Bulletin 130

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June 1999 – Bulletin 130
Monastic glass of Merton – L E Green
Flitwick Cottage, Morden Common – J Pile
Copyholds on Morden Common – P J Hopkins

and much more

PRESIDENT: J Scott McCracken BA FSA MIFA
VICE PRESIDENTS: Viscountess Hanworth, Arthur Turner, Lionel Green and William Rudd

BULLETIN NO. 130 JUNE 1999

PROGRAMME JUNE-SEPTEMBER

Saturday 26 June 2 pm Carshalton House, Water Tower and grounds
Andrew Skelton

Following his December lecture to the Society Andrew Skelton has kindly agreed to take us
on a guided tour of these outstanding buildings and their setting. The cost is £3 for the tour
with teas available at £2 per head. All proceeds go to Carshalton Water Tower Trust.
Please let Sheila Harris know at least a week ahead of time if you are coming, and if
you will be having tea. Meet outside the Water Tower in West Street at 1.45 for 2.

There may be some parking spaces in Honeywood Walk. Otherwise drivers can park off
the High Street and walk via the ponds, Honeywood Walk and Festival Walk to West Street,
opposite the Water Tower. Cross with care!

Bus routes 127, 157 alight in North Street; 154 alight at Windsor Castle.

Thursday 8 July 11.30am Tour of .Big Ben. Clock Tower

Numbers are limited on this tour, kindly arranged by Siobhain McDonagh MP, and participants
should be able to cope with a lot of steps! Reserve your place by telephoning Sheila Harri

Tuesday 3 August 7pm Visit to St Mary’s church, Wimbledon
Richard Milward

Wimbledon’s distinguished historian (and member of our Society) will be our guide to the
history, architecture and fittings of St Mary the Virgin, the senior parish church of

Wimbledon.
The church is off Arthur Road, Wimbledon. Nearest bus routes: 93 and 200.

Saturday 25 September 2.30 pm A Second Mitcham Pub Walk
Dr Tony Scott

Tony Scott’s enjoyable guided tour in Mitcham in September 1996 by no means covered all
Mitcham’s pubs of historical interest, and he has agreed to introduce us to some more. The
afternoon is likely to include sampling!

Meet at the Clocktower, Fair Green. Buses, 118, 152, 200

The Society’s events are open to the general public, unless otherwise stated.

PETER D. HARRIS

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of one of our best known members,

Peter David

Harris, who died on 19th May at St Helier Hospital, after a long illness.
Peter and Sheila, who were both teachers, came to Merton from Cheshire in the mid-1960s,

settling first
in north Mitcham, then in Tamworth Lane, and finally in Cannon Hill Lane. Peter cut his

archaeological
teeth digging Roman sites at Chester, but once in Merton it was the Wandle and its industries

which
caught, and held, his attention, to become one of his main interests. This is not to overlook

Peter’s other
activities. His work with the handicapped included organising and conducting a band. He was for

many
years a member of Merton Scientific Society, and of Merton Arts Council, chairing the latter

for some
years, and he received a Mayor’s award for services to the community.

As a member of Merton Historical Society he served on the Committee for many years, and was

Chairman
from 1987 to 1889. Always ready to give talks on the Wandle, illustrated from his own extensive

collection
of slides, or to perform a more back-room role as salesman of the Society’s publications, Peter

was a
familiar figure at our meetings. Displays at the Wandle Industrial Museum, of which he was a

trustee,
owe much to his artistic ability, for Peter was an artist of considerable talent. Who can have

failed to be
impressed by his oil paintings portraying the Creation of the Universe, which were exhibited at

the
Wimbledon Library gallery, and at several Merton churches? It is to Peter’s artistic skill that

our Society
owes a special debt of gratitude, for it is his sketches, used to illustrate our series of

booklets on the
Wandle, which have contributed so greatly to their success. Peter’s departure will leave a gap

in our lives
which will be very difficult to fill, but his memory will endure, as will his legacy to local

studies.

E.N.M.

From Our Postbag

An interesting letter has been received from Jeremy Harte of the Nonsuch Antiquarian Society,

in which he

writes:
.The Gentleman’s Magazine 1762 page 599 reports on the death of a man found strangled at

Mitcham on
21 December of that year. He had stolen a sheep and tied its hindlegs together, then put the

hobbled legs
over his forehead to carry it away. Just as he was climbing a gate, the sheep began to struggle

and the rope
was pulled downwards, round his neck; so that the next day he was found dead on one side of the

gate, with
the sheep hanging down on the other.

.You may have recognised this as a common story, usually told of old stones called the

Hangman’s Stones
or something similar, where the unlucky sheepstealer was supposed to have sat down to rest. O G

S
Crawford wrote a paper on the theme; so did the archaeological folklorist Leslie Grinsell,

though the stones
are seldom if ever archaeological features.

.You might suppose that the tragic story at Mitcham, reported in a widely read journal, had

been the
inspiration for these stories. But there are several versions of the tale known to have existed

before 1762;
the earliest are from the 1640s.

.Or is it possible that the story is an elaborate leg-pull, some resident of Mitcham having

passed off the
traditional story as one that had just happened in their locality, and the editor was taken in?

.Or it may be an outrageous coincidence – life imitating art.
.Clearly it would be of great interest to find if anyone did die in the manner suggested, at

Mitcham on 21
December 1762. Do you know of any sources which could help determine this?“

As far as we are aware the accident was not recorded in Mitcham vestry minutes, but there may

have been an
inquest, and there might be an entry in the death register or in the churchwardens. accounts

for 1762, which will
now be at the new Surrey History Centre at Woking. Does any member feel like pursuing the

enquiry?

We have received an enquiry from Mr L D Maunders of Letchworth Garden City, Herts,
who is researching his family history. Mr Maunders. grandfather, Charles Frederick Maunders is

understood to
have worked for .Propherts., a firm of Mitcham market gardeners, early this century. The family

lived at 2
Bordergate Cottages and 14a Inglemere Road. If any of our readers has any information, perhaps

they would
care to contact Mr Maunders.

E N Montague

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 2

LIONEL GREEN speculates about the MONASTIC GLASS OF MERTON

It would seem that there is no known glass in existence that was once part of the important

priory of Merton.
The Augustinian canons were noted for their churches with windows of stained glass1, affording

a .visual
aid. not only in the church, but in the cloisters and other conventual buildings.

There are many examples of monastic glass finding its way to neighbouring churches. In the

church of St
Anthony, Cartmel Fells, is some good medieval English and Flemish glass which came from the

cloister and
claustral buildings of Cartmel (Augustinian) Priory. Other glass from this priory is in St

Martin’s church,
Windermere.

