Morden
Until the 1920s Morden was a quiet rural backwater: basically a private estate with a village and a parish church serving a small farming community. But in 1926 the Northern Line made it this far (although no further) and everything changed.
Residential development began in earnest in the late 1920s when London County Council began the St Heliers Estate, an fine example of progressive state-sponsered housing. This provided the impetus for further suburban development in the 1930s and accounts for a good share of Morden's current housing stock.
The St Heliers Estate, mostly 2/3 bedroom terraces and semis, is now largely owner-occupied and is a good source of affordable houses for first time buyers and families.
Lower Morden has more 30s semis of the mock Tudor vintage, and Morden Central has the usual supply of flats and maisonettes above the shops, and some attractive turn-of-the-century cottages.
The Morden Hall Park area borders the more upmarket Merton Park and has larger and more expensive detached and semi-detached houses.
Morden town centre is not the best for shops and restaurants and generally speaking its residents head further afield to Wimbledon, Croydon or Sutton for anything other than daily necessities. The same applies to recreation facilities: cinema, theatre, music events and the like.
Morden Park has a pool, playing fields and sports centre which are administered by the council. This was the site of a Georgian villa and enclosed park, built in the 1770s for John Ewart, a local distiller and merchant.
It should not be confused with Morden Hall Park, further north, which is now run by the National Trust and home to Morden Hall and its large well-tended parkland.
The hall itself has those National Trust staples -a tea room and craft shop - and there is a pleasant walk from the park up to Merton Abbey Mills which runs alongside the river Wandle.
Transport facilities are good here: the Northern Line tube station is a real asset and has recently been backed up by the arrival of the Croydon tramlink (station at Morden Road) which runs east-west between Croydon and Wimbledon. The M25 is a twenty minute drive and provides access to Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
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