Watermeads

Due to its gradient the River Wandle had long had industrial usage and along its banks were numerous water mills for use such as grinding corn, copper and leather working; it was also notable for its trout and water-cress beds. The Domesday Book of 1086 records 13 water mills along the Wandle. In the Middle Ages the land was owned by the De La Mare family who managed it to provide winter fodder and summer pasture. In winter sluices were opened in order to flood the land and improve the soil's fertility, and in spring after the water drained away, grass was cut to provide hay and cattle were grazed. The river's economic use grew in ensuing centuries, with commercial use at its height in the C19th when there were some 90 mills. In 1800 a snuff mill and paper mill owned by Richard Glover were located here, and Watermeads is a remnant of the wetland areas created as a result of the high water levels needed. The site extending along the west bank of the river was shown on the Tithe Map of 1837 as 'long meadow'. Within the site is a fish pond and Paper Mill Cut, one of the Wandle's many channels and branches dug for milling. Near this is the remains of a stone seat in memory of Miranda Hill, a local teacher and sister of Octavia Hill who had seen families and children enjoying the riverside location. One of the founders of the National Trust, Octavia was part of the successful fundraising campaign together with the River Wandle Open Spaces Society raising £1,050 to purchase Watermeads from its private owner Sir Frederick Fowkes in 1913. Watermeads was one of the first sites to be acquired by the National Trust. In 1915 an additional 2 acres of land was donated in memory of Octavia Hill who had died in 1912.

In the interwar years until shortly after World War II, the Trust and the River Wandle Open Spaces Committee embarked on a major planting scheme, adding ornamental trees and shrubs and an osier bed, with the participation of local schoolboys overseen by Tom Francis, a dedicated member of the Open Spaces Committee. Watermeads was maintained as a nature reserve, and was open to keyholders only or on application to the Head Warden. However, over the years the site became clogged and overgrown although the Trust endeavoured to maintain the wetlands. From 2015 substantial grants from sources such as the Big Green Fund enabled significant improvements to take place, which have now provided public accessibility, as well as restoration of the wetlands environment. Following a period of closure, Watermeads re-opened with new riverside paths, repaired wooden bridges and the landscape rehabilitated. The woodland is managed through pollarding and coppicing, the grassland cut regularly and wildflower meadows have been planted. Watermeads is part of the Wandle Trail, and is near Ravensbury Park and Morden Hall Park. Fishing only by members of The Wandle Piscators is permitted in the river and in the former fish pond.

Just inside the entrance on Bishopsford Road is a small mown field called 'Morden Meadow', which was donated by Merton and Morden Urban District Council in 1965. Near this was once the site of an old snuff mill, demolished in the 1920s but traces of which are visible: the end support to the waterwheel in the form of a brick pier and wall set on the edge of the island formed between the old control weir and the mill and a millstone on the river bank. The riverside industries included those of William Halfhide, who set up business beside the Wandle in 1742; in 1881 William Morris set up his workshops with Philip Webb, William de Morgan and Edward Burne Jones, and from 1904-1972 Liberty's had mills and workshops here. However, from the mid-19th the milling industries had been declining as steam and electric power overtook water power and of the numerous mills hereabouts, only nearby Grove Mill remains today.