The east window of Morden church contains glass taken from the pre-1636 church which, according

to
unfounded tradition, came from Merton Priory. It contained stories from the Old Testament,

including Jonah
and the whale, and Abraham’s sacrifice. Large quantities of broken glass were unearthed during

excavations
at Merton Priory in 1988. These were located at the south end of the infirmary hall, which

suggests that a
large window existed, allowing much of God’s light to enter the sick-quarters of the Priory.

Glass in Merton parish church

Some ancient glass exists in Merton Church, consisting of two armorial shields and
other small pieces. One shows the Royal Arms of Henry IV (c.1410), depicting the
three golden lilies of France on a blue field quartered with the three golden leopards of
England on a red field. The other shield shows the arms of Merton Priory, a blue fret of
six interlaced bars on a field of gold. At each crossing is a silver eagle with outspread
wings. The glass is in a window high up in the north aisle and was placed there in 1910.
Tracing a possible history of this glass, there is an entry in the parish magazine for

March 1891 that .Mr Quartermain has kindly presented to the Vestry … a leaded
fretwork containing pieces of old glass which were in one of the chancel windows …. This

would seem to
agree with the statement in Manning and Bray (1804)2 that .the arms of England and those of the

Priory
[are] in the chancel window.. In 1792 Daniel Lysons3 confirms that .in the chancel window are

some
remains of painted glass, amongst which are to be seen the arms of England, and those of the

priory of
Merton …..

This glass could have been provided by the Priory in the 15th century. This would seem to be a

more
acceptable explanation than that it appeared at the time of the dissolution of the Priory.

Glass in Carshalton church

About 1148 Faramus de Boulogne provided a church at Carshalton and gave the advowson to Merton

Priory.
The chancel was similar to that at Merton, dating from early in the 13th century, with lancet

windows. In the
British Library is the manuscript collection 4 of Nicholas Charles, Lancaster Herald 1609-13,

which contains
a reference to some armorial glass in Carshalton church.

.These stand in the great east chauncell windowe. Three shields follow in a row, from left to

right

bearing (1) France and England quarterly within a bordure compony arg and vert (2) France and

England quarterly (3) Or fretty with eagles arg at the crossings of the fret, for Merton

Priory..

The three shields fit in with a triple lancet arrangement of the east window and the later

15th-century triple-
light window which was blocked up in 18115. Vincent’s Visitation of Surrey 1623 refers to

‘several coats
which were formerly in a window of the north aisle belonging to families of Burley, Sarnesfield

and Earls of
Somerset.. Lysons refers to the same glass in the windows of the north aisle which had been

present
.before the alterations when the aisles were raised in brick.6. No mention is made of glass in

the chancel
east window.

There is no record of architectural changes in the 17th century, but many took place early in

the 18th century.
The incumbent in the latter part of the 17th century was John Nelme who held Beddington in

plurality with
Carshalton from 1684. He died in 1703 and was buried at Beddington7. The parish registers had

not been
kept properly and his successor began a new register in 1703. This was William Helliers, who

was instituted
on 15 November 1703, and immediately changes took place. The south aisle of the original church

was
altered to accommodate the Scawen family chapel, and in 1725/6 changes to the north aisle

involved the
blocking of the east window of the north aisle for the Fellows monument and chapel8.

Could this church also have been presented with glass showing the arms of the priory in the

15th century, or
is there the possibility that the Carshalton glass found its way to Merton?

1 F M Powicke – introduction to W Daniel The Life of Alfred 1950 p lxxii 2 Manning &Bray The

History &Antiquities of Surrey Vol
1 1804 p 259
3 D Lysons The Environs of London 1792 Vol 1 p 346 4 BL Lansdowne MS 874 fo.129
MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 3

5 A C Skelton in Sy Arch. Soc. Coll. Vol 83 (1996) p18 6 D Lysons op cit p 127
7 Manning and Bray op cit Vol 2 1806 p 533f 8 A C Skelton op cit p 3

LOCAL HISTORY WORKSHOP REPORTS
Friday 5 March 1999. Ian Aldridge in the chair. Six members present.
©
!!!!!Bill Rudd, motivated by having seen a photograph of a Merton & Morden WW2 Civil Defence

ambulance
in the Bulletin of December 1998, made the trek to the new Surrey History Centre at Woking, but

found
their wartime records for Merton & Morden UDC somewhat sparse. Bill still has a notebook he

kept

whilst serving as a messenger in the early 1940s. This contains locations, telephone numbers

and districts
covered of all the ARP Warden posts, and at the request of the S.H.C. he will provide a

transcription.
Bill’s researches into Morden shops have disclosed the extraordinary absence of a comprehensive

history

of occupation of Crown House in the 1960s, before its conversion to a Civic Centre. He has

supplied

details to the Heritage Officer.
From local newspapers of the mid-1930s Bill has extracted fascinating and nostalgic accounts of

children’s
annual trips to Littlehamptom, arranged by the local Labour Party and Co-operative Society.

Highly
organised, supported by local traders, these involved fleets of up to 35 coaches, carrying well

over 1,000
children for a day at the seaside. He also unearthed details of entertainments (some by Harry

Tate & son)
given at the (then) newly opened St Helier Memorial Hall & Community Centre.

book, dating
back toc.1840, needed for the forthcoming annual church meeting. He would bring it to the next

workshop
meeting before returning it to Woking. Ian reported that repairs will shortly be carried out to

the tomb of
Rear-Admiral Isaac Smith, who as a midshipman accompanied Captain James Cook to the South Seas,
and in 1770 was the first Englishman to set foot on Australia.

outlining a fascinating
piece of social history, involving the Shotter and Pleydell families, who, like many of humble

backgrounds,
were to benefit greatly from the Education Act of 1870. George William Shotter, born in 1867,

served his
apprenticeship as a blacksmith with Lampert’s, ironmongers of Merton, before establishing his

own business
in Nelson Grove Road. All his children were educated at Merton Schools, three of his daughters

becoming
schoolteachers. In 1894 George stood for Merton parish council in the first-ever elections, and

topped the
poll!Punch rather unkindly satirised him as the blacksmith-councillor, but George, by this time

living in a
superior house, had come far. Daughter Ann married a fellow Merton schoolteacher, Harry

Pleydell.
Discharged on medical grounds from the Army in 1915, Harry secured the headship of Caterham

Valley
Board School, and it is his son who has supplied Judith with some interesting family

photographs. We hope
Judith will find time to tell the whole story soon, perhaps as a Local History Note.

the UK,
hoping to discover something about an ancestor, a 19-year-old gardener’s boy from Mitcham, who

in 1829
was sentenced to seven years deportation at Quarter Sessions for stealing geese. The lad

survived, and a
promise has been given to try to find a little more about him and the family he left behind.

A revised set of Notes for Five Guided Walks along the Wandle has been completed and bound. A

copy

has been deposited at the Wandle Industrial Museum,
A manuscript account of the beating of the bounds of Mitcham in 1833, compiled by Edwin Chart

and seen
in 1967 whilst it was in the care of the London Borough of Merton, has gone missing.

