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Wimbledon, London
 
 
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Wimbledon is a suburb
Suburb

Suburbs are commonly defined as the residential areas which surround the central area of the urban area of a town or city. In the United States, suburbs have a prevalence of usually detached single-family homes.....
 of London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, part of the London Borough of Merton
London Borough of Merton

The London Borough of Merton is a London borough in south west London.The borough was formed in 1965 by the merger of the former area of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton and Morden Urban District, all formerly within Surrey....
 and located south west of Charing Cross
Charing Cross

Charing Cross denotes the junction of the Strand, London, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in City of Westminster within Central London, England....
.

For most of the past one hundred years, Wimbledon has been internationally known as the home of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships
The Championships, Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered the most prestigious....
. Its common is recognised as the home of the Wombles
WOMBLES

The WOMBLES are a loose Anti-capitalism group based in London that once dressed in white overalls with padding and helmets at protests, mimicking the Italian group Tute Bianche....
.

name Wimbledon means "Wynnman's hill", with the final element of the name being the Old English dun (hill). The current spelling appears to have been settled on relatively recently in the early 19th century, the last in a long line of variations.

The village is referred to as "Wimbedounyng" in a charter signed by King Edgar the Peaceful
Edgar of England

Edgar I the Peaceful or the Peaceable was a king of England.Edgar was the younger son of Edmund I of England. His cognomen, "The Peaceable", was not necessarily a comment on the deeds of his life, for he was a strong leader, shown by his seizure of the Northumbrian and Mercian kingdoms from his older brother, Edwy, in 958....
 in 967 and is shown on J Cary's 1786 map of the London area as "Wimbleton".
ledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age
Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
 when the hill fort
Hill fort

A hill fort is type of fortification refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age and Iron Ages....
 on Wimbledon Common
Wimbledon and Putney Commons

Wimbledon, London and Putney Commons are a large open space in south-west London, totalling 1140 acres .There are three distinct segments -- Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common....
 is thought to have been constructed.






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Encyclopedia


Wimbledon is a suburb
Suburb

Suburbs are commonly defined as the residential areas which surround the central area of the urban area of a town or city. In the United States, suburbs have a prevalence of usually detached single-family homes.....
 of London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, part of the London Borough of Merton
London Borough of Merton

The London Borough of Merton is a London borough in south west London.The borough was formed in 1965 by the merger of the former area of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton and Morden Urban District, all formerly within Surrey....
 and located south west of Charing Cross
Charing Cross

Charing Cross denotes the junction of the Strand, London, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in City of Westminster within Central London, England....
.

For most of the past one hundred years, Wimbledon has been internationally known as the home of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships
The Championships, Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered the most prestigious....
. Its common is recognised as the home of the Wombles
WOMBLES

The WOMBLES are a loose Anti-capitalism group based in London that once dressed in white overalls with padding and helmets at protests, mimicking the Italian group Tute Bianche....
.

History


Etymology

The name Wimbledon means "Wynnman's hill", with the final element of the name being the Old English dun (hill). The current spelling appears to have been settled on relatively recently in the early 19th century, the last in a long line of variations.

The village is referred to as "Wimbedounyng" in a charter signed by King Edgar the Peaceful
Edgar of England

Edgar I the Peaceful or the Peaceable was a king of England.Edgar was the younger son of Edmund I of England. His cognomen, "The Peaceable", was not necessarily a comment on the deeds of his life, for he was a strong leader, shown by his seizure of the Northumbrian and Mercian kingdoms from his older brother, Edwy, in 958....
 in 967 and is shown on J Cary's 1786 map of the London area as "Wimbleton".

Early history

Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age
Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
 when the hill fort
Hill fort

A hill fort is type of fortification refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age and Iron Ages....
 on Wimbledon Common
Wimbledon and Putney Commons

Wimbledon, London and Putney Commons are a large open space in south-west London, totalling 1140 acres .There are three distinct segments -- Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common....
 is thought to have been constructed. The original centre of Wimbledon was at the top of the hill close to the common - the area now known locally as "the village".

In 1087 when the Domesday Book
Domesday Book

The Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror....
 was compiled, Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake
Mortlake

Mortlake is a district of London, England and part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes, London with East Sheen inland to the south....
. The ownership of the manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. The manor was held by the church until 1398 when Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel

Thomas Arundel was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken opponent of the Lollards....
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, the Episcopal see that churches must be in communion with in order to be a part of the Anglican Communion....
 fell out of favour with Richard II
Richard II of England

Richard II was the eighth King of England of the House of Plantagenet. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III of England....
 and was exiled. The manor was confiscated and became crown property.

16th century

The manor remained crown property until the reign of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
 when it was granted briefly to Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex was an England statesman who served as Henry VIII of England's chief minister from 1532 to 1540....
, Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex

Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals, of which the best-known and most closely associated with the title was Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex ....
 until Cromwell 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
Catherine Parr

Catherine Parr , also known as Catherine or Catharine Parr, was the last of Wives of Henry VIII of Henry VIII of England. She was Queen Consort of England during 1543?1547, then Dowager Queen of England....
 until her death in 1548 when it again reverted to the monarch.

In the 1550s, Henry's daughter, Mary I
Mary I of England

Mary I , was Queen of England and Monarchy of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI of England, to the English throne....
, granted the manor to Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
 Reginald Pole
Reginald Cardinal Pole

Reginald Cardinal Pole was an England prelate, a Cardinal in the Catholic Church, and the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, holding office during the Counter Reformation....
 who held it until his death in 1558 when it once again become royal property. Mary's sister, Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
 held the property until 1574 when she gave the manor house (but not the manor) to Christopher Hatton
Christopher Hatton

Sir Christopher Hatton was an English politician, the Lord Chancellor of England and, according to speculation, the lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England....
 who sold it in the same year to Sir Thomas Cecil
Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, Knight of the Garter , known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an England politician and soldier....
, Earl of Exeter. The lands of the manor were given to the Cecil family in 1588 and a new manor house was constructed and gardens laid out in the formal Elizabethan style.

17th century

Wimbledon's convenient proximity to the capital was beginning to attract other wealthy families and in 1613 Robert Bell, Master of the Worshipful Company of Girdlers
Worshipful Company of Girdlers

The Worshipful Company of Girdlers is one of the Livery Company of the City of London. The organisation was awarded the right to regulate Girdlers in 1327; it was granted a Royal Charter in 1449....
 and a director of the British East India Company
British East India Company

The East India Company was an early England joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the Indies, but that ended up trading with the Indian subcontinent and China....
 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
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
 in 1638 for his Queen, Henrietta Maria.

