Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon (/ˈwɪmbəldən/) is a district and town of south-west London, England, 7.0 miles (11.3 km) southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Wimbledon Town and Dundonald, Hillside, Wandle, Village, Raynes Park and Wimbledon Park.[1]
Wimbledon
68,187 (2011 Census)
United Kingdom
It is home to the Wimbledon Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas of common land in London. The residential and retail area is split into two sections known as the "village" and the "town", with the High Street being the rebuilding of the original medieval village, and the "town" having first developed gradually after the building of the railway station in 1838.
Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common is thought to have been constructed. In 1086 when the Domesday Book was compiled, Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake. The ownership of the manor of Wimbledon changed between various wealthy families many times during its history, and the area also attracted other wealthy families who built large houses such as Eagle House, Wimbledon Manor House and Warren House.
The village developed with a stable rural population coexisting with nobility and wealthy merchants from the city. In the 18th century the Dog and Fox public house became a stop on the stagecoach run from London to Portsmouth, then in 1838 the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened a station to the southeast of the village at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill. The location of the station shifted the focus of the town's subsequent growth away from the original village centre.
Wimbledon was a municipal borough in the county of Surrey from 1905 to 1965,[2] when it became part of the London Borough of Merton as part of the creation of Greater London.
Wimbledon has established minority groups; among the prominent ones being British Asians (mainly British Pakistanis and British Sri Lankans), British Ghanaians, Poles and Irish people.
Wimbledon is covered by several wards in the London Borough of Merton, making it difficult to produce statistics for the town as a whole.
The largest ethnic groups (up to 10%) in the wards according to the 2011 census are:
Governance and representation[edit]
At the time the Domesday Book was compiled (around 1086), Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake.[5] From 1328 to 1536, a manor of Wimbledon was recorded as belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury.[24]
The manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. Wimbledon was an Ancient Parish from the medieval period, later being re-organised as the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon within the county of Surrey.
In 1965, the London Government Act 1963 abolished the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon, Merton and Morden Urban District and the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, creating instead the London Borough of Merton. Initially, the new administrative centre was at Wimbledon Town Hall, but it moved to the 14-storey Crown House in Morden in the early 1990s.
It is now in the Parliamentary constituency of Wimbledon, and since 2005 has been represented by the Conservative MP Stephen Hammond.
Since 2005, the north and west of the borough have been represented in Westminster by Stephen Hammond, a Conservative MP. The east and south of the Borough are represented by Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP.
Media[edit]
The Wimbledon Times (formerly Wimbledon Guardian) provides local news in print and online.[29]
Sport[edit]
Horse riding[edit]
Wimbledon Village Stables is the oldest recorded riding stables in England. The late Richard Milward MA, a local historian, researched the background of horses in Wimbledon over the years and found that the first recorded stables belonged to the Lord of the Manor, and are detailed in the Estate's accounts of 1236–37. Stables on the current site, behind the Dog & Fox pub in the High Street, were founded in 1915 by William Kirkpatrick and named Hilcote Stables; William's daughter Jean took over on his retirement and continued to visit the stables until her death in 2005. From 1969 Hilcote Stables were leased to Colin Crawford, and when they came up for sale in 1980 renamed Wimbledon Village Stables. It is now approved by the British Horse Society and the Association of British Riding Schools. It offers horse-riding lessons and hacks on Wimbledon Common and in Richmond Park.
Horse racing[edit]
In 1792 the Rev. Daniel Lysons published The Environs of London: being a historical account of the towns, villages, and hamlets, within twelve miles of that capital in which he wrote: "In the early part of the present century there were annual races upon this common, which had then a King's plate." However, he gives no further details and does not say how successful horse racing was or how long it lasted.
Rifle shooting[edit]
In the 1860s, the newly formed National Rifle Association held its first competition on Wimbledon Common. The association and the annual competition grew rapidly and by the early 1870s, rifle ranges were established on the common. In 1878 the competitions were lasting two weeks and attracting nearly 2,500 competitors, housed in temporary camps set up across the common. By the 1880s, however, the power and range of rifles had advanced to the extent that shooting in an increasingly populated area was no longer considered safe. The last meeting was held in 1889 before the NRA moved to Bisley in Surrey.
Wimbledon, a small farming locality in New Zealand, was named after this district in the 1880s after a local resident shot a bullock from a considerable distance away. The shot was considered by onlookers to be worthy of the rifle-shooting championships held in Wimbledon at the time.[30]
The Wimbledon Cup trophy, first awarded in Wimbledon for high-power rifles in 1866, was presented to the American rifle team in 1875 and a century and a half later continued to be awarded by the National Rifle Association of America.[31]
Football[edit]
From a small, long-established non-League team, Wimbledon Football Club had from 1977 climbed quickly through the ranks of the Football League structure, reaching the highest national professional league in 1986 and winning the FA Cup against Liverpool in 1988.
Wimbledon moved into a stadium at Plough Lane in 1912 and played there for 79 years until beginning a ground share with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park near Croydon, as their progress through the Football League meant that redeveloping Plough Lane to the required modern standards was impractical. The stadium stood dormant for 10 years until it was finally demolished in 2001. A housing development now occupies the site.[32]
AFC Wimbledon, the phoenix club founded to replace the departed team, played for a number of years in Kingston upon Thames; in 2020, however, they moved into a new stadium, again named Plough Lane, on the site of the former greyhound track and a short distance from its namesake.
Literature[edit]
In literature, Wimbledon provides the principal setting for several comic novels by author Nigel Williams (including the best-selling The Wimbledon Poisoner and They Came from SW19), as well as for Elisabeth Beresford's series of children's stories about the Wombles.
Wimbledon was given as the site where the sixth Martian invasion cylinder landed in H.G. Wells' book The War of the Worlds and is mentioned briefly in the same author's The Time Machine and When the Sleeper Wakes.
Each October thousands attend the Wimbledon BookFest, which has been running since 2006. Over 60 events are held around Wimbledon, including at the Big Tent on the Common.
Bibliography
Local authorities
Community
History