A History of Lord Nelson’s Merton Place

by Peter Hopkins

The author in his introduction gives generous credit to the late John Wallace upon whose notes this useful booklet is largely reliant. Between them they have extended our knowledge of Nelson’s Merton estate. The booklet (of 47 pages including index) takes us back to the late 17th century when the land was unbuilt. By 1753 there was a substantial building on the land and this was developed by Sir Richard Hotham, the ‘founder’ of modern day Bognor Regis in West Sussex. By 1801 the property, now 52 acres of land, was on the market, generously described as “elegant and commodious” but condemned by Nelson’s surveyor: “I am astonished anyone can think of it as nearly compleat [sic] for any family … circumscribed by a dirty black looking canal … which keeps the whole place damp.” Nevertheless Nelson bought it for £9,000. Evidently some improvements were made because Sir William Hamilton wrote to Nelson shortly afterwards that “the house is so comfortable … you have nothing but to come and enjoy immediately.”

Nelson purchased additional adjacent lands and at the time of his death owned over 160 acres – all of which is described in this booklet. Several descriptions of the house and its extensions are discussed in the next chapters and reference is made to the existing street plan to give readers a better mental picture. The final story of Merton Place is sad. Nelson’s death, Emma’s debts, the estate’s neglect and final demolition enabled the inevitable Victorian urban sprawl to remove all traces of Nelson’s life in Merton. Recommended.

Review by David Shannon in The Nelson Dispatch, the journal of the Nelson Society, Vol 7 part 2 (April 2000)

This study contains much new material, not found in the standard biographies, and corrects some common errors that have appeared in accounts of Nelson’s life at Merton.

A HISTORY OF
LORD NELSON’S
MERTON PLACE

A HISTORY OF
LORD NELSON’S
MERTON PLACE
ISBN 1 903899 02 8

Published by Merton Historical Society – September 1998

Further information on Merton Historical Society can be obtained from
the Society’s website at www.mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk , or from
Merton Library & Heritage Service, Merton Civic Centre, London Road,
Morden, Surrey. SM4 5DX

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1998

This study began with a chance discovery. While looking at a plan of the Merton
Abbey estate of 1805 in the Lambeth Archives Department at the Minet Library, I
noticed that the western boundary was labelled “Lands belonging to Lord Viscount
Nelson”. These extended considerably further south than the area normally identified
as Nelson’s estate, and I began to look for further evidence. It soon became clear that
the 70 acres1 normally quoted as the size of the Merton Place estate only applied to
the small section, around the house, that Nelson left to Lady Hamilton. At its greatest
extent, between 1802 and 1805, it covered over 160 acres, in Merton, Wimbledon
and Mitcham. It also became clear that at an earlier period, the estate had been very
different, hardly reaching into Merton at all.

Although John had published a few books, his untimely death meant that the vast
majority of his research had not been published. In fact most of it was in the form of
transcripts from the many sources that he had discovered, and very little had been
written up. The following study is my attempt to do justice to the work of a brilliant
local historian, and I hope I am not being too presumptuous in dedicating it to John’s
memory.

I would like to thank all those who have helped me to follow in John’s footsteps as I
have looked for myself at most of the sources quoted. I would like to thank the staff
of the Public Record Office, the Surrey Record Office, the Minet Library, and
especially the Merton Local Studies Centre, who have also allowed me to reproduce
illustrations from their collection. I would also like to thank Dr. Elspeth Veale and
Norman Plastow, of the Wimbledon Society Museum, who allowed me to examine
the Merton Place deeds in their archives, including some obtained so recently that
they are not mentioned in John’s notes. I would also like to thank my fellow-members
of Merton Historical Sociey for their help and support, both in our regular Local
History Workshops, and in the generous giving of their own time, especially Judith
Goodman for pointing me to more reliable sources for Nelson’s letters.

Finally, my thanks go to John Wallace’s family for allowing me to use his work in this
study. I hasten to add that the interpretations of the sources are entirely my own, as
are the mistakes that must inevitably have crept in. As I have challenged the statements
and views of many who have gone before, so I trust that others in their turn will
challenge the assertions that I have made.

Peter Hopkins

Cover Picture – The North and East fronts of Merton Place in 1805, with
Nelson’s hatchment displayed between the upper windows.47
(Courtesy of Merton Libraries and Heritage Services)

Quicks 25

Rick Yard 10, 11, 16
Rocque, John 16
Rolt, James 24
Rose Cottage 8, 14, 30
Row, George 28

St. John’s church 30
St. Mary’s church 3
Saker, Thomas 35
Senex, John 16
Sheephouse Field 10, 16
Sheephouse field 22
Sheriff of Surrey 4
Shoulder of Mutton Field 11
Shrubbery 10, 12,

14, 26, 32
Skelton, Robert 24
Skilton, Charles 24
Smith, C R Mackrell 22, 30
Smith, Charles 30
Smith, Mr 32
Smith, Mr E 28
Smith, Rear Admiral Isaac 30
Sprinks, Mr 35
Stack Yard 11
Sturdy, Daniel 24
Sun Insurance Company 3
surveyor 6, 16

Taylor, Matthew 24
Taylor, Mr 26
Thoyts, William 16
Thrale, Henry 4, 10, 12
Thrale, Ralph 4, 10
Three Corner Mead 11
Trafalgar 8, 21
Turnpike Field 14

Upper Field 11
Upper Mill field 10, 14

Victoria County History 3
Vines, The 28

Waller, Frederick 28
Wandle 11, 16
Wandlebank 12
Warren, Ambrose 38
Welch, William Knight 10, 12
West 24
West Field 26
Wilson, Richard 8
Wilson, Rowland 3, 24
Wimbledon Vestry 4

Lawn, Great

Leach, John
Lee, Mr
Leonard, Mr
Linton, Robert
Little Meadow
Longfield
Lords Lease, East

Lords Lease, West

Lower Mill field

Matcham, Catherine
Matcham, George
Meriton, Mary
Merton Abbey

Merton Farm
Merton Grove
Merton Priory
Middle Field
Middle field
Middle Mead
Mill Field
Mill fields
Minto, Lord
Moat House Farm
Morden Hall Farm
Morden Lodge
Moxon, Thomas

10, 12,
14, 22
10, 14
10, 12,
14, 22
5
32
26
18
11
11
10, 12,
14, 24, 25
10, 12,
14, 24, 25
10, 14

21
21
3
3, 5, 10,
14, 16,
18, 19, 30
18
5
3, 16
11, 26
22
10, 16
10, 16
10, 14
33, 35
3, 10, 14
18
8
25

Nelson Arms 31
Nelson Grove 28
Nelson, Horatio 6, 7, 8,

12, 14,
16, 18,
20, 21,
22, 24,
26, 28,
30, 31,
32, 34,
36, 38,
40

Nelson, William, Earl 21, 24,

25
Nelson’s Fields 28
Newton, James 5
Nile 18

Oakman, James 24
Oman, Carola 31, 35,
38
Orchard 26

Paddock 26
Pencot’s Road 28
Perring, Sir John 8
Perry, James 12
Phillips, Richard Mansell 24,

25
Pinhey, Hamnett 8, 14, 30
Pleasure-ground(s) 26
Pratt, Eleanor 4
Pratt, Henry 3, 4, 10,

14, 16,
33, 38

THE OWNERS

There are many conflicting accounts of the origins of Merton Place.
The Victoria County History,2 confused by the fact that the name was
previously applied to the predecessor of Church House opposite St.
Mary’s church, states that it was:

an early 18th-century house, built probably by Mr. Robert
Dorrill, who settled Merton Place by name on his daughter Mary
Meriton in 1709.

It seems that J K Laughton3 originated the oft-repeated opinion that:

Merton Place was a roomy, comfortable house, dating back
apparently to the end of the 17th or beginning of the 18th century,
when the land … was in the possession of William Hubbald
[who]… died in 1709.

Hubbald owned the adjoining Merton Abbey estate, within the precinct
wall of the former Merton Priory, but he had not owned Merton Place.

According to a lease in the Minet Library,4 the house was built by Henry
Pratt. It is described as:

that capital messuage heretofore built and erected by Henry Pratt
Esq. situated in the parishes of Merton and Wimbledon, or one
of them, which with the lands hereinafter mentioned, were
formerly called Moat House Farm.

Henry Pratt had bought the site of his new home on 15th and 16th June
1748,5 from a Thomas Hammond, whose grandfather, William
Hammond, had in turn bought the land on 11th and 12th March 1699,
from Ellis Crisp. (Crisp’s great-grandfather, Rowland Wilson, had also
owned theMerton Abbey estate that was eventually owned by Hubbald).
Pratt insured the new building with the Sun Insurance Company. In his
policy dated 22nd August 1753,6 it is described as:

a building valued £150 brick, £350 timber on ye south side of
the Road at Martin in the Parish of Martin Surrey, standing
clear, and in the possession of Mark Hawkins.

He renewed the policy on 25th September, by which time the value had
increased to £500 brick, £250 timber.