Following the King's execution in 1649, the manor passed rapidly through various parliamentarian
Roundhead

"Roundheads" was the nickname given to the Puritan supporters of Parliament of England during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they were the supporters of Oliver Cromwell against Charles I of England ....
 ownerships including Leeds
Leeds

Leeds is located on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. It is the urban core and administrative centre of the wider metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds....
 MP
Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators....
 Adam Baynes
Adam Baynes

Adam Baynes was a parliamentary army officer and Member of Parliament for Leeds during the Commonwealth of England , and as such the first MP for the city....
 and civil war
English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Roundhead and Cavalier. The First English Civil War and Second English Civil War civil wars pitted the supporters of Charles I of England against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the Third English Civil War saw fighting between supporters...
 general
General

A General officer is an Officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is just called general....
 John Lambert
John Lambert (general)

General John Lambert served as an England Parliament of England general in the English Civil War....
 but, following the restoration of the monarchy
English Restoration

The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored under Charles II of England after the Interregnum that followed the English Civil War....
 in 1660, was back in the ownership of Henrietta Maria (now Charles I's widow and mother of the new King, Charles II
Charles II of England

Charles II was the Monarchy of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland.His father Charles I of England Regicide#The regicide of Charles I of England at Palace of Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War....
).

The Dowager Queen sold the manor in 1661 to George Digby
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol

George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol , politician. He was born in Madrid, the eldest son of John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol and his wife Beatrice Walcott....
, Earl of Bristol
Earl of Bristol

Earl of Bristol is a title that has been created twice in British history. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1622 in favour of the politician and diplomat John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol who served for many years as British Ambassador to Spain, and had already been created Baron Digby of Sherborne, in the County of D...
 who employed John Evelyn
John Evelyn

John Evelyn was an England writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diary or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time ....
 to improve and update the landscape in accordance with the latest fashions including grotto
Grotto

A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide....
s and fountains. On his death in 1677 the manor was sold on again to the Lord High Treasurer
Lord High Treasurer

The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer is an old England government position. The holder of the post is third highest of the Great Officer of State, ranking below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President of the Council....
, Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds

Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds , English statesman, commonly known also by his earlier title of Earl of Danby, served in a variety of offices under Kings Charles II of England and William III of England of England....
, Earl of Danby
Duke of Leeds

The title Duke of Leeds was created in 1694 for the Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds and became extinct on the death of the Francis Osborne, 12th Duke of Leeds in 1964....
.

18th century

The Osborne family sold the manor to Sir Theodore Janssen
Sir Theodore Janssen, 1st Baronet

Sir Theodore Janssen, 1st Baronet was a Netherlands-born English financier and Member of Parliament who after a long and successful career in commerce was ruined and disgraced by his part in the South Sea Bubble....
 in 1712. Janssen, a director of The South Sea Company
The South Sea Company

The South Sea Company was a Kingdom of Great Britain joint stock company that traded in South America during the 18th century. Founded in 1711, the company was granted a monopoly to trade in Spain's Spanish colonization of the Americas as part of a treaty during the War of Spanish Succession....
, began a new house to replace the Cecil-built manor house but, due to the spectacular collapse of the company, never finished it.

The next owner was Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough rose to be one of the most influential women in British history as a result of her close friendship with Anne of Great Britain....
 who increased the land belonging to the manor and completed the construction of a house to replace Janssen'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
Earl Spencer

Earl Spencer is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created on 1 November 1765, along with the title Viscount Althorp, of Althorp in the County of Northamptonshire, for John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, a great-grandson of the John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough....
.

The village continued to grow and the introduction in the 18th century of stagecoach
Stagecoach

A stagecoach is a type of four-wheeled closed coach for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand....
 services from the Dog and Fox public house made the journey to London routine, although not without the risk of being held-up by highwaymen
Highwayman

The word highwayman is first attested from the year 1617. The term "highwayman" is mainly applied to robbers who travelled on a horse, as opposed to those who robbed on foot ....
 such as Jerry Abershawe
Jerry Abershawe

Louis Jeremiah Abershawe , better known as Jerry Abershawe, was a notorious highwayman who terrorised travellers along the road between London and Portsmouth in the late eighteenth century....
 on the Portsmouth
Portsmouth

Portsmouth city status in the United Kingdom located in the Counties of England of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the UK's only island city and is located on Portsea Island....
 Road. The 1735 manor house burnt down in the 1780s and was replaced with Wimbledon Park House in 1801 by the second Earl
George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer

George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer Order of the Garter Privy Council of the United Kingdom Royal Society Society of Antiquaries of London was an English British Whig Party politician....
. At this time the manor lands included Wimbledon Common (then called a heath
Heath

Heath can mean:...
) and the enclosed parkland around the manor house. The area of the park corresponded to the modern Wimbledon Park
Wimbledon Park

Wimbledon Park is a both a park in Wimbledon, London and the suburb around it to which it lends its name. It is the second largest park in the London Borough of Merton and also gives its name to Wimbledon Park tube station....
 area, The house was situated to the east of St Mary's church.

Wimbledon House, a separate residence close to the village at the south end of Parkside (near present day Peek Crescent), was home in the 1790s to the exiled French statesman Vicomte de Calonne
Charles Alexandre de Calonne

Charles Alexandre, Viscount de Calonne was a France statesman, best known for his involvement in the French Revolution....
, and later to the mother of writer Frederick Marryat
Frederick Marryat

Captain Frederick Marryat was an England novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story....
. Their association with the area is recorded in the names of nearby Calonne and Marryat Roads.

To the south of the common, the early 18th century Warren House (called Cannizaro House
Cannizaro park

Cannizaro Park is a park in Wimbledon, London in the London Borough of Merton. It is located to the south of Wimbledon Common and is known for its ornamental landscaped gardens with ponds and sculpture....
 from 1841) was home to a series of grand residents.

19th century


The first decades of the 19th century were relatively quiet for Wimbledon, with a stable rural population coexisting alongside nobility and wealthy merchants from the city, but renewed upheaval came in 1838 when the opening of the London and South Western Railway
London and South Western Railway

The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth, Dorset....
 (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 a number of years Wimbledon Park
Wimbledon Park

Wimbledon Park is a both a park in Wimbledon, London and the suburb around it to which it lends its name. It is the second largest park in the London Borough of Merton and also gives its name to Wimbledon Park tube station....
 was leased to the Duke of Somerset
Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset

Edward Adolphus St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset Knight of the Garter was the son of Webb Seymour, 10th Duke of Somerset and Mary Bonnell.On June 24 1800, he married, Lady Charlotte Hamilton , daughter of Archibald Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton, and had three children:...
, who briefly in the 1820s employed a young Joseph Paxton
Joseph Paxton

Sir Joseph Paxton was an English people gardener and architect, best known for designing the The Crystal Palace....
 as one of his gardeners, but, in the 1840s, the Spencer family sold the park as building land. A period of residential development began with the construction of large detached houses in the north of the park. In 1864, the Spencers attempted to get parliamentary permission to enclose
Enclosure

Enclosure or inclosure is the process by which common land is taken into fully private ownership and use. Common land is land which is owned by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as arable farming, mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock....
 the common for the creation of a new park with a house and gardens and to sell part for building. Following an enquiry, permission was refused and a board of conservators was established in 1871 to take ownership of the common and preserve it in its natural condition.

Transport links expanded further with new railway lines to Croydon (Wimbledon and Croydon Railway, opened in 1855) and Tooting (Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway, opened in 1868). The Metropolitan District Railway
Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways

The Metropolitan Railway and the Metropolitan District Railway were the first two underground railways to be built in London, creating the world's first Rapid transit system....
 (now London Underground
London Underground

The London Underground is a metro system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the UK....
's District Line
District Line

The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels....
) extended its service over new tracks from Putney in 1889.

