Category Archives: Buildings

Mitcham Post Offices

Eric Montague said in his book Mitcham Histories : 12 Church Street and Whitford Lane, page 107, that Mitcham’s post office had occupied 5 locations, as listed below:

1st : at Westhall’s grocery shop in the Broadway

The 1855 directory shows the postal services available:

It lists Joseph WESTALL as grocer and cheesemonger as well as the post office receiving house in Lower Mitcham.

2nd : in a small shop near Mitcham Station

This photo from 1895 shows part of the words ‘Post Office’ above the shop.

clip from Merton Memories, photo reference Mit_Public_Services_18-2, copyright London Borough of Merton

3rd : a purpose built building in the Broadway

The words ‘Post Office’ can be seen etched in the windows on the building on the right in this photo of around 1910:

clip from Meton Memories, photo reference Mit_streets_Lon_38-25, copyright London Borough of Merton

According to Eric Montague in his book Mitcham Histories : 4 Lower Mitcham, pages 127-8, this post office was

erected in about 1900 … a three-storeyed building … its rather fussy facade including false timber framing to simulate an Elizabethan structure.”

4th : Post Office and Telephone Exchange building on the corner of London Road and Elmwood Road

Built around 1920, shown here in this 1953 photo:

clip from Merton Memories photo, reference Mit_Streets_Lon_38-46, copyright London Borough of Merton

5th : Langdale Parade

In 1961 the post office moved to Langdale Parade in the Fair Green. The telephone exchange building remains.

Currently, in 2019, the Langdale Parade post office has moved to a smaller shop nearby at number 5:

Post Office at no. 5 Langdale Parade. Photo taken 23rd April 2019

Gorringe Park House

Clip from Merton Memories photo, reference Mit_​Churches_​3-1, copyright London Borough of Merton

This photo shows the conservatory to the left, and the part of the curved drive leading to the entrance. Both of these features can be seen on this 1911 OS map:

1911 OS map

According to Eric Montague in his Mitcham Histories : 2 North Mitcham, page 91:

Built on the site of Biggin Farm, Gorringe Park House, was a substantial three-storied three-bay brick and slate roofed mansion in the modified version of the Italianate style which had become popular in the 1850s. The farmyard, complete with its piggeries, rickyard and barns, was retained, but the meadows and orchards in the immediate vicinity of the house were transformed to form gardens and parkland.

William John Harris, for whom the new house seems to have been built … in the 1871 census his occupation was listed as ‘Landed Proprietor’ and in the 1881 census stated his ‘Income From Land House Property’ … was related to the Moore family.


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