By his willBy his will made in 1753, Pratt left his property to his son, also named
Henry, who sold it:

by indentures of lease and release 19th and 20th November 1764
between Henry Pratt son and devisee of the said Henry Pratt
then deceased and Sir Richard Hotham of St. Martin in the
Fields, merchant.4

Hotham may well have been related to Henry Pratt, as in his will7 dated
22nd May 1797 and proved 19th April 1799, he left:

a £20 annuity to Eleanor Pratt of Roundcourt, Strand, a distant
relative of mine.

Hotham has been described as a ‘colourful character’.8 Born in 1722,
of Yorkshire stock, he worked in London as a hatter until around 1760,
when he joined his father in the business of shipping for the East India
Company, thereby making his fortune. He was an outspoken critic of
the East India Company, whom he accused of bad management.

He was knighted by George III in 1769, and served as Sheriff of Surrey
from 1770-1771. He was involved in litigation against the Wimbledon
Vestry for a period of five years over the upkeep of Dunsford Lane,
now Durnsford Road, but in 1778 the Vestry appointed him their
Chairman.

In 1780 he stood for Parliament in the Borough of Southwark, in
opposition to the sitting MP, Henry Thrale. Thrale, a Southwark brewer,
and son of a former Sheriff of Surrey and MP for Southwark, had held
the seat for 15 years and was supported by Dr. Samuel Johnson and
Fanny Burney. After a bitter contest, with many derisive comments
about ‘Hotham the Hatmaker’, Hotham was elected with 1177 votes
against Thrale’s 769!

Interestingly, this was not the first contact between Hotham and Thrale.
In 1769 Hotham had bought a 7 acre field in Wimbledon, adjoining the
north of his estate, from Henry Thrale, which the latter had inherited
from his father, Ralph Thrale (see p.10).

Hotham only served one term in Parliament, being narrowly defeated
by 11 votes at the 1784 election by a director of the East India Company.

Garden, New 10
Garden, Old 10
Garraway’s Coffee House 26

Garrett Meadow
George III
Gold Field
Goldsmid, Aaron
Goldsmid, Abraham
Goldsmid, Asher

Great Field
Great Meadow
Greaves & Co
Greaves, Ann
Greaves, Charles

Greaves, George
Greaves, James
Green, James

Halfhide, Mr.
Hamilton Avenue
Hamilton, Emma

Hamilton, Sir William
Hammond, Thomas
Hammond, William
Harrison, James
Haslewood, William
Hawkins, Mark
Hayden’s Lane
Henshaw, Walter
Hither Field

11
4
10, 12
14, 25, 30
8, 25, 27
8, 25, 27,
30
11
11
11, 16
6
5, 6, 8,
11, 12, 24
6
6
10

18
8
8, 18, 21,
22, 23,
24, 25,
28, 32,
34, 35
7, 16
3
3
18
7, 24, 25
3
32
16
11

Hodgson, William 5, 6
Hollier, Richard 10
Holmes 11
Home Closes 10, 14
Home Mead 10, 16
Hopkins, Benjamin Bond 16
Hotham, Richard 4, 5, 10,

12, 14,

15, 16,

24, 31,

33
Hothamton 5
Hubbald, William 3
Hubbard, Edward 12
Hudson, James 40

Innes, Albert 10

Jagger, Canon 31
James, David 10
Johnson, Dr. Samuel 4

Kelly, Thomas 28
Keys, Ann 28
Killick, James 24
Knight, William 12, 13,

Land Tax 11, 18,

30
Lane, Germaine 8
Laughton, J K 3, 32, 38
Lawn 14, 26
Lawn, East 10, 12,

14, 22

INDEX

Abbey Gate House 18, 30
Aboukir Bay 18
Almshouse Close 24
Axe, Ann 21
Axe, Samuel 21
Axe, William 18, 21,

22, 28

Barn field 22
Bartlett, William 31, 35
Bennett, John Leach 16, 31
Bennett, Thomas 16, 17,

31, 32
Bickerley Mead 11
Biggory Mead 11
Bognor 5
Bolton, Susanna 24
Bolton, Thomas 24, 25
Bond, E. H. 28, 29
Bond Hopkins, Benjamin 16
British Land Co. Ltd. 28
Brockbank, Elizabeth Rose 10
Brockbank, John 10
Burney, Fanny 4
Burnt Mead 10, 12
Burntmill Close 12

Callico Ground 11
Chamberlain, W H 32
Chawner, Thomas 35, 36, 39
Church House 3
Cockerell, Mr 6, 16

Cook, Captain 30
Cook, Elizabeth 30
Copenhagen 34
Copper Mills 16
Corke, Mr 32
Cracklow, T 22, 23,
32
Cribb, Emma 40
Crisp, Ellis 3, 16
Crisp, Samuel 12, 13
Crook, John 28
Crossways 24
D
Dance, Francis 10
Dare, Charles 10
Davison, Alexander 8
Denbigh, Kathleen 38

Denmark, Crown Prince 34

Dorrill, Robert
Duck Close
Dunsford Lane
Durnsford Road

East Field

3
18
4, 25
4

East India Company 4

Edwards

Farmery
Feldborg, A A
Fletcher, Reuben
Furse, William
Further Field

22, 32
34, 36
14, 25
28
11

Hotham soon turned his interests elsewhere. Having spent the summer
of 1784 at the seaside hamlet of Bognor, he decided to build an estate
there. Soon he was planning a seaside resort for the rich and famous a
garden town with houses and terraces in their own grounds, which he
called ‘Hothamton’. He started buying up every available piece of land
in the district, and had soon built a hotel and a library.9 In 1792 he sold
his Merton Place estate, with the exception of one field, near the present
South Wimbledon crossroads, on which he built Merton Grove as his
Surrey residence. He ploughed the remainder of his fortune into his
new dream, but unfortunately progress was slower than he had hoped,
and after his death in 1799 the scheme collapsed.

When Hotham sold the property on 22nd June 1792,4 he referred to:

several alterations and additions having been lately made to
the said capital messuage by the said Sir Richard Hotham and
the same having been greatly enlarged and improved the said
capital messuage for some time past hath been and now is known
by the name of and called Merton Place, together with all barns,
coach houses, stables, dovehouses, outhouses, sheds, gardens,
orchards, and fold yards, lights, easements and appurtenances
whatsoever to the said capital messuage belonging or
appurtenant or now used therewith as well those which adjoin
or are contiguous to the said capital messuage as those that are
situated standing at some distance therefrom and have been lately
erected, built and made by Sir Richard Hotham in the field or
close over against Merton Abbey wall where an ancient messuage
or tenement formerly stood…

Hotham sold the property, much enlarged in lands as well as buildings,
to the calico printers, Charles Greaves, William Hodgson, James Newton
& John Leach of Cheapside, London, but they had financial problems,
and defaulted on a £10,000 debt in October 1793. Charles Greaves
repaid half of this, and it was agreed that he should enjoy the house and
part of the estate for life, as long as it was sold on his death.10

In 1793 it was described as:-11

that capital messuage called Merton Place and detached kitchen,
dairy, larder, icehouse, hothouse, and greenhouse, all lying
within a walled and paled fence…

In his willIn his will made on 16th February 1799, updated on 21st August
1800, and proved at London on 10th January 1801, Charles Greaves,
having made adequate provision for his widow, then directed:

I give and devise my capital messuage or mansion house called
Merton Place and appertinents together with the several closes,
pieces or parcels of land thereto belonging, situate, lying and
being in the several parishes of Merton, Wimbledon and
Mitcham, or one of them, in Surrey and now in my own
occupation unto and to the use of my said dear wife Ann Greaves,
my said brother George Greaves, my said partner William
Hodgson, and my said son James Greaves and heirs on trust as
follows:

as soon as possible after my decease to sell and dispose of said
hereditaments and premises and every part thereof either
together or in parcels and either by public sale or private
contract for the best price that reasonably can be got for the
same. I direct the monies arising shall be considered part of the
residue of my personal estate.

When the estate was advertised for sale13 in 1801, it was described as:

An elegant and very commodious brick edifice uniformly erected
on a pleasing plan and elevation … Containing in the Whole 52
acres 1 rood 32 perches,1 be the same more or less, enclosed
with Park Paling and remarkably fine live Quick Fences.

However, Nelson’s surveyor, Mr. Cockerell, did not share this view,
and his report14 was outspoken in its condemnation:

There are so many insurmountable objections as a Residence,
that I am astonished anyone can think of it as nearly compleat
for any family.

The House itself standing on only an acre and half of Ground is
surrounded on three sides within 20 yards of it by the property
of others, continually in Tillage, and is liable to be annoyed by
the meanest buildings or other nuisances which may be placed
close to it; – and within that straightened boundary is
circumscribed by a dirty black looking canal, or rather a broad
ditch, which keeps the whole place damp.

35 G.P.B. Naish (ed.) – Nelson’s Letters to his Wife and Other Documents 17851831
(Navy Records Society 1958) – p.591; National Maritime Museum MS
9960, Croker collection in the Phillipps papers.

36 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.501.

