please empty your brain below

Merton is Nelson's birthplace? Thought he was born in Norfolk?
He was, in Burnham Thorpe which is on the North Norfolk coast.
Thank you, Richard.

Per DG: "Are Merton council hoping to make more of Nelson's birthplace? Hell no."

Well, it would be a bit odd if they did as they're over 100 miles from it.
Well I never, it seems that Mitcham Cricket Club and Eagle House apart, I covered practically all of the Nelson Trail in taking my car to the garage yesterday. Amazing!

I would have thought that the trail would have covered Hamilton, Hardy, Nelson, Trafalgar and Victory Roads, the enclave of "estate-agent-friendly terraces across the road* as you put it. At least, these are the most comprehensive reminders of him.

In fact, I went to my first ever party in London back in 1986 in one of these houses... (snip, continued page 94)
What an absolute con of a trail!

Sad to hear the two boozers overlooking Mitcham CC have closed, used to make use of them occasionally in the old days.
I used to play in Wandle Park when I was a child and remember "Wandlebank House" very well, it had a large curved window section at the side with tall grand doors facing out over the garden and its own bridge across the river, we used to peer in and the grand rooms seemed to be stacked high with what appeared to be old school chairs and desks etc, it really is such a shame that the council decided to demolish it.
archetypally?

archetypically?
There is a plaque on the south of Merton High Street stating that Nelson's house is nearby.

Nelson hospital was at Merton road, again there is a plaque, later it moved to its present site.

Off Merton High street are roads named after the era eg Hardy road.

One hundred years after the Battle of Trafalgar there was much celebration as there is now with WW1. The local area was redeveloped at this time hence the pub, hospital etc.
If my memory serves me well, there's a plaque on Fish Strand Quay in Falmouth commemorating where news of Nelson's death first reached England.
There is now a series of plaques along Lieutenant Lapenotiere's route to London with the Trafalgar Dispatch, under the generic name of the Trafalgar Way.

Does the closure of the pubs round Mitcham Cricket Ground mean that we will lose the bus destination Mitcham The Cricketers? That would be sad.
I don't think anything terminates at Mitcham, Cricketers anymore, the 270 and 355 got moved to a new stand alongside Canons Recreation Ground back in 2009.

Even the fire station has gone - although it was replaced by one on a new site.
The Cricketers in Mitcham closed in 2010, has been demolished and is about to be reborn as flats.

The two pubs I referred to were The White Hart - currently up for sale as a "bar/restaurant" - and the wonderfully named Burn Bullock - currently fenced off awaiting whatever.
I've rewritten bits of the Merton Place section, thanks, particularly with regard to the plaque in Doel Close.
There is a special weekend coming up
http://www.stmarysmerton.org.uk
http://www.johninnessociety.org.uk/events
As captain of the bellringers, I compiled the history of our bells - I shall work out how to post this here over the weekend
I feel almost dirty bringing it up, but the Kiss My Hardy pub is part of the Hungry Horse (rather than House) chain.
The Nelson Arms has a fantastic frontage. It's just a shame about the pub inside as it's been stripped of any history and charm.

As well as the tin box that is Kiss Me Hardy, there's a couple of other pubs locally that had a Nelson link.

Still open is the tony an excellent Trafalgar Free House on the High Path estate. (There's also a Trafalgar in Tooting.) It's a former CAMRA Greater London pub of the Year and is well worth a visit.

The Charles Holden at Colliers Wood station obviously is not named after Nelson, but in the past life the pub was called the Victory (and was a far less appealing pub then.)

The Emma Hamilton was at Wimbledon Chase but was demolished and replaced by flats.










TridentScan | Privacy Policy