Inventory Site Record

Ravensbury Park is on the site of Ravensbury Manor dating back to the C13th. In the early C18th calico printworks were established here and a house called Ravensbury Manor House was built, with pleasure grounds. The house and printworks were leased to John Arbuthnott in 1755 who laid out the gardens and walks.  The house was later demolished and in c.1910 a new house was built, itself now gone. When the estate was broken up for housing development in the 1930s, the Councils of Mitcham, Merton and Morden purchased the remaining grounds to safeguard it for public recreation, and it opened as Ravensbury Park in 1930. It is managed as a nature reserve and has a riverside walk along the Wandle.

Previous / Other name:

Ravensbury Manor; Ravensbury Park Estate

Site location:

Ravensbury Lane, off Morden Road, Mitcham

Postcode:

CR4 4DH

What 3 Words:

slams.silks.swift

Type of site:

Public Park

Borough:

Merton

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

8am - dusk (weekdays); 9am - dusk (weekends, bank holidays)

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Play area, car park, toilets

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Morden (Northern) then bus. Tramlink: Mitcham. Bus: 118, 280.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

25/09/2025

Last minor changes:

29/03/2026

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.merton.gov.uk/environment/openspaces/parks/parks_in_the_morden_area

The park is on the site of the old Ravensbury Manor, which dates back to the C13th. The area had important industrial use associated with the Wandle River in the C17th and C18th. Ravensbury Mill was established on the river banks at the western end of the current park, and in the early C18th calico printworks were set up by a Huguenot, Peter Mauvillian, employing 280 people here and at Wandsworth. The factory was to the north of the public park, the river diverted in the C19th to supply the factory. On the north bank of the river was Ravensbury Manor House, an C18th mansion with 'pleasure grounds and plantations . . of great extent', one of a number of houses with that name associated with the Manor. Some remnants of this house remain in the park. In 1755 the print works and Ravensbury Manor House were leased by John Arbuthnott who laid out gardens and created riverside walks. During his occupancy he also diverted the old road to Morden so that it went around his estate to the west; until then it had passed in front of the manor house, crossing the river by a small bridge.

Ravensbury Manor House became derelict, and was later demolished after George Parker Bidder, a civil engineer and friend of George Stevenson, bought the estate in 1855. The Bidders were the last private owners of the Ravensbury Park Estate. George Parker Bidder's grandson built a new manor house, Ravensbury Park House, on the south of the river near Wandle Road in 1910/12 that existed until the 1930s when the Estate was finally broken up and developed for interwar housing. In 1929 the Councils of Mitcham, Merton and Morden purchased the remains of the grounds in order to safeguard it for public recreation and the new park opened on 10 May 1930, called Ravensbury Park. The OS Map 25 ins Surrey XIII.4, surveyed 1932/33 shows Sports Ground and Tennis Courts marked in the east part of the park, with 'Manor House (Remains of)' marked north of the Wandle River, and the later house, Ravensbury Manor, also shown south of the Wandle. The later OS 1:1250 surveyed 1952 (TQ2668SE) marks lavatories and a drinking fountain, and by the early 1970s the OS 1:1250 (TQ2668SE - C) shows a playground and paddling pool laid out in an area previously shown as allotments, adjacent to where the Medical Centre is located.

The Wandle River continues to run through the park and in the north of the park is the late C19th Ravensbury Snuff Mill. Although much of the south-east part of the original estate has been lost to housing development, there are the remains of an C18th sham ruin, a large single block of stone all that remains of the tower. The lake in the eastern part was added in the 1970s when Watermeads (q.v.) was built and the riverside walk was extended to Bishopsford Road. Photographs in Merton Memories Photographic Archive show the park since the 1930s, for example showing the Wandle, with children in boats on the water, ornamental bedding displays in the park. Around Ravensbury Mill a new weir and by-pass channel to the Mill were also created. There are numerous fine trees within the park, some dating back 200 years, as well as exotic trees planted by previous owners that include ginkgo and swamp cypress. The park suffered badly in the storms of October 1987, when a number of very large plane trees were lost. A new play area was opened in 2008. Part of the park is now a nature reserve that supports a good range of wetland bird species including kingfishers and grey wagtails and provides a good mix of wildlife habitats.

The Friends of Ravensbury Park was set up in 2004 to safeguard and preserve the park, working closely with Merton Council and the Environment Agency, which has responsibility for the River Wandle and the waterways around the park. The Friends have successfully raised grants to improve the park and its facilities, including the playground, planting, trees and bridges. The Friends tend the park on the first Sunday each month. In 2010 an art installation led by Jenny Rolfe-Herbert was created in the park where the old public toilets, due for demolition, were re-imagined with group input creating temporary and semi-permanent art installations. 

Sources consulted:

Jones; 'An hour passed at Ravensbury Park', The Wandle Industrial Museum (n.d.); 'The Wandle Trail' produced by The Wandle Industrial Museum, LB Merton, 1992; 'Mitcham, Ravensbury', Merton Town Trails 6 (Merton Town Trails Association, 1979); Barry Nicholson/London Conservation Services Ltd for LB Merton 'Ravensbury Park Local Nature Reserve' (2001);  friendsofravensburypark.blogspot.com. Merton Memories: https://photoarchive.merton.gov.uk/collections/open-spaces/29677-ravensbury-park?; https://photoarchive.merton.gov.uk/collections/rivers-and-waterways/29669-ravensbury-park?; https://photoarchive.merton.gov.uk/collections/rivers-and-waterways/29714-ravensbury-park?

Grid ref:

TQ267680 (526750,168050)

Size in hectares:

6.68

Site ownership:

LB Merton

Site management:

Leisure and Culture Services

Date(s):

C13th onwards; 1930s

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

None

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

Wandle Valley

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Metropolitan Importance (Upper River Wandle)

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

Yes

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Archaeological Priority Zone

Other LA designation:

Public Open Space. Green Corridor. Local Nature Reserve

Ravensbury Park - Lake - Photo: Colin Wing
Date taken: 10/09/18 12:21

Click a photo to enlarge.

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