37 Public Record Office (Kew) IR/24/35/23288.

38 Public Record Office (Kew) IR/24/35/23287

39 Surrey Record Office Plan 3875; Lambeth Archives Department, Minet Library
63/1803/Roll 68.

40 For Neale estate in 1701, see will of Samuel Crispe – Public Record Office
PCC/PROB. 11 472 fo. 182; for Garth estate from 1588, see Hatfeild MSS Surrey
Record Office 85/-/-.

41 Wimbledon Society Archives – Deed A2:3.

42 M Eyre Matcham – The Nelsons of Burnham Thorpe (1911), p.200.

43 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.603.

44 Lambeth Archives Department, Minet Library Deed 12386 – Photocopy of deed.

45 Rev. J.E. Jagger – Lord Nelson’s Home and Life at Merton (1926) p.5.

46 Rev. J.E. Jagger – Lord Nelson’s Home and Life at Merton (1926) p.22.

47 Copy in Merton Local Studies Centre, Civic Centre, Morden.

48 Surrey Record Office 3185/4/14.

49 Surrey Record Office microfilm.

50 Edward’s Companion from London to Brighthelmston (1790) – p.8 Section XI.

51 Douglas Sladen – Lord Nelson’s Letters to Lady Hamilton (c1900), p.131.

52 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.583.

53 Rev. J.E. Jagger – Lord Nelson’s Home and Life at Merton (1926) p.17.

54 W A Bartlett – The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Wimbledon, Surrey
(1865), p.169-170.

55 W H Chamberlain – Reminiscences of Old Merton (1925), p.27.

56 J K Laughton – ‘Nelson’s Home at Merton’ – Wimbledon and Merton Annual I
(1903), p.34-35.

57 Supplement to Merton Church Monthly (May 1889) in Miss Jowett’s Nelson
Notebook in Merton Local Studies Centre.

58 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.497-498.

59 A A Feldborg writing as J A Andersen – A Dane’s Excursions in Britain (1809),
Vol. I pp.15-23.

60 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.584.

61 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.587.

62 Kathleen Denbigh – History and Heroes of Old Merton (1975), p.94-95.

63 J K Laughton – ‘Nelson’s Home at Merton’ – Wimbledon and Merton Annual I
(1903), p.44.

64 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.679-680.

REFERENCES

2 A History of the County of Surrey (1911), IV, p.66.

3 J K Laughton – Nelson’s Home at Merton – The Wimbledon & Merton Annual I
(1903) p.33; Rev. J.E. Jagger – Lord Nelson’s Home and Life at Merton (1926);
Evelyn M Jowett -A History of Merton & Morden (1951), p.101.

4 Lambeth Archives Department, Minet Library Deed 3764.

5 Wimbledon Society Archives – Abstract of Title to Deed A2:4.

6 Sun Insurance Policy 74383 – Guildhall Library Q2.8674/81 (I3), p.207.

7 Public Record Office PCC/PROB. 11 1322 fo. 271.

8 David Burns -The Sheriffs of Surrey (1992), p.31.

9 Gerard Young – A History of Bognor Regis (1983), pp.1-13, &c.

10 Wimbledon Society Archives – Deed A2:1.

11 Lambeth Archives Department, Minet Library Deed 3765.

12 Public Record Office PCC/PROB. 11 1352 fo. 26.

13 Guildford Muniment Room 85/2/1(1) 42.

14 Jack Russell – Nelson and the Hamiltons (1969), pp.227-8.

15 Evelyn M Jowett – A History of Merton & Morden (1951), p.101

16 Wimbledon Society Archives – Deeds A2:1 & 2.

17 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.482-483.

18 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.483.

19 Carola Oman – Nelson (1947), p.603.

20 Quotation from Fairburn’s Edition of The Life of Admiral Lord Nelson (Twenty-
fifth Edition) p.55. The original Will is in Somerset House, and a duplicate in
the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

21 Wimbledon Society Archives – Deeds A2:6 & 7.

22 Public Record Office PCC/PROB. 11 1663 fo. 585.

23 Dr. Bruce Elliott in Horaceville Herald, No. 11 (Dec 1987 & April 1988); Ontario
Archives, Hamnett K Pinhey Papers, Series A-3, no. 76, account of J G Saggers,
solicitor, with H Pinhey.

24 Guildford Muniment Room 85/2/1(1) 103.

25 Merton Local Studies Centre, Civic Centre, Morden.

26 Lambeth Archives Department, Minet Library Deed 3764; cf. 5849, 5850.

27 Public Record Office (Kew) IR/24/26/14522

28 Public Record Office (Kew) IR/24/26/14523

29 Lambeth Archives Department, Minet Library Deed 5844.

30 Guildford Muniment Room 85/2/1(1) 147.

31 Photograph of lost original in Wimbledon Society Museum; Richard Milward

Wimbledon Two Hundred Years Ago (1996), p.48.
32 Surrey Record Office 4079/1; Eric Montague – Surrey Archaeological Collections

83 (1996), pp.137-140.

33 Home Counties Magazine III (1901), p.209.

34 James Harrison – Life of the Rt Hon Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson (1806), p.377.

The House itself consists of an old paltry small dwelling of low
stories and very slightly built, at each end of which has been
added (very unsubstantially) a very gross room, and nearly the
whole of the body has been rendered weak for communication
to them. The Offices behind are even worse than the House and
the roof and other parts are so much out of repair that before
they can be furnished and comfortably inhabited at least £1,000
must be laid out, exclusive of furniture, and the present furniture
of the principal apartments is so inferior that it must also be
replaced with new, in which £1,000 more may be easily expended;

– and when done there will be but one Bed Chamber in the House
fit for a Gentleman’s accommodation, and that without a
Dressing Room or other convenience, and not one Room to the
south of the House.
Add to all this the Land is entirely detached by the Turnpike
Road and is surrounded by Public Roads possessing not the
least privacy as a place of pleasure – on a dead flat and a clay
soil and the whole most scantily worn and out of condition – but
if all these things were wanting in the most essential requisites;
there is no kitchen garden or a foot of fruit wall nor any proper
situation to make one and no Stabling belonging or even a Shed
or out-houses for cows or other necessary live or dead stock
without which the land cannot be occupied – In short it is
altogether the worst place under all its circumstances that I
ever saw pretending to suit a Gentleman’s family.

Nelson was not put off by the report, and wrote14 to his solicitor, Mr
Haslewood, on September 4th:

I cannot afford a fine house and grounds, therefore I wish for
Merton as it is and the sooner you can accomplish the purchase
as it stands the more you will oblige.

Nelson bought the “little farm at Merton – the price £9,000″15 on
September 18th 1801, possession being promised for October 10th,
though contracts16were not finally signed until 23rd and 24th October
1801, following Nelson’s return from sea.

Sir William Hamilton, wrote17 to Nelson on 16th October 1801:

The proximity to the capital and the perfect retirement of this
place, are for your Lordship, two points beyond estimation; but
the house is so comfortable, the furniture clean and good, and I
never saw so many conveniences united in so small a compass.
You have nothing but to come and enjoy immediately.
18 and
apparently he did enjoy his new home. On leaving Merton four years
later for his final voyage that ended at Trafalgar, he referred to “dear,
dear Merton, where I left all which I hold dear in this world…”.19

In his will,20 dated 10th May 1803, Nelson left the house, furniture and
70 acres of Merton Place to Lady Hamilton, but the remainder of the
estate was to be sold to meet the debts he had incurred in buying the
property. According to the 1801 deeds,16 £2000 of the original Greaves
estate was on mortgage that was not extinguished until 24th October
1803, and Nelson had also borrowed from family and friends.

Emma Hamilton used her estate as collateral for loans, selling annuities
from the estate totalling £1000 a year between November 1806 and
January 1808. In 1808,16 when it became necessary to sell Merton Place,
“City friends” came to her rescue. Sir John Perring, Alexander Davison,
Abraham Goldsmid, Richard Wilson and Germaine Lane took it over
on trust to sell, reimburse their expenses, and redeem the six annuities.21

Finally, on 18th and 19th August 1809, her neighbour, Abraham
Goldsmid and his brother Asher, purchased the entire estate for
£12,930.22 However, on 28th September 1810, fearing financial ruin,
Abraham shot himself in the grounds of his country house, Morden
Lodge, and Merton Place was offered for sale by private treaty.

Nine acres within the Wimbledon section were bought by Hamnett
Pinhey, a young London importer, who emigrated to Ontario, Canada
in 1820. He began negotiations with Abraham Goldsmid for the land
on which he was to build Rose Cottage (now 101, Hamilton Avenue) in
August 1810, but Pinhey’s little property transaction “became entangled
in the ponderous intricacies of national finance.” It was not until 18th
April 1815, that Pinhey completed the purchase and received the deeds.23

The rest of the Wimbledon property remained in the Goldsmid family
for over 40 years, while the house and grounds in Merton were offered

24 25

for sale in 1815,and in 1823 (figure 1).