Fortunately a
transcription was made at the time, and it is intended to reproduce this as a Local History

Note or booklet,
with annotated map.

there (of
which he showed a postcard) and that of Merton, demolished in 1906. Peter also produced a

recently
acquired copy of West Surrey Family History Society’s A List of Surrey Feet of Fines 1558-1602,
containing valuable clues to the later history of the estate in Mitcham and Morden conveyed by

William
Mareys to the perpetual vicars of the two parishes in 1362. Portions of this holding (it seems

to have
included part of Ravensbury Park and Poulter Park) can be shown, through documents now held by
Sutton’s Heritage Service, to have been incorporated in Batts Farm off the Bishopsford Road,

which
featured in the sale of Henry Hoare’s Mitcham Grove estate in 1828.

to
give a brief account of exchanges of land in the west country between the Pomeroys and Merton

Priory
during the 12th century. We hope to learn more from an article in a future Bulletin.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 4

Correspondence with a reader of Lionel’s Railways of Merton had highlighted the (apparently)

idiosyncratic course of the .tube. line between Morden and South Wimbledon stations.
On a recent visit to the National Portrait Gallery Lionel had used a new facility for students

to obtain
copies of portraits held by the Gallery, and showed a print purchased of Gerlach Flicke’s

painting of
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Finally, using a 1958 aerial photograph of part of the Borough,

Lionel
showed how the boundary between the medieval parishes of Merton and Morden could still be

traced
quite clearly, having been perpetuated in modern property boundaries.

E.N.M.

Friday 7 May 1999. Bill Rudd in the chair Five members present

©
Peter Hopkins reported on a Workshop on interpreting Latin manorial documents, which he and
Eric Montague attended at Surrey History Centre. It was organised by Surrey Archaeological

Society
as part of its Millennium Project. Peter has been trying to make sense of the earlier Merton

manorial

court rolls (dating from 1485 to 1666) for the past two years, and has just completed his first

draft of
a summary.
The rolls record the proceedings of two courts, the View of Frankpledge, which dealt with

community

matters, and the Court Baron, dealing with manorial freehold and copyhold properties. They

include
reports from community officials – tithingmen, constables and aletasters, who were elected at

the
courts. Bakers, brewers, alesellers, butchers, millers, and tanners were regularly fined, an

early form
of licencing. Various misdemeanors were dealt with, such as assaults and affrays, scolds, hedge
breaking, and illicit games – John Bredcock had a bowling alley in his garden in 1519, which

attracted
men and women of ill repute! Public nuisances were dealt with – scouring of ditches, pruning of

trees
overhanging the highways, cleaning up the highways (incidentally provided a wealth of

topographical
detail). Regulations were passed concerning animals – common rights, licencing of pigs, control

of
geese and ducks, and keeping track of strays.

The reports of the Court Baron included lists of all who owed homage for their property to the

lord of
the manor, and also recorded the transfer of copyhold properties – enabling us to follow the

history of
many of the properties in the ‘ville’ of Merton.

at the
Surrey History Centre, but the parish borrow it back each year to record the annual meetings.

The
book is very large and very heavy – about 4 inches thick – and has to be handled with care.

This and
its predecessor, started in 1733, will be among the records on display at the Open Day at St

Mary’s
Church Merton on Saturday 19th September. The Vestry Books record the election of Church
Wardens and the accounts for poor relief and parish charities. They followed a regular format –

it
was very much ‘business as usual’, and took no notice of national or international events. For

example,
Ian was surprised to find no mention of the death of Nelson, a friend of the then incumbent.

However,
there are occasional poingnant entries which give an insight into social life. When a well-

loved vicar
died suddenly, a page of testimonials was included, as was a copy of the letter of thanks

written by his
widow.

©
Brenda and Victor Beard are trying to trace the history of their cottage in Watermead Lane off
Middleton Road, which dates from the beginning of the 19th century. Roman pottery has been

found
in the garden.

Victor is currently doing a degree course in Archaeology at Surrey University and is hoping to

do a
project on nearby Beddington Park.

surrounding area, especially on the site of the former scout hut replaced in 1977 by Jubilee

Hall.
Bill also reported on a request he has recently had from the BBC regarding the early years of a

local
celebrity. It wasn’t for ‘This is Your Life’ but Bill doesn’t want details published yet. More

details in
a future issue!

P.J.H

Future dates:- Fridays 25 June and 20 August – 7.30pm at the Wandle Industrial
Museum
All are welcome.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 5

THE ROMAN SOLDIER: AN EVENING WITH JOHN EAGLE

The former Morden Library meeting room in Morden Road, sitting as it does on or very close to

the former
route of Stane Street, made an ideal venue for our February guest speaker John Eagle’s talk on

the Roman
Soldier.

John came suitably dressed for the occasion, and as such did not require the use of slides to

illustrate his

talk.
The soldiers back in Roman Europe were held in very high esteem, and you had to obtain a letter

of
introduction to join their ranks. Once accepted, you signed on for 25 years, and so long as it

was not a
period of continual war, you had a very enjoyable career. All ranks left with a pension, and if

you had learnt
a trade while in the service you could be re-employed as a contractor to the army. Also, if you

were not
already a Roman citizen, then on leaving the army you and family would automatically become

citizens.

Most images, if not all, I can recall of Roman soldiers have them very scantily dressed, but as

we were
shown they did have clothing for even the hardest winter up on Hadrian’s Wall. They even

eventually took
to wearing a sort of trousers, though these were the garments of the Barbarians.

John modelled many of the different items of equipment, such as the elaborate headgear and

helmets, and
the various sorts of armour, and demonstrated how the different types of weapons were used.

Many
weapons were intended to maim rather than kill, so as to hinder one’s enemy, who was forced to

come to
assist fallen comrades. Wars have always been bloody affairs, but they did tend to be more

hands-on back
in Roman times!

All journeys were made on foot for most ranks, and a soldier carried all his own equipment and

weapons.

At night these would be laid out precisely, so that even in complete darkness they could easily

be found.
Over the years there were
many changes to armour and
weapons. As the weapons
became more deadly so the
armour had to become more
elaborate, to protect the
wearer. The Romans did not
use gunpowder, although I
would have thought that it
would have been known to
them, and neither was the bow
and arrow in use to the same
deadly effect that it was during
the Middle Ages, by English
armies.

The Roman army was a very
professional body, and they
received the best medical care
of the day.

John has a great knowledge
of the Romans, and his
expertise is being used in a
forthcoming film, due on our
cinema screens very soon.
The story might not be correct,
but I can assure you the
costumes and battle scenes
will be!

