The Physic Gardens of Mitcham

THE PHYSIC GARDENS OF MITCHAM

Mitcham’s medicinal plant heritage

Irene Burroughs

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2024

2

PREFACE

The origin of this booklet was a display I produced, which was shown
at Merton Heritage Centre in April/May 2024. The booklet retains the
layouts for each section, but with some additional illustrations.

I am indebted to Peter Hopkins for transforming my display cards into
book form. I would also like to thank Sarah Gould of Merton Local
Studies Centre for permission to use Merton Memories photographs.

Irene Burroughs

Except where noted, all drawing and paintings are copyright Irene
Burroughs, and all photographs are from Merton Memories Photographic
Archive, with permission.

3

THE
BEGINNING

PHYSIC GARDENS

IN HISTORY

PHYSIC GARDENS IN HISTORY

Plants have been gathered and cultivated for their medicinal properties
since ancient times. It is known that they were used by the physicians
of Greece two thousand years ago. The Romans carried on the practice
and during the medieval period medicinal plants were being grown in
gardens, particularly those of monastic institutions, which often had
infirmaries and provided an early form of hospital care. These useful
plants became known as herbs. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the
word ‘herb’ as ‘any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavouring,
food, medicine, or perfume’.

After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, herbs continued
to be grown in gardens. Women, in particular, collected and used recipes
and remedies containing herbs. At a time when doctors were expensive and
often scarce, some form of medication for the family was essential. Often
these receipt books, as they were called, were much prized and passed
down from mother to daughter. Herbals were published explaining the
properties of the plants, as they were then understood. Probably the most
famous historic herbals known today are Gerard’s Herbal (published
1597) and Culpeper’s Herbal (published 1653).

By the eighteenth century, an increase in demand for medicinal plants by
those in the medical profession led to them being grown on a commercial
basis. There was more land used for this purpose in Surrey than in all the
rest of England. One of the most renowned areas for growing herbs was
along the River Wandle and particularly in Mitcham.

Peppermint and Lavender

WHY
MITCHAM?

WHAT MADE

IT SPECIAL?

Mitcham’s clock tower (from a
photo circa 1900)

WHAT MADE MITCHAM SPECIAL?

Since ancient times, the rich areas of loam in the Wandle valley had been
used for cultivation.

The land in Mitcham varied in different parts from stiff and moist to
dry, and other areas were gravelly; this suited various different species
of plants. Peppermint in particular was the dominant plant grown in the
area until the early years of the nineteenth century; then lavender took
over in popularity and Mitcham became famous for it. Lavender has the
ability to grow well in poor soils and was able to flourish in large areas
of the village. The soil in Mitcham had a quality that gave its lavender an
individual perfume.

Much of the land in Mitcham farmed by the firm of Potter and Moore
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had been owned by Merton
Priory in the Middle Ages. It is known that Merton Priory cultivated
lavender, or ‘spiking’ as it was referred to in the priory records. As much
as 44 quarters (550kg) of spiking seed was sold from the priory grange
at Eton in Buckinghamshire in 1301, as part of a large grain sale to raise
money towards a loan to King Edward I, and it would be nice to think that
the spiking seed had been sent from their Mitcham estate.

HERB
GROWERS

IN

MITCHAM

Pound Farm

HERB GROWERS IN MITCHAM

During the nineteenth century there were several large physic gardens in
Mitcham.

James Weston, a farmer, put aside 40 acres of his land to grow medicinal
plants from the 1840s up until the late 1850s. He lived in an ancient
building known as Pound Farm, which was probably of medieval origin.
The farmhouse stood on the site of the flats opposite Sir Arthur Bliss
Court in London Road.

James Arthur farmed at New Barns Farm, which was opposite Watneys
Road on Commonside East. Part of his land was in Croydon parish, but all
of that in Mitcham was given over to medicinal plants. Arthur had farmed
physic gardens as far back as the 1830s. By the 1850s he had 130 acres
under cultivation in Mitcham, but he also had land in Merton, Morden,
Waddon and Thornton Heath used for the same purpose, bringing the
total area devoted to physic gardens to 302 acres. He was ranked second
only to the company of Potter and Moore, which by this time had a world-
wide reputation. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, some of the
land farmed by Arthur was taken over by a French firm called John Jakson.