..
…….
………
….
…
……..
Figure 14 – Outline of Nelson’s Merton Place Estate traced on a modern
street map produced by Merton Design Unit, Merton Council
reproduced with permission
…
….
………
…….
..
…..
..
..
…..
…..
Nelson’s
estate
Hotham’s
estate
….
..
…..
..
0 500m 1 Km
41

it disappeared into the wilderness of bricks and mortar which at
present cover it – cover the shrubbery, cover the site of that
paddock and the small mound on which Nelson was wont to sit.

it disappeared into the wilderness of bricks and mortar which at
present cover it – cover the shrubbery, cover the site of that
paddock and the small mound on which Nelson was wont to sit.
64
who married Emma Cribb, daughter of Nelson’s gardener, in September
1816.55 On Christmas Eve 1863, he wrote from Merton to his son:

When first we came to live here there were but three cottages on
the Estate, and only 11 persons, three men, three women and
five children. Now there are over two hundred houses, and nearly
a thousand people. For nearly seven years after we came here,
Nelson’s beautiful mansion stood entire and furnished, as when
he had left it … But now, what a change has come over it! Of
that mansion not so much as a stick or stone remains to mark
the spot on which it stood. Those beautiful pleasure grounds
and gardens all destroyed, the trees and shrubs all cut down,
the birds have hied themselves to some more quiet and secluded
spot … and if this is not sufficient to disfigure and transform the
place, they are going to make a railroad right through the centre
of it.

Figure 13 – The North and East fronts of Merton Place, showing on the far
left the southern kitchen extension of 1805.47

1. A Desirable Plot of Freehold Building Land, being 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 502
Feet deep, desirably situated near the Second Gate at Merton, on the high Road to Epsom and
Dorking, in the County of Surry.
2. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 96 Feet deep abutting on
the New Road.
3. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep and adjoining Lot
1.
4. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 106[?] Feet deep.
5. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about [??] Feet deep adjoining Lot 3.
6. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about [?] Feet deep.
7. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 5.
8. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 107 Feet deep.
9. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 7.
10. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 110 Feet deep.
11. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 9.
12. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 116 Feet deep.
13. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 11.
14. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 122 Feet deep.
15. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 13.
16. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 128 Feet deep.
17. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 15.
18. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 134 Feet deep.
19. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 17.
20. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 140 Feet deep.
21. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 19.
22. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 145 Feet deep.
23. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 50 Feet behind, about 502 Feet deep adjoining Lot 21.
24. A Ditto adjoining backward, 50 Feet in Front, 50 Feet behind and about 150 Feet deep.
25. A Ditto, 50 Feet in Front of the high Road, 73 Feet behind, about 544 Feet deep, abutting the
Garden Fence, and adjoining Lot 23.
26. A Ditto adjoining, 70 Feet in Front, 73 Feet behind and about 544 Feet deep.
27. A Ditto adjoining, 80 Feet in Front of the high Road, 73 Feet behind, about 305 Feet deep.
This Lot is skirted by the Canal, fully planted with handsome Cedar and other Trees, Well formed
at a large Expense, and includes the lofty Wall to the extent of 80 Feet.
28. A Ditto adjoining, 110 Feet in Front, opening behind to a Width of 250 Feet, including the Orchard,
which is surrounded by a Plantation, also a small part of the Kitchen Garden as staked out, and the
advantage of a portion of the Pond therein.
UPON THIS LOT THE MANSION RECENTLY STOOD.
The lofty Front Wall with Stone Coping to the extent of this Lot, the ornamental Bridge cased with
Stone over the Canal, inclining to the Ancient Sloping Lawn, beautifully studded with rare Trees,
and the Well will be included in the present Purchase.

29. A Ditto adjoining, 70 Feet in Front, 84 Feet behind, and about 360 Feet deep.
This Lot adjoins the last, has the advantage of Canal equal to the Frontage, also of the numerous
healthy ornamental Trees, and Part of the Wall.
30. A Ditto adjoining, 80 Feet in Front, 80 Feet behind and about 400 Feet deep.
This Lot adjoins the last, and is presumed to have similar advantages.
31. A Ditto, 180 Feet in Front, 166 Feet behind, about 400 Feet deep, situate adjoining the last Lot,
and extending to Abbey Lane.
This lot is beautifully Timbered, and includes the Lodge, Carriage Gates, and a considerable …. of
Oak Paling.
(Courtesy of Merton Libraries and Heritage Services)

Figure 1 – Extract from the Particulars of Sale 1823. 25

40 9

THE ESTATE

THE ESTATE
4 lists the lands comprising the
Merton Place estate. Over 70 acres had been Pratt’s original Moat
House Farm, described as:

Field or close over against Merton Abbey wall,

divided into the two home closes 9 acres
Upper and Lower Mill fields 16 acres
The Lawn 33 acres
East & West Lords Leases 20 acres

78 acres

Hotham had reorganised these as follows:

acres roods perches acres roods perches 1
Home Mead 4 1 21
Middle Mead 3 3 7
Rick Yard 2 17
Sheephouse Field 5 3 38
Mill Field 9 0 26 23 3 29
Old Garden 2 27
New Garden and coppice 1 3
Shrubbery and footway 3 3 11
Great Lawn and coppice 18 0 13
West Lawn and coppice 4 1 37
East Lawn 5 1 0 32 2 11
West Lords Lease 9 3 12
East Lords Lease 10 0 14 19 3 26
76 1 26

Hotham had also bought, “by indenture of lease and release dated 2nd
and 3rd March 1769 between Henry Thrale of St Saviour Southwark,
Esq son and heir of Ralph Thrale and Sir Richard Hotham, then Richard
Hotham of Merton Esq.”:

‘Burnt Mead’ or ‘Gold Field’ 7 acres

He added to this another 44 acres, “by lease and release between Charles
Dare, Francis Dance, William Knight Welch, James Green, Albert
Innes, Richard Hollier, John Brockbank, Elizabeth Rose his wife, David
James and Sir Richard Hotham, 25th and 26th February 1784”:-26

Figure 12 – ‘Plan of the Entrance Story of Lord Nelson’s House in Merton’
by Thomas Chawner – January 1805.25
(Courtesy of Merton Libraries and Heritage Services)

The east elevation shows the ‘newly built’ South wing, with a two-
storey bay to match the east bay of the North wing. The two wings are
joined by the ‘Grand entrance hall and saloon’. In some views this
appears to be single-storey, though one illustration (figure 9), which
does not show the kitchen extension of 1805, shows some rooms set
back a little, over the entrance. There are verandas, which the 1805
plan calls ‘Miradors’, across the two bays, with a flight of steps up to
the central entrance.
6 as two storey and garrets
46′ x 22′ valued at £220. It is tempting to assume a clerical error, and
to identify the original house with the later service block. Alternatively,
the original house may have been part of the central three-storey section
of the North wing, though this was only around 30′ x 26′. It must be
remembered that Pratt’s properties in 1753 were valued at £150 for the
part built of brick, and £350 for the part built of timber. As the house
was valued at £220, it cannot have been entirely of brick.

Carola Oman says that the entrance was moved to the North front while
Nelson was at sea between 1803 and 1805, whereas the 1805 plan shows
the main entrance on the East front. A north entrance is shown on the
plan, but it leads into the Breakfast Room. It would seem more likely
that the main entrance had been in the centre of the North front, but was
moved to the East front when the South wing was extended. The porch,
shown over the entrance on the North face in earlier illustrations and on
the 1805 plan, is missing on the engraving by Ambrose Warren, published
in 1806 (figure 13). This engraving shows the kitchen extension to the
south, the subject of the 1805 plan, which appears to be single-storey.

The mansion had already been pulled down by 1823 , as the Particulars
of Sale25 say of Lot 28: UPON THIS LOT THE MANSION RECENTLY STOOD.

Kathleen Denbigh’s suggestion62 that some of the rubble was still there
in 1903 is a misinterpretation of J K Laughton’s comment63 that actually
referred to the dense housing that replaced the property:

Hither Field 3 3 1
Middle Field 3 3 31
Longfield 2 3 36
Great Field 4 2 12
Further Field 3 0 18
Rick Yard 1 9
in Bickerley Mead 3 8
in Bickerley Mead 2 0 6
in Bickerley Mead 1 2
Shoulder of Mutton Field or Three Corner Mead 2 38
Callico Ground 12 0 29
Little Meadow or Stack Yard 1 2 10
Great Meadow or Upper Field 3 3 31
way to the River Wandle 19
Holmes or the Garrett Meadow 3 3 18
44 0 28
He had reorganised these as follows:Hither
Field 3 2 19
Middle Field 4 0 21
Great Field 6 0 31
Further Field 4 3 1
in Biggory Mead 4 0 37
adjoining on the east 0 1 3
Shoulder of Mutton Field 4 0 13
Callico Ground 12 3 18
Little Meadow and part of lane 1 2 3
Great Meadow 3 3 25
45 2 11

These lands total 129 acres, which accords with the 1799 Land Tax
Redemption Certificates, which show that the estate was assessed as
follows:

Charles Greaves Esq of Merton:27 messuage, etc in Merton

52 acres land in Wimbledon
Messrs Greaves & Co.:28 78 acres land in Wimbledon
making a total of: 130 acres land in Wimbledon

As these 129 or 130 acres were all in Wimbledon, only the house itself
was within Merton parish. According to the 1801 Particulars of Sale,
it stood in 1½ acres of land, south of the turnpike road.

