Merton

Merton is an outer London borough in the city’s south, once called home by Admiral Nelson – and where the fictional creatures called the Wombles of Wimbledon Common live.

Wimbledon is also synonymous with tennis, thanks to the annual tournament hosted by the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club since 1877.

To the south is Mitcham’s Lower Green, where cricket has been played at least since 1707. Before the era of suburban railways, the area was known for peppermint and lavender farming.

Water wheels on the River Wandle powered mills in the area for over a thousand years. Two mills at Morden Hall Park, used to grind tobacco for making snuff in the 1800s, still exist today.

Huguenot migrants began textile processing and printing along the river in the 16th century. This tradition was carried on by artist and textile designer William Morris and Arthur Lasenby Liberty, founder of Liberty & Co, at Merton Abbey Mills.