104-520: Polka Theatre is a children’s theatre in Wimbledon , London Borough of Merton , for children aged 0– 13. The theatre contains two performance spaces - a 300-seat main auditorium and a 70-seat studio dedicated to early years performances. Polka Theatre is a producing theatre which also tours shows nationally and internationally. The building also features a creative learning studio, a garden, an outdoor playground, indoor play area, exhibition spaces and
208-474: A "pomecitron" tree" ( Citrus medica , valued at £10), and six pomegranate trees. Doubtless the inventoried bay tree ( Laurus nobilis ) and the equally tender " Irish arbutis , very lovely to looke upon," were being taken into the orangery for winter protection, as England was then in the frigid grip of the Little Ice Age . When the monarchy was restored in 1660 with Charles II , Wimbledon manor
312-591: A 'Privilege Card' which provides discounts and benefits within the town centre. The UK's leading car-sharing company Zipcar has its UK headquarters in Wimbledon. Other notable organisations with head offices in Wimbledon include CIPD , Ipsotek, United Response , the Communication Workers Union (United Kingdom) and, until 2022, Lidl . The Wimbledon Times (formerly Wimbledon Guardian ) provides local news in print and online. In
416-469: A Grade II* protected monument, suggest that the Duchess consulted the landscape gardener Charles Bridgeman , but the extent of his contribution is unknown. Through the Duchess of Marlborough, Wimbledon manor passed, in 1744, to her heir, the 10-year-old John, Viscount Spencer , soon to be made the 1st Earl Spencer.Under a contract of late 1764 Lancelot "Capability" Brown undertook landscaping projects in
520-443: A King's plate." However, he gives no further details and does not say how successful horse racing was or how long it lasted. Wimbledon Manor House Wimbledon manor house ; the residence of the lord of the manor , was an English country house at Wimbledon, Surrey , now part of Greater London . The manor house was over the centuries exploded, burnt and several times demolished. The first known manor house, The Old Rectory
624-555: A cafe. Polka Theatre is a registered charity number 256979 and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. It is also funded by the London Borough of Merton and a number of private charitable trusts and foundations, individuals and commercial companies. Polka Theatre started life as a puppet touring company in 1967 under the Artistic Directorship of Richard Gill. The theatre venue (formerly
728-549: A century and a half the proprietors of a great vinegar yard in Southwark, afterwards Potts's, and from the last of those wealthy merchants Sir William inherited a large fortune. The house, which had become known as Belvedere House, stood at what became the rear gardens of today's Nos. 6-12 Alan Road, was eventually demolished in 1900, to make way for a housing development to be known as the Belvedere Estate. In 1723,
832-535: A figure which has remained reasonably stable since. Wimbledon is covered by several wards in the London Borough of Merton, making it difficult to produce statistics for the town as a whole. The largest ethnic groups (up to 10%) in the wards according to the 2011 census are: At the time the Domesday Book was compiled (around 1086), Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake. From 1328 to 1536,
936-616: A free post-show drama workshop to support the visits. The building temporarily closed for a major redevelopment on Monday 18 February 2019, with building work commencing in March 2019. The planned reopening was Summer 2020 but was delayed due to the effects of the pandemic. Cinderella: the AWESOME Truth was then scheduled for November 2021 as the Theatre's first production after reopening. The current Artistic Director Peter Glanville
1040-498: A history of the building: The Rectory – Wimbledon’s Oldest House . In 1994, the astrophysicist, songwriter and lead guitarist of the rock band Queen , Brian May CBE , paid £4 million for the house, with the intention of living there with his partner and later wife, the long-running BBC TV soap opera Eastenders actress Anita Dobson . In 2006 May sold The Old Rectory for £16 million to an Italian architect-owner Antonella Carminati and her husband, who initiated further works with
1144-504: A large dining hall, a withdrawing chamber, a parlour and little chamber, and extensive service quarters. A spiral staircase to the first floor with ten chambers and five closets, with five garrets in the roof". By 1720, it was known as The Old Laundry House, presumably for the Cecil house built in 1588, next door (see below). The house was uninhabited when Sir Theodore Janssen bought the manor in 1717 (see below) and who allegedly pulled down
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#17327838834101248-441: A long square, within which gates, levell with the highest of those eight stepps, is a pavement of freestone, leading to a payr of iron gates rayled on each side thereof with turned ballasters of freestone, within which is a little paved court leading to an arched vault neatly pillowred with brick, conteyning on each side of the pillers a little roome well arched, serving for celleridge of botteled wines; on each side of this vault are
1352-633: A manor of Wimbledon was recorded as belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury . The manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. Wimbledon was an Ancient Parish from the medieval period, later being re-organised as the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon within the county of Surrey . In 1965, the London Government Act 1963 abolished the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon, Merton and Morden Urban District and
