MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY WJR photos
Abbotsbury Road (odd numbers)
A sequence from the 1970s starts with a photograph taken from the roof of Woolworths and another from the Co-op roof:
Bill Rudd Collection: Abbey Roads
Bill Rudd Collection: Excavations
Bill worked on several excavation sites within the Borough of Merton and beyond, and recorded much of these activities with his camera. He also made careful examination of trenches dug for other purposes and identified traces of the Roman road known as Stane Street in a Post Office Telephones service chamber in the public pavement of London Road near the old Lodge Cottage which stood in the grounds of the present college.
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden shops
One of Bill’s major projects was to photograph the changes in Morden’s shopping centre, and some slideshows of these photographs have been put together to enable comparison over nearly four decades. These have been divided up into the following sections:
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden shops: Abbotsbury Road (even numbers)
A sequence of three photographs from October 1978 show the full range of shops from no.30 to no.2 with Galmar Sports on the corner with its entrance as no.7 London Road. Unfortunately, over-exposure makes the names of nos.2-6 unreadable.
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden shops: Aberconway Road
There are only three photographs showing 46-38 Aberconway Road, from October 1978, August 1983 and July 1998, plus one photograph of Iceland from September 1995.
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden shops: Crown Lane
A sequence from the 1970s covers Nos.34-18:
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden shops: London Road 102-106, 81-117 & Morden Court Parade
There is only one sequence for Nos 102-116, the parade backing onto the Crown House (now Civic Centre) complex, with three photographs from 1995:
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden shops: London Road 11-63 (odd numbers)
A sequence from 1971 includes a shot taken from the roof of the Co-op:
Bill Rudd Collection: Morden shops: London Road 2-86 (even numbers)
Bill Rudd Collection: over the parish boundary
Although Bill’s main local interest was in his home parish of Morden, he was not averse from straying across parish boundaries when his attention was caught by an interesting building or group of buildings, or a railway line or station.
Bill Rudd Collection: St Helier Estate
The Bill Rudd Collection
The late William J Rudd spent 50 years exploring the history of Morden, and captured on film the changing face of the area over those decades. The Society is delighted to be able to hold this important collection, though it is still facing up to the challenge of sorting, scanning and cataloguing it (offers of help welcome!).