In the second half of the century Wimbledon experienced a very rapid expansion of its population. From a small base of just under 2,700 residents recorded in the 1851 census
Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population....
, the population grew by a minimum of 60 per cent each decade up to 1901 increasing fifteenfold in fifty years. During this time large numbers of villas and terraced houses were built out along the roads from the centre towards neighbouring Putney, Merton Park
Merton Park

Merton Park is a place in the London Borough of Merton. It is a quiet and leafy suburb situated between Wimbledon, London, Morden, South Wimbledon and Wimbledon Chase....
 and Raynes Park
Raynes Park

Raynes Park is a suburb within the London Borough of Merton south-west London, centred around Raynes Park railway station station and situated between Wimbledon, London and New Malden....
.

The commercial and civic development of the town also accelerated during this period. Ely's department store
Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant Merchandise#Product_line....
 opened in 1876 and shops began to stretch along the Broadway towards Merton. Wimbledon got its first police station in 1870, situated in Victoria Crescent. 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 were dealt with by a church building programme starting with the rebuilding of St Mary's Church in 1849 and the construction of Christ Church (1859) and Trinity Church (1862).

The change of character of Wimbledon from village to small town was recognised in 1894 when, under the Local Government Act 1894
Local Government Act 1894

The Local Government Act 1894 was an act of parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London....
, it formed the Wimbledon Urban District with an elected council
Local government in the United Kingdom

The pattern of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is decided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and Government of the United Kingdom, because England does not have a devolved English parliament....
.

20th century

Wimbledon's population continued to grow at the start of the 20th century, a condition recognised in 1905 when the urban district was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon
Municipal Borough of Wimbledon

Wimbledon was a local government district in north-east Surrey from 1866 to 1965 covering the town of Wimbledon, London and its surrounding area....
, with the power to select a Mayor.

By the end of the first decade of the new century 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. Somewhat unusually, at its opening the theatre's facilities included a Turkish baths.

In 1931 the council built itself a new red brick and Portland stone
Portland stone

Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period Quarry on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds....
 Town Hall next to the station on the corner of Queen's Road and Wimbledon Bridge. The architects were Bradshaw Gass & Hope
Bradshaw Gass & Hope

Bradshaw Gass & Hope is an England firm of Architect founded in 1862 by Jonas James Bradshaw . The style "Bradshaw Gass & Hope" was adopted after J....
.

By the 1930s residential expansion had peaked in Wimbledon and the new focus for local growth had moved to neighbouring Morden
Morden

Morden is a district in the London Borough of Merton. It is located approximately Boxing the compass of central London between Merton Park , Mitcham , London Borough of Sutton and Worcester Park ....
 which had remained rural until the arrival of the Underground at Morden station
Morden tube station

Morden station is a London Underground station in Morden in the London Borough of Merton. The station is the southern terminus for the Northern Line, is the most southerly station on the Underground and is in Travelcard Zone 4....
 in 1926. Wimbledon station
Wimbledon station

Wimbledon station is a National Rail, London Underground, and Tramlink station located in Wimbledon, London in the London Borough of Merton, and is the only London station that provides an interchange between rail, Underground, and Tramlink services....
 was rebuilt by Southern Railway with a simple Portland stone facade for the opening of a new railway branch line from Wimbledon to Sutton
Sutton railway station

Sutton railway station is the main station for Sutton, London in South London. It is served by First Capital Connect and Southern trains. It is in Travelcard Zone 5....
. The Wimbledon to Sutton line
Wimbledon and Sutton Railway

The Wimbledon and Sutton Railway was a railway company established by an Act of Parliament in 1910 to build a railway line in Surrey from Wimbledon, London to Sutton, London via Merton and Morden....
 opened in 1930.

Damage to housing stock in Wimbledon and other parts of London during the Second World War
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 led to the final major building phase when many of the earlier Victorian houses built with large grounds in Wimbledon Park were sub-divided into apartments 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 the borough council to house some of those who had lost their homes.

In 1965, the London Government Act 1963
London Government Act 1963

The London Government Act 1963 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which recognised officially the conurbation known as Greater London and created a new local government structure for the capital....
 abolished the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon, the Merton and Morden Urban District
Merton and Morden Urban District

Merton Urban District was an urban district in Surrey, England, created in 1907 to cover the parish of Merton . Formerly, the parish had been part of the Croydon Rural District Rural District since its formation under the Local Government Act 1894 but an increasing population lead to its creation as a separately administered area....
 and the Municipal Borough of Mitcham
Municipal Borough of Mitcham

Mitcham was a local government district in north east Surrey from 1915 to 1965 around the town of Mitcham.It was created in 1915 as an urban district from part of the abolished Croydon Rural District....
 and in their place created the London Borough of Merton. Initially, the new borough's administrative centre was at Wimbledon Town Hall but this moved to the fourteen storey Crown House in Morden in the early 1990s.

54 Parkside is home to the Papal Nuncio
Nuncio

Nuncio is an Ecclesiology diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church....
 (ambassador
Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents their country. They are usually accredited to a Sovereignty or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of their country....
) to Great Britain.

During the 1970s and 1980s Wimbledon town centre struggled to compete commercially with the more developed centres at Kingston
Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London.It was the ancient market town where Anglo-Saxons kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross....
 and Sutton
Sutton, London

Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated 10.6 miles south-southwest of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan....
. Part of the problem was the shortage of locations for large anchor stores to attract custom. After a number of years in which the council seemed unable to find a solution The Centre Court shopping centre was developed on land next to the station providing the much needed focus for retail expansion. 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
George Grenfell Baines

Professor Sir George Grenfell-Baines OBE DL was an England architect and town planner. Born in Preston, as George Baines, his family?s humble circumstances forced him to start work at the age of fourteen....
 who had worked on the original designs over fifty years earlier.

Present day

As it was in the 16th and 17th centuries, Wimbledon's attraction remains its combination of convenient access to central London with the benefit of plentiful recreational facilities. Strong demand for homes, especially the larger properties in the Wimbledon Village and Wimbledon Park areas, has seen prices increase to amongst the highest in the outer London area.

Wimbledon Village provides a good collection of bistros, restaurants and pubs and during the fortnight of the tennis
Tennis

Tennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber Tennis ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's tennis court....
 championship the streets are crowded with visitors enjoying the facilities. The newly reopened New Wimbledon Theatre
New Wimbledon Theatre

The New Wimbledon Theatre is situated on The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a Listed building Edwardian era theatre built by the theatre lover and entrepreneur, J B Mullholland....
 on the Broadway is also popular throughout London, bringing in a large number of West End productions.

There is a Buddhist temple where on 15 August of every year a chariot festival takes place, open to the general public.

Sport

Although now best known as the home of tennis, this was not the first sport to bring Wimbledon national fame.

Football

Wimbledon has also been well known for another period of sporting fame. From a small, long-established non-League
Non-league football

Non-League football is football in Football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top List of football clubs in England in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football League were...
 team, Wimbledon Football Club
Wimbledon F.C.

