I have many memories of Colliers Wood, mostly involving the Tandem Centre, a large shopping park. On multiple occasions, I'd get a book from the WHSmith there and have to endure visits to TK Maxx. Never did I consider, however, the River Wandle which flowed through the area - but has become evident on this blog, I've grown an affinity towards the river, so I decided to come back and visit. I know I've already blogged about the Wandle twice before, but I like writing about it and the area's too interesting to ignore.
I started my journey opposite the tube station, which first opened as part of the Northern line's extension down south via Clapham, Balham and Tooting, and is the place marking the end of the last cycle superhighway in London, CS7. The station was designed by Sir Charles Holden, which I mention as a pub in his name stood right by where I was. The only way to go from here was north, into the second Wandle Park in London. I've already mentioned it before, and in that park, you're in the upper course, the channel narrower and partially covered up. Here, however, I was happy to see that Merton clearly take pride in the Wandle - it's exposed for all to see, and you can have a right jolly walking over the many footbridges in the park. I went on straight ahead, taking some photos, before stumbling along this fountain, in honour of Robert Fenwick, who lived in the area. On a photo of the blackened stone, I could make out that he was a former alderman of Surrey County Council, as well as helping to build a church.
I continued along a footpath, the river flowing strongly the other side of a grassy bank, and one footbridge later, I was onto Wandle Bank, a local side road which I later found out connected to the A24 at Colliers Wood. At this point the river disappeared beneath a block of flats, yet re-emerged immediately after, this time without the constraints of a park. I also noticed that someone had dumped a bike along the river bank - clearly they were unwilling or unable to find a large enough bin (I'm assuming the former).
A couple footbridges later, along with a decision to avoid walking through that underpass, led me back along a road - North Road, to be exact, which was bisected by Chaucer Way, named seemingly in honour of the writer of the Canterbury Tales. Continuing along Chaucer Way, you'll eventually arrive at the entrance to the second Wandle park in the area, named Wandle Meadow "Nature" Park ("Nature" was covered up with white tape on the signs at the entrance). The information board mentioned the prevalence of high voltage electricity meaning trees couldn't be planted in certain areas, and this was most evident when walking along a footpath. To my right, there were occasional puddles of water; to my left, grass extending unexcitedly along the meadow, a lone pylon standing in the park. One thing I noticed when in Colliers Wood is that you're unlikely to ever get away from the pylons - there'll always be one not too far away, clearly visible even on a foggy day like this one. It was also a cold day to boot, such that you could see your breath, which at least meant some of the mud on the footpaths had frozen over.
At least the Wandle was there, should you have walked towards or along it, so it wasn't all "misleading". Here, it marks an arbitrary boundary between the Wandle Meadow Park (its nature consisting of lots of trees and grass, which compared to Wandle Park isn't that different for an alternative classification) and the Garfield Recreation Ground. There's a primary school nearby this area, which is an even larger flat area with lots of grass, a playground in the distance and a couple exercising the only other additions. Now, we're walking along a suburban area once more, one no longer currently being conserved, and we lose the Wandle should you walk in a specific direction - that is, towards Haydons Road station.
I've mentioned Haydons Road station in my blogpost on the Sutton loop, and having been there that day, I can confirm that tourists don't really need to flock here. It's a run-of-the-mill main road, a Sainsbury's Local by North Road, and it doesn't get much more exciting than that as you approach the station. One thing I did notice, however, was that many writers have roads named after them here - Tennyson and Milton are two that I noticed. Turns out, it's intentional, and there's even a website about the area encompassing it (the "Poets Area") and which schools are in the area and why does this exist? There is one reason why you might go here, and that's to watch AFC Wimbledon play, in an area surrounded on all sides by newbuilds. I'll write about that in a separate blogpost at one point, but I might as well also mention Wimbledon FC's former ground was here, and so was the stadium they used for greyhound racing, both since demolished. Wimbledon seemed to once play where a car dealership now stands, serving brands like Vauxhall, and you'll find another shopping park down the road with a supermarket and trade shops.
While taking a break, the walk soon over, I noticed that there was seemingly a Wandle viewing place not too far from here - just go down this footpath. So I did, re-entering the Wandle Meadow "Nature" Park, pylons never too far from me. The viewing place itself is at a small confluence, part of the Wandle escaping under a bridge, the other bit flowing down a small channel. I don't know if this place needs to be advertised on Google Maps, not least as there are countless places to see the Wandle, but it doesn't look particularly bad regardless.
Eventually I got back to Colliers Wood to take some final photos of the Wandle, descending through footpaths that lie near the shopping centres to find the Merton Abbey mills, which I mentioned in my Morden Hall Park blogpost contains the only working water wheel in South London. Indeed, it was turning when I got there, the area itself being turned into a communal area of some sort with a small bar. The area itself also lies near Merton Priory, which used to be a monastery but is now a wall under renovation, all thanks to King Henry VIII who decided to go on a jolly of his own and destroy every monastery, the greedy git.
And that was that - a return to Colliers Wood - this time not for shopping, and barely any time was actually spent visiting the area around it. I might come back one day, but certainly not soon - I can't be going back to the area around Morden and the A24 all the time! (Sorry for the poor quality collage - it's the best I could do).
My jaunts near the A24:
Balham and Tooting (starting in Clapham South)
This blogpost
Comments
Post a Comment