Visit Mitcham Places

Welcome to Visit Mitcham Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Mitcham

  

Mitcham Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Mitcham

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Mitcham history

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The toponym “Mitcham” is Old English in origin and means big settlement. Before the Romans and Saxons were present, stood a Celtic settlement, with evidence of a hill fort in the Pollards Hill area. The discovery of Roman-era graves and a well on the site of the Mitcham gasplant evince Roman settlement. The Anglo-Saxon graveyard on the north bank of the Wandle is the largest discovered to date, and many of the finds therein are on display in the British Museum. Scholars such as Myres have suggested that Mitcham and other Thames plain settlements were some of the first populated by the Anglo-Saxons. What became the parish lands could have hosted the Battle of Merton, 871, in which King Ethelred of Wessex was either mortally wounded or killed outright. The Church of England parish church of St Peter and St Paul dates from the early Kingdom of England. Mostly rebuilt in 1819–1821, the current building retains the original Saxon tower. The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Mitcham as a small farming community, an implied estimate of 250 people, living in two hamlets: Mitcham, the area today being Upper Mitcham; and Whitford (Lower Green). The area lay in the Anglo-Saxon county subdivision of Wallington hundred. The Domesday Book records Mitcham as Michelham. It was held partly by the Canons of Bayeux; partly by William, son of Ansculf and partly by Osbert. Its domesday assets were: 8 hides and 1 virgate. It had ½ mill worth £1, 3½ ploughs, 56 acres (23 ha) of meadow. It rendered £4 5s 4d, a time when a pound sterling still implied something similar to a pound of silver. During her reign Queen Elizabeth I made at least five visits to the area. John Donne and Sir Walter Raleigh also had residences here in this era. It was at this time that Mitcham became gentrified, as due to the abundance of lavender fields Mitcham became renowned for its soothing air. The air also led people to settle in the area during times of plague. When industrialisation occurred, Mitcham quickly grew to become a town and most of the farms were swallowed up in the expansion. Remnants of this farming history today include: Mitcham Common itself; Arthur’s Pond on the corner of Watney’s Road and Commonside East, and named for a local farmer; Alfred Mizen School (Garden Primary School), named after a local nurseryman charitable towards the burgeoning town; and the road New Barnes Avenue, replacing part of New Barn(e)s Farm. Many lavender fields were in Mitcham, and peppermint and lavender oils were also distilled. In 1749 two local physic gardeners, John Potter and William Moore, founded a company to make and market toiletries made from locally grown herbs and flowers. Lavender features on Merton Council’s coat of arms and the badge of the local football team, Tooting & Mitcham United F.C., as well as in the name of a local council ward, Lavender Field. Mitcham was industrialised first along the banks of the Wandle, where snuff, copper, flour, iron and dye were all worked. Mitcham, along with nearby Merton Abbey, became the calico cloth printing centres of England by 1750. Asprey, suppliers of luxury goods made from various materials, was founded in Mitcham as a silk-printing business in 1781. William Morris opened a factory on the River Wandle at Merton Abbey. Merton Abbey Mills were the Liberty silk-printing works. It is now a craft village and its waterwheel has been preserved. Activity along the Wandle led to the building of the Surrey Iron Railway, the world’s first public railway, in 1803. The decline and failure of the railway in the 1840s also heralded a change in industry, as horticulture gradually gave way to manufacturing, with paint, varnish, linoleum and firework manufacturers moving into the area. The work provided and migratory patterns eventually resulted in a doubling of the population between the years 1900 and 1910. In 1829 Miss Mary Tate donated land and money to build almshouses on the site of the former Tate family home in Cricket Green. The buildings were designed in a Tudor style by John Butcher and established to accommodate twelve poor widows or spinsters of the parish. Miss Tate was the only surviving member of the Tate family, who had lived from about 1700 in a large mansion on the site of the almshouses. The gardens at the rear of the property were originally provided for the use of residents, but later informally rented out as allotments. Mitcham became a borough, within a two-tier council system, on 19 September 1934 with the charter of incorporation being presented to the 84-year-old mayor, Mr. R.M. Chart, by the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Lord Ashcombe. Social housing schemes in the 1930s included New Close, aimed at housing people made homeless by a factory explosion in 1933 and Sunshine Way, for housing the poor from inner London. This industry made Mitcham a target for German bombing during World War II. During this time Mitcham also returned to its agricultural roots, with Mitcham Common being farmed to help with the war effort. From 1929 the electronics company Mullard had a factory on New Road. Postwar, the areas of Eastfields, Phipps Bridge and Pollards Hill were rebuilt to provide cheaper more affordable housing. The largest council housing project in Mitcham is Phipps Bridge Estate. Further expansion of the housing estates in Eastfields, Phipps Bridge and Pollards Hill occurred after 1965. In Mitcham Cricket Green, the area lays reasonable, although not definitive, claim to having the world’s oldest cricket ground in continual use, and the world’s oldest club in Mitcham Cricket Club. The ground is also notable for having a road separate the pavilion from the pitch. Local folklore claims Mitcham has the oldest fair in England, believing it to have been granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I, a claim never proven. Nimrod, sporting writer of the early 19th century, advocated against the grazing on grass of racehorses. He finds a very fast donkey chaise, investigates the donkey’s owner and finds it is a Mitcham blacksmith, who never turns out the donkey in summer onto Mitcham Common but keeps it fed with oats and beans as if a hunter racing horse. Mitcham appears in local variants of mildly vulgar rhymes of 18th and 19th centuries, all beginning with: One variant ends with “Mitcham for a thief”, another “Ewell” which is opposite in direction. An author noted for another genre, James Edward Preston Muddock as Dick Donovan penned The Naughty Maid of Mitcham in 1910.