Wimbledon Football Club was a Association football club that began life in Wimbledon, London, south west London. Founded in 1911 in football as Wimbledon Borough, the club spent most of its history in non-league football, before a rapid ascent to the FA Premier League of English football in the late 1970s and early 1980s, staying in the old...
 had, starting in 1977, climbed quickly through the ranks of the football league structure, reaching the highest national professional league in 1986 and winning the FA Cup
FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a Single-elimination tournament cup competition in Football in England, run by and named after The Football Association....
 against Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is a professional association football club based in Liverpool, England. The club plays in the Premier League, and it is the Football records in England#Most successful clubs overall in the history of Football in England; the club has won List of football clubs in England by major honours won than any other English cl...
 in 1988.

However, the close proximity of other more established teams such as Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.

Chelsea Football Club are a professional English association football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Football in England....
 and Fulham
Fulham F.C.

Fulham Football Club is an English professional Association football club based in Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they celebrated their 125th anniversary in 2004, and they are in the top tier of English football, the The Football Association Premier League....
 and its small ground, meant that the club never developed its fan base to the size needed to maintain a top flight team. In 2000 the team was relegated from the top division of English football after 14 years - the beginning of what could have been the end.

Having already played their matches outside their home territory at neighbouring Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.

Crystal Palace F.C. is an England association football club based in South Norwood, London. Their home games are played at Selhurst Park....
's Selhurst Park
Selhurst Park

Selhurst Park is a United Kingdom football stadium located in the London suburb of South Norwood in the London Borough of Croydon. It is the current home ground of Crystal Palace F.C., of which Simon Jordan is chairman....
 since 1991 when their former Plough Lane
Plough Lane

Plough Lane was a football stadium in the Wimbledon, London area of south west London. It was the home ground of Wimbledon F.C. from September 1912 to May 1991 when it closed ....
 ground was left for financial reasons, an FA
The Football Association

The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependency of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man....
 commission controversially allowed the owners of the club to relocate 70 miles north to the town of Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes , often abbreviated to MK, is a large town in South East England, about north-west of London. It is also the principal town of the Milton Keynes , within the ceremonial counties of England of Buckinghamshire....
 in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a Ceremonial counties of England and Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England home counties Counties of England in South East England England....
, despite vehement fan protests. This repesented a previously unheard-of acceptance by the FA of American style sports team franchising, and the decision was universally criticised.

As soon as The Football Association
The Football Association

The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependency of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man....
 approved this move in May 2002, former Wimbledon FC supporters founded their own replacement club, the semi-professional AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon

AFC Wimbledon are a semi-professional England association football club affiliated to both the London Football Association and Surrey County Football Association Football Associations....
, and the club's support overwhelmingly shifted to the new team, who in their second and third seasons of existence earned successive promotions to the First
Isthmian League First Division

The Isthmian League First Division was part of the Isthmian League, an England association Football league.The first division ranked below the league's Isthmian League Premier Division and above a variety of local leagues in southeastern England including the Isthmian's own Isthmian League Second Division....
 then Premier
Isthmian League Premier Division

The Premier Division is the top division of the Isthmian League. It was at the sixth tier of the English football league system from 1985 until 2004 but is now at the seventh tier....
 Divisions of the Isthmian League
Isthmian League

The Isthmian League is a regional Football league covering London and South East England. It is more commonly known by the name of its official title sponsor as the Ryman League, and has in previous years been variously known as the Rothmans Isthmian League, Berger Isthmian League, Servowarm Isthmian League, Vauxh...
. The club also won the Combined Counties League Premier Challenge Cup in 2004 and the Surrey Senior Cup in 2005 to complete consecutive league and cup doubles, one of which finishing the season unbeaten in the league. Another great achievement by the Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association (WISA) saw the return of the Patrimony of Wimbledon F.C. in 2007 to care of Merton Council There is now a permanent display in Morden Library. In 2008, AFC Wimbledon earned another promotion, this time to Conference South
Conference South

Conference South is one of the second divisions of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National....
, placing them two promotions away from The Football League
The Football League

The Football League, also known as the Coca-Cola Football League for English football sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional Football clubs from England and Wales....
.

Rifle shooting

In the 1860s, the newly formed National Rifle Association held its first competition on Wimbledon Common. The association and the annual competition grew rapidly and by the early 1870s, rifle ranges were established on the common. In 1878 the competitions were lasting two weeks and attracting nearly 2,500 competitors, housed in temporary camps set up across the common. By the 1880s, however, the power and range of rifle
Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls....
s had advanced to the extent that shooting in an increasingly populated area was no longer considered safe. The last meeting was held in 1889 before the NRA moved to Bisley
Bisley, Surrey

Bisley is a village in Surrey, England, which is notable for rifle shooting. Bisley's immediate neighbours are West End, Woking, Chobham, Surrey and Knaphill....
 in Surrey
Surrey

Surrey is a counties of England in the South East England of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire....
.

Tennis

In 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
Croquet

Croquet is a game played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport which involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing arena....
 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, 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
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is based at Wimbledon, London in London, England, at British national grid reference system . It is best known as the venue for the The Championships, Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam tennis event still held on grass, but is also a private members club....
 moved to new grounds close to Wimbledon Park.

Wimbledon historian Richard Milward recounts how King George V
George V of the United Kingdom

George V was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, which he created from the British branch of the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha....
 opened the new courts. "He gave three blows on a gong, the tarpaulins were removed, the first match started - and the rain came down..." The club's old grounds continue to be used as the sports ground for Wimbledon High School
Wimbledon High School

.Wimbledon High School is an independent all-girls school in Wimbledon, London, southwest London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust and celebrated its 125th birthday on November 9 2005, having been founded by Edith Hastings in 1880....
.

Horse racing

In 1792 the Rev. Daniel Lysons
Daniel Lysons

Daniel Lysons was a notable England Antiquarian and Topography as the study of place of the late 18th and early 19th century, who published the four-volume The Environs of London ....
 published The Environs of London: being an 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 a King's plate." However, he gives no further details and does not say how successful the horse racing was or how long it lasted.

Motorcycle Speedway at Wimbledon Stadium

For many years Wimbledon Stadium
Wimbledon Stadium

Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium is a dog racing track located in Wimbledon, London in southwest London, England. It also hosts Motorcycle speedway, stock car and other racing events....
 has been host to Greyhound racing
Greyhound racing

Greyhound racing is the sport of racing greyhounds. The dogs chase a lure on a track until they arrive at the finish line. The one that arrives first is the winner....
  as well as Stock car racing
Stock car racing

Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain and Brazil. Traditionally, races are run on oval track racing measuring approximately ? mile to 2.66 miles length, but are also raced on road courses....
  and Speedway
Motorcycle speedway

Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise laps of an oval circuit....
.

Speedway began at Wimbledon Stadium
Wimbledon Stadium

Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium is a dog racing track located in Wimbledon, London in southwest London, England. It also hosts Motorcycle speedway, stock car and other racing events....
 in 1928 and the local team, the "Dons" , was very successful over the decades. The team started out in 1929 as members of the Southern League and operated unti the Second World War. The track re-opened in 1946 and the Dons operated in the top flight for many years. In the 1950s the track was home to two World Champions in Ronnie Moore and Barry Briggs.