David Luff

John Eagle (left) in full rig, with
Mike Harding, a guinea pig from
the audience. photo: Wimbledon
News 5 March 1999

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 6

A VISIT TO ARCHBISHOP WHITGIFT.S HOSPITAL OF THE
HOLY TRINITY, CROYDON

On Saturday 15 May Glenys Shepherd met about 20 of our members and friends in Croydon’s

bustling
and clamorous North End, and directed us through a gated archway into the peace of John

Whitgift’s
Tudor quadrangle. Glenys is the warden, and lives with her husband in a flat on the premises.

There are
16 flats (two are double) for the brothers and sisters of the community. The original

requirements for
admission are still normally observed. Applicants must be, or have been, long-term residents of

Croydon,
Lambeth or Canterbury and must be communicant members of the Church of England. Priority is

given to
those in need. Any who have something more than the state pension to live on pay a graded sum

towards
running costs. Residents no longer receive a weekly ‘stipend. of meat, bread and fuel, but

every Friday at
10 o.clock the chapel bell is rung, and each is presented with a small sum of money, as a token

of the old
arrangement.

Whitgift often stayed at the archiepiscopal .country. palace at Croydon, so, though he came

from Grimsby,
it is not surprising that he chose the Surrey town as the site for the hospital and school he

wished to found.
His formal application to Queen Elizabeth to do so was as formally agreed, with modifications.

These two
handsome documents are on display in the audience chamber. The Hospital was built in 1596-9 for

16
men and 16 women, with a school adjacent. Today the Whitgift Foundation includes two schools

for boys
and, since 1993, the Old Palace School for Girls, as well as the Hospital, and Whitgift House

(1988) at
Haling Park for the infirm elderly. The Foundation’s headquarters are in the Hospital.

The common room, where most social gatherings take place, at present does double duty as the

chapel,
while work is done to the walls in the latter. The windows incorporate interesting heraldic

glass. In the
audience chamber above, which has fine original panelling, is a portrait of Whitgift, a 1595

edition of the
Great Bible of 1539 and one of three splendid old chests belonging to the Hospital.

Another portrait of Whitgift hangs in the

tiny chapel, as well as a charmingly painted
wooden board of 1600 which displays his
favourite sayings, from Proverbs and from
the Saints. There is also an unusual Ten
Commandments board, with a Hebrew
inscription.

Below ground the Hospital is supported on
oak tree-trunks. The thick double brick
walls are in-filled with rubble, and the oak-
framed windows have stone surrounds and
hoodmoulds. This sturdy building has
shrugged off German bombs as well as
threats of demolition for road-widening,
and, unlike many other almshouses, still
fulfils its original purpose. Its appearance
has hardly changed in over 400 years,

despite major restoration in 1860 (funded by sales of Foundation land to
railway companies) and modern refurbishment. Discreet secondary glazing
in the outer windows muffles the noise from the street within the flats, but
within the quadrangle there have been concerts by London Mozart Players.
An enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, Glenys is also the author of A
Peep Through the Gates, an anecdotal account of the Hospital and its
history, which was produced in 1996, the 400th year of the Foundation.

Private visits to the Hospital can be arranged. Tel: 0181 688 1733.
After this enjoyable visit some members went on to the Lifetimes Museum
at Croydon Clocktower in Katharine Street, which is a lively permanent
exhibition about life in Croydon over the centuries. Visitors are encouraged
to touch some of the exhibits; children can dress up; and there are interactive
quizzes to do (not too successfully in this case!).

Illustration from
Walford’s
‘Greater London’
(1883)

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 7

THE CANONS HOUSE AND ITS SETTING
An illustrated lecture by Eric Montague on Saturday 13 March

Eric Montague explained that his talk had been structured as a walk around the grounds of the

Canons
house and the immediate surrounding properties; all of these had evidently been enclosed from

the Mitcham
parish waste, or common land.

The southern and largest portion of the present house (in which we sat) was built about 1680 by

John
Odway, who had obtained a building lease from John Cranmer, lord of the manor. In 1679 Cranmer

had
married his first wife, Dorothea Gilbert, daughter of a London merchant, and the couple may

have intended
to make The Canons their future country home. Unfortunately Dorothea died in 1680/1, and their

new
house, until the 1760s, was to be occupied by tenants of the Cranmers. Several slides showed

both
remaining original features and the many alterations that have been carried out during the 300

years since
it was built.

It seems that the .parcel of Ground called Cannons (heretofore .The Grove.). or the .Manor

House
called the Parsonage. was indeed the actual parsonage (until a new parsonage was built on the

site of the
present vicarage in Church Road immediately before the rebuilding of The Canons itself). This

structure
had possibly been erected by the canons of the Priory of St Mary Overy, Southwark, to whom the

land
had been given by the village assembly or folkmoot of Mitcham. Whether this grant of land out

of the
large holdings of the de Redvers family received formal consent is uncertain, as the gift may

have occurred
during the civil war in Stephen’s reign, when the usual administrative controls had, perhaps,

lapsed.

Near the house, by the side of the
canons. carp pond, stands the one
remaining complete structure of pre-
Dissolution times, the rectangular
dovecot of Reigate stone, clunch and
thin red .Tudor. bricks. Inside are
between 500 and 600 pigeon-holes,
and we were shown a marvellously
clear slide of the date 1511 in Roman
numerals cut in the exterior west wall
(but now almost illegible).

Other, long-destroyed, features of the
grounds include a large timber barn,
possibly dating from Southwark
Priory’s tenure of the estate, which
stood to the north of the present house
in the area now occupied by modern
structures, including those of the
leisure centre.

The walled garden with its inscribed
tablet dated 1761, immediately northeast
of the house, together with other
enclosures and structures which have
not survived, would have provided
favourable conditions for the growing
of exotic fruits.

Another inscription stone, dated 1816,
is still inserted in the wall which Esther
Maria Cranmer built about the time she
purchased the adjacent Park Place, to
the east, and which she let to tenants.
It was Esther Maria’s son, the
Reverend Richard Cranmer, who erected the obelisk, one of the more eye-catching historic

features of
Mitcham, which stands at the junction of Madeira and Cranmer Roads. Nearby in Madeira Road is

the
lodge of about 1860, from whence a drive once elegantly curved towards The Canons. front door.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 8

Just across Cranmer Road, and a little to the south, is the Wilson Hospital, a still extant

monument to Sir
Isaac Wilson’s great benefactions in Mitcham. But the site is that of the Rectory, where the

Cranmers
sometimes resided during the extensive periods in which The Canons was let. Here it was

possible to
compare an early 19th-century engraving after Hassell of .Mitcham Villa or the Rectory.

(another example
of alternative names for one property) with a photograph from the same viewpoint of about 1910.

Another
old photograph showed the great barn, evidently part of the Rectory farm (also known as The

Cranmers).
This stood on the site nearby of Cranmer Middle School. Was this the barn that stored Robert

Cranmer’s
corn and hay, that, as recorded back in the 1660s, two Mitcham men stood accused of stealing?

