Merton has 20 areas designated as Archaeology Priority Zones (APZs) arranged under a number of archaeological themes.
Full details of the council's supplementary guidance note on Archaeology can be downloaded here:
- Supplementary Planning Guidance Note: Archaeology (Part 1)
- Supplementary Planning Guidance Note: Archaeology (Part 2)
List of APZs in Merton arranged by theme
Alluvial Archaeology
Wandle Valley Alluvium
This area includes the alluvial silts deposited within the Wandle Valley. Evidence for both prehistoric human activity, and the contemporary natural environment can be preserved within or beneath the alluvial deposits.
Beverley Brook Valley Alluvium
This area maps the extent of alluvial deposits along the course of the Beverley Brook. Although this area is thought to have played a less significant role than the Wandle Valley in the history of the area, it has potential for the survival of evidence of past environments as well as prehistoric (and later) human activities.
Map of the Beverly Brook Alluvium APZ
Prehistoric Landscapes
Wimbledon Common
The status of Wimbledon Common itself means that there has been relatively little archaeological work in this area, but stray/casual finds have demonstrated that evidence covering the whole prehistoric period may be anticipated to survive as buried remains. The Priority Zone Designation extends beyond the modern limits of the Common to include additional areas where archaeological evidence for prehistoric landscapes has been shown to survive
Map of the Wimbledon Common APZ
Mitcham Common
This area takes in a swathe of gravel terrace on the eastern side of the Wandle Valley. Finds of Mesolithic and Neolithic flint tools, Bronze Age metalwork, and stray Iron Age coins have been recovered from this area, demonstrating the area's significance for early settlement and indicating its potential for the survival of further remains.
Morden Park
This area encompasses the northern part of the modern Morden Park, where remains of Roman and medieval date have been found. The park contains a Scheduled Monument 'Morden Park Mound', thought possibly to be (or to incorporate) a Roman burial mound, or to be an eighteenth century prospect mound created within Morden Park.
Settlements
Merton
The medieval estate of Merton originated in the later Saxon period and is first referred to by name in a document of 949 AD. By the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086 the estate included a church and two mills, set within extensive agricultural land.
Wimbledon
The historic village core occupies higher ground on the watershed between the valleys of the Wandle and the Beverley Brook. Wimbledon is not mentioned in the Doomsday Survey, and it may have formed an outlying grange of the extensive Mortlake estate at that time. Wimbledon is recorded as a separate unit from the early fourteenth century onwards.
Mitcham
The earliest historical reference to Mitcham settlement comes from an eighth century document, although archaeological evidence also points to unconnected Roman and early Saxon activity in the area. The medieval village developed as a 'ribbon' settlement along the London-Sutton Road, with two foci: Upper Green (probably also known as Michelham) and Lower Green (also known as Wickford Green).
Morden
The estate of Morden is first referred to in the tenth century, and appears to have remained polyfocal with a particular cluster in the vicinity of the church throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods (this may be partly explained by its location on London Clay based soils rather than more easily cultivated gravels or river alluvium deposits). There was a second settlement at Lower Morden, near the Beverley Brook – this is identified as a separate Priority Zone (Map Area 11).
Cannon Hill
An indication of human activity in this area on John Rocque's maps of 1749-62 suggests that this area may contain important remains.
Lower Morden
Medieval finds have been recovered from this area, indicating early human activity.
West Barnes Farm
This zone covers the location of West Barnes Farm, a Medieval, probably moated, 'Grange' belonging to Merton Priory.
Settlement - Communications Routes
'Stane Street'
The line of an important Roman road, crossing the Borough between Colliers Wood and Pylford Bridge. The route of the road is preserved in part by modern streets (High Street Colliers Wood, and parts of London Road, Morden – both parts of the A24), although it appears to have taken a more direct route across Wandle Valley than the present A24 (which runs to the north through Merton).
Maps of the Stane Street APZ
- North Section
- Lower North Section
- Mid Section (North)
- Mid Section (Central)
- Mid Section (South)
- South Section
Riverside Industries
Wandle/Copper Mill Lane
A centre of water-powered and water utilising industry from at least the medieval period onwards, this area included medieval corn mills and an eighteenth century copper mill. The latter was located at the end of Copper Mill Lane and was replaced, in the nineteenth century by a mill for the processing of leather.
Map of Wandle/Copper Mill Lane APZ
Wandle/Colliers Wood
This area has formed a particular focus for riverside industry from at least the medieval period onwards, with several corn mills being located along this stretch of the river during the medieval period. These were supplanted in the post-medieval period by textile processing and finishing industries, initially calico bleaching and printing and subsequently the textile printing works of Arthur Liberty and of William Morris.
Map of the Wandle/Colliers Wood APZ
Wandle/Mitcham
The Wandle Riverside around Mitcham was famed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for the market gardening of aromatic and medicinal herbs, watercress and other crops. It was also important in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for calico bleaching and printing, copper, flour, and snuff milling, leather working and the manufacture of paper, flock and felt.
Mill Corner
Documentary sources indicate the presence of a water mill on this part of the Beverley Brook in the fifteenth century, and also a series of fishponds. The mill appears to have been demolished sometime before the eighteenth century.
Post Medieval Estates and Gardens
Merton Place
Built around 1700, between the village of Merton and the River Wandle – possibly on the site of an earlier, medieval, moated structure. The house is noted as being the only house owned by Admiral Nelson who converted the moat into a garden feature and called it 'The Nile'.
Wimbledon Park House
The house was originally built in 1588, but was much altered in the 1640s by Inigo Jones. The site of the early House is not known with certainty, but it is thought to lie close to the village church.
Map of Wimbledon Park House APZ
Morden Hall and Park
The existing Morden Hall dates from the mid-eighteenth century, replacing an earlier, Tudor Manor House to the south. The Hall is moated and the moat is an eighteenth decorative feature contemporary with the house.
Map of Morden Hall and Park APZ
Contact us
Urban Design and Conservation
London Borough of Merton
Merton Civic Centre
London Road
Morden
SM4 5DX
Telephone: 020 8545 3837
Fax: 020 8545 3326
Email: urban.design@merton.gov.uk