In the Dons' last season, 2005, the team finshed 2nd in The National Conference League. However, following the collapse of lease renewal talks between the speedway promoters and the Greyhound Racing Association (the owners of the stadium) due to the high increase in rent required by the GRA, the team were wound up. Greyhound racing and Stock car racing continue to take place.

Running

There is an active running club in Wimbledon called the Windmilers. The club includes some top athletes as well as beginners. http://www.windmilers.org.uk/

Another successful running event held on Wimbledon Common every week is the Wimbledon Common Time Trial (WCTT), which was the second running event in a collection of Time Trials. The run is 5km and timed by volunteers every Saturday morning at 9am. http://www.parkrun.com/

Literature

In the world of literature, Wimbledon provides the principal setting for several comic novels by author Nigel Williams
Nigel Williams (author)

Nigel Williams is a British novelist, screenwriter and playwright.He was educated at Highgate School and Oriel College, Oxford, Oxford, is married with three sons and lives in Putney, south-west London....
 (including the best-selling The Wimbledon Poisoner and They Came from SW19) as well as for Elisabeth Beresford
Elisabeth Beresford

Elisabeth Beresford is an author of children's books, best known for creating the Wombles.Her godparents include Walter de la Mare, Cecil Day-Lewis and Eleanor Farjeon....
's series of children's stories about the Wombles
WOMBLES

The WOMBLES are a loose Anti-capitalism group based in London that once dressed in white overalls with padding and helmets at protests, mimicking the Italian group Tute Bianche....
.

Wimbledon was also the site where the sixth Martian
Martian

As an adjective, the term "martian" is used to describe anything pertaining to the planet Mars.However, a Martian is more usually a hypothetical or fictional native inhabitant of the planet Mars....
 invasion cylinder landed in H.G. Wells' book The War of the Worlds and is mentioned briefly in his books, The Time Machine
The Time Machine

The Time Machine is a novella by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895 and later directly adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations....
 and When the Sleeper Wakes.

Notable residents

Only a few particularly notable names are listed here. See :Category:People from Wimbledon for a fuller list
  • Bob Astles
    Bob Astles

    Robert Astles is a former British people soldier and colonial officer who lived in Uganda and became an associate of presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin Dada....
     - English-born former associate of Uganda
    Uganda

    The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania....
    n presidents
    President of Uganda

    The President of Uganda is the head of state in Uganda. The role began as a largely ceremonial position, with the Prime Minister of Uganda holding the true power....
     Milton Obote
    Milton Obote

    File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-76054-0003, Leipzig, Kenia-Tag, Gerald G?tting.jpgApolo Milton Obote , Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1985, was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from the United Kingdom colonialism administration in 1962....
     and Idi Amin
    Idi Amin

    Idi Amin Dada , commonly known as Idi Amin, was a Ugandan Military dictatorship and the President of Uganda of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colony regiment, the King's African Rifles, in 1946, and advanced to the rank of Major General and Commander of the Ugandan Army....
  • Michael Ballack
    Michael Ballack

    Michael Ballack is a Germany association football. A midfielder, he is the current captain of the Germany national football team, and plays club football for Chelsea F.C....
     - footballer, plays for Chelsea FC and Germany
    Germany national football team

    The German national football team is the association football team representing the country of Germany in international competition since 1908....
  • Ben Barnes
    Ben Barnes (actor)

    Benjamin "Ben" Barnes is an English actor. He has appeared in the television series Doctors and Split Decision, and in the films Stardust , Bigga Than Ben, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian....
     - actor in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
    The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

    The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a 2008 in film epic film fantasy film based on Prince Caspian, the second published novel in C....
  • Joseph Bazalgette
    Joseph Bazalgette

    Sir Joseph William Bazalgette was one of the great England civil engineers of the Victorian era. As the chief engineer of London Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation of a London sewerage system, which helped relieve the city from cholera epidemics, while beginning the clean-up of the Thames, which had reached a...
     - civil engineer; his creation in the mid 19th century of the sewer network for central London eliminated the incidence of cholera
    Cholera

    Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae....
     epidemics
  • Raymond Briggs
    Raymond Briggs

    Raymond Redvers Briggs is an England illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist, and author who has achieved critical and popular success among adults and children....
     - cartoonist
  • Josephine Butler
    Josephine Butler

    Josephine Elizabeth Butler was a Victorian era English feminism and grandmother of Judith Rowbotham, who was especially concerned with the welfare of prostitutes....
     - feminist campaigner of the Victorian era. Blue Plaque
    Blue plaque

    In the United Kingdom, a blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event....
     at 8 North View, Wimbledon Common
  • George Edward Cates
    George Edward Cates

    George Edward Cates Victoria Cross was a British Army during the World War I. He received the Victoria Cross for actions which cost his life....
     - World War I
    World War I

    World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
     Victoria Cross
    Victoria Cross

    The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration which is, or has been, awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth of Nations countries, and previous British Empire territories....
     recipient
  • Duke & Duchess of Cannizaro
  • Ernst Boris Chain
    Ernst Boris Chain

    Sir Ernst Boris Chain was a Germany-born United Kingdom biochemist, and a 1945 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin....
     - joint winner of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine
    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

    The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
     for the discovery of penicillin
    Penicillin

    Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They are Beta-lactam antibiotics used in the treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible, usually Gram-positive, organisms....
    . Blue Plaque at 9 North View, Wimbledon Common
  • Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
    Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

    Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough rose to be one of the most influential women in British history as a result of her close friendship with Anne of Great Britain....
    , close friend of Queen Anne
    Anne of Great Britain

    Anne became Queen of England, Queen of Scots and Kingdom of Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding her brother-in-law, William III of England. Her Roman Catholic father, James II of England, was Glorious Revolution in 1688/9; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III & II and Mary II of England, the only such c...
  • Vernon Corea
    Vernon Corea

    Vernon Corea was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation....
     - The pioneering broadcaster, the BBC's Ethnic Minorities Adviser and presenter of 'London Sounds Eastern' on BBC Radio London, was a Lay Reader at Emmanuel Church in Wimbledon Village and lived at 4 Sheep Walk Mews.
  • Steve Curtis
    Steve Curtis

    Steve Curtis MBE is an England eight time offshore powerboat racing World Champion.Curtis's father Clive ran boat building business Cougar Marine, and also was a powerboat racer, making entry to the world championship for Steve easier after leaving school at 17....
     - Eight-times World Offshore powerboat racing
    Offshore powerboat racing

    Offshore powerboat racing is racing by large, ocean-going powerboats, typically point-to-point racing.Probably the largest, most dangerous, and most powerful racing machines of all, the extreme expense of the boats and the fuel required to participate make it an expensive and elite sport....
     champion
  • Sandy Denny
    Sandy Denny

    Sandy Denny, born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny , was an England singer and songwriter who has been described by Allmusic's Richie Unterberger as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer"....
     - singer, born at the Nelson Hospital
  • Lawrence Doherty
    Lawrence Doherty

    Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty was a British tennis player and younger brother of Reginald Doherty. He was an Olympic gold medalist in the sport....
     - Winner of thirteen Wimbledon tennis championships and two Olympic gold medals
  • Reginald Doherty
    Reginald Doherty

    Reginald "Reggie" Frank Doherty was a British male tennis player, and the older brother of Lawrence Doherty. He was known in the tennis world as "R.F." rather than "Reggie"....
     - Winner of twelve Wimbledon tennis championships and three Olympic gold medals
  • Hugh Dowding
    Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding

    Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswell Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding Order of the Bath, Royal Victorian Order, Order of St Michael and St George was a United Kingdom officer in the Royal Air Force....
     - commander of RAF Fighter Command
    RAF Fighter Command

    Fighter Command was one of three functional Command that dominated the public perception of the Royal Air Force for much of the mid-20th century....
     during the Battle of Britain
    Battle of Britain

    The Battle of Britain is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the Luftwaffe during the summer and autumn of 1940 to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force , especially RAF Fighter Command....
     in 1940. Blue Plaque at 3 St Mary's Road
  • Henry Dundas
    Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville

    Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville was a Scotland lawyer and politician. He was the last person to be impeachment in the United Kingdom.He was the fourth son of Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston, the elder , Lord President of the Court of Session, and was born at Dalkeith in 1742....
    , Viscount Melville
    Viscount Melville

    Viscount Melville, of Melville in the County of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1802 for the notable lawyer and politician Henry Dundas....
     - Home Secretary
    Home Secretary

    The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is one of the Great Offices of State....
     and Secretary of State for War
    Secretary of State for War

    The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a United Kingdom Cabinet -level position, first applied to Henry Dundas ....
     to William Pitt the Younger
    William Pitt the Younger

    William Pitt, the Younger was a Kingdom of Great Britain politician of the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. He became the youngest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1783 at the age of 24....
    , resident of Cannizaro House
  • Mark Edgley Smith
    Mark Edgley Smith

    Mark Edgley Smith was a United Kingdom composer.He was educated at Tiffin School, Kingston-upon-Thames, where he began to compose seriously, and went on to study music at The Queen's College, Oxford, University of Oxford, though as a composer he remained mostly self-taught....
     - composer
  • Flora Gare
    Flora Gare

    Flora Gare is a British sculptor, born February 1973, in Wimbledon, London, South London....
     - sculptor
  • John William Godward
    John William Godward

    John William Godward was an England Painting from the end of the Pre-Raphaelite / Neo-Classicist era. He was a prot?g? of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema but his style of painting fell out of favour with the arrival of painters like Picasso....
     - painter
  • Charles Patrick Graves
    Charles Patrick Graves

    Charles Ranke Patrick Graves was a journalist and writer.Born in Wimbledon, England, he worked on the Sunday Express, Daily Mail and many other newspapers....
     - journalist
  • Robert Graves
    Robert Graves

    Robert Ranke Graves was an England poet, translator and novelist. During his long life, he produced more than 140 works. He was the son of the Anglo-Irish writer Alfred Perceval Graves and Amalie von Ranke, a niece of the famous German historian Leopold von Ranke....
     - poet
  • Victoria Hamilton
    Victoria Hamilton

    Victoria Sharp is a United Kingdom actress who performs under the stage name Victoria Hamilton.Hamilton is best known for playing 19th century characters such as Mrs Forster in the Emmy-winning British 1995 miniseries Pride and Prejudice , and Maria Bertram in a 1999 film of Mansfield Park ....
     - actress
  • George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
    George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen

    George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen Order of the Garter Order of the Thistle Royal Society Privy Council of the United Kingdom , styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a Scotland politician, successively a Tory, Conservative Party and Peelite, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855....
     - prime minister 1852-55; resident of Cannizaro House
  • Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
    Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia

    Haile Selassie I , born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. The heir to a dynasty that traced its origins to the 13th century, and from there by tradition back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Haile Selassie is a defining figure in both History of Ethiopia and Histor...
     - guest at a house in Parkside while in exile from Ethiopia
    Ethiopia

    Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
     owing to the Italian invasion
    Abyssinia Crisis

    The Abyssinia Crisis was a diplomatic international crisis during the Interwar period originating in the "Walwal incident." This incident resulted from the ongoing conflict between the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Ethiopia ....
    ; his statue stands in Cannizaro Park
  • Mikel John Obi
    Mikel John Obi

    John Michael Nchekwube Obinna is a Nigerian association football. He is a midfielder who currently plays for Chelsea F.C.....
     - Chelsea FC defensive midfielder B. 1987
  • Georgette Heyer
    Georgette Heyer

    Georgette Heyer was an England historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth....
     - novelist, was born and grew up in Wimbledon. She wrote her first five novels there. A later novel, 'Pastel', is set in a suburb very like Wimbledon.
  • Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha
    Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha

    Isaac Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, Privy Council of the United Kingdom was a United Kingdom Liberal Party , then National Liberal Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister....
     - while Minister of Transport
    Secretary of State for Transport

    The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the United Kingdom Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors....
    , 1934-7, he introduced the driving test and the Belisha Beacon
    Belisha beacon

    A Belisha beacon is a flashing orange globe atop a tall black and white pole. They appear on either side of the road at zebra crossings in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and in the former British crown colony of Singapore and Hong Kong....
    ; then Secretary of State for War
    Secretary of State for War

    The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a United Kingdom Cabinet -level position, first applied to Henry Dundas ....
    , 1937-40
  • John Horne Tooke
    John Horne Tooke

    John Horne Tooke , was an England politician and Philology....
     - politician; imprisoned for a year for signing an advertisement seeking subscriptions for the relief of the relatives of the Americans "murdered by the king's troops at Lexington and Concord". Lived at Chester House on Wimbledon Common.
  • Thomas Hughes
    Thomas Hughes

    Thomas Hughes was an England lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's School Days , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended....
     - author of Tom Brown's Schooldays
    Tom Brown's Schooldays

    Tom Brown's Schooldays is a novel by Thomas Hughes first published in 1857. The story is set at Rugby School, a public school for boys, in the 1830s....
     which was written in Wimbledon
  • James Hunt
    James Hunt

    James Simon Wallis Hunt was a United Kingdom racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from driving, Hunt became a media Pundit and businessman....
     - 1976 Formula 1 World Champion
  • Vinnie Jones
    Vinnie Jones

    Vincent Peter "Vinnie" Jones is an England-born film actor and ex-Association football, having represented Wales national football team. He has capitalised on his tough man image as a footballer and is now known as an actor for his aggressive style and intimidating demeanour....
     - former footballer and film actor
  • Don Lang - Britain's answer to Bill Haley
    Bill Haley

    Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the mid-1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock"....
    ; with his band, a mainstay of Britain's first television rock and roll programme Six-Five Special
    Six-Five Special

    The Six-Five Special was a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll were in their infancy in Britain....
  • Glen Little
    Glen Little

    Glen Matthew Little is an English association footballer plays for Reading F.C. as a right midfielder, on loan from Portsmouth F.C.. He previously played for Burnley F.C., Bolton Wanderers F.C., Derry City F.C., Glentoran F.C., Crystal Palace F.C....
     - footballer
  • Frederick Marryat
    Frederick Marryat