1456-426: A payre of staires of stone stepps, twentie-three stepps in assent, eight foote nine inches broad; meeting an even landing-place in the height thereof, leading from the foresayed gates unto the lower court, and make the second assent; from the height of this assent a pavement of Flanders brickes thirteene foot six inches broad", leading "to the third assent, which stands on the south side of the lower courte, consisting of
1560-464: A round modell, in the middle whereof is a payre of iron gates rayled as aforesayd, within which is a fountayne fitted with a leaden cesterne fed with a pipe of lead; this round conteynes a payre of stone stayres of 26 stepps in assent, ordered and adorned as the second assent is, and leades into the sayd higher courte, and soe makes the third assent; from the height whereof a pavement of square stone nine foote broad and eightie-seaven foote long leades up to
1664-500: A stable rural population coexisting with nobility and wealthy merchants from the city. In the 18th century the Dog and Fox public house became a stop on the stagecoach run from London to Portsmouth , then in 1838 the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened a station to the southeast of the village at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill. The location of the station shifted the focus of
1768-422: A survey made in 1649. The old east wing of the house had incorporated a shell grotto. Inigo Jones reworked this wing with a chapel and marble parlour beside a terrace overlooking the orange garden. Henrietta Maria's bed was set in an alcove in the stone gallery on the west side. A large attic space was used for drying clothes. Interiors included panelling, some unpainted or varnished green, and "liver coloured" in
1872-591: Is 7 miles (11.3 km) south-west of Charing Cross . The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It is considered an affluent suburb with its grand Victorian houses, modern housing and low-rise apartments. The residential area splits into two sections: the village and the town, with the village near the common centred on the High Street, being part of
1976-468: Is as un-Londonish as if it were an hundred miles out." Hannah More enjoyed the Duchess of Marlborough's books in the library, where: "numbers of the books were presents to her from the great authors of her time, whose names she had carefully written in the blank leaves, for I believe she had the pride of being thought learned, as well as rich and beautiful. " "elegantly fitted up, and are used as an occasional retirement by Lord Spencer's family. The situation
2080-492: Is buried in the graveyard of St Mary's Church. So in 1749 the Janssen house and land comprising some 70 acres, was sold to Mrs Martha Rush. In 1759 it was inherited by her son Samuel. In 1782 alterations were made to the facade and a further storey was added; possibly completing the original Campbell design (see pic). In 1783 the estate was inherited by Sir William Beaumaris Rush who died there in 1833 aged 83. The family were for
2184-708: Is now approved by the British Horse Society and the Association of British Riding Schools. It offers horse-riding lessons and hacks on Wimbledon Common and in Richmond Park. In 1792 the Rev. Daniel Lysons published The Environs of London: being a historical account of the towns, villages, and hamlets, within twelve miles of that capital in which he wrote: "In the early part of the present century there were annual races upon this common, which had then
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#17327838834102288-404: Is singularly eligible, having a beautiful home prospect of the park, with a fine piece of water towards the north, and an extensive view over the country of Surrey on the south." The house burnt down at Easter 1785, spreading from the laundry-room where linen was being aired in preparation for the return of the family after a brief absence. Lord Spencer cleared away the ruins and leveled and turfed
2392-410: Is thought to have been constructed. In 1086 when the Domesday Book was compiled, Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake . The ownership of the manor of Wimbledon changed between various wealthy families many times during its history, and the area also attracted other wealthy families who built large houses such as Eagle House, Wimbledon Manor House and Warren House . The village developed with
2496-472: The Dog and Fox made the journey to London routine, although not without the risk of being held-up by highwaymen , such as Jerry Abershawe on the Portsmouth Road. The stagecoach horses would be stabled at the rear of the pub in what are now named Wimbledon Village Stables. The 1735 manor house burnt down in the 1780s and was replaced in 1801 by Wimbledon Park House, built by the second Earl . At
2600-572: The Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common , the second-largest in London, is thought to have been constructed. The original nucleus of Wimbledon was at the top of the hill close to the common – the area now known locally as "the village". The village is referred to as "Wimbedounyng" in a charter signed by King Edgar the Peaceful in 967. The name Wimbledon means "Wynnman's hill", with
2704-672: The Municipal Borough of Mitcham , creating instead the London Borough of Merton. Initially, the new administrative centre was at Wimbledon Town Hall, but it moved to the 14-storey Crown House in Morden in the early 1990s. It is now in the Parliamentary constituency of Wimbledon , and since 2005 has been represented by the Conservative MP Stephen Hammond . Since 2005, the north and west of
