Rural origins

The district was historically known as West Barnes and formed part of the traditional county of Surrey. It was rural up to the end of the nineteenth century due to its lack of a railway station . Two roads hark back to this rural time, West Barnes Lane and Blakes Lane and are marked on the oldest maps. The barns referred to were those at the western end of Merton Abbey's estates and were located just north of West Barnes Lane's junction with the modern Crossway.

After the dissolution of the monasteries the abbey land was granted to the Gresham family, (descendants of Thomas Gresham) who were wealthy London merchants. They retained the estate for two generations, selling it in 1570 – a date questioned – or 1612 to John Carpenter, a local farmer. The area remained agricultural, with farms owned or farmed out to smaller tenant farmers by wealthy families. Senior owners were notably the Raynes family who gave their name to Raynes Park. In the nineteenth century two major landowners were Charles Blake of Blue House Farm (area of the modern Barnes End) and Richard Garth Lord of the Manor of Morden. Both were lawyers and Garth eventually became a judge. They joined forces to agree to a bill for a railway line to Leatherhead and beyond to run across their land in order to receive valuable compensation and in a calculated long-term view to enhance future land value.

The railway's earthworks were planned and dug (largely laying a slight embankment, assisting with bridges over roads) and then laid through the locality in 1859 by the London and South Western Railway. The local station opened much later in 1925, the station name rapidly become the popular name of the district.^[6]

The 1871 map shows small farm workers cottages adjunct to farmhouses and a few mansions as the only dwellings of the area.^[7] The area east of the railway was part of Hobbald(e)s Farm owned by Garth. The mature oak woodland alongside it was planted around this time as screening from the railway; today it is a nature reserve.

The land was sold and eventually leased to J.J. Bishop (founder of the Bishops Move removal company) around 1873. In 1892 a tranche of land was sold to the Battersea Corporation for use as a cemetery; today known as Morden cemetery and the Northeast Surrey Crematorium.

Beginning of the suburban era

The area began to be developed as a proto-suburb before World War I and then fully in the Inter-War Period. First developments were streets off Burlington Road which had a tram route from about 1906: the northern ends of Belmont, Cavendish and Claremont Avenues in the west; and Seaforth, Estela and Adela Avenues in the east. Mostly these were well-serviced short terraces, typically six houses joined, each with three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and two living rooms and a kitchen downstairs. Motspur Park attracted its first of its characteristic playing fields at this time.

The country's first dual carriageway of the type purpose-built across green fields, the Kingston Bypass (A3), was opened in 1926.^[8] It became the de facto north-western boundary to the district. The large local junction at Shannon Corner, had a large, tall concrete Odeon cinema. The road brought speculative house building on open land from this point to Chessington, stimulating residential development on formerly agricultural land.

The principal developer who turned Motspur Park into a residential suburb between the world wars was Sidney Ernest Parkes, a boat manufacturer and constructional engineer. His company, Modern Homes and Estates Ltd, was founded in 1924 and was responsible for many of the streets. Some streets including Phyllis Avenue and Arthur Road, named after his children; Others like Byron Avenue, Tennyson Avenue and Marina Avenue after literary figures or royalty. Wates were also active builders in the area in the inter war years, building to the west of the railway line.^[9]

The Earl Beatty pub

The only local public house, The Earl Beatty, was built in 1938 and celebrates David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty who commanded a large part of the British fleet at the Battle of Jutland in the First World War.

In 1931 part of Hobbald(e)s Farm was acquired by Merton and Morden Urban District to become the Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields. One reason was to perpetuate the name of local benefactor and ex-Mayor of Wimbledon, Sir Joseph Hood. Its contents: a large pavilion, football and cricket pitches, tennis courts, bowling green, putting green and children's play areas. Part is now a managed local nature reserve.

The biggest local employer in the twentieth century was the Decca gramophone record company. In 1929 this was making up to 60,000 records a day at its factory in Burlington Road, New Malden. The company diversified during World War II to make radar and the Decca Navigator System.

