Morden

Inspired by the slight hint of sunshine, I dashed off to Morden, not having done a lick of research.

And there ain't a whole lot there. It is, literally, just a suburb. In fact, it was a rural parish until the line extension opened in 1926, the station being built in the open fields. Which brings me to the only interesting thing about the station. Not constrained to a tunnel like more central stations, it is a wide and open station.

The history of the area, is a little more intriguing. There is evidence of prehistoric people living in the area, and the Chicester-London Roman road came through. Things began to pick up for the area when Ethelstan the Etheling, son of Ethelred the Unready (King of the English from 978–1013 and 1014–1016) left land in 'Mordune'; might mean 'land on the moor') that became the Saxon parish church of St. Lawrence. This was owned by Westminster Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monastaries by Henry VIII, at which time the manor was given to the Garth family, which held it for centuries until the 1870's. It's now a National Trust Property.

It's also really lovely, the park I mean. There are a couple of snaps in the slideshow below.

I came across a rather large mosque, but there is little notable about the present-day Morden. Though I will say, as suburbs go, it was nice, neat, and clean.

Walking past a Polish deli, I was inspired to pop in and buy some kielbasa to make with some saurkraut, the dish I keep making until I can get enough people together to make the saurkraut and porky-goodness dish I really want to make, Choucroute.

I've made a little map of where all these places are in Google My Maps. They don't seem to have a widget for my blog, so until I figure something else out, we'll have to stick to the link.