2808-713: The Worshipful Company of Girdlers and a director of the British East India Company built Eagle House as a home at an easy distance from London. The Cecil family retained the manor for fifty years, before it was bought by Charles I in 1638 for his Queen, Henrietta Maria . Following the King's execution in 1649, the manor passed rapidly among various parliamentarian owners, including the Leeds Member of Parliament (MP) Adam Baynes and
2912-530: The civil war general John Lambert ; Lambert drafted the Instrument of Government , the founding document of the Protectorate , at Wimbledon. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, it was returned to Henrietta Maria (now as mother of the new King, Charles II ). The Dowager Queen sold the manor in 1661 to George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol , who employed John Evelyn to improve and update
3016-537: The 1820s employed a young Joseph Paxton as one of his gardeners, but in the 1840s the Spencer family sold the park off as building land. A period of residential development began with large detached houses in the north of the park. In 1864, the Spencers attempted to get parliamentary permission to enclose the common as a new park with a house and gardens and to sell part for building. Following an enquiry, permission
3120-534: The 1870s, at the bottom of the hill on land between the railway line and Worple Road, the All-England Croquet Club had begun to hold its annual championships. But the popularity of croquet was waning as the new sport of lawn tennis began to spread, and after initially setting aside just one of its lawns for tennis, the club decided to hold its first Lawn Tennis Championship in July 1877 . By 1922,
3224-399: The 18th Century onwards the manor lands began to reduce in size as various owners sold off parts. What was known as the 'Old Park', an area of around 300 acres stretching westwards from the present Cannizaro House (now a hotel) and public park , was sold off in 1705. Most of the present day Wimbledon Common was also once part of the manor, with grazing rights given to tenants of the lord of
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3328-530: The 1930s, residential expansion had peaked in Wimbledon and the new focus for local growth had moved to neighbouring Morden , which had remained rural until the arrival of the Underground at Morden station in 1926. Wimbledon station was rebuilt by the Southern Railway with a simple Portland stone facade for the opening of a new railway branch line from Wimbledon to Sutton in 1930. In 1931,
3432-475: The Cecils entertained Queen Elizabeth I of England for three days in 1599. John Thorpe 's undated plan of Wimbledon's ground floor and forecourts of ca 1609, suggests that they were about twelve acres in extent, divided among eleven separate spaces, featuring plantations, walks, and parterres, laid out asymmetrically on the sloping site. During the libel trial of Anne Lake Cecil, Lady Ros in 1618, evidence
3536-536: The Earl of Bristol ; so breaking fast with him privately in his chamber, I accompanied him with two of his daughters, my lord Conway, and Sir Bernard Gascoyne, and having surveyed his gardens and alterations, returned late at night." The Duke's heirs sold the manor in 1717, to Sir Theodore Janssen 1st Baronet of Wimbledon , one of the founding directors of the Bank of England , the new parallel East India Company , and
3640-539: The Estate's accounts of 1236–37. Stables on the current site, behind the Dog & Fox pub in the High Street, were founded in 1915 by William Kirkpatrick and named Hilcote Stables; William's daughter Jean took over on his retirement and continued to visit the stables until her death in 2005. From 1969 Hilcote Stables were leased to Colin Crawford, and when they came up for sale in 1980 renamed Wimbledon Village Stables. It
3744-712: The Holy Trinity Halls in Wimbledon) opened on 20 November 1979 and was the UK’s first theatre venue dedicated exclusively to children. The opening was marked with a Gala performance attended by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother . By 1983 Polka was regularly programming and producing productions aimed specifically at children under 5 in its studio space, known as the Adventure Theatre . The Adventure Theatre hosts in house productions and visiting productions from
3848-478: The Marble Parlour. Several rooms were decorated with gilded stars. The floor of the long gallery was sweet smelling cedar. After noting the lower court and the upper court, the survey reported its several ascents in detail, counting the very steps: The scite of this manor-house being placed on the side slipp of a rising ground, renders it to stand of that height that, betwixt the basis of the brick-wall of
3952-465: The Queen by French garden designer Andre Mollet . He organised a new symmetrical arrangement on the south front. An old sunken garden to the east became an orange garden with parterres and orangery. A richly decorated room "below stairs" in the service quarters of the main house was used by the gardeners to plant orange and pomegranate trees in "boxes" or planters. The house and gardens were described in
4056-601: The UK and overseas. Over recent years Polka has developed its Early Years work for children aged from 6 months. Polka Theatre won the Vivien Duffield Theatre Award to begin the audience development initiative, Curtain-Up! in 1994. The scheme offers free theatre tickets to disadvantaged schools whose pupils would otherwise not have the opportunity to experience theatre due to financial or other difficulties, supplemented by money to cover transport costs and
4160-701: The accession of Henry IV , Arundel was restored, and the archbishops continued to hold the manor of Wimbledon until 1536, when Thomas Cranmer , then archbishop, handed the manor and advowson to Henry VIII, as part of the Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries , who then granted them to Thomas Cromwell . In 1540, Wimbledon manor was taken back from Cromwell on his death by the crown and annexed to Hampton Court . Henry VIII gave it to his queen, Catherine Parr , in 1543. After her death in 1548