Site of James Arthur’s Farm

POTTER

AND

MOORE

Photograph: Potter and Moore’s premises (detail)

POTTER AND MOORE

The Potter Family

The Potter family is known to have lived in Mitcham as far back as the
seventeenth century.

John Potter was described as a ‘physic gardener’ in his will, dated 1742. His
son, Ephraim, and William Moore, are credited with founding a distillery
for the production of lavender water in 1749. Mitcham lavender water
immediately became popular with
the public. Ephraim’s house (right)
was opposite Figges Marsh, where
Eveline Road is today.

When Ephraim Potter’s son, James,
took over the business in 1773, the
acreage of land in Mitcham used
for medicinal herbs was still quite
small.

By 1796 about 250 acres of
Mitcham were occupied by physic
gardens. Peppermint was by far
the biggest crop, covering 100
acres.

James was particularly enterprising. His distillery, which was used to
extract the essential oils from the plants, used a lot of water. James sunk
a borehole over 200 feet deep to facilitate this. At the time of his death in
1799, he was considered to be the first herb grower in England to have
amassed a considerable fortune.

The Potter and Moore families intermarried and the business was taken
over by James’s nephew, James Moore, who was twenty-nine years old at
the time of his uncle’s death.

James Moore

James Moore was the son of Benjamin Moore, a calico print cutter and
Ann Potter. No portraits are known to exist to show what he looked like,
but he became a dominant character in Mitcham during the fifty years or
so that he farmed his physic gardens.

James never married, but he is known to have fathered at least six children
with various women.

After the start of the second Napoleonic War in 1803 Moore became
commanding officer, or ‘Major Commandant’ as he was called, of the
Loyal Mitcham Volunteer Infantry Corps, a sort of Home Guard of its day.
From then on he was often referred to as ‘Major Moore’ by local people.

In later years James Moore was remembered by one resident as an
imposing figure on a grey horse. He seems to have had a stern reputation
and it was said that his ‘word was law’. Moore took a keen interest in the
running of the village and his signature survives in the vestry minutes of
the time. His influence was such that another resident referred to him as
‘the King of Mitcham’.

Being a man of some wealth James Moore was able to purchase a chapel
in old Mitcham parish church. He also contributed to the building of the
present church, on the same site, which dates from 1822. The foundation
stone that he laid can still be seen in the west wall of ‘The Major’s Chancel’,
as it became known.

Moore built a larger house next to that of Ephraim Potter. He continued
to farm his physic gardens until his death in the early 1850s.

James Moore’s House opposite Figges Marsh

James Bridger

James Bridger was the natural son of James Moore. He took over the
running of Potter and Moore after his father’s death. Bridger was already
a farmer and physic gardener in his own right. Before moving with his
family into James Moore’s house at Figges Marsh in 1858, he had lived
to the north of the Buck’s Head pub, which, rebuilt since Bridger’s day, is
now known as the White Lion of Mortimer. He is recorded as having 305
acres under cultivation as physic gardens when he was running Potter
and Moore.

James Bridger ran the business until his death in 1885. He had six sons, but
the eldest, who might have carried on the business, died in 1870 without
a male heir. The estate was broken up and passed out of the Potter, Moore
and Bridger family.

Premises and Working Practices

The house that James Moore had built, along with its adjoining farmyard,
working buildings and distilleries, was a familiar sight until the late 1880s.
Epsom racegoers, stopping off at the Swan inn next door, would often find
the premises a source of fascination.

In 1805, Moore was recorded as having a yard with stables, wagon and
cart lodges, barns, a counting house and a dry warehouse. Nearby, there
was a large still room with five copper stills; next to this there was a horse
mill and a short distance away was a drying house. At the back of the
stables and barns was a rick yard with a timber yard in one corner and a
carpenter, wheeler (wheelwright) and blacksmith’s shop. It was noted that
Moore had twelve carts of different sizes, five wagons and a timber wagon
in his yard. There were also swing ploughs (without wheels), turnwrest
ploughs (adjustable according to the direction of the furrow) and harrows
for breaking up clods of earth and covering seed with soil.

James Moore may have had wagons like the one opposite. Each county
had its own design of wagon. The wheels and underframes were usually
painted red everywhere, but the main bodies of the wagons were
traditionally coloured according to location. Surrey wagons were usually
brown, buff or blue (as on facing page). As Moore had teams of four heavy
horses it is likely that his wagons were larger than the one shown.

