Lower Morden is an area within the district of

Morden Morden is a district and town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton to the south and Worcester ...

in south west corner of the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

, to the west of

Morden Park Morden Park is an area within the district of Morden in the London Borough of Merton, and includes the Park itself, an area of green space in an otherwise dense cluster of 1930s suburban housing. The present park and sports fields between Hillc ...

and south of

Raynes Park Raynes Park is a residential suburb, railway station and local centre near Wimbledon, London, and is within the London Borough of Merton. It is situated southwest of Wimbledon Common, to the northwest of Wimbledon Chase and to the east of Ne ...

History

Until it was absorbed by the suburban expansion of the 1930s, the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Lower Morden was a small rural farming community within the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of Morden approximately half a mile to the west of the main village situated at the top of the hill. Lower Morden had grown up around the

village green A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle t ...

and the

Beverley Beverley is a market and minster town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre and north-west of City of Hull. The town is known fo ...

and Pyl Brooks. In the 1870s, the main properties of Lower Morden were Morden Farm (close to the modern school of the same name and on the site of Hatfeild School), Peacock Farm (now covered by Cranmer Close and Cardinal Avenue) and Hobalds Farm. Close by was Morden Common. Today nothing of the original hamlet remains except perhaps a few ancient trees and old field boundary lines followed by the alignments of the roads that were to replace them. The first major development was the establishment in 1891 of Battersea New Cemetery (now

Morden Cemetery Morden Cemetery, also known as Battersea New Cemetery, is a cemetery in the Lower Morden area of the town of Morden within the London Borough of Merton, London, England. It opened on 17 March 1891. A crematorium in Morden Cemetery, North East Surr ...

) on land adjacent to Hobalds Farm to the north of Green Lane. The loss of Morden Common followed, its area now occupied by the Merton & Sutton Joint Cemetery and the Garth Road Industrial Estate. Garth Road is named after the Garth family,

Lords of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seigno ...

from the mid 16th century to the late 19th century. Up to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the marshy land either side of the Pyl Brook now used as playing fields was cow pasture. The majority of residential development took place in the late 1930s with mock Tudor style houses being built between Morden Park and Stonecot Hill and north between Grand Drive, Hillcross Avenue and Cannon Hill Lane.

Demography

The Lower Morden ward had one of the lowest crime rates in Greater London in the 2014/15 period.

Sport and recreation

Lower Morden has a King George's Field in memorial to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

References

External links

Hatfeild Primary School
(named after Gilliat Hatfeild, last Lord of the Manor of Morden). * . {{London Districts Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Merton