A Rich History on the Riverbank the Wandle Rises in Two Places, Waddon in the Borough of Croydon, the Stone Court Mansion House

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A rich history on the Riverbank The Wandle rises in two places, Waddon in the Borough of Croydon, The Stone Court Mansion House. The Grove Park originated and Carshalton in the Borough of as the ground of a house called Stone Court. The estate can Sutton. It flows through Merton Stone Court be traced back to the middle ages but the house was rebuilt down to the Thames at Wandsworth. by a London merchant called John Cator about 1690-1700. The Spit Once upon a time it was a peaceful Wandsworth Town Station chalk stream in open country, meandering past grand estates and King Georges Park pretty villages. Its fast flow, however, was ideal for watermills, which

Southfields developed throughout its 12 mile Community College Earlsfield Station length, and by the nineteenth century it had become one the hardest worked rivers in the country. Wandle Haydons Road Park Station Along the Sutton stretch of the Colliers Wood Station Wandle there were many historic Merton Abbey Mills/Chapter House Deen City Farm buildings, gardens and mills, some of Morden Road Tramlink Phipps which can still be seen to this day. A Bridge Tramlink Morden Hall Park Belgrave Walk selection is described here. Tramlink

Mitcham Morden Mitcham Station Tramlink Station

Ravensbury Park Published by: Wandle Valley Festival Funded by: Awards For All Design : Jonathan Spearman-Oxx Excavation of Old Stone Court in 1995. A wine bottle seal from The Portland Stone bridge by the ponds has Text and pictures: John Phillips, courtesy of the London Borough of Sutton Young people carried out an excavation on the excavation. It has the a griffin on the keystone. This was the crest

Wandle Spencer Valley Road the site of the Stone Court Mansion. They crest of the Scawen of Scawens who owned Stone Court in the Wetland Wetland Cator canalised the Wandle and his successor Thomas Scawen laid out an showed that it was a large brick house in family which owned mid-18th century. The bridge was probably Hackbridge Station elaborate garden with a Grove of trees which gives the present park its name. Queen Anne Style. Stone Court for much of built in 1730s to the design of a Venetian

Beddington Park Lower Pond belonged to Stone Court and was part of the ornamental landscape. the eighteenth century. architect called Leoni. Wilderness Island (Café) Nature Reserve Wandle Park Tramlink

Carshalton Station

Carshalton House Water Tower Sutton Ecology Centre Westcroft Carew Manor Grove Leisure Dovecote Honeywood Park Museum Centre and Wetland (Carshalton Ponds) St Mary’s Church Waddon Ponds Woodcote Upper Mill Holdings Carshalton Park Grotto Waddon Station The Grove

Cut away drawing of About 1909 the water Upper Mill showing the wheel was replaced by a Upper Mill has a very long likely arrangement of turbine which was history which goes back into the the original machinery. more efficient and also middle ages possibly as far as the There were two ran at a higher speed so In the early 1920s Sir Samuel Barrow put The Domesday book of 1086. It was electricity generators less gearing was needed Grove on the market. It was bought by Carshalton a flour mill for most of its life but driven by a water between it and the Council as they wanted to preserve the character about 1888 it was rebuilt as a wheel which had been generators. of the area around the Ponds. They turned it into a private water driven electricity salvaged from the public park and used the houses as offices. generating plant to supply lights preceding mill. The in the Grove and Stone Court. generators charged (There was no mains electricity lead acid batteries form An early Drawing of The Grove in the mid-19th century. The Rev. WAB Cator and his wife Aurelia in the gardens of The In 1903 The Grove until about 1902). The mill built which the supply was photo of original Stone Court mansion house was demolished, and Grove. Cator was rector of All Saints Church from 1845-1884. was bought by Sir for Aurelia Cator after her drawn. The electricity the mill a ‘new’ one built from the outbuildings. The present day He was a wealthy man who lived in the The Grove. Samuel Barrow. He husband had died. By 1888 she was only used for showing Grove was built on the other side of the river. made many was an elderly widow but still an lighting as there were the water improvements adopter of what was then new no small electric wheel including the rockery. technology. appliances at the time. turning.