London Road Cemetery

The cemetery flanks London Road, which was a toll road into London. Up until the early C20th the area remained open land, with some housing constructed by 1911 to the south of Tooting Junction station, and to the north of the commonland at Figges Marsh (q.v.), a remnant of Mitcham Commonland (OS Surrey VII.16 25 ins Edition of 1913, surveyed  1864-6, revised 1911). By the 1930s housing surrounded the commonland, with London Road Cemetery and adjacent Tamworth Recreation Ground (q.v.) marked (OS Surrey VII.16 25 ins Edition of 1935, revised 1934).

In April 1926 Mitcham Urban District Council was considering laying out a new cemetery on London Road, at a cost of £23,500. London Road Cemetery opened in April 1929, laid out on the open site with a symmetrical grid of paths, a central mortuary chapel and a lodge at the main entrance, now a private house. The entrances on London Road and Victoria Road both have the original gates with brick and stone piers, although there are new railings along London Road. The mortuary chapel, designed by Chart & Sons and built by January 1928, and the cemetery laid out with a grid system of paths are shown on the OS Map in 1930. The north boundary of the cemetery is hedged, and trees flank some of the paths, with a number of flower beds and rose beds south of the London Road entrance. The cemetery contains a few unusual memorials including that of someone who died in a diving accident, the tomb taking the form of a diving helmet. Among those buried here are members of travellers' families, including the Greys, Dixies and Hunts, who regularly came to Mitcham Fair. A hedged area designated for Commonwealth War Graves has 22 headstones,and in all there are 68 war dead from WWII buried in the cemetery. Improvements to the chapel, toilet block and railings were carried out in 2011. The cemetery caters for different religions, with both consecrated and unconsecrated areas, lawn sections and an area for cremated remains.