Place Name
Originally Wimbledon Lane – this has in fact undergone many name changes in its time. Neil Ransome, in Wimbledon Village: A history told through its street names, says this road was laid since at least the early 18thCentury: “In an Exact Survey of 1720, which may have been commissioned by Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough before she built Wimbledon’s third manor house, Church Road is described as Wimbledon Lane. By the middle of the 19th century, Church Road as we know it today was regarded as three separate roads; Park Road (at the Southfields end), Church Road (leading up to the church) and Church Street (from the church to the High Street). First Church Street in 1879 and then Park Road in 1921 were merged into Church Road, and in that latter year an adjunct of Church Road was renamed St Mary’s Road.” St Mary’s, the parish church of Wimbledon, dates largely from the 19thCentury, is on the same site as earlier medieval structures. There has been a place of worship on the hill for more than a 1,000 years and the original church was mentioned in 1086 in the Domesday Book. The present building, which serves as the parish church for Wimbledon Village, was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott who completed it in 1843. The design incorporated elements of previous incarnations, including a Perpendicular Gothic style, and its tower, rebuilt in 1788, is one of the few surviving features from earlier buildings. The tower houses a peal of ten bells and as the church stands on the hill, or down, that gave Wimbledon its name, its 196-foot spire is a landmark for some miles around. St Mary’s has long-standing connections to notable historical figures. It was the church of Robert, Lord Burghley, an important adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, and his tomb is in the church. The Spencer family, ancestors of Princess Diana, were lords of the manor of Wimbledon, so also had connections to St Mary’s, and members of the family are buried in the churchyard. At the east end of the churchyard is the large mausoleum of Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, the renowned engineer of the Embankment and the sewer system in London. The church is a Grade II listed building, reflecting its architectural and historical significance.