Merton Abbey is an area in southwest

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. It lies between

South Wimbledon South Wimbledon is an area of Wimbledon in south-west London in the London Borough of Merton, England. History Toponymy It is marked on an Ordnance Survey map of 1876 as New Wimbledon and on a 1907 map as South Wimbledon. The name is derived fr ...

and

Colliers Wood Colliers Wood is an area in south west London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a mostly residential area, but has a busy high street around Colliers Wood tube station on London Underground's Northern line. The high street is part ...

in 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 ...

. Merton Abbey takes its name from

Merton Priory Merton Priory was an English Augustinian priory founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under King Henry I (1100–1135). It was situated within the manor of Merton in the county of Surrey, in what is today the Colliers Wood area ...

, which once stood on the northern edge of the district. The area is bounded by Merton High Street to the north, the

River Wandle The River Wandle is a right-bank tributary of the River Thames in south London, England. With a total length of about , the river passes through the London boroughs of London Borough of Croydon, Croydon, London Borough of Sutton, Sutton, Londo ...

to the west, Christchurch Road to the east and Deen City Farm to the south. Despite the area being considered by many to be part of neighbouring Colliers Wood, most of Merton Abbey falls within Merton's "Lavender Fields" ward. The area is within the

SW postcode area The SW (South Western) postcode area, also known as the London SW postcode area, is a group of 20 postcode districts within the London postal district, London post town in England. The area comprises the South Western operational district (cover ...

History

Most of what is now the Merton Abbey residential area fell within the grounds of

. The priory was founded by Gilbert Norman, the

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

in 1114 and was built on the southern edge of the

Roman Road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

known as Stane Street. Merton Priory remained an important centre of learning in the area until it was sacked by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

in 1538. Surviving sections of the old priory wall can still be found in many of the area's gardens, especially near Liberty Avenue. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the ruins of the sacked priory were gradually replaced by mills as heavy industry developed along the

. The south of the neighbourhood consisted mainly of lavender fields. In the 18th century, the river itself was diverted from its original course and many waterways were created to drive the multitude of silk mills and bleaching works that had sprung up along this portion of the Wandle Valley. To assist the local industries, the world's first railway line, the

Surrey Iron Railway The Surrey Iron Railway (SIR) was a horse-drawn plateway that linked Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham, all then in Surrey but now suburbs of south London, in England. It was established by Act of Parliament in 1801, and opened partly in 1802 a ...

opened in 1803 and ran up what is now Christchurch Road. The line closed in 1838. Merton Abbey, as a residential suburb, was developed in the 1930s, sitting to the south of the Liberty Print Works and Merton Board Mills. The neighbourhood was extended to the south with the addition of Brangwyn Crescent and neighbouring cul-de-sacs in the 1980s. This period also witnessed the demolition of Merton Board Mills, which was replaced by the Sainsbury's Savacentre. Merton Abbey station and railway line were also removed at this time and the line was replaced by the Merton relief road, Merantun Way. Liberty Print Works were eventually refurbished and converted into the

Merton Abbey Mills __NOTOC__ Merton Abbey Mills is a former textile factory in the parish of Merton in London, England near the site of the medieval Merton Priory, now the home of a variety of businesses, mostly retailers. The River Wandle flowing north towards W ...

craft village. In recent years, the remainder of the

brownfield site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

to the east of Merton Abbey Mills has been developed into a residential complex which includes luxury apartments, a hotel, a gymnasium and several restaurants.

Transport

The area sits equidistantly between

and

stations on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...

. Frequent buses connect the neighbourhood to Wimbledon town centre, as well as

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 Pa ...

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

and

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history T ...

Wimbledon station Wimbledon is a National Rail, London Underground, and Tramlink station located on Wimbledon Bridge, Wimbledon in London, and is the only station in London that provides an interchange between the London Underground and Tramlink. The station serv ...

District line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited servic ...

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...

and

Tramlink London Trams, previously Tramlink and Croydon Tramlink, is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in the London region since 1952. It is manage ...

services are located a mile and a half to the northwest. Until it was closed in 1929 the area was served by Merton Abbey railway station on the now defunct 'Merton Branch Line' between

Merton Park railway station Merton Park railway station was a railway station in Merton, Surrey, serving both the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line and the Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway. Closed in 1997, part of the site now serves as a tram stop on the Wimbledon b ...

and Tooting Junction.

Neighbouring areas

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

Trivia

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

police drama

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

's "Sunhill Police Station" is located in Merton Industrial Park just across the River Wandle in neighbouring South Wimbledon. *The section of the River Wandle through Merton Abbey is a man-made diversion, constructed in the 18th century. The original river still flows beneath Liberty Avenue (once a river path) and turns north before Christchurch Road, resurfacing at Runnymede where it is now known as the Pickle Ditch before rejoining the modern river at the northeast corner of Sainsbury's. *Merton Abbey's original telephone exchange code in the London director area was "542" (now "(020) 8542"). Before the advent of

subscriber trunk dialling Subscriber trunk dialling (STD), also known as subscriber toll dialing, is a telephone numbering plan feature and telecommunications technology for the dialling of trunk calls by telephone subscribers without the assistance from switchboard oper ...

, the area's alpha-numeric code was "LIB", named after the local mill and written as, for example, "LIBerty 1234". On the old

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

telephone dials, the letters "LIB" corresponded to the numbers "542", hence the modern exchange code. {{London Districts Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Merton