As these 129 or 130 acres were all in Wimbledon, only the house itself
was within Merton parish. According to the 1801 Particulars of Sale,
it stood in 1½ acres of land, south of the turnpike road.
29 dated 20th July 1693, whereby William
Knight of St. Bottolphs Without Aldgate, pottmaker, had paid Samuel
Crisp £850 for the 44 acres that William Knight Welch and his partners
later sold to Hotham in February 1784. Preserved with this deed is a
plan of the fields involved. (figure 2)

The description of the lands sold under this indenture includes references
to adjoining lands, one of which was Burntmill Close:

abutting … north on a certain close of copyhold land called
Burntmill Close belonging to said Samuel Crisp, now or late in
the possession or occupation of Edward Hubbard his
undertenants or assigns…

This appears to be the ‘Burnt Mead’ or ‘Gold Field’ that Hotham
purchased from Henry Thrale in March 1769.

None of the lands that Hotham had bought from Welch and partners or
from Thrale became part of Nelson’s Merton Place. They do, however,
appear in the 1822 Particulars of Sale30 for the estate of his neighbour,
James Perry, of Wandlebank. They can be identified on the Wimbledon
Tithe Apportionment map of 1848 as plots 289-298.

Nelson’s estate was that held by Charles Greaves in 1793, when it was

described11 as:The
Great Lawn and coppice 18

West Lawn and coppice 4
East Lawn 5
Shrubbery and footway 3
West Lords Lease 9
East Lords Lease 10
51

acres 13 perches
acres 1 rood 37 perches
acres 1 perch
acres 3 roods 11 perches
acres 3 roods 12 perches
acres
14 perches
acres 1 rood 8 perches

This list does not include the 1½ acres surrounding the house, as shown
in the Particulars of Sale13 when Greaves’s estate was offered for sale
in 1801:

1801 1815
the chamber floors:

2 upper bed chambers
spacious principal bed chamber 5 principal bedchambers

2 principal bed chambers
water closet

the principal floor:

2 drawing rooms
large dining room
neat vestibule

small room
breakfast parlour
staircase

the distinct attached buildings:

3 bed chambers and
2 servants chambers
servants hall with strong stone
closet

storeroom and laundry
kitchen with connected offices,
arched coal vault, wash house
and brew house

the basement storey:

dressing rooms and water closet

2 drawing rooms
Dining parlour
Grand entrance hall and saloon
Library
Gentlemans dressing room

staircase

8 servants rooms
servants hall

butlers pantry
storeroom
kitchen

scullery

wine vaults with brick catticombs,

cellaring and numerous cellaring
conveniences
detached range of buildings:dairy,
cool larder and other dairy
conveniences
salting house
ice house

Figure 11 – A comparison of the descriptions of Merton Place in the
Particulars of Sale for 1801 and 1815

Capital brick-built family mansion called Merton Place, formerly
the residence of Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, most delightfully
situate at Merton, 7 miles from London, in the County of Surrey,
containing on the chamber floors, 8 servants rooms, 5 principal
bedchambers, (some of which are 24 feet square) with dressing-
rooms and water-closet.

A servants hall, butlers pantry, store-room, kitchen, scullery,
etc. A dairy, salting-house, ice-house and capital cellaring.

The principal Rooms are finished with statuary and veined
marble Chimney-pieces; and attached to the front and back
Rooms are two spacious Verandas.

A comparison of the Particulars of Sale for 1801 and 1815 (figure 11)
show few obvious differences, other than 3 extra servants’ chambers.
However, Thomas Chawner’s “Plan of the Entrance Story of Lord
Nelson’s House”,25 dated January 1805, shows that the use of some of
rooms had been reorganised. (figure 12) The ‘strong stone closet’ in
the servants hall of 1801 is easily recognisable in the south-west corner
of the Housekeeper’s room. The new kitchen of 1805 presumably
released the former kitchen to become the ‘intended Servants hall’. The
‘Eating Room’ and the ‘Hall and Ante Room’ are both shown in red on
the plan, and described as ‘lately built’, so presumably the previous
‘large dining room’ had found a new use as the Library or a Drawing
Room. The Breakfast Room is shown on the 1805 plan, though it is not
specified in the 1815 Particulars of Sale. The Particulars of Sale both
refer to two Drawing Rooms, but only one is shown on the plan, the
other being upstairs according to Feldborg’s report of 1805.59

Contemporary illustrations give us more information. The North wing
had a central block of three storeys, hence the reference to the ‘chamber
floors’ and the ‘two upper bed chambers’. This was flanked on both
the east and the west by a two-storey extension with bay windows
upstairs and down. There is a suspicion of a basement window in the
west bay in one illustration. (figure 7)

ttttthe Highway to Mr Cowdry’sThe Lane leading from
Farme Howse
Figure 2 – Map of lands sold by Samuel Crisp to William Knight in 1693.29
(from a sketch made by John Wallace).

36 13

‘Scite’ of Mansion House, Pleasure Grounds, Canal, etc.1 ‘Scite’ of Mansion House, Pleasure Grounds, Canal, etc.1 15
shrubbery and walks 2 2 7
Lawn 14 0 18
Turnpike Field 4 1 28
West Lawn 4 1 39
East Lawn 5 1 17
West Lord’s Leaze 9 3 04
East Lord’s Leaze 10 0 24
52 1 32
Nelson’s deeds16 of October 1801 lists these same lands as:the
house called Merton Place
The Shrubbery and the footway 3 3 13
The Great Lawn and coppices 18 0 13
The West Lawn & coppice 4 3 12
The East Lawn 5 0 0
West Lords Lease 9 3 12
East Lords Lease 10 0 14
51 2 24

These lands match the following pieces of Hotham’s property, formerly
part of Pratt’s Moat House Farm:

The Lawn 33 acres
East & West Lords Leases 20 acres

53 acres

which Hotham totalled more precisely as 52 acres 1 rood 37 perches.

They can be identified on the Wimbledon Tithe Apportionment map of
1848 as plots 263-272, mostly in the hands of Aaron Goldsmid, apart
from Pinhey’s Rose Cottage and one field owned by Reuben Fletcher.

It is not certain what became of the remainder of Pratt’s former estate,
described as:

Field or close over against Merton Abbey wall,

divided into the two home closes 9 acres
Upper and Lower Mill fields 16 acres

which Hotham reorganised as:

During his absence, Carola Oman tells us, the entrance had been removed
to the north front; the new drawing-room, bedrooms and kitchen were
being employed; a spacious bricked tunnel led under the road to his
stables and new kitchen gardens, and Lady Hamilton had given orders
for the construction of a walk, on which he might feel himself on his
own quarter-deck, leading up to a rotund white summer-house, in
fashionable classic style, christened ‘the Poop’. With regard to the
rebuilding, although he approved the result, the Admiral was not so
happy. He had written painfully when the new drawing-room was
mooted, “I hardly know how to find the money; but if it is to be done
this year it is begun before this time; it is too late to say a word”.60

He was soon brought to realise that the dining-room needed enlargement,
and a Mr. Chawner, who had completed the work started by a Mr.
Sprinks, had not been paid. He resolved to pay Chawner by selling
some of his presentation plate.60 A “Plan of the Entrance Story of
Lord Nelson’s House”,25 by Thomas Chawner, dated January 1805,
uses colour coding to distinguish those sections “lately built” and those
“proposed to be built” by Lady Hamilton. (figure 12)

The results of all this expenditure were appreciated by Lord Minto,
whose previous opinion of Merton Place and its hostess had been less
than complimentary. After a visit in 1805, he wrote to his wife:-61

Lady Hamilton has improved and added to the house and the
place extremely well and without his knowing she was about it.
She is a clever being after all: the passion is as hot as ever.

William Bartlett recalled the impressions passed on to him by Thomas
Saker, a former carpenter and general factotum at Merton Place:

The house itself was roomy, but not magnificent. Plenty of glass
and light seemed to be the predominant taste of one who had
spent much of his life in the open air. Glass doors in front and
a long passage with glass doors opening into the lawn behind,
and even plate-glass reflecting doors to some of the principal
rooms, must have thrown an appearance of lightness about the
interior.54

The Particulars of Sale24 of 1815 give more details, including some
measurements:

The whole establishment and way of life is such as to make me
angry, as well as melancholy; but I cannot alter it, and I do not
think myself obliged or at liberty to quarrel with him for his
weakness, though nothing shall ever induce me to give the
smallest countenance to Lady Hamilton… The love she makes
to him is not only ridiculous, but disgusting: not only the rooms,
but the whole house, staircase and all, are covered with nothing
but pictures of her and him, of all sizes and sorts, and
representations of his naval actions, coats of arms, pieces of
plate in his honour, the flagstaff of L’Orient, etc. – an excess of
vanity which counteracts its own purpose. If it was Lady H’s
house there might be a pretence for it; to make his own a mere
looking-glass to view himself all day is bad taste.

