MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY Resources
Admiral Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) bought Merton Place in October 1801. His lover Emma Hamilton had negotiated the purchase while he was at sea. He lived there with her and her husband Sir William until Sir William’s death. When Nelson returned to sea in May 1803 Emma stayed on at Merton. In August 1805 Nelson came home for 25 days before departing for Trafalgar and leaving his “dear, dear Merton” for ever. It was at Merton that Emma received the news of the battle and his death.
Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Mitcham
A large post-Roman or ‘Anglo-Saxon’ cemetery was excavated by Harold Bidder and members of his family between 1888 and 1922. A definitive article by John Morris on the cemetery and the grave goods recovered has appeared in Surrey Archaeological Collections LVI (1959) pp.51-131 – accessible at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/surreyac/contents.cfm?vol=56.
Bill Rudd Archive
Charters and cartularies
There are several original charters relating to properties granted to or by Westminster Abbey, some still bearing the seals of the parties involved. Many charters and other agreements were copied into the Abbey’s cartularies. The cartulary known as the Westminster Domesday (WD) has copies of several documents relating to Morden. As some of the original documents have been damaged by damp, and others have been lost, the cartularies are of great value to the researcher.
Cricket on Mitcham Green
Cricket has been played on the Lower Green, Mitcham, for more than 300 years. The game became popular in Southeastern England in Restoration times and ‘Crickette on Ye Olde Meecham Green’ is reputed to have been shown in a print dated 1685.
Documents relating to the Church and Clergy of Morden
The cartulary known as the Westminster Domesday (WD) contains copies of a collection of official documents relating to the abbey’s appropriation of the rectorial rights to tithes of the parish of Morden in 1301. Vicars were appointed to serve the spiritual needs of the parishioners, and agreements for the support of the vicars were recorded in 1331 and 1442/1443. 16th-century copies of these agreements survive at Surrey History Centre, as part of a fascinating collection of documents relating to a late 16th-century dispute over tithes between the vicar and the lord of the manor. Earlier documents relating to clergy also exist, and the Register Books also include some information on the appointment of clergy.
Excavations
During the 1960s and 1970s the Society was involved in archaeological investigations on the following local sites threatened by development.
Family History
Several members of the Society are involved in researching their family history.
Fry’s Metals, formerly Eyre Smelting Co Ltd, the Tandem Works
Archive of Fry’s metals, formerly ‘The Eyre Smelting Co. Ltd, Tandem Works, Merton Abbey, London.
John Innes
John Innes (1829-1904) used some of the money he made from developing office property in the City of London to buy nearly 200 hectares in Merton (mainly), Morden and Wimbledon. From c.1870 on part of this land he laid out roads, planted trees and hedges and built houses of various sizes. He named this ‘garden suburb’ and its station Merton Park and he lived as its squire in Manor House, Watery Lane. He left most of his money for horticultural research, and it was the John Innes Horticultural Institution that devised the formulae for the familiar garden composts which bear his name. The John Innes Centre, as it now is, internationally famous for plant research, is now at Norwich.
Liberty’s
An old textile-printing works on the banks of the River Wandle, just upstream from the Morris & Co site, was taken over in 1832 by Edmund Littler, a member of a family of established printers.
Manorial Documents
Translations of most of these Morden manorial documents, including court rolls and more than 100 account rolls are being added to this website and can be viewed or downloaded.
Medieval freehold properties in Morden
Surrey History Centre holds documents that trace the descent of some freehold properties in Morden from the mid-15th century until 1602. The earlier history of these properties can be discovered from entries in the manorial court rolls.
Merton priory
What does Merton priory mean to us in the 21st century? The name may conjure up different thoughts to different people.
Mitcham Fair
The Fair Green, Mitcham, is the commonly used alternative name for the Upper Green and derives its name from the fair which was held there on 12th-14th August each year until 1924. There is a common belief, unsubstantiated by documentary evidence, that Mitcham Fair was established under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. Although it could well have originated as a Tudor fair, the first documentary evidence of its existence is found in 1732 when an inquest was recorded on an itinerant fiddler who died in a local house.
Mitcham Herbal Industries
THE MITCHAM HERBAL INDUSTRIES
Morden Fee in Ewell
Ewell was a royal manor until granted to Merton Priory in 1121, but there were several small estates, some of them independent manors and some held from the other manors. Westminster Abbey claimed 2 hides of land in Ewell by right of a charter of archbishop Dunstan and king Edgar in 959AD, which exists only in a 12th-century fabrication This holding was not specified among the Abbey’s estates in 1086, but its estate in Morden, described in 969AD as 10 hides, was assessed at 12 hides in Domesday Book, suggesting that the Ewell lands were already part of the Morden estate. By the late 13th century, when the extant manorial court rolls and manorial account rolls begin, the tenants of these Ewell properties formed a separate tithing within Morden manor, with its own head tithingman [capitalis decennarius] and ale-taster [cervisie tastator] and, according to a survey of Ewell undertaken in 1408 by Merton Priory, Westminster Abbey’s holding there was called Morden fee.
Morden Manorial Account Rolls
A major source of information for the study of the manorial economy is the sequence of manorial account rolls that begins in 1280. Though there are many gaps – no accounts survive for the period 1359-1387 or from 1412-1440, and only a dozen thereafter – over 100 can be consulted at the Muniment Room (WAM), a dozen at the Society of Antiquaries London (SAL), and one at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Morden Manorial Court Rolls
A number of manorial court rolls survive, though many are missing. Those covering the period 1296-1300 and for 1327-28 are in the Muniment Room at Westminster Abbey, while the British Library has those for 1378-1422, 1435-58, 1461-1503, 1507-9, 1512-29, 1534-43, and 1655. Extracts and copies of entries from 16th-century court rolls can be found at the British Library, at Lambeth Archives and at Surrey History Centre, which also holds the court rolls from 1594 to 1901 and a 1535 Steward’s memorandum of the rents and other payments made at the manorial courts.
Morden Manorial Leases
From 1359 the abbey’s demesne at Morden was leased to tenant ‘farmers’. Unfortunately the early manorial leases have not survived, but the abbey’s Registers or Lease-Books, dating from 1485, contain copies of the last three leases of the demesne at Morden. The final lease of 1511 included the rectorial tithes of the parish, and the right to hold manorial courts, in addition to the lease of the demesne lands of the manor. It was for 60 years, and was subsequently assigned to other lessees. Surrey History Centre has two assignments of this lease, as well as sub-leases of the tithe corn.