You can visit Mitcham places with Walkfo Mitcham to hear history at Mitcham’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Mitcham has 131 places to visit in our interactive Mitcham map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Mitcham, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Mitcham places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Mitcham & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 131 audio facts unique to Mitcham places in an interactive Mitcham map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Mitcham Places Map
131 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Mitcham historic spots	Mitcham tourist destinations	Mitcham plaques	Mitcham geographic features
Walkfo Mitcham tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Mitcham

  

Best Mitcham places to visit

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Mitcham has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Mitcham’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Mitcham’s information audio spots:

Mitcham Road Cemetery Mitcham Road Cemetery, previously called Croydon Cemetery, is a cemetery located next to Mitcham Common . It is part of the London Borough of Croyden, London, and is located in the centre of the city . There is also a chapel located inside the cemetery .

Norbury Estate The Norbury Estate originated as a London County Council cottage estate . It was built between 1901 and 1920 in what is now the north of the London Borough of Croydon . The estate was declared a conservation area in 2008 .

Biggin Wood Biggin Wood is an area of ancient oak woodland situated within the London Borough of Croydon . The London Wildlife Trust is currently working to improve the site for wildlife, as a part of The Great North Wood Project .

Tooting Commons The Tooting Commons consist of two adjacent areas of common land lying between Balham, Streatham and Tooting, in south west London . Tooting Bec Common and Graveney Common are common land adjacent to each other .

Streatham Cemetery Streatham Cemetery is a cemetery on Garratt Lane in Tooting, London . It is one of three cemeteries managed by Lambeth London Borough Council, the others are West Norwood Cemetery and Lambeth Cemetery .

Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre Streatham Ice and Leisure Centre is the only Olympic-sized skating rink in the city . It is home to the home ice hockey team, the Streatham RedHawks . The rink replaced the older Streatingham Ice Arena .

Lambeth Cemetery Lambeth Cemetery is a cemetery in Tooting, in the London Borough of Wandsworth . It is one of three cemeteries owned by Lambeth London Borough Council, the others being West Norwood Cemetery and Streatham Cemetery .

Visit Mitcham plaques