Merton Priory Chapter House

Gilbert the Norman, Sheriff of Surrey, founded the Augustinian priory in 1114 under Henry I, and the canons moved onto the Merton site by 1117. Thomas Becket studied here around 1130 and afterwards wore the habit of a Merton canon. Henry III held Parliament at the priory in 1236, and the Statute of Merton passed there allowed lords to enclose common land while leaving tenants sufficient pasture. The priory was valued at £960 16s 6d in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 and demolished in 1538, its stone going to build Nonsuch Palace. The chapter house foundations survive beneath the A24 Merantun Way, between Merton Abbey Mills and the hypermarket, and window tracery from the site is in the Museum of London. The operator names its own transit: Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon on the Northern line, Wimbledon and Haydons Road on National Rail, Phipps Bridge and Morden Road tram stops, and buses 57, 131, 200, 219 and 470.