The new-building the chamber over the dining-room, you must
consider. The stair window, we settled, was not to be stopped
up.

On 26th August 1805, A A Feldborg, a Danish visitor59:

was much charmed with the situation of Merton-place…. Merton-
place is not a large, but a very elegant structure; in the balconies
I observed a great number of ladies, who I understood to be
Lord Nelson’s relations.

Entering the house, I proceeded through a lobby which, among
a variety of paintings and other pieces of art, contained an
excellent marble bust of the illustrious Admiral…. I was then
ushered into a magnificent apartment where Lady Hamilton sat
at the window. I at first scarcely observed his Lordship, he
having placed himself immediately at the entrance on the right…

His lordship then conducted me up stairs and pointed out to me
a profile [of the Crown Prince of Denmark]….

Descending from the drawing-room, Lord Nelson paused on the
staircase, the walls of which were adorned with prints of his
Lordship’s battles and other naval engagements, he pointed out
to me the Battle off Copenhagen.

PJH
Figure 3 – Map of Sir Richard Hotham’s Merton Place estate in 1792,
superimposed on the Tithe maps.

Home Mead Home Mead 1 21
Middle Mead 3 3 7
Rick Yard 2 17
Sheephouse Field 5 3 38
Mill Field 9 0 26
23 3 29

The phrase’over against’ is defined as’opposite’, confirming a possible
location within Wimbledon parish, opposite the walls of Merton Priory.
Some of the land in the vicinity is already accounted for. Hotham’s sale
to Greaves & Co. mentions land to the south of his property belonging
to Benjamin Bond Hopkins, which is presumably that shown on a map31
of the Bond Hopkins estate c.1772 as occupied by William Thoyts, the
proprietor of the copper mills (plots 275 & 278 on the Wimbledon Tithe
Map). The adjoining land west of the Wandle, with a mill, had been
sold by Ellis Crisp to William Knight in 1690, and is shown on a plan
of Knight’s lands from this date by Walter Henshaw.32

However, three fields shown on the Wimbledon Tithe Apportionment,
plots 273, 274 and 276, could possibly be the property formerly owned
by Henry Pratt. They total 23¾ acres, and they adjoin the 33 acres of
the Lawns. Buildings are shown here, on the corner of the road to
Wandsworth, in the earliest maps we have, John Senex’s map of 1729,
and John Rocque’s maps of 1741-5 and 1765. Perhaps these represent

the ancient messuage or tenement in the field or close over against
Merton Abbey wall, mentioned by Hotham in 1792.4

According to the Tithe Apportionment, plot 273 was the property of
John Leach Bennett. On 12th November 1801, Nelson and Sir William
Hamilton signed an agreement with his father, Thomas Bennett of
Wimbledon, for the lease of the “several barns stables granary coach-
house cow-house hen-house sheds and other erections situate in the
parish of Wimbledon”.33 The attached plan (figure 4) shows it to have
been at the southern end of the plot, bordering on the London Road.

The surveyor’s report for Merton Place had stated that the house itself
stood on only an acre and a half and within twenty yards of this was the
property of others, “and within that straightened boundary is
circumscribed by a dirty black looking canal or rather a broad ditch,
which keeps the whole place damp.” 14

THE HOUSE

Pratt’s insurance policy6 of 22nd August 1753 gives the measurements
of the original house and outbuildings:

Two storey and garrets 46′ x 22′ £220
Barn 78′ x 22′, 13′ x 10′, 13′ x 10′ £220
Cowhouse shedded 26′ x 10′ £25
Stable 25′ x 15′ £30
Chaffhouse 15′ x 6′ £5

We have no details of the “alterations and additions” made by Hotham,4
other than that it had “been greatly enlarged and improved” by 1792,
but we have a good description in the Particulars of Sale13 of 1801:

An elegant and very commodious brick edifice uniformly erected
on a pleasing plan and elevation, containing 2 Upper Bed
Chambers, a very spacious principal Bed Chamber and 2 other
principal Bed Chambers and a Water Closet.

2 elegant Drawing Rooms and a most excellent Dining Room of
large Dimensions, fitted up with Sienna, Egyptian and white
Marble Chimney Pieces, rich India Paper Hangings and
correspondent finished; A Breakfast Parlour and small Room;
a neat Vestibule and capital principal Staircase.

On the Basement Storey – Complete Wine Vaults with Brick
Catticombs [sic], cellaring and numerous Conveniences.

The distinct Attached Buildings contain: 3 Bed Chambers neatly
fitted up, 2 Servants Chambers, a Store Room and Laundry; a
very extensive Servants Hall with a Strong Stone Closet and
capital Iron Door; a convenient Kitchen provided with proper
connected Offices, arched Coal Vault, Wash House and Brew
House.

A detached Range of Buildings, consisting of a very neat fitted
up Dairy, a cool Larder and other Conveniences, And an ice
House.

Visitors to Merton Place also reported on its appearance. Lord Minto,
formerly Sir Gilbert Elliott, Viceroy of Corsica, arrived at Merton on
Saturday 20th March 1802. He wrote58 to his wife:

An undated agreement,An undated agreement, in Nelson’s handwriting, refers to new work:

Specification of the several Artificers’ Works to be performed
in erecting a Building to contain Two Double Coach houses, a
six stall Stable and a cow house, and in building three small
cottages for Lord Nelson at Merton in Surry.

These may refer to work on Bennett’s land, or elsewhere within the
Wimbledon section of the estate. However, the Particulars of Sale46 of
around 1808 refer to the House with the Offices, Lawns, Shrubberies,
Canals, Plantations, Farm House, Barns, Stables, Outbuildings Yards,

within Lady Hamilton’s 70 acres, which did not include Bennett’s land,
and the 1815 Particulars of Sale,24 which only refer to the 40 acres
south of the road, tell us that there was a coach house and stables in this
southern section. Unfortunately, we don’t know when they were built:

the coach house, two stables and two newbuilt cottages with
yards, drying grounds, etc. A large garden and orchard with

House of Mr
Bennett Mr Bennetts Land

Intended fence

hothouse, greenhouse, etc., also a paddock of rich pasture land

skirted by extensive shrubbery walks.

A Farmery with various outbuildings is shown on Cracklow’s plan of
1806,41 (figure 8) but we have no proof that the coach houses, stables

and cottages were in this area.

The Lodge and Carriage Gates were part of Lot 31 of the 1823
Particulars of Sale,25 which extended to Abbey Lane (figure 1).

Chamberlain55 says that the tunnel ran under the road ‘near Mr. Lee’s
drapery stores'[39 High Street], and Laughton56 quoting the local

Intended

Road to Wandsworth

doors

Barns

fence

Intended fence

doors doors
Shed Cowhouse

hen
house etc

Field Fence

Granary

Coachhouse

Stables

butcher, Mr. Corke, of 61 High Street, tells us that:

the subway was still open within Mr. Corke’s knowledge, and he
has often been through it. Now all is gone.

London road

Gates

A Supplement to Merton Church Monthly57 of May 1889 said that the
tunnel had recently been rediscovered during the installation of a sewer:

The entrance from the garden of Merton Place appears to have
been situated as near as possible between the shops now occupied

Figure 4 – Plan attached to lease of stables from Thomas Bennett 1801. 33

by Mr Smith, oilman, and Mr Corke, butcher, and passed beneath

the road in a slanting fashion towards Hayden’s Lane into “The (London Road is the present High Street.)
Shrubbery”. (The Road to Wandsworth is the present Haydons Road.)

32 17

Apparently Nelson wanted to fill up the moat,Apparently Nelson wanted to fill up the moat, but Emma Hamilton
treated it as a feature rather than a liability, calling it ‘The Nile’, after
Nelson’s victory in Aboukir Bay. However, Nelson heeded the warnings
about the proximity of neighbours, for he began buying additional lands.
In a letter to Lady Hamilton on 26th September 1801, Nelson writes:

If I can afford to buy the Duck Close and the field adjoining it
would be pleasant, but I fear it is not in my power.35

Nelson bought a strip of land from his neighbour, Mr. Halfhide, tenant
of Abbey Gatehouse, for £23.36 Also, Harrison34 tells us:

He applied by letter dated the 25th October 1801 to William
Axe, Esq. of Birchin Lane, London, who was proprietor of the
small intervening field which alone separated Merton Place from
the narrow lane at the end of the abbey wall, to be favoured with
the purchase of it, on equitable terms; and though [Mr Axe] …
paid all possible attention to the wish of his lordship; a churlish
farmer, who was Mr Axe’s tenant, on lease, of the whole adjoining
estate, where he had acquired a considerable fortune, opposed
so many objections, and evinced so rude and unaccommodating
a disposition, notwithstanding his lordship had condescendingly
treated him with every courtesy, that the object was not
accomplished till his lordship, about a year and a half afterwards,
purchased the whole farm, consisting of 115 acres; which Mr
Axe liberally consented to sell for … £8,000.