The
status of this property as the residence of the lord of the manor was impressed on the

landscape by an
approach avenue crossing what is now Cranmer Green, so that the line of this is still followed

by King
George VI Avenue.

Among other slides were some from Edwardian postcards, evocative of a lost Elysium, with horses

and
cattle grazing on or near Cranmer Green, and Monty’s own views of other open spaces and

structures in
the vicinity, taken in the 1960s and 1970s. One of the very last visual images presented was

George
Scharf’s 1819 view of .Mitcham Common showing the road running along the west side., in which,
though not one structure shown in it now stands, we were able to .place. the viewpoint: just

opposite the
present entrance to Park Place, looking towards the Three Kings Pond, with the site of the

present
Windmill pub in the middle of the view.

In addition to this splendidly conducted and illustrated .walk., the audience of 40 or more

members and
friends were able physically to see the house and grounds in delightful spring sunshine; and,

as the speaker
urged, also to visit the art exhibition then being held in other rooms of the house (so being

able also to see
the late 17th-century staircase and other interesting features of the interior).

After the less favourable conditions affecting its preservation in the recent past, it may be

that the art
exhibition is an indication of the future recreational use of this historic house (the basement

of which has,
for some years, housed the Merton Heritage Centre, and where some of the audience also took the
opportunity to see the current exhibition on Merton in the 1960s). The full, fascinating story

of The
Canons is told in the new publication by the speaker, The Canons, Mitcham, just published by

the Society.

Ray Ninnis

Photographs from the new book .

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 9

NELSON AT MERTON

Some 40 members and visitors enjoyed Judy Goodman’s talk at Merton Local Studies Centre in

April. As
we have come to expect from Judy, the subject was very thoroughly researched, and many oft-

repeated
myths were shot down.

Using slides of contemporary portraits, and extracts from Nelson’s letters (which Emma omitted

to destroy),
Judy introduced us to the main characters – Nelson, his wife Fanny, Sir William Hamilton and

his wife
Emma. We heard of their backgrounds and personalities, of how Nelson met the Hamiltons in

Naples, and
of the complex relationship between the three of them – the tria juncta in uno as Emma called

them, from
the motto of the Order of the Bath, of which both men were members.

Emma seems to have successfully concealed her pregnancy, though veiled comments on her size

appeared
in the newspapers, and twin girls were born on 29 January 1801. Horatia was smuggled out of the
Hamilton’s Piccadilly home to be brought up by a Mrs Gibson in Marylebone. Her sister, later

christened
Emma Hamilton, was sent to the Foundling Hospital and is lost to history. Nelson, on board his

ship at
Torbay, heard the news on 1 February, but was told that the second baby had died. Sir William

seems to
have turned a blind eye to these events, as did Nelson to his Commander-in-Chief’s signal off

Copenhagen
two months later.

After Copenhagen, Nelson spent a few months with the Hamiltons, including holidays at Burford

Bridge,
near Boxhill, and at Staines. He soon discovered that living at Sir William’s house in

Piccadilly was not
ideal, and decided to buy ‘a little farm’ where the three could live in privacy, and with the

appearance of
utmost propriety. At last Emma found the perfect property, Merton Place.

(Rectangle comment XPMUser
24/05/2017 18:40:38
blank)
Part of a
sketch of
Merton
Place by
Thomas
Baxter
who
stayed
there after
Nelson’s
death.
This was not the first property that Nelson had owned, having previously bought a house called

Roundwood

near Ipswich, which his wife had used briefly, though he had not even spent one night there.
The architect selected to survey the property (believed to have been Samuel Pepys Cockerell,

best known
for the tower of St Anne’s Church, Soho), considered Merton Place to have been “… altogether

the worst
place under all its circumstances that I ever saw pretending to suit a Gentleman’s family.”

However,
Nelson was not to be dissuaded, and arrived at Merton at 8am on 23 October 1801, a few weeks

after the
Hamiltons. Nelson’s 14 year-old niece, Charlotte Nelson, at school in Chelsea, had been sent

for the
previous day, and much of the detail comes from her letters.

Emma’s mother, Mrs ‘Cadogan’, who had run the diplomatic household in Naples, slipped into the

role of
châtelaine cum companion to Emma at Merton. The housekeeper was Dame Francis, while Marianna

did
the cooking. Emma had two maids, Fatima, whom Nelson had brought from Egypt, and Julia. He may

also
have taken over his late uncle’s black butler, the elderly James Price. Nelson’s personal

servant was Tom
Allen, whose wife was the dairy maid. The head gardener was Thomas Cribb, whose wife was Ann.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 10

Sir William Hamilton had to leave his French cook at Piccadilly, but his Italian valet stayed

with him, as did

his secretary, Francis Oliver, who seems to have fulfilled a similar role for Nelson.
Nelson’s nieces and nephews were frequent visitors, as were their families. His father visited

once, but
died in April 1802. Various naval friends, including the Duke of Clarence, were entertained,

mostly
without their wives, but the household was not considered a respectable one. Of their

neighbours, their
social circle included the Newtons and the Halfhides, calico-printers living between Merton

Place and the
Wandle; Abraham Goldsmid, a Jewish financier living at Morden Lodge with his family; James

Perry,
proprietor and editor of the Morning Chronicle, living at Wandlebank House where he also ran

the local
corn mill; Dr Parrott of Mitcham; and the local parson, Thomas Lancaster, who also ran a school

in
Wimbledon, later called Nelson House Academy (the present Eagle House).

Life was hectic at Merton Place, especially for Sir William Hamilton, who complained that there

were
“seldom less than 12 to14 at table, those varying considerably”. After Sir William’s death in

April 1803,
Emma spent much of her time at her London house, as Nelson was away at sea again. However, in

April
1804, Merton Place was host to 80 to supper to celebrate Emma’s 40th birthday, with dancing

till 6 am.
(She had borne Nelson another daughter in January 1804, who died soon after birth). Charlotte

(now 18),
writes of another brief overnight stay at Merton, when she and Emma attended a ball at Lady

Rush’s
house in Wimbledon (Belvedere House), but the doors of Wimbledon Park House, home of 2nd Earl
Spencer, former First Lord of the Admiralty, remained closed to them, as did the doors of Abbey

Gate
House, Merton, home of another naval man, Captain, later Rear-Admiral, Isaac Smith and his

brother,
Charles Smith. The tales told about Emma performing her famous ‘attitudes’ at another Wimbledon
property, Southside House, can be discounted.