4264-413: The borough council, to house some of those who had lost their homes. During the 1970s and 1980s, Wimbledon town centre struggled to compete commercially with more developed centres at Kingston and Sutton . Part of the problem was the shortage of locations for large anchor stores to attract customers. After some years in which the council seemed unable to find a solution, The Centre Court shopping centre
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4368-668: The borough have been represented in Westminster by Paul Kohler , a Liberal Democrat MP. The east and south of the Borough are represented by Siobhain McDonagh , a Labour MP. In 2012 the businesses in Wimbledon voted to introduce a Business Improvement District. "Love Wimbledon" was formed in April 2012, funded and managed by the business community to promote and enhance the town centre. Those who work within Wimbledon can apply for
4472-478: The centre of London at Charing Cross ; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton . Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Wimbledon Town and Dundonald, Hillside, Wandle, Village, Raynes Park and Wimbledon Park. It is home to the Wimbledon Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre , and contains Wimbledon Common , one of
4576-518: The chapel. In 1923, Thomas Lethaby purchased the house and he concentrated on embellishing the interior. The drawing room was fitted with oak panelling from the Chantry House, Newark, an elaborate plaster ceiling based on one at Knole House, and a grand fireplace. The Lethabys sold the house in 1947. In 1953, Russell Brock , later Baron Brock of Wimbledon, an eminent cardiologist, bought the house for £13,750. The Brock family sold it in 1978 and
4680-550: The church in the early 1500s and is Grade II* listed. The house was once moated , and adjoins the grounds of St Mary's Church . After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the former rectory manor and its "Parsonage" or "Rectory" house, compulsorily purchased from the church and vested in the Lord Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell , in 1536, were on his downfall in 1540 seized by Henry VIII who gave them to his sixth and last wife Catherine Parr in 1543. On 20 December 1546, in
4784-451: The city. Renewed upheaval came in 1838, when the opening of the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) brought a station to the south-east of the village, at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill. The location of the station shifted the focus of the town's subsequent growth away from the original village centre. For several years Wimbledon Park was leased to the Duke of Somerset , who briefly in
4888-454: The company meant it was never finished. The next owner was Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough , who increased the land belonging to the manor and completed the construction of a house to replace Jansen's unfinished effort in 1735. On her death in 1744, the property passed to her grandson, John Spencer, and subsequently to the first Earl Spencer . The village continued to grow and the 18th-century introduction of stagecoach services from
4992-645: The council built a new red brick and Portland stone Town Hall next to the station, on the corner of Queen's Road and Wimbledon Bridge. The architects were Bradshaw Gass & Hope . Damage to housing stock in Wimbledon and other parts of London during World War II led to a final major building phase when many earlier Victorian houses with large grounds in Wimbledon Park were sub-divided into flats or demolished and replaced with apartment blocks. Other parts of Wimbledon Park, which had previously escaped being built upon, saw local authority estates constructed by
5096-417: The creation of a new park with a house and gardens and to sell part for building. Though Sir Joseph Paxton testified on Earl Spencer's behalf, in a landmark decision for English common land , and following an enquiry, permission was refused and 1871-created Board of Conservators received the land to preserve it in its natural condition. In 1996 the 9th Earl Spencer sold his vestigial interest in Wimbledon,
5200-532: The decade of the Civil War, the glory of Wimbledon aside from the straight avenue of elms and other trees centred on the house, that stretched forth as far as Putney was chiefly its fruit. Among a thousand fruit trees of every kind, the Parliament-men who inventoried the house and gardens in 1649 noted the "three great and fayer" fig trees that covered a very "greate part of the walls of the south side of
5304-521: The designer of the Crystal Palace for the 1851 Great Exhibition, worked here as a garden-boy assisting his brother, the head gardener. Sir Joseph Paxton returned to design new formal gardens in the 1840s for the Duke of Somerset , Spencer's tenant at the house from 1827. In 1838 the Duke entertained Queen Victoria there. In 1846 the Spencers left Wimbledon Park House, selling the estate (but not
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#17327838834105408-587: The early 20th century, as was recognised in 1905, when the urban district was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon , with the power to select a mayor. By 1910, Wimbledon had established the beginnings of the Wimbledon School of Art at the Gladstone Road Technical Institute and acquired its first cinema and the theatre. Unusually, the facilities at its opening included Victorian-style Turkish baths . By