According to the Land Tax Redemption Certificates of 1799, Axe held
113 acres land plus messuage, etc. in Merton37 and 1 acre land in
Mitcham,38 both occupied by Robert Linton. The extent of Axe’s 113
acres in Merton can be deduced from maps of neighbouring estates.
The east boundary is shown on an 1805 map39 of the adjoining Merton
Abbey estate, marked “lands belonging to Lord Viscount Nelson” (figure
5). The west and south boundaries are set by Neale’s Merton Farm
and Garth’s Morden Hall Farm as shown on the Tithe map.40

This brought Nelson’s estate to over 160 acres, from present day South
Park Road Wimbledon in the north, to the Wimbledon to Croydon railway
line (now the tramway) in the south, from Merton Road, Brisbane Road,
Willmore End and Morden Road on the west, to Haydons Road, Abbey
Road and Deer Park Road on the east (figure 14).

THE TUNNEL

As we have seen, the Merton Place estate had always been in two parts,
the house south of the turnpike road, and the original grounds to the
north of the road. The two sections were connected by a tunnel under
the road. The earliest extant reference to the tunnel dates from 1790, in
Edwards’ Companion from London to Brighthelmston:-50

On the left near the road is Merton Place, a handsome seat
belonging to Sir Richard Hotham: it is surrounded with a mote
and under the turnpike road is a passage from the house to
some pleasant shrubberies of large extent, which lie on the north
of the road.

The tunnel is also mentioned in the Particulars of Sale13 of 1801:

A subterraneous Passage under the High Road to: The beautiful
Shrubbery and Walks stocked with Timber and other Trees and
Plants of considerable Value and the adjoining rich Lawn and
Paddocks of fine Grass Land.

However, the tunnel seems to have been either in an unsatisfactory
condition, or have needed enlarging for use by carriages, as in August
1804, Nelson wrote:-51

The underground passage will, I hope, be made, but I shall,
please God soon see it all.

His hopes for the tunnel were satisfied, as Carola Oman52 tells us, by
the time of his return to Merton in 1805:

A spacious bricked tunnel now led under the road to his stables
and new kitchen gardens.

Whether the stables were still in the area formerly leased from Mr
Bennett, we do not know, though there is a reference by Canon Jagger,53
to the surrender of a strip to Mr. Bennett “which will save £50 per
year.” Bartlett,54 writing in 1865, tells us :

The stables were in the parish of Wimbledon, and now form
cottages opposite the Nelson Arms, which are the property of J
L Bennett, Esq., who retains a letter written by Lord Nelson to
his father, in which he agrees to the terms on which the stables
were to be leased.

However, Asher Goldsmid still appeared as the owner of property in
both Merton and Wimbledon in the Land Tax booksHowever, Asher Goldsmid still appeared as the owner of property in
both Merton and Wimbledon in the Land Tax books until 1825. Most
of the Wimbledon property, apart from Hamnett Pinhey’s 9 acre Rose
Cottage estate, still belonged to Aaron Goldsmid in 1848, when the
Wimbledon Tithe Apportionment was made. By the 1890s an estate of
terrace housing had been built in this area with roads named after
Nelson, Hamilton, Hardy, Trafalgar and Victory.

Goldsmid was finally replaced in the Merton Land Tax register in 1826
by the new owner, Charles Smith of Abbey Gate House. Charles Smith
was a joint-owner of the adjoining Merton Abbey estate, and until his
death in 1827, lived at Abbey Gate House with his brother, Rear Admiral
Isaac Smith R.N., reputed to have been the first Englishman to set foot
on Australasian soil, having served with Captain Cook on theEndeavour.
Cook’s widow, Elizabeth, a cousin of the Smith’s, also lived for some
time at Abbey Gate House, dying in 1833, two years after Rear Admiral
Smith.

In 1844, when the Merton Tithe Apportionment was made, the 17½
acres of Lot 2 are shown as part of the estate of Charles Mackrell
Smith, great-nephew of Charles and Isaac Smith. It remained as farm
land until the development of the factory estate between the two World
Wars.

A small corner of open space remains near St. John’s church, with this
inscription on a block of stone:

AS A MEMORIAL OF

LORD NELSON

AND THE SPLENDID SERVICES WHICH HE RENDERED

TO HIS COUNTRY THIS LAND (WHICH FORMED PART

OF HIS MERTON ESTATE) WAS GIVEN ON THE

FIRST CENTENARY OF HIS DEATH TO

THE MERTON PARISH COUNCIL FOR
A PUBLIC RECREATION GROUND

BY A GREAT NEPHEW OF THE LATE REAR ADMIRAL

ISAAC SMITH OF MERTON ABBEY

L A N D S
L O R D V I S C O U N T
Figure 5 – Map of Estate called Merton Abbey – 1805
Sketch by John Wallace from original in Surrey Record Office.39

PJH
PJH
Figure 10 – Extract from a Plan of Estates and Titheable lands at Merton
Figure 6 – Map of Nelson’s Merton Place estate 1802 – 1805, in Surrey, The Property of E. H. Bond Esqr. (c1827-1830) 47
superimposed on the Tithe maps. (Courtesy of Merton Libraries and Heritage Services)

20 29

However, most of the land surrounding the mansion was not sold until
16th September 1823, when it was offered in 31 lots “adequate for
detached villas”, though a note at the foot of the Particulars of SaleHowever, most of the land surrounding the mansion was not sold until
16th September 1823, when it was offered in 31 lots “adequate for
detached villas”, though a note at the foot of the Particulars of Saleinforms us that “the 23 Freehold Lots offered in the last Sale are Sold”.

A ‘Plan of Estates and Titheable lands at Merton in Surrey, The Property
of the Late E. H. Bond Esqr.,(figure 10), shows the land ‘Late Lord
Nelson’s’ divided into several assorted plots, with a few buildings.

An Abstract of Title48 to freehold land situated at Merton, Surrey, sold
to the British Land Co. Ltd., traces the history of one of these ‘lots’, of
almost one acre, including references to its ownership by William Axe
in 1798 and to Emma Hamilton and her creditors in 1806. On 28th and
29th May 1824, John Crook and William Furse had bought from Ann
Keys, George Row and Frederick Waller a:

piece or parcel of land or ground situate on the south side of the
turnpike road leading from Merton to Kingston, abutting north
on the turnpike road, south on a new intended road to be called
Nelson Grove, and containing, in front of the said turnpike road
and likewise in rear next said intended road to be called Nelson
Grove, 125 feet and in depth on west side, abutting on ground
sold to Mr E Smith, 325 feet and on east side abutting on another
intended road leading from said turnpike road into Nelson Grove
and into several other new roads, 325 feet …

On 6th and 7th October 1824 they sold it to Thomas Kelly for £369
18s., and he left it to his nephews in 1855. They sold it on 28th October
1863 to the British Land Co. for £400:

all that piece of freehold land in Merton on south side of the
turnpike road from Merton to Kingston abutting north on
turnpike road, south on road called Nelson Grove – 125 feet in
width, and on west side, abutting land sold to Mr E Smith, 325
feet and on east side, abutting on Pencot’s Road leading from
the turnpike road to Nelson Grove and several others, 325 feet,
formerly part and parcel of a piece of land called the Vines.

Thus Nelson’s and Lady Hamilton’s “Paradise Merton”gave way to
the rows of Victorian housing known as “Nelson’s Fields”, now replaced
by the High Path council estate. Nelson Grove Road was laid across
the actual site of Merton Place.

According to an indenture dated 4th March 1806,41 Nelson had obtained
Axe’s estate, described as “the messuage or tenement, lands, and
hereditaments lying and being in the parishes of Merton and Mitcham
or one of them…”, by indenture of lease and release dated 7th and 8th
November 1802 from William Axe, Ann his wife, and Samuel Axe.
£4000 was paid to William Axe by Lord Nelson, and a further £4000,
the clear produce of £5873 2s. 9d. in 3% consolidated bank annuities,
from Nelson’s brother William, later Earl Nelson, as trustee of the
marriage settlement of his sister, Catherine Matcham.42 Apparently,
one of Nelson’s last regrets, on the night he left Merton for the last time,
en route for Trafalgar, was that he had not, so far, been able to repay
his brother-in-law, George Matcham. 43

In his will,20 dated 10th May 1803, Nelson left Merton Place to Emma
Hamilton, with part of the estate, while the remainder was to be sold to
settle his outstanding debts:

I give unto the same Emma, lady Hamilton, her heirs and assigns,
my capital messuage at Merton, in the county of Surry [sic],
and the out-houses, offices, gardens and pleasure grounds
belonging thereto, and such, parts of my grounds, farms, lands,
tenements and hereditaments, in the several parishes of Merton,
Wimbledon, and Mitcham, or any of them, as, together with,
and including the site of the said messuage, out-houses, offices,
gardens, pleasure grounds, shrubbery, canal, and mote, shall
not exceed seventy-acres, as shall be selected by the said Emma,
lady Hamilton, within six months after my decease. Such
selection to be testified by some deed or instrument, in writing,
under her hand and seal.