In the stables Moore kept 16 very powerful horses; these made up the
four wagon teams. Two and often three of these teams went to London

every day taking herbs and straw and returned with dung which would be
spread on the fields. Twenty large cartloads per acre were required.

Out of 500 acres of land 350 acres were cultivated and 100 acres of this
were set aside for wheat; the rest were physic gardens.

The herbs grown by James Moore in 1805 were; peppermint, spearmint,
pennyroyal, marshmallow, wild (or squirting) cucumber, savin juniper,
angelica, horehound, chamomile, wormwood, liquorice, hyssop,
elecampane, opium poppy, lavender, and damask and red roses.

Great care and labour was taken to provide the different conditions
needed for each species of plant; this included planting them on areas of
land where the soil was appropriate for the species. Preparation included
picking out stones and sometimes burning off weeds. There was frequent
ploughing, dunging, harrowing and rolling to bring the soil to the finest
condition. Weeding continued scrupulously.

Depending on the herb, different parts of the plant were sold: roots, seeds,
flowers or stalks. Several types of plants were distilled for their oil, and
some were dried before they were taken to the still.

By 1851 additional plants, such as aconite, belladonna and rosemary were
mentioned as being grown, not only by Potter and Moore, but by other
growers in the area, such as James Arthur.

A Surrey Wagon at The Rural Life Living Museum near Farnham.

Photograph: Irene Burroughs

Moore’s House and Premises on the site of Eveline Road.

The end of Figges Marsh is shown centre right.

The photograph possibly dates from around 1880.

The same view today

Photograph: Irene Burroughs

POTTER
AND
MOORE’S
PLANTS

POTTER AND MOORE’S PLANTS

JAMES MOORE 1805

Peppermint

Spearmint

Pennyroyal

Marshmallow

Squirting Cucumber

Savin Juniper

Angelica

Horehound

Chamomile

Wormwood

Liquorice

Hyssop

Elecampane

Opium Poppy

Lavender

Roses

JAMES MOORE / JAMES BRIDGER 1851

Chamomile

Squirting Cucumber

Roses

Aconite

(also known as Monkshood

or Wolf’s Bane)

Henbane

Peppermint

Spearmint

Pennyroyal

Liquorice

Lavender

POTTER AND MOORE’S PLANTS

JAMES BRIDGER 1885

Lavender

Peppermint

Chamomile

Roses

Liquorice (right)

Lovage

Poppy

POTTER AND MOORE’S PLANTS

SOME
HERBS

IN DETAIL

Rose: photograph Irene Burroughs

Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

In 1805, at 150 acres, peppermint was James Moore’s biggest medicinal
plant crop; he renewed 60 acres of the herb every year.

The peppermint plants required a lot of attention; besides the soil being
fertilized with huge amounts of dung, they needed constant weeding.

On average there were five tons of peppermint plants per acre and one ton
(1016 kg) yielded roughly two and a half to three and a half pounds (one
to one and a half kg) of oil. One of James Moore’s stills would hold a ton
of peppermint (Twenty bundles of the plant if fresh and thirty bundles if
dry).

Peppermint oil was used for digestive problems and also to flavour
confectionery.

Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis)

Chamomile (also known as camomile) was grown by many of the local
growers in Mitcham. In 1805, James Moore had four acres of double
chamomile and a bit less of the single variety under cultivation. By the
middle of the nineteenth century there were around 50 acres of the plant
being grown in the area.

On Potter and Moore’s land the plants were grown in light, dry soil and
were usually planted in March. The flowers were ready for picking in July
and the harvesting season went on at least until September, providing
much-needed extra income for the local population. A quantity of the
flowers was taken to market in London, for use by florists and chemists;
the rest were distilled for oil.

Chamomile was used for stomach and mouth problems because of its
calmative properties. It was also used as a hair rinse that lightened blonde
hair.

Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum)

James Moore planted about two acres of this plant in 1805. To prepare the
ground it was ploughed two or three times, but not very deeply. The seed
was sown in March and at the beginning of April when the weather was
calm and dry.

After flowering, the ripest pods were picked off and put into bags of about
3,000. The process was repeated until all the pods had been picked. The
pods were sold on to chemists and druggists and the juice, which contains
morphine, was extracted.