5512-460: The end he evidently kept £100,000" Consequently, in 1721, he was also stripped of Wimbledon manor by Parliament. In 1741, Janssen, appears to be living next door to the house he had built, albeit with the Campbell design incomplete (see map). Because the house was sold in 1749, the year after his death, this might indicate that he at least continued to own the house, which had been separated from
5616-486: The final element of the name being the Celtic "dun" (hill). The name is shown on J. Cary's 1786 map of the London area as "Wimbleton", and the current spelling appears to have been settled on relatively recently in the early 19th century, the last in a long line of variations. At the time the Domesday Book was compiled (around 1086), Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake , and so was not recorded. The ownership of
5720-413: The finest tulips and gilliflowers that could be got for love or money; yet in these outward pleasures he nourished the ambition which he entertained before he was cashiered by Cromwell." The reputation of Wimbledon manor house in the history of flower gardening thus begins with General Lambert, who painted some of the flowers he was cultivating. Though the Queen's flower gardens may have fallen to ruin in
5824-441: The former Cecil house had stood and close to the junction of the present Arthur Road and Home Park Road in the grounds of the current Ricards Lodge school .This iteration of Wimbledon manor house was engraved in 1771 for the fifth volume of Vitruvius Britannicus , where attribution for the design of fifty years previous was given to Lord Pembroke's assistant Roger Morris . Letters of the Duchess of Marlborough do mention Morris on
5928-441: The fowerth assent, which consists of eleven stepps of freestone very well wrought and ordered, leading into a gallery paved with square stone, sixtie-two foote long and eight foote broad.... From the forementioned first assent there is a way cut forth of the parke, planted on each side thereof with elmes and other trees, in a very decent order, extending itself in a direct line two hundred thirty-one perches from thence quite through
6032-650: The ground, so that scarcely a trace remained of its foundations except for a tunnel, which still survives, which had linked the main house to the separate staff quarters. Between 1799 and 1802 the 2nd Earl Spencer had Wimbledon manor house rebuilt, in the Regency style , very close to the site of the Marlborough house, incorporating the surviving staff quarters. The new house would be called Wimbledon Park House , allegedly to designs by 'Capability' Brown's son-in-law, Henry Holland . Joseph Paxton , renowned later as
6136-657: The help of the architect Sir Donald Insall CBE . In 2012, the Carminatis put The Old Rectory on the market for £26 million. The house standing in 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 acres, was sold in June 2013 for an undisclosed sum to Ian Taylor . Sir Thomas Cecil , later Earl of Exeter, had connections with Wimbledon manor, before he bought it in 1576, for he had lived there when he was a child, in The Old Rectory. His father, Sir William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , had tenure of
6240-534: The house as a grace-and-favor residence by the Crown. Whilst Sir Thomas did own The Old Rectory, as it came as part of the manor, he decided to build a grand new Wimbledon manor house which was to be known as Wimbledon Palace. This was built next door to The Old Rectory and completed in 1588, England's Annus Mirabilis . It was a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house . Sir Thomas' son Edward Cecil
6344-419: The house for £6,000 in 1882, carried on the works, adding two-storey drawing-room wing and installing carved-oak doors and English, Flemish and Italian chimney pieces. In 1909 the house was purchased by marine engineer Matthias Jacobs, who enlarged it considerably with help from his brother, an architect, who designed a new single-storey billiard room, a large service wing to the north and a study extension to mask
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#17327838834106448-470: The house was demolished in about 1949. The land on which it and the Marlborough house had stood was the site of Park House Middle School, built in 1972 and demolished in the early 2000s after Merton Council reverted to a two-tier school system. It now forms part of the sports fields of Ricards Lodge School. In 1864, still lord of the manor , the 5th Earl , attempted to get a private parliamentary bill to enclose Wimbledon Common , which he still owned, for
6552-622: The ill-fated South Sea Company . Janssen paid the famous architect Colen Campbell and Gould, £70 as "overseers" of a new house to be built for him at Wimbledon in 1720. Built in part with brick from the Elizabethan manor house on a new site to the south west of St Mary's church. Janssen, as a director of the South Sea Company, was heavily involved in the South Sea Bubble fiasco, where the directors were accused by Parliament , in 1721, of committing fraud. Parliament itself
6656-448: The kitchen garden was sold and developed for housing known today as Rectory Orchard. The Old Rectory was then bought by an Iraqi entrepreneur and philanthropist, Basil Faidhi. Faidhi had fled Iraq for Britain and though he spent vast sums restoring the house with assistance from English Heritage , he also created a basement discothèque for his daughter, Nina, and a bar. In 1992 Faidhi commissioned Wimbledon historian Richard Milward to write
6760-549: The landscape in accordance with the latest fashions, including grottos and fountains. After his death in 1677, the manor was sold again to the Lord High Treasurer , Thomas Osborne , Earl of Danby . The Osborne family sold the manor to Sir Theodore Janssen in 1712. Janssen, a director of the South Sea Company , began a new house to replace the one built by the Cecils, but the spectacular collapse of
