Place Name
A continuation of Merton High Street, the south side of this parade of shops, which originally ran between Abbey Road and Mill Road, was laid out over site of Abbey House and its gardens. The house (also known as Gatehouse) was built in the early 18thCentury on the site of Merton Priory. It was owned by Rear-Admiral Isaac Smith, who sailed with Captain Cook on the Endeavour in 1768. His cousin Elizabeth, the widow of Captain Cook, lived here with the Smith family for some years. In 1808 the Smith family also gave hospitality to Emma Hamilton while Merton Place, Nelson’s home, was being sold. A Norman arch, thought to have been the gateway to the priory, was found while the house was being demolished in 1914, and now stands in the churchyard of St, Mary the Virgin Church in Merton. Like many nearby street names, the name references the large Augustinian Priory of Merton which was founded here in 1114 by Gilbert the Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under King Henry I. It swiftly gained a reputation as an important centre of learning and diplomacy, and included such luminaries as Thomas Becket, who briefly studied there around 1130. The Priory was demolished following King Henry VIII’s land grab against the Roman Catholic Church, the dissolution of the monasteries, having been valued in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 at a relatively high sum of £960 16 shillings 6 pence. John Bowles alias John Ramsey surrendered the monastery of 14 canons on April 16, 1538. Much of the masonry was reused at the king’s Nonsuch Palace. The site of the Priory is now occupied by a Sainsbury’s supermarket. Although large by priory standards, it was never an Abbey. The name Merton Abbey only came into use for the area in the early 19th century.
