Mortlake
Coordinates: 51°27′56″N 0°15′51″W / 51.4655°N 0.2643°W
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.
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History [edit]
Mortlake appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Mortlage. 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] The name of this place has been generally supposed to be derived from mortuus lacus, or the dead lake. In Doomsday Book it is called Mortlage, which in the Saxon language signifies a compulsive law, a derivation which seems to throw little light upon its etymology..[3] 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 English Civil War, 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 John Dee (1527 – 1608 or 1609), mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, alchemist and adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, who lived at Mortlake from 1565 to 1595 except for the six years between 1583 and 1589 when he was travelling in Europe.[4] His house no longer exists but it became the Mortlake Tapestry Works and at the end of the 18th century was a girls' school.[4]
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.[5]
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 [edit]
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 [edit]
In the 1840s Charles James Philips acquired Mortlake Brewery, which had existed since the fifteenth century.[6]
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.[6]
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,[7] although this has since been postponed until at least 2014.[8] The closure could lead to the loss of 180 jobs at the brewery.
Education [edit]
Places of worship [edit]
Transport and locale [edit]
Nearest places [edit]
Nearest railway stations [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Mills, A., Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names, (2001)
- ^ [1]
- ^ Empty citation (help)
- ^ a b "Dee's House". John Dee of Mortlake Society. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
- ^ 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.