6864-420: The largest areas of common land in London. The residential and retail area is split into two sections known as the "village" and the "town", with the High Street being the rebuilding of the original medieval village, and the "town" having first developed gradually after the building of the railway station in 1838. Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common
6968-429: The latter created along with further improvements to the park by the famous landscaper 'Capability' Brown for Earl Spencer , in 1768. Until 1328, Wimbledon manor formed part of the manor of Mortlake . In 1364, Simon Islip , the Archbishop of Canterbury , gave the demesne lands to Merton Priory . Wimbledon was among the possessions of the church forfeited by Thomas Arundel , Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1397. On
7072-532: The manor . The Common was saved from enclosure and development in 1871 by a remarkably early act of conservation. 42 acres, previously part of the manor parklands, are now occupied by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club that has made Wimbledon synonymous with tennis. Further tracts of the Grade II* listed public Wimbledon Park include its present-day golf course and the lake,
7176-572: The manor estate, in 1721; with the Rush family as tenants (see map). This theory appears to be confirmed by the Wimbledon Museum: "Although he (Janssen) was allowed to keep his newly built house he preferred to live in another, nearer the High Street". Reports that the Duchess of Marlborough owned and demolished this house, therefore, seem to be incorrect. Sir Theodore continued to live out his life quietly in Wimbledon. He died in 1748 aged 94 and
7280-417: The manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. The manor was held by the church until 1398 when Thomas Arundel , Archbishop of Canterbury fell out of favour with Richard II and was exiled. The manor was confiscated and became crown property. The manor remained crown property until the reign of Henry VIII when it was granted briefly to Thomas Cromwell , Earl of Essex , until Cromwell
7384-550: The manor remained in the Crown until 1556, when Queen Mary granted it to Cardinal Pole as part of the Counter Reformation . Queen Elizabeth I seized it back and gave it to Sir Christopher Hatton in 1576 who sold it to Sir Thomas Cecil the same year . The Old Rectory, Wimbledon's first known manor house and its oldest surviving residence, originally known as the Parsonage House, was commissioned by
7488-404: The manor was purchased for £15,000 by Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough . Sarah was the widow of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough , who had died the year before, in 1722.The Duchess demolished the remains of the old Cecil manor house then she turned to the "Architect Earl" of Pembroke , Henry Herbert, for another house on a new site completed in 1733. This was immediately behind where
7592-404: The manor-house" "by the spreading and dilating of themselves in a very large proporcion, but yet in a most decent manner"; to have grown so extensive in 1649 the figs must have been planted in the time of Lord Exeter or his son Lord Wimbledon. The orangery in 1649 held 42 orange trees planted in boxes, valued at £10 each, and 18 young ones, a lemon tree "bearing greate and very large lemmons" (£20)
7696-431: The manorial title) for £85,000 (£71 an acre), to the real estate developer John Augustus Beaumont, an insurance company director, who reduced the size of the park after 1860, with speculative streets of houses. The last Wimbledon manor house, Wimbledon Park House, isolated from its parkland and surrounded by increasingly dense suburban development, and having passed through a succession of owners, became dilapidated —
7800-471: The months prior to his death, during a tour of his Surrey estates, the king was overcome by his various ailments and was unable to continue on to his Palace at Whitehall , so he stopped for three days at Catherine's house. In 1550, the house became a grace and favour home for Sir William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley . Described by one of Cecil's biographers as "not luxurious, but adequate", a survey from 1649 describes The Old Rectory as "A two storey house with
7904-441: The mother of the writer Frederick Marryat . Their association with the area is recorded in the names of nearby Calonne and Marryat roads. Directly south of the common, the early 18th-century Warren House ( Cannizaro House from 1841) was home to a series of grand residents. The first decades of the 19th century were relatively quiet for Wimbledon, with a stable rural population coexisting alongside nobility and wealthy merchants from
8008-473: The original medieval village, and now a prime residential area of London commanding high prices, and the "town" being part of the modern development, centred on The Broadway, since the building of the railway station in 1838. The majority of the adult population of around 68,200 adults belong to the ABC1 social group. The population grew from around 1,000 at the start of the 19th century to around 55,000 in 1911,
8112-421: The park, which still comprised some 1200 acres; his work, which included the lake (Wimbledon Park Lake), was complete by 1768, In 1780, Hannah More visited the house as the guest of Jonathan Shipley , Bishop of St. Asaph, to whom Lord Spencer lent the house annually for a season: "I did not think there could have been so beautiful a place within seven miles of London. The park has as much variety of ground, and
