Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Sutton Common
Sutton Common is the name of former common land and a district and neighbourhood located in Sutton, London. The area is mostly located within the London Borough of Sutton, with some of the streets to the north and west of Sutton Common Park adjoining Lower Morden and Morden within the London Borough of Merton. Much of the area is taken up by the large Kimpton Park commercial and industrial estate, adjoining the A217 (Oldfields Road). It is served by Sutton Common railway station. The area to the south and east of Oldfields Road uses an SM1 postcode and the area to the north and west uses SM3.
The borders of the area are generally regarded to be the main Pyl Brook stream to the south, bordering West Sutton and North Cheam; the East Pyl Brook to the north where it borders Rosehill and St Helier; Benhilton to the east; and Lower Morden and Morden Park to the west. Sutton Common is within the Stonecot and Sutton North wards of Sutton Council. What remains of the former common can be found at Sutton Green, Sutton Common Park, Reigate Avenue Recreation Ground, Hamilton Avenue Recreation Ground, Thomas Wall Park in Rosehill, and Rosehill Park East and West.
The original Sutton Common was, as the name suggests, common land including Oldfields Farm to the east, located at what is now Rosehill, and Stonecot Hill to the west, through which ran the Roman road from London to Chichester known as Stane Street and which is now the modern A24. Before the process of enclosure began, the common was known as "Sutton Heath" and is likely to have covered an area as far north and east as Morden (then located much further to the south than it is now, around St Lawrence Church), Mitcham and the banks of the River Wandle, approximately where Benhilton and St. Helier are now. The land was not especially productive for agriculture on account of its heavy clay content and so it was mostly used by local people for grazing animals and to cut peat, turf and timber for fuel.
The exact extent of Sutton Heath or Common and who held the manorial rights to it seems to have been a matter for heated debate. In 1408 there was a serious dispute between the Abbot of Chertsey and Nicholas Carew, lord of the manor of Carshalton:
Nicholas Carew by the counsel of malignant men impleaded the lord Thomas Culverdon concerning a certain pasture in Sutton called Sutton Heth pretending that he has a lordship in all the said Common and that it ought to be called Kersaulton Heth not Sutton Heth. To which it was answered by the counsel of the lord Abbot that the aforesaid Abbot and all his predecessors were seised of the said Common as parcel of the manor of Sutton from the first foundation of their Church until they were impeded and gravely harmed by the said Nicholas Carew and for this they have shown many praiseworthy evidences; at length, after many altercations the parties submit themselves to ordinance and arbitration by two trustworthy persons.
The judgment was, that the Abbot and Nicholas should have common lordship to an area defined. The claim of Nicholas Carew may have been based upon an agreement in 1232, in which an entry mentions a Final Concord between the Prior of Merton and Abbot of Chertsey: "Common of pasture in Sutton up to a ditch called Middildich...the Prior and his successors shall have common in Sutton whenever the men of Kersaulton have it."
During the early modern period, Stane Street was alive with traffic of the greatest importance. Henry VIII, circa 1538–1540, took 3,050 tonnes of stone from the despoiled Merton Priory to build Nonsuch Palace: it was carted along Sutton's boundary at a cost of twopence per mile. In 1643, during the English Civil War, Royalist troops passed along the road in retreat, and three of their soldiers are buried in the churchyard of St Dunstan's, Cheam. In 1831 Ewell Fair had 30,000 Downs sheep on sale; large flocks would travel along the road to London markets.
By the 18th century, the main Sutton Common area was focused on the plateau and the old highway from London to Sutton where Sutton Common Road is today, between Stonecot Hill and Angel Hill. Well into the 19th century the landscape would have been contiguous with other commons nearby like Mitcham Common and Thornton Heath to the east, Merton Common to the north and Cheam Common to the west, if one included some of the privately farmed fields between them.
Hub AI
Sutton Common AI simulator
(@Sutton Common_simulator)
Sutton Common
Sutton Common is the name of former common land and a district and neighbourhood located in Sutton, London. The area is mostly located within the London Borough of Sutton, with some of the streets to the north and west of Sutton Common Park adjoining Lower Morden and Morden within the London Borough of Merton. Much of the area is taken up by the large Kimpton Park commercial and industrial estate, adjoining the A217 (Oldfields Road). It is served by Sutton Common railway station. The area to the south and east of Oldfields Road uses an SM1 postcode and the area to the north and west uses SM3.
The borders of the area are generally regarded to be the main Pyl Brook stream to the south, bordering West Sutton and North Cheam; the East Pyl Brook to the north where it borders Rosehill and St Helier; Benhilton to the east; and Lower Morden and Morden Park to the west. Sutton Common is within the Stonecot and Sutton North wards of Sutton Council. What remains of the former common can be found at Sutton Green, Sutton Common Park, Reigate Avenue Recreation Ground, Hamilton Avenue Recreation Ground, Thomas Wall Park in Rosehill, and Rosehill Park East and West.
The original Sutton Common was, as the name suggests, common land including Oldfields Farm to the east, located at what is now Rosehill, and Stonecot Hill to the west, through which ran the Roman road from London to Chichester known as Stane Street and which is now the modern A24. Before the process of enclosure began, the common was known as "Sutton Heath" and is likely to have covered an area as far north and east as Morden (then located much further to the south than it is now, around St Lawrence Church), Mitcham and the banks of the River Wandle, approximately where Benhilton and St. Helier are now. The land was not especially productive for agriculture on account of its heavy clay content and so it was mostly used by local people for grazing animals and to cut peat, turf and timber for fuel.
The exact extent of Sutton Heath or Common and who held the manorial rights to it seems to have been a matter for heated debate. In 1408 there was a serious dispute between the Abbot of Chertsey and Nicholas Carew, lord of the manor of Carshalton:
Nicholas Carew by the counsel of malignant men impleaded the lord Thomas Culverdon concerning a certain pasture in Sutton called Sutton Heth pretending that he has a lordship in all the said Common and that it ought to be called Kersaulton Heth not Sutton Heth. To which it was answered by the counsel of the lord Abbot that the aforesaid Abbot and all his predecessors were seised of the said Common as parcel of the manor of Sutton from the first foundation of their Church until they were impeded and gravely harmed by the said Nicholas Carew and for this they have shown many praiseworthy evidences; at length, after many altercations the parties submit themselves to ordinance and arbitration by two trustworthy persons.
The judgment was, that the Abbot and Nicholas should have common lordship to an area defined. The claim of Nicholas Carew may have been based upon an agreement in 1232, in which an entry mentions a Final Concord between the Prior of Merton and Abbot of Chertsey: "Common of pasture in Sutton up to a ditch called Middildich...the Prior and his successors shall have common in Sutton whenever the men of Kersaulton have it."
During the early modern period, Stane Street was alive with traffic of the greatest importance. Henry VIII, circa 1538–1540, took 3,050 tonnes of stone from the despoiled Merton Priory to build Nonsuch Palace: it was carted along Sutton's boundary at a cost of twopence per mile. In 1643, during the English Civil War, Royalist troops passed along the road in retreat, and three of their soldiers are buried in the churchyard of St Dunstan's, Cheam. In 1831 Ewell Fair had 30,000 Downs sheep on sale; large flocks would travel along the road to London markets.
By the 18th century, the main Sutton Common area was focused on the plateau and the old highway from London to Sutton where Sutton Common Road is today, between Stonecot Hill and Angel Hill. Well into the 19th century the landscape would have been contiguous with other commons nearby like Mitcham Common and Thornton Heath to the east, Merton Common to the north and Cheam Common to the west, if one included some of the privately farmed fields between them.