I further direct, that all money due on the security of the same
messuage and hereditaments, at my death, shall be paid out of
my personal estate, and out of the money arising from the sale
of the residue of the said farm, under the direction herein after
contained, in exoneration of the said messuage and other
hereditaments, so devised to, the said Emma, lady Hamilton, as
aforesaid.

Emma selected her 70 acres on 4th March 1806, and bought an additional
2 acres from Nelson’s trustees. The deedEmma selected her 70 acres on 4th March 1806, and bought an additional
2 acres from Nelson’s trustees. The deed includes a plan of Lady
Hamilton’s estate, surveyed by T Cracklow, which shows that a small
corner of the estate, “shaded brown, is purchased of the devisees in
trust of the late Lord Nelson by Lady Hamilton.” It is noted that some
of Mr. Axe’s former estate formed “part of the hereditaments selected
by and conveyed to the said Emma Hamilton.” Her estate is described

as:1.
the house with pleasure grounds, etc. 19 3 29
2. Farmery 1 0 14
3. Roadway 0 1 34
4. Barn field 6 0 30
5. Middle field 6 3 25
6. Sheephouse field 6 2 33
7. The Three Lawns, Great, East & West,
shrubberies, etc. 31 1 15
72 2 20

Of the remaining 90 or so acres of Nelson’s estate, the land to the east
of Morden Road had become part of the Mackrell Smith estate by 1844,
when the Merton Tithe Apportionment was made, while the land on the
west was divided between several owners.

Figure 7 – The north front of Merton Place c.180247
(Courtesy of Merton Libraries and Heritage Services)

Lot 2 apparently had still not found a buyer by 1822, nor the 30 acres
within Wimbledon parish, according to Asher Goldsmid’s will,22 dated
4th April 1822 and proved 25th November 1822:

… whereas myself and my late brother Abraham Goldsmid
deceased heretofore purchased certain freehold estates in Merton
and Wimbledon as tenants in common and certain parts thereof,
to wit the capital messuage or mansion house called Merton
Place with coach house and other appertinents belonging with
divers lands and messuage or farm house and outbuildings
containing in the whole 72 acres 2 roods 6 perches situate in
Merton and Wimbledon … by indenture of lease and release
dated 18th & 19th August 1809 …

… and whereas since the said purchase the said capital messuage
and farm and part of the said lands have been sold and conveyed
to purchasers and there only remains 31 acres land parts of
said lands in Wimbledon, and 17½ acres other part in Merton
undisposed of, I bequeath the moiety to trustees to sell or dispose
of same altogether or in parcels.

Figure 9 – The new-built east front of Merton Place before the kitchen
extension was built on the south in 1805. 47
(Courtesy of Merton Libraries and Heritage Services)

The Particulars of SaleThe Particulars of Sale of 1815 describe the 40 acres within Merton:

The Particulars of a valuable freehold estate (Land Tax
redeemed) consisting of a capital family mansion called Merton
Place formerly the residence of Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson
situate at Merton 7 miles from London, in the County of Surrey,
with lawn, pleasure-grounds, garden and orchard and a spacious
paddock of rich pasture land, containing in the whole upwards
of 22 acres enclosed with lofty park paling on the road to
Wimbledon and Epsom; also 3 contiguous inclosures of excellent
arable land containing altogether upwards of 17 acres which
will be sold by auction by Mr Leonard at Garraway’s Coffee
House in Change Alley, Cornhill, London on Wednesday
17.5.1815 at 12 o’clock. In two lots unless in the mean time an
acceptable offer be made for the whole by private contract.

Lot 1.
… The Mansion is situate in a spacious Lawn, intersected with
Shrubbery, Walks and a Canal, over which is a Stone Bridge. A
Coach-house, Two Stables and Two new-built Cottages with
Yards, Drying-ground, etc.; a large Garden and Orchard with
Hot-house, Green-house, etc.; also a Paddock of rich Pasture
Land skirted by extensive Shrubbery Walks. The Estate
commands an extensive line in front of the road from Merton to
Epsom, and containing in the whole 22 acres, 2 roods and 23
perches, more or less, enclosed with extensive Park Paling.

1 Site of Mansion, Offices, Lawn and Pleasure-ground 5.1.25
2 Garden and Orchard 1.2.09

3. Yards, &c 2.1.26
4. Paddock and Shrubbery 13.1.03
Lot 2.
Three Inclosures of rich Arable land situate on the South Side
of Lot 1 on the Side of the Road leading from Merton to Epsom,
containing altogether 17 acres 1 rood 3 perches (more or less),
now in the occupation of Mr Taylor, Tenant at Will.

5 East Field 4. 2.25
6 Middle Field 5.3.34
7 West Field with Foot-path 6.2.24

PJH
Figure 8 – Map of Lady Hamilton’s Merton Place estate 1805 – 1808.
Cracklow’s plan of 1806 superimposed on the Tithe maps.

26 23

A leaseA lease (for release) relating to one of these properties was agreed on
24th November 1806, by the Rt. Hon. William Earl Nelson and William
Haslewood, devisee in trust and executors of the Rt. Hon. Horatio Lord
Viscount Nelson deceased; and Daniel Sturdy of Clapham (baker) and
Robert Skelton (baker), and referred to:

Piece of arable land of approximately 4 acres and another piece
of arable land of approximately 4 acres, both now in clover, and
4 tenements situate in the Parish of Merton on west side of
Merton Turnpike Road. for release to Rt. Hon. Dame Emma
Hamilton.

This is presumably the block of land bounded by modern Kingston
Road on the north, Morden Road on the east, The Path on the south and
Brisbane Avenue on the west. By 1844 Daniel Sturdy owned 5 acres
(plots 203, 210-220), Charles Skilton 2 acres (plots 201-202) and James
Rolt almost 3 acres (plot 209). Along the northern edge of this land, on
the Kingston Road, were four tenements in the ownership of James
Killick (plots 204-205), Matthew Taylor (plot 206), and James Oakman
(plot 207). Part of the land was known as Crossways, the remainder
Almshouse Close, from the adjoining Rowland Wilson almshouse, the
last remnant of which survived to the 1950s.

The two Wimbledon fields not selected by Emma Hamilton, East Lords
Lease and West Lords Lease, gave rise to some confusion. On 19th
May 1807, Lord Nelson’s Trustees, William Earl Nelson and William
Haslewood of Lincoln’s Inn, sold East Lords Lease, of 10 acres 14
perches in Wimbledon to William Haslewood in trust for Thomas Bolton
of Cranwich, Norfolk, for £900 to be paid out of his wife Susanna’s
legacy from Nelson, her brother. Meanwhile it was on mortgage to
Earl Nelson as the surviving trustee of Bolton’s marriage settlement.5

In this deed the land is described as formerly Hotham, then Greaves,
now West, and the bounds are incorrectly described as:

on the north by lands of Richard Mansell Phillips
on the south by a common footpath
on the west by the high road from Wimbledon to Ewell and
on the east by a parcel late the property of Horatio Lord Viscount
Nelson deceased, now or late in the occupation of the said – West.

These are actually the bounds of West Lords Lease. An endorsement
on this deed records William Haslewood’s release of East Lords Lease
on 7th September 1809,5 to Thomas Moxon in trust for Abraham
Goldsmid, who paid Earl Nelson £900 and Thomas Bolton £10, and
the bounds were corrected to:

on the west by West Lords Lease
on the east by Dunsford Lane
on the north by lands of Richard Mansell Phillips
on the south by a common footpath [i.e. Quicks].

Asher Goldsmid refers to this in his will,22 dated 4th April 1822 and
proved 25th November 1822:

the residue being a piece or parcel called East Lords Lease
containing 10 acres 4 perches in Wimbledon, not in hand, by
indenture of lease and release dated 6th & 7th September 1809…

This was presumably plot 263 on the Tithe Apportionment Map, an
unnamed meadow of 10 acres 1 perch, owned by Aaron Goldsmid,
Abraham’s son. The adjoining plot 264, containing 9 acres 3 roods 25
perches, owned by Reuben Fletcher, represents West Lord’s Lease.

The familiar references to the house, gardens and farms of Merton Place
as comprising about 70 acres, of which 30 acres were in Wimbledon
Parish and 40 acres in Merton,45 refer only to that part left to Lady
Hamilton, described when offered for sale about 1808 as:-46

Lady Hamilton’s Villa at Merton, in the parishes of Wimbledon
and Mitcham in the County of Surrey. The House with the
Offices, Lawns, Shrubberies, Canals, Plantations, Farm House,
Barns, Stables, Outbuildings Yards and Four Enclosures of land
situated together in a Ring Fence, and bounded on the north
and west by the turnpike road from London and Epsom, and on
the east of Merton Abbey Lane; in the Parish of Mitcham [sic];
and the Kitchen Garden, Gardener’s House, Plantation, and
Three Enclosures of Meadow land lying all within a Ring Fence
opposite the House, and bounded on the South by the said
turnpike road, East by the road from Merton to Wandsworth,
West by the road from Merton turnpike, and North by the
Common footpath in the Parish of Wimbledon, which contains
together seventy acres or thereabouts, and are all Freehold.