Morden Cemetery and North East Surrey Crematorium

Morden Cemetery was set up by Battersea Burial Board in 1891 when it was clear that Battersea Cemetery would be inadequate, as a result of which the new facility was called Battersea New Cemetery; it is also known as Morden Cemetery. Prior to this the land here was rural and some areas remain meadowland. The OS 6 ins Map surveyed 1866/7 (Surrey Sheet XIII) shows fields and Hobald's Farm buildings to the south east. In 1889 Battersea Burial Board had requested permission from the Government to purchase the 127 acres of Hobald's Farm, which was granted by the then Home Secretary Henry Matthews, 1st Viscount Llandaff. The foundation stone of the cemetery chapel, designed by W C Poole, was laid by the Chairman of the Burial Board and the cemetery was opened on 17 March 1891. The OS 25 ins Map revised 1894/5 (Surrey Sheet XIII.6) shows the cemetery constructed with an elaborate circular and straight path layout that remains largely intact, and details the central paired Church of England and Nonconformist Mortuary Chapels with porte-cochère, and buildings at the cemetery entrance. By the revision of 1933, the OS 25 ins Map (Surrey XIII.6) shows the extension of the paths in the south west of the cemetery, together with Alloment Gardens in the north east corner. At that point the land south of the cemetery remained part of the former Morden Common, later the site of Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery, which was under construction by 1946. Aerial photos taken in May 1947 (Air Photo Mosaic Sheets) clearly show Morden Cemetery's path layout, avenues of trees lining the main east/west drive and along other paths, and also shows the allotments to the north east.

In 1958 the North East Surrey Crematorium with Gardens of Remembrance was built in the cemetery grounds north of the main drive to the east of the chapels, the crematorium chapel built over the former porte-cochère. A Remembrance Building was built near the chapels (see Map of Grounds 2023). The Crematorium opened in 1958 and is jointly owned by London Boroughs of Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth. It is governed by a board set up under the North East Surrey Crematorium Board Act of 1956, which 'constituted a joint board comprising representatives of the mayor aldermen and burgesses of the Borough of Sutton and Cheam and the mayor aldermen and councillors of the metropolitan borough of Battersea and the urban district councils of Carshalton and Merton and Morden to authorise the Board to provide and maintain a crematorium and for other purposes.'  The Act lays out the estimates prepared to convert buildings into a crematorium (£23,000); site layout (£1,000); provision of gas and electricity (£2,000); equipment and furnishing (£6,500). The First Schedule of the Act detailed the agreement by Battersea Council to sell to the Board two pieces of land forming part of the cemetery and also easements and rights in and over other lands forming part of the cemetery 'in consideration of the sum of Thirty thousand pounds'. This land included 'the chapel and other buildings erected on one piece thereof'. The two pieces of land for cremation comprised '(1) the land and buildings situate on the north side of the Church of England chapel and bounded on the south in part by the said Church of England chapel and in part by a carriage drive and on the west north and east by carriage drives and comprising 0.127 acres or thereabouts; and (2) a piece of land situate to the north-east of the first-mentioned land and buildings forming part of the enclosure numbered 2625 on the 1/2500 Ordnance Map Plan TQ.2367 (Edition of 1955) and comprising 1.426 acres of thereabouts.'  A Drawing by El-Bahrawy, Head of Wandsworth Design Service (n.d.) shows details of the planting in the Remembrance Gardens. The Crematorium is a corporate member of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, holding Gold Standard accreditation.

The cemetery has extensive grounds with a wide formal drive lined by Lombardy poplars leading from the main entrance to the chapels and crematorium. There is a half timbered lodge near the main entrance, which has attractive railings and fine entrance gates with Gothicised piers, and some way up the driveway to the left is a small rustic shelter. The grounds combine formal and informal features and are well planted with mature trees. The Gardens of Remembrance have extensive rose gardens. A number of memorials dedicated to those who died in both world wars from various different parishes are situated here, including Chelsea and Battersea, and there is a Muslim burial section. The cemetery entrance gates, mortuary chapel and cemetery lodge are all locally listed by Merton Council. There are 287 Commonwealth War Graves commemorating the dead of both world wars. A Cross of Sacrifice stands near the chapel and a screen wall records names of those not marked by a headstone.