Tag Archives: Commonside East

Mitcham Common Filling Station

Three pumps that were erected in the early 1930s on the grounds of the Victoria Works, on what became known as the Windmill Trading Estate, today the Meadows housing estate, corner of Windmill Road and Commonside East.

1940 OS map reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland, reuse CC-BY

This 1934 ad from the Croydon Times, via the British Newspaper Archive.

WARDOLEUM MOTOR OIL 10/- FOR 5 GALLS CAN FREE TAX FREE XL WARDOLEUM MOTOR OIL
medium heavy HIGH QUALITY ENGINE OIL. XL QUALITY Free delivery in the county of Surrey. Cash with order on delivery. MITCHAM COMMON FILLING STATION WINDMILL ROAD, MITCHAM

From The Merton Historical Society Local History Notes 18: by Iris C Marshall, née Overy on page 3 : “In Samuel Ward’s grounds was the house known as the Woodite Villa. A family by the name of Skinner had lived there and when they vacated the premises, the property served as an office dealing with customers calling at three pumps that were erected in the foreground in the 1930s.”

Beehive Bridge

Railway bridge on Commonside East over the railway line that was opened in 1868 connecting Streatham to Sutton. The line separates Three Kings Piece from the rest of Mitcham Common. The name is from the nearby former pub of the same name that predated the railway.

The current bridge was built in 1939, replacing a humped back bridge. At 42 feet wide, it required extra land from the Common.

From the Mitcham News & Mercury, 25th August 1939.

The bridge had to be rebuilt as it was not strong enough to take bus traffic over it (route 118).

The tender of Howard Farrow & Co. was accepted to build the bridge.

Borough of Mitcham Council Minutes, 5th January 1939

1938 OS map reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Scotland (reuse CC-BY)

Engineer’s Line Reference is BTH1, structure reference 1217, showing that it is 9 miles and 43 chains from London Bridge (photo taken May 2017)