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MERTON PRIORY
On the site where the Roman road from London to Chichester crosses the Wandle, Merton Priory was from 1117 - 1538 AD a major Augustinian house and the site of a church whose nave was longer than Westminster Abbey. Thomas a Becket was educated here c.1130-1140, and two royal coronations were held here - Elanor of Provence in 1236, and Henry VI in 1437. The superstructure of the church was dismantled in 1538 for the construction of Nonsuch Place.
Below ground, the foundations of the monastery complex remain largely intact. Since the Reformation, it become a place of industry with textile printing workshops owned by William Morris until the 1940s and Liberty of London until the 1980s. It is now the subject of a major development proposal by Countryside Properties. Part of the site has become a thriving market - the Merton Abbey Mills.
Merton Priory Workshops.
Merton Priory - a discussion paper
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