Tag Archives: 1940

Walsingham Road

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A cul-de-sac road that is off of the east side of Caesars Walk, after Cecil Place and before Hatton Gardens.

1954 OS map

The name refers to Francis Walsingham, spymaster of Elizabeth I. See wikipedia entry.

This road, and the other roads between the railway line and the Wilson Hospital were on the former estate of The Cranmers which was bought by Isaac Wilson in 1926. All these roads have names related to Elizabeth I.

There are 37 houses, all with the postcode CR4 4LN.

As entered from Caesars Walk, the houses on the left are numbered odd from 1 to 29, with three terraces of 6, 5 then 4 houses. At the end of the road is a square, and a terrace of 4 houses, numbered 31 to 37, is at right angles to the rest of the road. The houses on the south side of the road are numbered even from Caesars Walk end from 2 to 30, also in three terraces of 6, 5 then 4 houses.

Number 13 was destroyed by enemy action during the Blitz. On 29th October 1941 four people lost their lives. (The links are to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission website.)

Eleanor Margaret GRANGER, aged 27 and Reginald Frederick Stanley GRANGER, aged 30.

William Joseph LISMORE, aged 75 and Ada Rosa Lavinia LISMORE, aged 64.

Planning application MIT1287 was granted 29th July 1949 for the house to be rebuilt.

Occupations from the 1939 Register:

Architect & Surveyor
Bakers Roundsman
Bricklayer
Chargehand Wireless Coil Winder
Clerk Advertisement Dept Newspaper (Make-up )
Clerk Upholstery Factory
District Foreman Wandsworth & Dist Gas Co
Domestic Duties
Draper’s Warehouseman’s Clerk
Dressmaker
Engine Fitter & Oxy-acetylene Welder Heavy Worker
Established Clerical Officer H M Civil Service
Gardener (Retired)
Gas Works Labourer Coke Dept Heavy Worker
General Labourer
Hop Factor
House Furnishings Salesman
House Painter
House to House Salesman Own Account
Household duties (unpaid)
Housewife
In Receipt of Old Age Pension
Incapacitated (Age )
Junior Clerk Chartered Accountants
Labourer Registered Hide Market Leather Control
Laundry Hand
Machine Room Capstan Labourer
Metal Polisher
Metropolitan Police Constable
Metropolitan Water Board Assistant Turncock Heavy Worker
Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer ‘Lab’ Assistant
Nurse
Photogravine Operator
Piano Manufacturer
Police Officer Retired
Registered Architect & Surveyor Chief Technical Assistant (In control of all A.R.P. shelter construction work in Borough of Holborn)
Roneo Operator (Retired )
Sheet Metal Worker (Aircraft)
Shop Assistant (Food Dept)
Stores & Stock Clerk (Wireless Receiver & Spares)
Sub-postmaster
Telephone Exchange Wireman (Travels)
Tram Driver LPTB (London Passenger Transport Board)
Unpaid Domestic Duties
Unpaid Domestic Duties Occasionaly Drapery Shop Assistant
Varnish Factory Warehouseman Retired
Wood Machinist

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

Carshalton Road

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Road that is the start of the A237 and runs south from the junction with Commonside West, Cedars Avenue and Croydon Road, heading towards Carshalton.

On the west side there is a junction with Cranmer Road and Willow Lane, and on the right just after this is the entrance road to Mitcham Junction railway station and the Mitcham Golf Club. The road goes over the railway and tram lines on a bridge that was rebuilt and widened in the mid 1950s. On the west side of the road and part of the southern slope of the bridge is an access road leading to Aspen Gardens. Further south from here, and set back from the western side of the road is a line of houses that were originally called Rumbold Villas and Tramway Terrace. They are separated by two roads Drake Road and Arney’s Lane. At Beddington Corner is the Goat pub on the corner with Goat Road.

After Beddington Corner, the road is now called London Road and the A237 continues to the A23 at Coulsdon.

Carshalton Road at junction with Croydon Road. The house was one of the Blue Houses. From a Percy Mayhew postcard, from Merton Memories, photo reference Mit_19_1-19

The guide post (marked G.P.) that is on the south side of the tram line in this 1910 OS map is the one seen in the photo.

1910 OS map

The junction with Croydon Road was changed to a roundabout in 1955.

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 24th February 1955

ROUNDABOUT

Work is to start soon on making a traffic roundabout at the busy junction of Croydon Road with Carshalton Road, on Mitcham Common.

The Transport Minister has approved a grant of up to £4,427 towards the cost of the roundabout. Coun. D.J. Hempstead, Highways Committee chairman, said last week that it was hoped that work would be speedily undertaken.

The bridge over the railway line was widened at the same time, the work having been started in 1939 but was interrupted by the war.

On the east side of Carshalton Road, south of the railway station, was a WW2 anti-aircraft gun site. It was cleared in the early 1960s.

1955 OS map showing the Gun Site.

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 13th July 1962:

At last – Gunsite is to go

One of Mitcham’s biggest eyesores, the Gun Site, Carshalton Road, Mitcham Common, is at last to be cleared at a cost of about £13,000.

Work on clearing the site is expected to start in about two months time.

The Ministry have approved a tender of £10,800 submitted to them from the Conservators and have further agreed to bear the cost of replacing trees on the site.

WELCOMED

A further cost of £2,000 fees will be included in the work.

This news is welcomed not only by the Conservators but by Mitcham Council and the public.

The Gun Site is one of the few remaining war relics in Mitcham and local people have been pressing for years to clear it.

The conservators hope to replace it with a grass landscape with trees.

WW2 Civilian Casualties

20th October 1940

16 Carshalton Road
Winifred Mabel LARBY, aged 35

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