8216-782: The parke northward unto Putney-common , being a very special ornament to the whole house. As a consequence of the English Civil War , the monarchy was overthrown in 1649 and the Crown lands were put up for sale. The manor passed to the Cromwellian General John Lambert . "Lambert," says Roger Coke, in A Detection of the Court and State of England during the four last reigns and the interregnum (1719), "after he had been discarded by Cromwell, betook himself to Wimbledon-house, where he turned florist, and had
8320-426: The popularity of tennis had grown to the extent that the club's small ground could no longer cope with the numbers of spectators and the renamed All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club moved to new grounds close to Wimbledon Park. Wimbledon historian Richard Milward recounts how King George V opened the new courts. "He (the king) gave three blows on a gong, the tarpaulins were removed, the first match started – and
8424-464: The property until 1574 when she gave the manor house (but not the manor) to Christopher Hatton , who sold it in the same year to Sir Thomas Cecil , Earl of Exeter . The lands of the manor were given to the Cecil family in 1588 and a new manor house, Wimbledon Palace , was constructed and gardens laid out in the formal Elizabethan style. Wimbledon's proximity to the capital was beginning to attract other wealthy families. In 1613 Robert Bell, Master of
8528-558: The rain came down." The club's old grounds continue to be used as the sports ground for Wimbledon High School . Wimbledon Village Stables is the oldest recorded riding stables in England. The late Richard Milward MA, a local historian, researched the background of horses in Wimbledon over the years and found that the first recorded stables belonged to the Lord of the Manor, and are detailed in
8632-659: The rebuilding of St Mary's Church in 1849 and the construction of Christ Church (1859) and Trinity Church (1862). Street names reflect events: Denmark Road, Denmark Avenue and the Alexandra pub on Wimbledon Hill mark the marriage of Edward, Prince of Wales , to Princess Alexandra of Denmark . The change of character of Wimbledon from village to small town was recognised under the Local Government Act 1894 , which formed Wimbledon Urban District with an elected council . Wimbledon's population continued to grow in
8736-519: The roads from the centre towards neighbouring Putney, Merton Park and Raynes Park . Transport links improved further with railway lines to Croydon (Wimbledon and Croydon Railway, opened in 1855) and Tooting (Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway, opened in 1868). The District Railway (now the London Underground District line ) extended its service over new tracks from Putney in 1889. The commercial and civic development of
8840-436: The sayd lower court, and the hall door of the sayd manor-house, there are five severall assents, consisting of three-score and ten stepps, which are distinguished in a very graceful manner; to witt, from the parke to a payre of rayled gates, set betwixt two large pillers of brick; in the middle of the wall standing on the north side of the sayd lower court is the first assent, consisting of eight stepps, of good freestone, layed in
8944-500: The sides, lay 26 steps below the upper cour d'honneur , which could be approached only by a monumental axial staircase with paired helical flights rising from a central raised landing. Wimbledon's series of terraces and axial stairs and its hilltop site was "inspired presumably" by the Villa Farnese at Caprarola . The estate stood within a day's ride of Westminster , making it eminently suitable for an active courtier; there,
9048-438: The site, but implying that he was acting on Pembroke's behalf, and the architect-builder Francis Smith of Warwick is also mentioned, as surveyor. Palladian Wimbledon manor was a compact house of gray brick with Portland stone dressings, of seven bays, its broader end bays slightly projecting; the three central bays were crowned with a pediment over a lightly projecting Ionic portico of four attached columns.The ground floor
9152-411: The south wing and restored the remainder of the house. By 1861, the house was a near ruin when it was sold as part of Wimbledon Park (but not the manor), by Earl Spencer , to the developer, John Beaumont (see below). Beaumont restored and extended The Old Rectory, repaired the exterior, transformed the interior, laid out the grounds and planted the famous fig walk. His successor, Samuel Willson, who bought
9256-414: The time the manor estate included Wimbledon Common (as a heath ) and the enclosed parkland around the manor house. Its area corresponded to the modern Wimbledon Park . The house stood east of St Mary's church . Wimbledon House, a separate residence close to the village at the south end of Parkside (near Peek Crescent), was home in the 1790s to the exiled French statesman Vicomte de Calonne , and later to
9360-399: The town also accelerated. Ely's department store opened in 1876 and shops began to stretch along Broadway towards Merton. Wimbledon built its first police station in 1870. Cultural developments included a Literary Institute by the early 1860s and the opening of Wimbledon Library in 1887. The religious needs of the growing population led to an Anglican church-building programme, starting with
9464-493: The town's subsequent growth away from the original village centre. Wimbledon was a municipal borough in the county of Surrey from 1905 to 1965, when it became part of the London Borough of Merton as part of the creation of Greater London . Wimbledon has established minority groups ; among the prominent ones being British Asians (mainly British Pakistanis and British Sri Lankans ), British Ghanaians , Poles and Irish people . Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least