Nelson returned to Merton at 6am on Tuesday 20 August 1805, a few hours after Emma, who had
collected Horatia en route. He spent the next 25 days making the most of ‘Paradise Merton’,

enjoying
happy days with his brother and sister and their families, admiring the alterations that Emma

had made to
the house and the grounds (and settling the outstanding accounts), as well as finalising his

plans.
On 13 September 1805 Nelson left Merton for the last time. He wrote in his last journal:

Friday night at half past Ten drove from dear dear Merton where
I left all which I hold dear in this World to go and serve my King
& Country May the Great God whom I adore enable me to fullfill
the expectations of my Country and if it is His good pleasure that
I should return my thanks will never cease being offerred up to
the throne of His Mercy, If it is His good providence to cut short
my days upon Earth I bow with the greatest submission relying
that He will protect those so dear to me that I may leave behind.
His will will be done amen amen amen.

The news of his death reached Emma early on 6 November as she
lay in bed at Merton. She sat up, screamed, fell back and lay without
speaking or weeping for ten hours.

Prostrated by grief and shock, she was also beset by financial
difficulties. In theory she was well provided for, by both her husband
and her lover, but her extravagance continued unabated. Nelson had
left her Merton Place with 70 acres selected from the estate. She
tried to keep on two establishments, Merton Place and her London
house in Clarges Street, and she entertained in both. In 1808 she was
forced to put Merton Place up for sale, but could not find a buyer.
Finally Abraham Goldsmid and a group of friends bought the estate
from her to enable her to start to pay off her debts.

Emma’s mother died in 1810, and Abraham Goldsmid killed himself shortly after. Nelson’s family

had
turned from her; she was rescued from debtors’ prison by other friends. Emma’s excellent health

began
to fail, and she finally died in poverty at Calais, Horatia at her side, on 15 January 1815,

aged 49.

Horatia, who always refused to believe Emma was her mother, married a clergyman and had a long

and
contented life, dying at Pinner in 1881, aged 80. Fanny Nelson was awarded a government pension

for
life of £2000. She died in 1831 aged 73.

Thank you Judy for a fascinating evening!

Peter Hopkins

(Rectangle comment XPMUser
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The opening entry in Nelson’s last diary

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 11

JOHN PILE, a member of the Society, who lives near Havant in Hampshire, is well known as
a local historian. He has a theory about
THE ORIGINS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF FLITWICK,
MORDEN COMMON

Forty-five years ago, whilst at school in Morden, I started to collect material for a history

of the parish.
In addition to compiling extracts from books and articles and making notes from documentary

sources, I
began to annotate a copy of the first edition 6 inches to 1 mile Ordnance Survey map of the

area. More
recently, as a result of reading Judith Goodman’s book Merton and Morden: a pictorial history,

published
by Phillimore in 1995, I decided to take a fresh look at my schoolboy notes. Although I moved

away from
Morden a few years after leaving school I have maintained an active interest in local history,

so I was
curious to discover whether, in the light of subsequent experience, my old notes would yield

any further
secrets.

Looking at the annotated map, I was interested to find that I had written .Flitwick Cottage.

against a
house on Morden Common. Before the 20th-century development had begun, Flitwick Cottage had
originally occupied a square plot of land enclosed from the common (GR TQ 236666). The site of

the
cottage lies on the east side of Garth Road, about 800 yards from its junction with London Road

at
Pylford Bridge.

Unfortunately I have no clear recollection of the house as I saw it in the 1950s, and, upon

recent enquiry,
Peter Hopkins told me that he had no knowledge of Flitwick in Morden. However, I now know that
Flitwick also occurs as a minor place-name in Wiltshire, and according to A H Smith English

Place-
Name Elements 1956 pt.1 p177, the first part of the name is derived from Old English (ge)flit,

meaning
.a dispute., used in place-names of land in disputed ownership or lordship, and usually occurs

– as in
Morden – close to parish boundaries. The Old English wïc, which has a range of related

meanings, of
which .a dwelling place; a farm, particularly a dairy-farm. are the most likely in the present

context.

Morden Common, on which Flitwick Cottage stood, was once part of mediaeval Sparrowfield, a very
extensive area of common pasture intercommoned, or shared, by a number of surrounding

townships. As
was often the case in these circumstances, the township boundaries, where they crossed the

common,
were ill-defined, a situation which led to frequent disputes, particularly in times of

increasing population
pressure. The boundary between Nether Cheam (North Cheam) and Morden where it crossed
Sparrowfield was the subject of one such dispute which came to a head in the reign of Edward

VI, when
a commission was appointed to enquire into the conflicting claims of the two parties (PRO

Ref.No.
MPB25). The name Flitwick, therefore, appears to have preserved a memory of the fact that its

site was
once disputed territory, although its subsequent history shows that Morden’s claim ultimately

prevailed.

One of the many problems encountered when using place-names as evidence in local history is

that it is
usually very difficult, and frequently impossible, to ascertain, even to within a few

centuries, when the
majority of our place-names were formed. The present problem is to narrow down, as closely as

possible,
the period when (ge)flit was a living word and capable of being compounded with wïc to form a
contemporary place-name which would eventually come down to us as .Flitwick.. Old English (or

Anglo-
Saxon), in one of its forms, was the predominate tongue in southern England from c.400 to 1100

AD
(Richard Coates The Place-Names of Hampshire 1989 p7), and all that can be said is that the

name was
probably coined at some time during this long period. But even if we are unable to be more

accurate than
this as to when the name was formed, the implications of its origin are of considerable

interest. Not only
does the name .Flitwick. imply the existence of Sparrowfield at this early period, but also

that the
adjacent townships of North Cheam and Morden (Lower Morden?) were in existence and probably
growing. Speculation need not stop here. For example, if the common pasture of Sparrowfield

were
already in existence in Anglo-Saxon times, could it have had an even earlier origin? Current

thinking
would certainly allow this possibility.

Although I believe I have presented a reasoned case for the origin of Flitwick Cottage in the

Sparrowfield
boundary dispute of the Middle Ages, I am by no means certain that it is the correct

explanation. There
are no known records of Flitwick prior to the 19th century such as would place my suggestions

on a
much surer foundation, and the possibility – suggested by both Judith Goodman and Peter Hopkins

in
correspondence – that the name may be a late introduction, perhaps from Flitwick in

Bedfordshire,
remains a strong possibility. Should this, or some other explanation, prove to be the case, I

shall at least
have had the satisfaction of raising an interesting question. I feel sure that, whatever the

true origin of
Flitwick Cottage may prove to be, it will be equally interesting and instructive.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 12

FURTHER NOTES ON FLITWICK COTTAGE AND ITS NAME

The contribution from John Pile prompted Judith Goodman to wonder, in a letter to him, why he

had not mentioned
the Bedfordshire Flitwick [pron. .Flittik.], for which Ekwall gives quite a different

derivation? Here is part of
John’s reply:

…. The first element [of Flitwick in Bedfordshire], according to E Ekwall Concise Oxford

Dictionary of English
Place-Names 3rd ed. 1947 repr. with corrections 1951 p174, is derived from a dialectical form

of OE fleot which
enabled the modern form flit to arise. It is unlikely that similar circumstances would have

allowed this to occur in
the case of the Morden Flitwick. For example, The Fleet (Thorpe, Surrey), which was .le Flete.

in 1201 (Gover
et al. The Place-Names of Surrey 1934 p135) did not undergo this change. A H Smith English

Place-Name
Elements pt.1 1956 lists 21 examples of place-names incorporatingfleot, only two of which:

Fletton, Huntingdonshire,
and Hunslet, West Riding of Yorkshire, show any similar change..

