Mortlake
Mortlake is a district of London, England and part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.[1] It is on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes with East Sheen inland to the south. Mortlake was part of Surrey until 1965.
History
Mortlake appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Mortelage. It was held by Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury. Its Domesday assets were: 25 hides; 1 church, 2 mills worth £5, 1 fishery, 33 ploughs, 20 acres (81,000 m2) of meadow, wood worth 55 hogs. It rendered £38 plus 4s 4d from 17 houses in London, 2s 3d from houses in Southwark and £1 from tolls at Putney.[2] Mortelage is thought to mean a small stream containing young salmon, referring to a fishery in the area on a former tributary of the River Thames which is now gone.[1] The manor belonged to the Archbishops of Canterbury until the time of Henry VIII, when it passed by exchange to the Crown. From the early part of the 17th century until after the civil wars, Mortlake was celebrated for the manufacture of tapestry, founded during the reign of James I at the Mortlake Tapestry Works.
Its most famous former resident is Elizabeth I's advisor, John Dee. The cemetery of St Mary Magdalen’s Roman Catholic Church Mortlake contains the tomb of Sir Richard Burton, and the ashes of comic-magician Tommy Cooper are interred at Mortlake Crematorium.[3]
Since 1845, the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race has had its finish point at Mortlake, marked by the University Boat Race stone just downstream of Chiswick Bridge. Several other important rowing races over the Championship Course also either start or finish at the stone.
Mortlake bus garage, situated in Avondale Road, was closed in 1983. Much of the site was rebuilt as housing but a small area near the railway was retained as a turning point for buses, with toilet facilities for drivers, and a small office. Mortlake garage had opened very early in the 20th century and originally catered for horse buses. In later years the stables were converted into the traffic office.
Governance
The Mortlake and Barnes Common ward of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is highly marginal. In the 2010 local elections the Liberal Democrats lost all three seats to the Conservatives, who now hold a majority on the Council. Richmond Park, the constituency which includes Mortlake, also changed from Liberal Democrat to Conservative in the 2010 general election. The London Assembly constituency South West, which includes Mortlake, is held by the Conservative assembly member Tony Arbour.
Stag Brewery
In the 1840s Charles James Philips acquired Mortlake Brewery, which had existed since the fifteenth century.[4]
In 1889 the brewery was acquired by James Watney & Co., which in 1898 became Watney Combe & Reid after acquiring Messrs. Combe Delafield and Co. and Messrs. Reid and Co. When Watney's Stag Brewery in Victoria, London, was demolished in 1959, the name was transferred to Mortlake Brewery.[4]
The brewery became part of Scottish Courage, and is now leased to Anheuser-Busch Europe Ltd and produces Budweiser pale lager. On 6 January 2009, InBev Anheuser-Busch said that the company was proposing to close the Stag Brewery in 2010 as a result of a merger between InBev and Anheuser-Busch,[5] although this has since been postponed until at least 2014.[6] The closure could lead to the loss of 180 jobs at the brewery.
Education
Places of worship
Transport and locale
Nearest places
Nearest railway stations
References
- ^ a b Mills, A., Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names, (2001)
- ^ Surrey Domesday Book
- ^ Find-a-Grave - Tommy Cooper
- ^ a b The Brewing Industry: A Guide to Historical Records, 1990, Richmond L. and Turton A. (eds.), p.263
- ^ Times Online: Stag Brewery to close with loss of 180 jobs
- ^ Fleming, Christine (24 May 2011). "Mortlake's Stag Brewery to stay open until 2014". Richmond and Twickenham Times. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
External links
- Mortlake Online
- St Mary Magdalen's Church
- Barnes and Mortlake History Society
- Mortlake History and Surname Demographics
