GREAT AND LITTLE PITS
The area which became known as Morden Wharf is shown on Skinner ‘s plan of 1745. This is described plot by plot as it was before industrialisation – after that the layout of the area changed radically.
Part of the area is also known as Bay Wharf – and this includes ‘Horseshoe Breach’ or ‘the Great Breach’ – a break in the sea wall which took place before 1622.
1. The area marked on Skinner as ‘MC7’ – the riverside strip. On Skinner this includes the area to the north described as Bay Wharf.
1745 Owned by Morden College. Occupier Thomas Jeffrey
By the time of the Morden College survey c.1827 the area has already been partly subdivided and is described as ‘part of great and little pits’ and by the 1843 and the tithe map industrial interests were already moving in. In 1843 only the lower part of the area – immediately to the north of the old gunpowder depot site – was meadow land, called ‘the pits’ and occupied by John Field. John Field’s occupation was a ‘carman’ and presumably the land was used as grazing for the horses he used for cartage. He appears occasionally in the Morden College minutes – complaining
2. Plot marked ‘TW1’ on the Skinner map. In 1745 it was owned by a Thomas Ward and occupied William Willbec. A hundred years later in 1843 it was owned by Lt. Col. Clark, John Frederick Sales and Sarah Margaretta Terry – and occupied by the carman, John Field. A small enclave within this is marked as consisting of ‘marsh, meadow, reeds’ and is also rented by John Field.
3. Plot marked TF&SWS3’ on Skinner map. In 1845 owned by Captain Thomas Farrington and Sir W. Sanderson – Sanderson held other local lands, in particular the mansion at Eastcombe. The plot was, like the adjacent plot, occupied by Thomas Jeffrey like the adjacent plot. C.1800 the ownership is indicated as ‘Calvert Clark’ on a Morden College deed.
4. Plot marked ‘SW2’ on Skinner. In 1845 this was owned by Thomas Ward and occupied by N.Barnes with the (rather strange) In Keiling. A Morden College deed c.1800 identifies the owner as ‘Mrs Suttenstall’ – 1843 this is Mary Susannah Saltonstall and the occupier was carman John Field.
5. Plot marked MC6’ on Skinner was clearly owned by Morden College and occupied by the ubiquitous Thomas Jeffrey.. This was called Lady Marsh. By 1843 it was occupied by Anthony Russell, a local speculative builder.
6. Strip marked TF&SW5 on Skinner – was owned by Thomas Farrington and Sir W. Sanderson and occupied by Thomas Jeffrey. By 1800 a building is shown on site and ownership had changed to Calvert Clark. In 1843 it was occupied by builder Anthony Russell and it was owned by Lt. Col Clark, John Frederick Sales and Sarah Margaretta Terry
7. Plot ’MB’ on Skinner was owned by Mary Bradford and occupied by William Land. Mary Bradford who lived in Maze Hill was sister of Isaac Pyke, Governor of Bencoolen, Sumatra. By 1843 it was owned and occupied by Richard Newman, marsh and meadow
8.Plot ‘SWS1’ on Skinner. Owned by William Sanderson and occupied by Peter Huck. By 1842 it was owned by Lt. Col Clark, John Frederick Sales and Sarah Margaretta Terry and occupied by local cab owner Thomas Wheatley – presumably used for grazing.
Greenwich Peninsula History 