    Captain Frederick Marryat was an England novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story....
    , author, lived at Wimbledon House
  • Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer
    Joseph Norman Lockyer

    Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, Fellow of the Royal Society was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen he is credited with discovering the gas helium....
     - English scientist and astronomer; joint discoverer of helium
    Helium

    Helium is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert monatomic chemical element that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table and whose atomic number is 2....
  • John Lyde-Brown director of the Bank of England
    Bank of England

    The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and is the model on which most modern, large central banks have been based. Since 1946 it has been a Nationalisation institution....
    ; resident of Cannizaro House; his collection of classical sculpture was acquired by Catherine II of Russia in 1787 and is held by the Hermitage Museum
    Hermitage Museum

    The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art , and one of the oldest art gallery and museums of human history and culture in the world....
  • Thomas Ralph Merton
    Thomas Ralph Merton

    Sir Thomas Ralph Merton Order of the British Empire, Doctor of Science, Fellow of the Royal Society was an England physicist, inventor and art collector....
     - physicist
  • Lord Horatio Nelson - Admiral
    Admiral

    Admiral is the military rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral....
    . Nelson's estate, Merton Place, included part of Wimbledon at the eastern end of the Broadway, though, strictly he was a resident of Merton
    Merton (historic parish)

    The historic parish of Merton contributed its name to the London Borough of Merton, although Merton itself is no longer a clearly defined area within the borough....
     the neighbouring parish
    Parish

    A parish is a local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican, United Methodist, and Presbyterianism churches....
    .
  • Michelle Paver
    Michelle Paver

    Michelle Paver is a author. Her ongoing six-book series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, set in the pre-agricultural Stone Age, has earned her notable popularity; the first Five books have now been published....
     - Author of Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
    Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

    The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is a series of fantasy books by Michelle Paver. The books are the author's first children's books, and have been received well, by adults as well as younger readers....
  • Alan Pardew
    Alan Pardew

    Alan Scott Pardew is an England football coach and former player. He is currently without a club after being sacked by Charlton Athletic F.C....
     - football manager
  • Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham
    Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham

    Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham , a lawyer, judge, politician, and eventual Lord Chancellor of England, was born in London, England....
     - Lord Chancellor
  • Augustus Porter - A well known socialite in the Merton
    Merton

    Merton may refer to:...
     area
  • Steve Punt
    Steve Punt

    Stephen Punt is a United Kingdom writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon, London with his girlfriend and two children....
     - comedian
  • Oliver Reed
    Oliver Reed

    Robert Oliver Reed was an England actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough-guy" roles. His films include Oliver! , Women in Love, Hannibal Brooks, The Triple Echo, The Devils, The Three Musketeers , Tommy , Castaway and Gladiator ....
     - actor
  • Laura Robson
    Laura Robson

    Laura Robson is a British tennis player. Although she was initially an Australian citizen, she gained a British passport in early 2008.She debuted on the International Tennis Federation junior tour in 2007, and a year later, won the 2008 Wimbledon Championships - Girls' Singles at the age of 14....
     - Junior Wimbledon Tennis champion
  • Margaret Rutherford
    Margaret Rutherford

    Dame Margaret Rutherford Order of the British Empire was an Academy Awards-winning England character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest....
     - actress. Blue Plaque at 4 Berkeley Place
  • Arthur Schopenhauer
    Arthur Schopenhauer

    Arthur Schopenhauer was a Germany philosopher known for his atheistic pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the fundamental question of whether reason alone can unlock answers about the world....
     - Philosopher, Blue Plaque at Eagle House where he lived in 1803
  • Jay Sean
    Jay Sean

    Jay Sean is a British Asian Pop music singer-songwriter, best known for his hits "Stolen", "Eyes On You", "Ride It", and "Tonight". He has released two albums, Me Against Myself and My Own Way ....
     - UK R&B Singer
  • Jack Stanley
    Jack Stanley

    Jack Stanley is an English child actor whose most recent appearance is that of "Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Lunkwill and Fook" in the 2005 film, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ....
     - Actor
  • Jamie T
    Jamie T

    Jamie Treays , known by his stage name Jamie T, is a 23-year-old English people singer/songwriter from Wimbledon, London, South London. He attended The Hall School Wimbledon and then Reed's School in Cobham, Surrey, Surrey, England until he was 16 and is currently signed to Virgin Records, but released his Betty and the Selfish Sons...
     - singer/songwriter and musician
  • Joseph Toynbee
    Joseph Toynbee

    Joseph Toynbee was an English otologist and father of economic historian Arnold Toynbee . Joseph Toynbee's career was dedicated to the pathology and anatomy studies of the ear....
     - Surgeon. Blue Plaque at 49 Wimbledon Parkside
  • Arnold Toynbee
    Arnold Toynbee

    Arnold Toynbee was an England economic history also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working classes....
     - Economic Historian. Blue Plaque at 49 Wimbledon Parkside
  • Steve-O
    Steve-O

    Stephen "Steve-O" Gilchrist Glover is a Stunt performer performer and television personality. He is best known as one of the performers on the TV series Jackass and on Wildboyz....
     - Jackass
    Jackass (TV series)

    Jackass is an American television series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, and Self-harm stunts and pranks....
     performer
  • Ralph Tubbs
    Ralph Tubbs

    Ralph Tubbs, Order of the British Empire, Royal Institute of British Architects was a United Kingdom architect. Well known amongst the buildings he designed was the Dome of Discovery at the successful Festival of Britain on the South Bank in London in 1951....
     - architect; his buildings include the Dome of Discovery
    Dome of Discovery

    The Dome of Discovery was a temporary building designed by architect Ralph Tubbs for the Festival of Britain celebrations which took place on London's South Bank in 1951....
     and Charing Cross Hospital
    Charing Cross Hospital

    Charing Cross Hospital is a hospital in London, England. It was established in 1823 as the West London Infirmary, and was originally located in Villiers Street, near Charing Cross in the heart of the metropolis....
  • Slick Rick
    Slick Rick

    Ricky Walters , better known by stage names Slick Rick, MC Ricky D and Rick the Ruler, is a Grammy Award-nominated British-American rapper....
     - (Richard Walters) A veteran hip-hop artist, born in Wimbledon and moved to The Bronx
    The Bronx

    The Bronx is the northernmost of the Five Boroughs of New York City and the newest of the 62 Administrative divisions of New York#county of New York State....
    , also known as MC Ricky D and The Ruler.
  • Young MC
    Young MC

    Marvin Young better known by his stage name Young MC is a British born, American Rapping. He is best known for his 1989 Chart-topper "Bust a Move "....
     - (Marvin Young) Hip-hop artist born in Wimbledon, best known for his song Bust-A-Move.
  • Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
    Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham

    Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Order of the Garter, Privy Council of the United Kingdom , styled The Hon. Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1733, Viscount Higham between 1733 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750 and The Earl Malton in 1750, was a Kingdom of Great Britain British Whig Par...
     - twice Prime Minister
  • William Wilberforce
    William Wilberforce