He went on to say that, in any case,…. [A] reference to Flitton and Flitwick in Bedfordshire

in Margaret Gelling’s
Place-Names in the Landscape 1984 p22 … demolishes Ekwall’s argument entirely..

This is the reference from Margaret Gelling:
.Flitton and Flitwick, Bedfordshire, have hitherto been derived from a hypothetical OE flïet, a

dialect form offlïot
[estuary, inlet of the sea, small stream]. Flitton, which early spellings show not to be a

compound with tün, was
considered to be the dative plural of this word. This etymology is not now tenable because of

the OE spelling
flittan, which occurs in the will of the lady Æthelgifu, a document which came to light in 1942

and was published
in 1968. The will dates from between 980 and 990, and Flittan must be accepted as the authentic

OE spelling of
Flitton. It cannot be a dative plural because the -um of that case is regularly preserved in

other names in the same
document. It appears to be the dative singular of an OE Flitta or Flitte, for which no

etymology can at present be
suggested..

In the light of this John would like to believe that, as it is extremely unlikely that Morden’s

Flitwick could also
derive from a hypothetical Flitta or Flitte, Smith’s derivation of Flitwick (Wiltshire) from OE

(ge)flit, ‘strife., is
unchallenged for Morden’s Flitwick.

It remains conceivable that the Pyl Brook could have been the fleot from which, along the

Ekwall lines, .Flitwick.
was derived. However this idea can probably be rejected, remembering Margaret Gelling’s

conclusion that there
seem to be no instances of a transition from fleot to .flit..

There is also the serious possibility that the name is a 19th-century importation. John notes

that he has had
experience of place-names that seem to go underground for long periods, but he would be happier

to find some
earlier references to the name .Flitwick. in Morden.

Judith looked in the Local Studies Centre at Morden for mention of Flitwick Cottage. The

earliest reference she
found was in the Morden electors. list for 1897, where it appears by name as one of seven

properties each
occupied by a different member of a family called Trendell. The Trendells were connected with

the brick and tile
works which by that date occupied a site opposite the cottage.

When Garth Road was properly numbered in 1937, by which time two families occupied Flitwick

Cottage, it
became No.194. Bill Rudd remembers it as one of a pair of bungalows apparently dating from the

1920s. This
suggests a rebuilding of the earlier premises, and indeed the shape alters over time in the

various maps. The other
one of the pair, also occupied by a Trendell in 1897, was called Clifton Cottage. It later

became No.196. There is
also a Clifton in Bedfordshire – but there are many other Cliftons elsewhere. By the 1970s

Flitwick Cottage and
its neighbour had been demolished.

Knowing of Bedfordshire’s importance in the brick industry, John checked with the Bedfordshire

and Luton
Archives and Records Service. Their information was that, though Flitwick had had brickworks as

early as 1667,
there were none in the 19th century; and that the name Trendell did not appear in the 19th-

century censuses or in
the will indexes. In two years time the 1901 census should reveal the origin of the Morden

Trendells, who seem to
have taken over an existing business, which they continued to operate well into the 20th

century, as Trendell
Brothers.

Meanwhile John has been pursuing a Flitwick in Milford, Surrey, which he happened on quite by

chance. This is
a new development called Flitwick Grange. From enquiries to Waverley Borough Council he has

learnt that the
name was taken from a Victorian house which had stood there. The name is not recorded earlier

than the 1930s,
and seems certainly to have been an import.

Nevertheless the two 16th-century maps (PRO MPB25) which show indisputably that the land later

known as
Morden Common was disputed territory, claimed by both Morden and Lower Cheam, tempt him to

believe that
Morden’s .Flitwick. refers to this, or an earlier, dispute.

John Pile and Judith Goodman

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 13

THE COPYHOLDS ON MORDEN COMMON

Throughout most of its history, Morden has had three main areas of settlement – around the

parish church,
along Central Road and around Morden Green in Lower Morden. Many, but not all, early copyhold
tenements can be located. The cottages on Morden Common may date from far back, (though they

are
not shown on the 16th-century ‘plotts’), but the earliest definite reference to this site so

far discovered is
in a Garth rental1 started in 1728. These entries appear among a list of quit rents due from

copyholders:

Mrs Wood of Epsom house & orchard on Morden Common 5s 0d
John Howard (now Mrs Howard) 4d

The 1838 Tithe Apportionment map shows two clusters of cottages on Morden Common. Although the
name Flitwick Cottage does not appear in the Tithe Apportionment, its site was in the

southernmost
cluster (TAM 2-5). Two of these cottages, with gardens and orchards, were owned by William Wood
and occupied by Thomas Marchant (TAM 2-3).

The first entry in the rental for Mrs Wood is actually dated 12.10.1758:-

Hanah Wood – for House of her Mother Steward in full for rent due Michaelmas 1758 @ 5s pa £5.

As further entries appear in 1759 and 1760, each for 5s, this payment presumably covered the

rents outstanding
for the previous 20 years (though the £5 may have included an entry fine). Thus Mrs Stewarde

was paying
rent in 1738. Further payments were made in 1770 and 1780, each covering 10 years.

The Land Tax returns show various members of the Wood family as owners from 1804 until the

returns

ceased in 1832, with Thomas Clark as tenant until 1829 and John Clark in 1831 and 1832.
The Woods’ tenant in 1790 had been Edward Harper, who was presented at the manorial court for
making an encroachment upon Morden Common.2 It appears that Harper built his own home on land
adjoining the Woods’ copyhold tenement, as the Land Tax returns show him as an owner, and

Richard
Poddington as his occupier, in 1804 and 1805. However, this encroachment on the Common does not
seem to have been regularised until 1805. In a copy of an entry in the court roll of the manor

of Morden
dated 30.7.1805, Rev. George Kemble Whatley of Wokingham, Berks, clerk and Ann Whatley of Holty
House near East Grinstead, Sussex, widow, were granted licence to inclose waste, and were

admitted to
‘land formerly 2 pieces (3roods) at Mordon Common’.3 A few months later, on 7.9.1805, the

Whatleys
surrendered this copyhold property to Jonathan Acres of Mordon, carpenter.4 Jonathan Acres

appears
as an owner in the Land Tax returns from 1806-1831, with Richard Bushell as occupier in 1806,

John
Carpenter in 1807 and George Carpenter from 1808-31. In 1838, the Tithe Apportionment shows

Jonathan
Acres as owner and William Hitchman and Hills as occupiers of two cottages with gardens (TAM 4

-5).