The Shannon typewriter company manufactured at Shannon Corner to which it gave its name. Nearby were the Venner timeswitch company maker of Britain's first parking meters and Carter's Tested Seeds. Bradbury Wilkinson, a security printing company, designers and makers of banknotes for small country clients, is today the site of Tesco hypermarket.

The Motspur Park athletics stadium was built by the University of London in 1928. Sydney Charles Wooderson set the then world mile record of 4min 6.4sec at the sports ground on 28 August 1938. The stadium and ground are now owned by Fulham football club as their training camp.

The large gasometers at Motspur Park are visible across most of SW London.

The Church of England built Holy Cross Church^[10] where the first service was held in 1908. Following its destruction during the Second World War a new building was erected on the site – the first church, replacement or new, completed after the war in the Diocese. Designed by architect Ralph Covell it was dedicated for worship in 1949. (The church hall burned down in the 1980s and has since been rebuilt.) The parish broke away from its parent Morden, taking a little of New Malden (itself a portion of early medieval Malden) in 1978.^[11]

In 1906 a Mr and Mrs Howlett moved into 138 Seaforth Avenue. They started a Sunday School in their house. Soon adults also began to attend and the house was outgrown. The product was in 1925 West Barnes Gospel Hall in Seaforth Avenue, which later became the home of New Malden Evangelical Free Church, was opened.

World War II

The University of London and BBC recreation club grounds were sites of anti-aircraft batteries. The BBC site was the home guard base.^[12] Around 30 high explosive bombs fell across the district between October 1940 and June 1941.^[13] A large community bomb shelter was built near the entrance to the Joseph Hood Playing Fields. In one incident a stick of bombs was aimed at the railway station by a German bomber but missed and destroyed houses in Marina Avenue (including the six from 63 to 73) and Claremont Avenue (166–168, and possibly 162–164, Claremont Avenue). The bomb landing in Claremont Avenue landed on a 21st birthday house party killing many. In other events a bailed-out German pilot landed on top of the gasometers but fell to his death.^[12]

On the morning of 3 July 1944, a V1 flying bomb came down close to 45 Motspur Park; seven houses were razed and no deaths reported. Several other houses close by were badly damaged. The bomb sites became "a playground" for young children in the area for a few years, pending rebuilding .^[12]

Post-war

Post-war affluence saw many houses extended, often with loft conversions and conservatories. By the 1980s most front gardens had been paved or gravelled for car parking, reflecting the rise in car ownership . The very few large Victorian houses have been mostly subdivided or demolished for new building.

An earlier small B&Q store-warehouse stood next to West Barnes Library on the site of the Victorian Ivy House, now replaced by Blossom House School. It then relocated to Burlington Retail Park, west of the area, now it's located on Shannon Corner, just east of the Burlington Retail Park and north west of the old site in West Barnes.

From the late 1950s to mid-1980s a petrol station with repair garage adjoined the level crossing, known as Jackson's Garage. , the site now Fulham Football Club's main office.

An ironmongers once occupied today's garage door store. A small retail dairy/farm store selling milk, butter and eggs at first occupied the private tuition centre's unit. The parade once had three butchers, an RACS Co-op grocery store, a shoe repair shop, and a Coombes bakers . The modern three-unit supermarket 'Ecklee' began as smaller 'Ghassans' in 1988. The original library, before its removal to its present site by the station, occupied a shop on the corner of Station Road. It is now a barber shop. The Midipharmacy began as Mr Griffiths chemist at the parade's 1930s origins. A few clothes outlets have ventured here, such as 1980s short-lived 'Get Clobbered'. Three newsagents/sweetshops/toyshops competed in the 1950s to 1970s – A.R. Waylett, Bromheads and one surviving today, enlarged, 'Sweet Things and Things'. A fishmonger preceded the kebab outlet, close to the Lebanese grill. Major banks were in the parade in their mid-to-late 20th century branches' surge: Lloyds' and Midland Bank.