Merton Priory

Merton Priory was an Augustinian priory founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey, on the banks of the River Wandle near the Roman road Stane Street. It stood about ten kilometres south-west of the City of London in what is now the London Borough of Merton. The priory held lands across Surrey and beyond, including manors and churches. Its canons belonged to the Augustinian order and gave their name to Merton College in Oxford. The site once lay within the Diocese of Winchester, now part of Southwark. The priory became a centre of learning and diplomacy in the 12th and 13th centuries. Thomas Becket studied there around 1130 and later wore the habit of a Merton canon. Hubert Walter, a successor of Becket, also wore the habit. Walter de Merton, who may have studied at the priory in the 1230s, later founded Merton College in Oxford. Edmund of Abingdon wrote parts of his Oxford lectures in the priory’s quiet surroundings. In 1205 King John sent a Merton canon as an ambassador to Normandy, and in 1217 Prince Louis of France did penance there after peace talks. Today the priory’s remains lie beneath a supermarket car park and a nearby road. A small museum under Merantun Way displays fragments of the Chapter House, the only visible remnant of the priory. The site is quiet, bordered by the Wandle’s former course and the busy streets of Colliers Wood. Visitors can see the museum’s display and imagine the priory’s former halls and gardens. The area around Merton Abbey Mills still reflects the priory’s medieval setting.