Lower Morden is an area within the district of

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

in south west corner of the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a London borough in 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 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 A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

expansion of the 1930s, the

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

of Lower Morden was a small rural farming community within the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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

and the

Beverley Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north-west of Hull city centre. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had ...

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 Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

. 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) 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 and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

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

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

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