Mortlake Green

The Mortlake Tapestry Works were founded in 1619 and became famous but after the Civil War they declined and the workshop closed in 1703. Other industries developed along the riverside including potteries and breweries. The site of the manor house was developed as a brewery and later became the Stag Brewery, which remained in operation until 2015. However, this increasing industrialisation and the smell from malting and brewery led to the decline of Mortlake as a fashionable riverside retreat.

Formerly known as Kings Arms Field, the land that is now Mortlake Green was given to the residents of Mortlake for public recreation by Earl Spencer in 1860. Postcards of the Edwardian era show that it was landscaped with low terraces, an elaborate path system, shrub and flower beds, grass and trees. Today it is a rectangular space bounded on one side by the railway and by busy roads on two other sides. It features a tarmac playground, grass, shrubs and mature trees, with three shallow stepped terraces from the railway with low stone walls between them. A small paved area with brick planters and seating on Sheen Lane probably dates from the late C20th. A seat in the upper terrace commemorates Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. A mound surrounded by a low rail was created and planted in c.1985 by Mortlake Brewery, which lies opposite the green, to commemorate 500 years of brewing in Mortlake.

Stag Brewery ceased brewing operations in late 2015 and the site was sold. A number of historic assets remain such as the former bottling building, the Maltings building and the former hotel building, along with historic brick boundary structures. Richmond Council is keen for development here that creates a new centre for Mortlake, with the opportunity to create a new publicly accessible link to the river from Mortlake Green and provide additional publicly green space.