station: Nearest railway stations and tramlink stops (in approximate order of proximity):
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy
::
Terms of Use
:: Contact Us
:: About Us This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Morden". |