9568-554: Was appointed in August 2013 having previously been the Artistic Director/ Chief Executive of Little Angel Theatre , Islington . 51°25′11″N 0°11′42″W / 51.4196°N 0.1949°W / 51.4196; -0.1949 Wimbledon, London Wimbledon ( / ˈ w ɪ m b əl d ə n / ) is a district and town of south-west London, England, 7.0 miles (11.3 km) southwest of
9672-401: Was built around 1500 still stands as a private home, despite very nearly falling into a state beyond repair, in the 19th century. The ambitious later Elizabethan prodigy house , Wimbledon Palace , was "a house of the first importance" according to Sir John Summerson , and is now demolished. The manor house passed through several further iterations, being entirely rebuilt three times. From
9776-680: Was developed on land next to the station, providing a much-needed focus, and opened in 1990. The shopping centre incorporated the old town hall building. A new portico, in keeping with the old work, was designed by Sir George Grenfell-Baines , who had worked on the original designs over fifty years before. Wimbledon lies in the south-west area of London, three miles (4.8 km) south of Wandsworth , two miles (3.2 km) south-west of Tooting , three miles west of Mitcham , four miles (6.4 km) north of Sutton and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Kingston upon Thames , in Greater London . It
9880-425: Was dramatically terraced with massive retaining walls. The house was built on a modified H plan, with a slightly recessed central range facing south, and on the north, a central entrance between deep flanking wings, with matching staircase towers in the inner corners. An informally arranged service wing, not part of the symmetrical design, lay to the west. The entrance court, essentially a deep gated terrace entered from
9984-400: Was executed in 1540 and the land was again confiscated. The manor was next held by Henry VIII's last wife and widow Catherine Parr until her death in 1548 when it again reverted to the monarch. In the 1550s, Henry's daughter, Mary I , granted the manor to Cardinal Reginald Pole who held it until his death in 1558 when it once again become royal property. Mary's sister, Elizabeth I held
10088-415: Was made 1st Viscount Wimbledon on the basis of this seat. Edward's sarcophagus sits within the Cecil chapel at St Mary's church, Wimbledon, near the site of his demolished home. The site, which was near the village of Wimbledon , was near the top of a high hill, astride the upper part of what is now Home Park Road, with extensive views northwards over the present day Wimbledon Park, above a steep slope that
10192-501: Was not immune from implication in the scandal, for several members of the cabinet were impeached for their corruption. The Chancellor of the Exchequer , John Aislabie , was found guilty of the "most notorious, dangerous and infamous corruption", and imprisoned. Janssen petitioned Parliament for leniency before they introduced a Bill enabling them to confiscate the assets of the directors. Parliament allowed him to keep £50,000 but in
10296-615: Was promptly given back to Charles' widow Henrietta-Maria, who sold it the following year to trustees for John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol . Bristol's widow sold it to Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby , the Lord Treasurer, who was afterwards created Duke of Leeds. John Evelyn 's name is loosely connected with the gardens on the grounds he went with the Lord Treasurer to view the house and grounds, 18 March 1678: of an entry in his diary that same year: "My Lord Treasurer sent for me to accompany him.to Wimbledon, which he had lately purchased of
10400-470: Was refused and a board of conservators was established in 1871 to take ownership of the common and preserve it in its natural condition. In the second half of the century, Wimbledon experienced a very rapid expansion of its population. From under 2,700 residents recorded in the 1851 census, the population grew by a minimum of 60 per cent each decade up to 1901, to increase fifteen-fold in fifty years. Large numbers of villas and terraced houses were built along
10504-431: Was responsible also for the exterior that was painted en camaieu in tones of yellow and burnt ochre. Immediately after Viscount Wimbledon died, in 1638, the manor together with manor house was sold by his heirs to trustees for the queen of Charles I , who gave it to Queen Henrietta-Maria . Alterations and expansion were made in 1640–41, just at the outbreak of the English Civil War . Overseeing plans and construction
10608-491: Was submitted that a servant overheard the Countess of Exeter in the great chamber. It was said that James VI and I visited to check the acoustics. The house was damaged in 1628 by the accidental igniting of gunpowder stored there. The glories of this house, after repairs had been effected, were concentrated in the long Gallery , one of two in the house, which was richly painted and marbleized, no doubt by Francis Cleyn , who
10712-497: Was sunken to allow the Duchess, who had gout, to enter at first floor level, without going up steps. Evidently the Duchess was not pleased with the finished house for she wrote to her granddaughter, Diana, Duchess of Bedford , sometime between 1732 and 1735 that the Earl's talent was little more than to "imitate ill whatever was useless" in Inigo Jones and Palladio 's buildings. English Heritage , which lists Wimbledon Park
10816-464: Was the court architect Inigo Jones , Surveyor of the King's Works , and on site was the prominent sculptor-builder Nicholas Stone . The two-storey house with a flat balustraded roof was severe in outward aspect. Thomas Fuller calls Wimbledon manor house "a daring structure;" and says, that "by some it has been thought to equal Nonsuch , if not to exceed it." The magnificent gardens were created for
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