In 1861, Henry William Acres of Delaware, Upper Canada, North America, farmer, and Mary Acres

of
Church St., Camberwell, widow, conveyed to Richard Garth ‘a Messuage on Morden Common, occupied
by Mrs Hitchaman & Mrs Hill’.5 Miss Jowett tells us more about the Acres family in her article

on
Morden Common, published by MHS as Local History Notes 4.

The other cluster of copyhold cottages was nearer the northern end of the Common. According to

the
Morden manorial court roll for 1732, Nicholas Dollatt had left to his daughter, Rosa, wife of

John Howard,
‘a messuage/tenement and orchard on Mordon Common’.6 The Garth rental records Rose Howard’s
admittance to the copyhold on 25.5.1732, when she paid an entry fine of £6, and 4 years. quit

rent @ 4d
due 1732, totalling 1s 4d.1 Further payments are recorded in 1746, 1754, 1758 and 1761.

Richard Dallett the younger of Merton, son of Rosa’s cousin, inherited the ‘messuage and

orchard on
Mordon Common’.6 He paid £3 6s 0d as an entry fine on 26.11.1776.1 The Morden Land Tax returns
show that Richard Dallett’s copyhold consisted of two properties. He sold one to his tenant,

Richard Dearlove,
who was admitted to ‘a messuage on Morden Common’ in 1790.7 Dearlove extended his property,

sometimes
with permission and sometimes without.2 In 1837 he surrendered his copyhold to James Chandler,7

who
owned three cottages with gardens (TAM 6-8) in 1838. In 1861, James Chandler surrendered ‘a

messuage
on Morden Common’ to the lord of the manor, so that it could become a freehold.7

Richard Dallett’s other copyhold property had been sold to John Furmeridge by 1788, and he was

succeeded
by Alexander Ross in the Land Tax returns from 1813. This property was presumably the remaining

two
cottages and gardens (TAM 9-10), owned by Abraham Clarke in 1838.

Peter Hopkins
1 Surrey History Centre K 85/8/1 2 Surrey History Centre K 85/1/3
3 Surrey History Centre K 85/2/127 4 Surrey History Centre K 85/2/128
5 Surrey History Centre K 85/2/177 6 Surrey History Centre K 85/1/2

7 Surrey History Centre K 85/1/5

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 14

Extract from the Ordnance
Survey 25″ map of 1955
Extract from the Ordnance
Survey 25″ map of 1865
Extract from a tracing of the Morden
Tithe Apportionment Map of 1838
Flitwick Cottage & Clifton Cottage, 194 & 196 Garth Road
Extract from the Ordnance
Survey 25″ map of 1955
Extract from the Ordnance
Survey 25″ map of 1865
Extract from a tracing of the Morden
Tithe Apportionment Map of 1838
Flitwick Cottage & Clifton Cottage, 194 & 196 Garth Road
MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 15

IN BRIEF

four
Surrey towns – Chertsey, Dorking, Farnham and Godalming. In a separate article Rob Poulton

reviews
the implications for our knowledge of the county’s historic towns, provided by these reports.

And Phil
Jones attempts a type series of Surrey’s medieval pottery. The Society’s copy is available for

loan, at
indoor meetings, or look in your reference library.

is
an image database of the Art Gallery’s entire collection, plus prints, drawings and maps from

the
Library – about 30,000 items in all. Available for use from 9.30 to 5 Monday to Friday in the

Print
Room, Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, EC2P 2EJ (0171 332 1839), COLLAGE is also on the Web at:
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk.

©
In the February newsletter of the Wimbledon Society Cyril Maidment recommendedEthel and Ernest,
Raymond Briggs. moving account in pictures of his parents. life at 65 Ashen Grove, Wimbledon

Park.
Briggs is one of many well-known figures in the arts to have been educated at Raynes Park

County
School for Boys. Robert Robinson and Paul (.Kaleidoscope.) Vaughan, who both described it in
entertaining autobiographies, are among them, as is food broadcaster/journalist Derek Cooper.

Another
distinguished alumnus was Professor Tony Tanner, Jane Austen specialist, who died earlier this

year.

©
More volunteers are needed at Wandle Industrial Museum, with tasks such as helping run the shop
and assisting on the Museum stall at fairs. Please telephone Sheila Harris at the Museum on

0181 648
0127.

at Wimbledon
Lawn Tennis Museum, in Church Road, Wimbledon. Admission £4/£3. Tel: 0181 946 6131.

©
The current exhibition at Merton Heritage Centre at the Canons is called Rich Man, Poor Man,
Beggarman, Thief, and depicts life in medieval Merton. It will be open until 24 July. Ring 0181

640
9387 for further details.

©
The next History Skills Workshops offered by Merton Library and Heritage Services on Saturday
afternoons at 2.30-3.30pm are as follows:

12 June, Heritage Centre One foot in the Past: the study of archaeology
10 July, Local Studies Centre Buildings and Boundaries: learning from maps
21 August, Heritage Centre Distinguishing Features: the historic landscape
Tel: 0181 545 3239 for details Admission free

©
Norman Plastow leads a walk along Wimbledon Village High Street on Saturday 19 June for the
Wimbledon Society. Meet at 2.15 for 2.30 in the Wimbledon Society’s Museum.

on
Saturday 26 June at 2.15pm. There will be three short talks, on Morris’s art, writing and

political
beliefs, and time for discussion. Tickets £3 (send sae) from Judy Marsden, William Morris

Society,
Kelmscott House, 26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London W6 9TA. Tel: 0181 741 3735

©
Recently I bought for £1 A Handbook of First Aid & Bandaging 1948
(first ed.1941). The authors are Belilios, Mulvany and Armstrong, and there
is a copy in the Local Studies Centre. Dr Arthur D Belilios (d.1963) practised
in Wimbledon for more than 30 years, and was Hon. Physician at Wimbledon
Hospital. His father, Dr David A Belilios, had been medical officer of health
for Merton & Morden, and for Wimbledon. Many of the illustrations were
originally used at Wimbledon Technical College. (Inside the covers are
advertisements for Iodex and Benzedrine, produced by Menley & James of
Coldharbour Lane SE5, who would take on the young Paul Vaughan (see
above) in 1950 in his first job.)

Fractured Forearm: Treatment before application of sling

Letters and contributions for the bulletin should be sent to the Hon. Editor.
The views expressed in this Bulletin are those of the contributors concerned and not

necessarily those of the Society or its Officers.

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY – BULLETIN 130 – JUNE 1999 – PAGE 16