please empty your brain below

Could we have a poll on who has ever / still has any wombles records in their collection, please?


PS I want my honey jar back

I never thought it hip and trendy to say you liked a bunch of folks dressed up as a kids show. Never liked them enough to buy the records as a result.

I thought the position of the rainbow depended on where you viewed it from. Either there was no gold or it was everywhere then.

... named after William Morris, perhaps not unsurprisingly. And yes, I think my Mum and Dad would like Merton Abbey Mills, but only for about 10 minutes.

Yes we have some Wombles records, left behind by one of our sons...
And does BW want the honey jar back to refill?

i'm writing to complain about the ABYSMAL 'witticism' at the end of the Abbey Parade section. and don't, in heaven's name, write anything about it being 'armless fun', as lady hamilton said. i beg you....

Great idea the random visit and I think better still to add another random element to your visit.

It's a pity you didn't visit in a month's time. Cannizaro Park, near to the Common, is ablaze with the colour of countless rhododendrons in mid-April. It's a lovely walk at that time of year.

I've spent about half of my nearly 10 years in London in Merton, but not a posh bit, a much more up and coming part of SW19, Collier's Wood. Now I reside in a quiet corner of W7 (Hanwell in Ealing).

Ahhhh, my home borough.

No mention of Plough Lane.... sniff, the good old days of Vinnie Jones, Dennis Wise, Fash et al. But then it was out of your way!

Going back to a previous DG feature... the view of London from the junction of Marryat Road and Burghley Road is the best imho.

Yeah, they keep threatening to build a hypermarket on it, but the residents object and win everytime.

The Wimbledon reserves used to play there until a couple years ago though. Now the main stand has been demolished and the whole place looks like a bomb site.

I saw that rainbow and I was lucky enough to be at the top of West Norwood Hill, looking down at the rainbow arc-ing the glorious city of London and Docklands.

And it had completely left my mind until I read this.

Ty DG!

Hi DG
Just discovered your March 2004 visit to Merton blog at your archive 107925840240861555 and thought you’d be interested in an update – for a return visit once you have covered all the other boroughs.
Not only 4x4s use the carpark by Wimbledon windmill but the Wimbledon Society’s Guided Walks start off from there. There are numerous species of insects, birds, bats and other wildlife that populate the Common and the Society’s voluntary Guides are very knowledgeable.
Also on the Common is the site of a 3rd Cent BC fort indicated by earthworks, ditch and ramparts. It is in the middle of Royal Wimbledon golfcourse which is bisected by a public footpath that also runs through the centre of the ancient site. Julius Caesar took advantage of it for his own battles … although some say it was Claudius who pacified the Ancient Britons. More info for you on http://www.themodernantiquarian....n.com/site/
2393

Since you found it hard to locate somewhere Historic for your previous visit, you might also be interested in Merton’s oldest building that was constructed around 1617 for merchant Robert Bell, turned into a boys’ school in 1790 which Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton visited in 1805 after which it was known as Nelson House. During the reign of Victoria it became known as Eagle House due to the enormous eagle that was installed on its roof. It is located just down from the Rose and Crown pub in the High Street. Eagle House is now the home of Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, established in 1988 by the Yamani Cultural & Charitable Foundation; the eponymous Yamani was the former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia. The foundation's aim is the documentation and preservation of the Islamic written heritage and it is committed to restore these manuscripts to the cultural mainstream. Yet another building, nearly as old, is the Old Rectory which is famous for a grape bearing vine planted at the same time as the more famous one at Hampton Court. Both are so ancient that Kew Gardens has the responsibility for keeping them healthy. The Old Rectory is located beside St Mary’s Church famous for the enormous stag on its church-hall roof.
I agree with you about the dearth of useful outlets in the Village; when I was a child I used to be able to sell my books to the secondhand bookseller, buy herring roes at the fishmonger and have my record player fixed at the electrical shop, but now all is estate agents, clothes-shops and fast-food outlets plus that B&O audio shop.
You might have noted that it is never a blood royal who presents the Wimbledon trophy to the Championship winners but the Duchess of Gloucester or similar; this is because when the Queen’s father, then just simply brother to the Prince of Wales, wanted to play at what was then known as the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club the committee of the time refused to grant permission on the grounds that he wasn’t a member. Such slights are never forgotten.
A last curiosity is the Lordship of the Manor of Wimbledon, one of over 13,000 feudal titles listed in the Domesday Book. Earl Spencer, troubled by the costs of running Althorp, had Strutt and Parker sell it at auction in 1996 during the tennis tournament to preserve the privacy of the buyer. It fetched £171,000 when previously Lordships of the Manor were selling for between ten and thirty thousand. The current Lord of the Manor of Wimbledon remains anonymous to this day; even Google and the National Archives have failed to reveal his identity.
I enjoy your blog. Thanks for the work you put into it.











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