    William Wilberforce was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade....
     - 19th century anti-slavery campaigner


Nearby places

  • Merton Park
    Merton Park

    Merton Park is a place in the London Borough of Merton. It is a quiet and leafy suburb situated between Wimbledon, London, Morden, South Wimbledon and Wimbledon Chase....
  • Morden
    Morden

    Morden is a district in the London Borough of Merton. It is located approximately Boxing the compass of central London between Merton Park , Mitcham , London Borough of Sutton and Worcester Park ....
  • Raynes Park
    Raynes Park

    Raynes Park is a suburb within the London Borough of Merton south-west London, centred around Raynes Park railway station station and situated between Wimbledon, London and New Malden....
  • New Malden
    New Malden

    New Malden is a town and shopping centre in the south-western London suburbs, mostly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and partly in the London Borough of Merton, and is situated from Charing Cross....
  • Kingston upon Thames
    Kingston upon Thames

    Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London.It was the ancient market town where Anglo-Saxons kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross....
  • South Wimbledon
    South Wimbledon

    South Wimbledon is a place in the London Borough of Merton in south west London. Historically, it is the centre of the parish of Merton which contributes its name to the wider borough....
  • Tooting
    Tooting

    Tooting is a suburb in the London Borough of Wandsworth in south London. It is south south-west of Charing Cross....
  • Roehampton
    Roehampton

    Roehampton is a large district in south-west London, forming the western end of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It lies between the town of Barnes, London to the north and the large Wimbledon Common to the south....
  • Mitcham
    Mitcham

    Mitcham is a town in South London, just south of Streatham, and situated in the London Borough of Merton. It is located 7.5 miles south-west of Charing Cross....
  • Putney
    Putney

    Putney is a district of south-west London in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south-west of Charing Cross, on the southern bank of the River Thames, opposite Fulham....
  • Southfields
    Southfields

    Southfields is a suburban district in the London Borough of Wandsworth, situated 5.6 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Southfields is located partly in the SW postcode area postcode area and partly in SW19....


Amenities


Major public open spaces

  • Cannizaro Park
    Cannizaro park

    Cannizaro Park is a park in Wimbledon, London in the London Borough of Merton. It is located to the south of Wimbledon Common and is known for its ornamental landscaped gardens with ponds and sculpture....
  • Richmond Park
    Richmond Park

    Richmond Park is a 955 hectare urban park within London UK. Almost three times as large as New York City's Central Park, it is Britain's largest urban walled park, and the largest of the Royal Parks of Londons in London....
  • Wimbledon Common
  • Wimbledon Park
    Wimbledon Park

    Wimbledon Park is a both a park in Wimbledon, London and the suburb around it to which it lends its name. It is the second largest park in the London Borough of Merton and also gives its name to Wimbledon Park tube station....


Schools

  • Donhead Lodge (Boys School), Edge Hill, Wimbledon
    Donhead

    Donhead is a Roman Catholic independent school taking boys from ages 7 to 11, based in south-west London.The school is situated at 33 Edge Hill, Wimbledon, London SW19 4NP....
  • Wimbledon Chase Primary School, Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon
    Wimbledon Chase Primary School

    Wimbledon chase primary school is located on Merton Hall Road in DUndonald in Wimbledon, London.It educates boys and girls ages 3 - 11. The school also houses the acorn nursery which caters for very young children as well....
  • King's College School, Southside, Wimbledon
    King's College School

    King's College School in Wimbledon, London, south-west London, commonly referred to as King's or KCS, is a Selective_school#United_Kingdom Independent school day school for boys of high academic abilities....
  • Rutlish School, Watery Lane, Merton Park
    Rutlish School

    Rutlish School is a comprehensive school for boys. It is in Watery Lane, Merton Park, south-west London. It was formerly a grammar school.It is noted for caning its most famous alumnus politician, British Prime Minister Sir John Major in its former grammar school period....
  • Ursuline High School, Crescent Road, Wimbledon
  • Wimbledon College, Edge Hill, Wimbledon
    Wimbledon College

    Wimbledon College is a state-maintained voluntary-aided Roman Catholic secondary school for boys aged 11 to 19. The school is based at Edge Hill, Wimbledon, London....
  • Wimbledon High School (Girls School), Mansel Road, Wimbledon
    Wimbledon High School

    .Wimbledon High School is an independent all-girls school in Wimbledon, London, southwest London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust and celebrated its 125th birthday on November 9 2005, having been founded by Edith Hastings in 1880....
  • The Norwegian School in London (Norwegian School), Arteberry Road, Wimbledon
  • Hall School Wimbledon
    Hall School Wimbledon

    Hall School Wimbledon is an independent school in Wimbledon, London.The school is divided into two: The Junior School is known as Beavers Holt and the Senior School The Downs....
     (Mixed School), The Downs, Wimbledon
  • Ricards Lodge (Girls School), Lake Road, Wimbledon


Places of worship

  • Shree Ghanapathy Temple http://www.ghanapathytemple.org.uk/index.htm
  • Emmanuel Church
  • Sacred Heart Church
    Sacred Heart Church Wimbledon

    The Sacred Heart Church , Wimbledon, London is a Roman Catholic parish in South West London run by the Jesuits, which serves the Catholic community of Wimbledon and surrounding areas....
  • St. Andrews Church, Herbert Road, Wimbledon
  • St. Mary's Church
  • Buddapadapa Buddhist temple
  • St. Winefride’s Catholic Church, Wimbledon


Scout groups

  • Ninth Wimbledon Scout Troop, Edge Hill, Wimbledon


Nearest railway stations

  • Wimbledon station
    Wimbledon station

    Wimbledon station is a National Rail, London Underground, and Tramlink station located in Wimbledon, London in the London Borough of Merton, and is the only London station that provides an interchange between rail, Underground, and Tramlink services....
    .
  • Wimbledon Chase railway station
    Wimbledon Chase railway station

    Wimbledon Chase railway station is in the London Borough of Merton in South London. The station is served by First Capital Connect trains, and is on the Thameslink loop....
    .
  • Raynes Park railway station
    Raynes Park railway station

    Raynes Park railway station is in the London Borough of Merton in South London. The station is served by South West Trains, and is in Travelcard Zone 4....
    .


Nearest Underground stations

  • Wimbledon
    Wimbledon station

    Wimbledon station is a National Rail, London Underground, and Tramlink station located in Wimbledon, London in the London Borough of Merton, and is the only London station that provides an interchange between rail, Underground, and Tramlink services....
  • Wimbledon Park
    Wimbledon Park tube station

    Wimbledon Park is a London Underground station in Wimbledon, London. The station is on the District Line and is between Southfields tube station and Wimbledon station stations....
  • South Wimbledon
    South Wimbledon tube station

    South Wimbledon tube station is a London Underground station in South London. The station is on the Northern Line, between Colliers Wood tube station and Morden tube station stations....
  • Wimbledon is also on the Tramlink
    Tramlink

    Tramlink is a tramway system in south London in the United Kingdom which began operation in May 2000. The service is operated by First London on behalf of Transport for London ....


Gallery


External links

  • from corner of Wimbledon Hill Road and St. Georges Road looking east