The Raleigh Gardens Estate was built in 1922/3 by Higgs and Hill on the site of Mitcham House.

1910 OS Map

A ‘T-shape’ road, with 8 houses leading to Upper Green West, 4 on either side, and two more terraces of houses running from the London Road towards, but not reaching, Love Lane. The road was gated at the Fair Green end.

1950s OS Map

In May 1922 with the first eight houses nearing completion, the builder put forward three suggestions to the Mitcham Urban District Council for the name of the new road. These were Mitcham House Gardens, Fair Green Gardens and Mitcham Fair Gardens. The council suggested instead Raleigh House, and then the builder suggested Raleigh Gardens, which was accepted by the council.

Only the terrace of houses numbered 12 to 24 remain today after the road widening and bypass of the Fair Green.

This photo has been dated by a user on Facebook who said that he lived at the house with the blue door until 1987. As some of the houses are boarded up it is likely that the photo was taken around this time. The red Ford car registration number was first registered in 1985 according to the DVLA.

c. 1987 photo of Raleigh Gardens leading to Western Road. These houses were demolished and currently, in 2020, the site is occupied by a Lidl store.

Raleigh Gardens as seen from Western Road. The car park sign on Durham House was for ‘Bejam’, now occupied by Iceland.

From the minutes of the Mitcham Urban District council
Volume 1922 to 1923 May to April Vol VIII
Highways and New Streets and Buildings
Page 81

Plans Sub-Committee reported that they approved plan 329 from Messrs. Higgs & Hill were for a ‘New Road off Western Road’, and plan 321 from same was for a cottage in New Road, with the condition that the main sewer is not disconnected as shown on the plan, but an interceptor be put into each pair of houses.