Author Archives: Wade

The Links Estate

Leave a reply

Housing built on a former golf course, and named after it, south of the river Graveney and north of the railway line the connects Tooting and Streatham stations. The area was in the urban district of Mitcham and, despite the SW17 postcodes, is part of the London Borough of Merton today.

The area was part of the Furzedown Estate, owned by Sir Charles Seely, whose name was given to one of the roads. The golf course had been rented by the Tooting Bec Golf Club, who declined Sir Seely’s offer to sell it to them. Source: Golf’s Missing Links.

1894 OS map

From the Birmingham Mail – Thursday 15 February 1906

WHERE CHARLES PEACE WAS A VISITOR.

Furzedown Park, one of the few remaining country estates within the county of London, has been sold by Sir Charles Seely to a gentleman who intends to cut it up for building purposes. It lies between Streatham and Tooting, and its mansion commands an extensive view of the Surrey hills. Among notable visitors to the mansion was Charles Peace, who went uninvited, and carried away many interesting souvenirs in the form of plate and other valuables. Instead of entering by the front door, Charlie climbed a tree, and took advantage of a branch that almost touched window. The tree is regarded as one of the curious things of the neighbourhood, for Charles Peace was great man —in his way.

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

1890 : Church denied share of profits from Mitcham Common gravel extraction

Leave a reply

From the Huddersfield Daily Chronicle – Thursday 17th July 1890

A CURIOUS CASE.

Mr. Justice Kekewich, on Wednesday, decided a curious case raised by the Ecclesiastical Commissioner, who, in 1862, were made lords of the manor of Vauxhall, who now brought an action against the devisees of James Bridger, lord of the manor of Biggin and Tamworth. and also the lords of the manor of Mitcham and Ravensbury, to recover one-fourth of the profits derived by the defendants from the gravel digging on Mitcham Common. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners contended that they were successors of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. the title being traced back to the reign of Edward I., who granted the manor to the Black Prince, who transferred it to the convent of Christ Church, Canterbury, and on the dissolution of the monasteries it was vested in the Crown in the reign of Henry VIII. The plaintiffs urged that the manor extended to Mitcham Common, which belonged to them and the other lords of the manor as tenants in common, and that, therefore, they were entitled to take their share of the gravel. His lordship gave judgment against the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, with costs, holding that they had failed to make out their case.