Raynes Park - History

History

For earlier history see Merton and Wimbledon.

Historically, the area of Raynes Park south of Coombe Lane and Kingston Road was part of the parish of Merton and the area north of that line was part of the Parish of Wimbledon. The area remained rural until late into the 19th century. The first development in the area was the opening of the London & South Western Railway in May 1838 which crossed the area on a high embankment, although the station did not open until later.

Cottenham Park to the north of the station was the first part of the area to be laid out for development in the 1870s. It takes its named from Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham who lived in Wimbledon until his death in 1851. The name Raynes Park was originally used in the 1870s and only applied to the area south of the railway line where the local landowner, Richard Garth, Lord of the Manor of the adjacent parish of Morden, planned to develop a new garden suburb similar to that being developed by John Innes at Merton Park to the east. The name refers to the Rayne family, the previous landowners of the farmland on which Garth intended to build.

Garth laid out the northern section of Grand Drive, about as far south as Heath Drive, and Blenheim Road and persuaded the railway company to build the station. A number of detached houses were constructed, but Garth's absence as Chief Justice of Bengal slowed the development and much of the rest of the area became a golf course and cricket grounds.

By the late Victorian period the residential development of Wimbledon was encroaching on the north side of the railway from the east but, apart from a few buildings including the Junction Tavern and a school, development around the station did not start until the beginning of the 20th century.

South of the railway, the twelve terraced roads known locally as "the Apostles" (although they are not named after the Apostles) were laid out over a former cricket ground during the Edwardian period. In the 1920s, the Kingston Bypass (A3) and its spur, Bushey Road (A298), were built as dual carriageways. South of the railway, the majority of residential development occurred in the 1930s with Grand Drive being extended south into Lower Morden and new roads being developed. Much of the area remains open space.