Morphine was the main ingredient in laudanum, which could be bought
over the counter for the relief of pain and to induce sleep. The regulations
of today were not in place in the nineteenth century and some people
became addicted to laudanum through over-use.

Squirting Cucumber (Momordica elaterium)

Sometimes known as wild cucumber, this plant was grown in Mitcham
throughout the nineteenth century. In 1851 it was thought that Ampthill
in Bedfordshire and Mitcham were the only places in England where it
was grown.

When ripe, the fruits of the plant disengage from the stem and burst,
ejecting seeds and juice a great distance. The juice is an irritant and can
cause considerable damage to the eyes or mouth. The slightest touch can
cause the fruits to explode; therefore it tended to be grown on a remote
area of land.

Elatarium was extracted from the juice and used as a purgative; however,
it is very violent and can prove fatal.

Illustration: Rosemary Turner

Damask Rose (Rosa gallica) and

Provence or Cabbage Rose (Rosa centifolia)

In 1805 James Moore had seven acres of damask roses and three acres
of Provence roses. In 1851 both of these species of roses were also being
cultivated by other growers in Mitcham, including James Arthur of New
Barns Farm, opposite Commonside East.

Damask roses (red) were gathered during June and early July before the
flowers were fully open. Some fresh buds were sent to market to be used
in jam and others were dried and could be used in potpourri.

Provence roses (pink) were gathered during the last week in July and
throughout August; they were distilled for rose water, which could be
used as a perfume and also for its anti-inflammatory properties.

Lavender (Lavendula vera)

Lavender became the most celebrated herb grown in Mitcham and is the
plant most remembered today. In 1805 only five or six acres of it was
being grown by James Moore. Plenty of dung was applied to the soil and
there was some weeding, but it appears to have needed less attention than
a peppermint crop.

During the nineteenth century it became acknowledged that the finest
lavender was grown in Mitcham; it was also the most expensive. By the
middle of the century about fifty acres of lavender was grown locally.

Much of the lavender in Mitcham was distilled for its oil to be used in
perfumes and to relieve headaches and nervous disorders. Bunches of
lavender were also bought from street sellers. Lavender in bags could be
used as a moth deterrent in drawers and cupboards.

Wagon and horses in Streatham Road opposite Potter and Moore’s premises

WORKERS

WORKERS IN THE FIELD

Much of the local population, men, women and children, would have
found employment in Mitcham’s fields at different times of the year during
the nineteenth century.

Men did all the heavier work such as ploughing and were responsible
for the cultivation of the plants. Only experienced men worked with
squirting cucumber; this plant was so dangerous that the men had to keep
a covering over their noses and mouths to protect themselves from the
harmful juice.

In early June, women and children were employed to gather rosebuds
twice a day before they could open; the same happened for the large
chamomile crop during late July and early August. As in other agricultural
communities, children would absent themselves from school during this
period, to help with the harvest and bring in extra money for their families.
The local schools dealt with the situation by closing down for two months,
a precursor of today’s summer holidays. It was not unusual to see up to
200 women and children gathering chamomile in a 10-acre field.

By 1885 Potter and Moore was paying 1d (0.5p) for every pound of
chamomile flowers gathered (454g). Even allowing for the difference in
purchasing power to today, this was considered a low wage. Women gave
up doing the work for this money and it was now done by boys, who were
less skilful.

Cutting lavender in Mitcham on 20th July 1904. The men are using small
hand sickles, called mint hooks, to cut the crop.

WORKERS IN THE DISTILLERY

Drying lavender prior to distilling

Illustration: Merton Memories Photographic Archive.

The plants to be distilled for their oil, such as lavender, mint and roses,
were wrapped in mats after they had been cut and taken to the stills,
which were operated by men. It was extremely hot work in the distillery
and it was not uncommon for the men to strip to the waist.

The plants were packed tightly into the stills. Boiling water, heated by an
adjacent furnace, was piped into the stills. These were left for a few hours,
allowing the oil of the plant to rise to the top of the water as it cooled. The
oil was then drawn off. The spent plants were removed from the still, to
be recycled as fertilizer on the fields.

The stills operated by Potter and Moore were later bought by the firm
J. & G. Miller. This company cultivated physic gardens during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries at Beddington Corner near Goat
Road. The stills were made of copper and the largest held 1,500 gallons
(6,819 litres) of water.

Processing lavender

SENSES

VISITORS’
IMPRESSIONS

Photo edited by Irene Burroughs

In the nineteenth century Mitcham was still a country village dominated
by agriculture. The Figges Marsh area, where Potter and Moore’s premises
stood, was surrounded by fields, and buildings would have petered out
along Streatham Road. Then called Streatham Lane, it was well known as
a long, narrow, unmade road, made dark and gloomy by large elm trees
edging its route.

With so much activity taking place in Potter and Moore’s premises it
would not have been uncommon to hear the sound of blacksmiths
hammering metal and carpenters sawing wood, as well as the voices of
the men working around the farmyard and in the still.

An attractive sight and possibly a fragrant experience, would have been
a Potter and Moore wagon, drawn by four heavy horses, taking herbs
to London; a less attractive one and certainly less fragrant, would have
been the same vehicle on its return journey, laden with dung. The copious
amounts of dung applied to and ploughed into the soil in the fields would
have probably created quite a smelly atmosphere.

During the summer months when the plants flowered and were harvested,
the physic gardens must have created a completely different experience for
the visitor. The fields would take on the colour of the herbs being grown
in them; for instance, the red and dark pink of the roses, the white of the
chamomile, the mauvish pink of the opium poppies and, of course, the
rich blue of the lavender.

After the advent of the railways, Londoners would travel out to see the
spectacle or take a diversion from Mitcham Fair to wander into the
fields to enjoy the view and take in the heady fragrances. The perfumes
were even more intensified when the plants were being distilled for oil;
although some of the smells generated during the distilling process could
be unpleasant, the aromas of rose, peppermint and lavender must have
been common in Mitcham.

Most of the plants that were grown are a huge attraction for pollinators.
Bees, different varieties of butterflies and other insects must have been
much more abundant than they are in Mitcham today.

The quotation at the top of this photo-montage by Irene Burroughs is from
Good Word Magazine 1899 (accessible from the MHS website)

Lavender seller

DECLINE

Mortimer Road 1929, on the site of Potter and Moore’s fields

DECLINE

Herb growing in Mitcham had probably peaked by the 1880s. Mitcham
lavender and mint oils became famous because of their quality and were
considered the best in the world. Quality meant expense and eventually
cheaper lavender was being produced in France on a large scale.

Advances in medicine and pharmaceutical products meant that the use of
medicinal plants was decreasing.

There were still some physic garden growers in Mitcham in the late
nineteenth century and into the early part of the twentieth, but by then
the heyday was over.

There were some bad harvests in the 1890s which did not help and
peppermint suffered from a pest called snuff. There were complaints of
Londoners coming down, not only to see the lavender, but to steal it,
trample on it and leave their rubbish behind.

With the march of suburbia, the fields were pushed back to the edge
of Mitcham and then to Carshalton and Wallington, where lavender
cultivation continued for a little longer.

An abandoned plough

MITCHAM
PEOPLE

PHYSIC GARDEN
CHARACTERS

PHYSIC GARDEN CHARACTERS

We do not have a visual record of most of the people involved in the
physic garden industry in Mitcham.

James ‘Major’ Moore (1769-1851), left a lasting impression on the people
of the village. He was an imposing personality, but we can only imagine
what he might have looked like. For many years his overseer was a man
called Ben Marchant, who was later the landlord of the Horse and Groom
in Manor Road. Marchant who was six foot four inches tall, was said to
be as strong as an ox and could often be seen striding about the fields,
carrying a hoe and making sure the men kept to their work.

Moore’s gamekeeper, William Temple, lived in a little thatched cottage at
the edge of the Little Wood off Tamworth Lane.

Nelly
Sparrowhawk,
from an old
Mitcham
family, sold
lavender.

Photographic likenesses may have existed of these men, but are now
lost and the earliest photographs we have today of the physic gardens in
Mitcham are from the late nineteenth century.

A few photographs remain, from the early twentieth century, of local
individuals associated with the last days of lavender growing.

Henry Fowler (also on p.37), whose nursery was in Bond Road, was one of
the last lavender growers. He continued to sell lavender after he had ceased
growing it himself.

William Mitchell, the last Mitcham lavender grower, photographed in the
1920s when he was 94. He died at the age of 97.

PHYSIC

GARDENS

REMEMBERED

PHYSIC GARDENS REMEMBERED

After the physic gardens had disappeared from Mitcham, they were not
entirely forgotten, but the dominant memory was of lavender.

In 1934, when Mitcham became a borough, Mitcham’s lavender heritage
was remembered on floats during the celebrations on what was known as
Charter Day (see title photograph).

The new borough’s coat of arms showed three sprigs of lavender sprouting
out at the top and three sprigs on each side of the face of the shield (see
above).

There was a nod to Potter and Moore’s farmyard and fields with some
of the roads that covered them being given such names as Rose Avenue,
Camomile Avenue and Lavender Avenue. Later in the century, Lavender
Park was opened.

Illustration: Merton Memories Photographic Archive

Well into the twentieth century, Tamworth Farm Recreation Ground,
opposite Figges Marsh in London Road, had a magnificent display of
flower beds running along beside the pavement. Each year it was planted
with flowers depicting a relevant theme. On more than one occasion
lavender was incorporated into the theme (see below and p.2).

Lavender was planted in public spaces in Mitcham, such as the ornamental
gardens at Fair Green, before the one way system was built. It was also
planted in London Road, along the wall of the flats opposite Sir Arthur
Bliss Court. Some old lavender bushes are still there, alongside young
ones that appear to have been planted recently.

It was not unusual for the colour lavender to be used by local groups and
when the May Queen was crowned during the May Day celebrations, she,
or her attendants, sometimes wore lavender coloured dresses.

A cosmetics and perfumes company took over the name of Potter and
Moore during the twentieth century.

The new Potter and Moore produced lavender water and even lavender-
scented smelling salts. These items had bottle labels showing a lavender
seller on a horse (see below). Older people may remember small round
white peppermints sold in a cardboard box by Clarnico, which were
called Mitcham Mints.

Potter and Moore label: Merton Historical Society

PHYSIC
GARDENS
FORGOTTEN?

Photograph: Irene Burroughs

Today it can be difficult to find evidence of the physic gardens that once
covered such extensive areas of Mitcham. The roads built in the twentieth
century over Potter and Moore’s fields with their herbal names, still give
a clue.

Lavender still predominates as the plant remembered.
The Borough of Mitcham has not existed since 1965,
but its successor, the London Borough of Merton,
still incorporates a sprig of lavender at the head of its
coat of arms, although, ironically, the variety shown
is French, not English.

In Mitcham there are also schools and doctors’ surgeries that incorporate
the word ‘lavender’ in their names.

Other clues can be found to Mitcham’s herbal past in other places, such as
the internet. Lavender water and smelling salt bottles from the twentieth
century with the Potter and Moore logo can be found for sale on eBay.
They are often described as ‘vintage’ or even ‘antique’. Black Mitcham
peppermint (Mentha x piperita) plants can be obtained online. Fortnum
and Mason sells dark chocolate flavoured with Mitcham mint.

In 1978 Merton Historical Society put on an exhibition also entitled ‘The
Physic Gardens of Mitcham’ (see the photograph on the title page to this
section. It features Audrey Honeyman – later Thomas – who co-produced
the exhibition with me) which was displayed at Eagle House, Mitcham
Library and various other venues. The physic gardens were beyond living
memory, although some people may have remembered the last days of
lavender growing. There were historical articles in local papers about
Mitcham’s herbal past and a small amount of available literature. It was
possible to look up photographs and documents in Mitcham reference
library if you spoke to a member of staff. Sometimes there were talks
about the subject.

These days, although there is nothing left of the physic gardens above
ground, there is a vast amount of information on the topic online and in
local publications.

The Merton Memories Photographic Archive, run by Merton Council,
has many photographs and illustrations linked to the Mitcham herbal
industry.

Merton coat of arms: (detail): Wikimedia Commons

The Merton Historical Society website has a wealth of information
in its ‘Mitcham’ section, including contemporary articles – https://
mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk/mitcham-herbal-industries. A list of the
society’s publications can also be found there, including Eric Montague’s
excellent series of volumes on Mitcham. Potter and Moore is described in
detail in volume 2 North Mitcham and references to other growers can be
found in other volumes, according to their location.

All these sources have been invaluable in creating this booklet and are
recommended for anyone wishing to learn more about the physic gardens
and other aspects of Mitcham’s past.

Poppy: photograph Irene Burroughs

ISBN 978 1 903899 87 8

Published by Merton Historical Society – 2024

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