10:00am to 4:30pm Saturday 10 September 2022

Mitcham Heritage Day is our annual celebration of local heritage.

Thank you to all the volunteers who have worked hard to help make Mitcham Heritage Day 2022 happen, to those who have given financial support, and to Merton Council’s Heritage and Local Studies service for providing exhibitions. 

Download our map for use on the day.

If you enjoy Mitcham Heritage Day do please consider becoming a member. Your membership fee will help us run Mitcham Heritage Day in the future, as well as supporting all the other work we do.

Here is the programme – do check back before coming along for any last minute additions and alterations.

Mitcham Cricket Green Community & Heritage
10.30am guided walk around the gems of Mitcham Cricket Green. Allow 1 hour.
Assemble on cricket ground opposite pavilion.
We will stop at the Canons Café where Walk and Talk walkers can join us.

Mitcham Cricket Green Community & Heritage
10.00am to 4.30pm Heritage Shorts self-guided tour.
Learn more about Mitcham Cricket Green at a range of information points. Visit as a self-guided walk or check each location out as you are passing. All the information points can be found on the downloadable map on this page – they are marked with an orange H.

Mitcham Parish Church – the current church building is celebrating 200 years since opening
10.00am to 4.00pm church open.
10.30am to 12.00pm bell tower ringing room open with bell ringing demonstrations. NB the tower is accessed via a spiral staircase.
1.00pm and 3.00pm Introduction to the Graveyard talk and tour. Participants should wait in the church.
Exhibitions relating to the church building and its history back to Medieval times.
Exhibition provided by Merton Council’s Heritage and Local Studies service What’s in a name? : The history behind Mitcham streets and properties.
Refreshments.

Cricket Green School
10.00am to 4.30pm access via main gate of school on Church Road.
See the remains of the Grade II listed arch of 14th Century Hall Place in school grounds.

Wandle Industrial Museum
10.00am to 4.30pm museum open as normal. The museum has exhibitions on the history and heritage of the people and industries of the Wandle Valley. Mitcham has a rich heritage of industry which included a number of mills on the River Wandle. ​Volunteers will be on hand to answer your questions.
10.30am unveiling of the final part of the museum’s Changing the View project. This project aims to improve the external view of the museum building.

Conservation Station at Wandle Industrial Museum
12.00pm to 3.00pm. Drop in to meet professional book conservator Katarina Kelsey, who will provide Mitcham Heritage Day’s very own Repair Shop. Katarina will show you historic book structures, the creepy crawlies and materials that eat books up, and will demonstrate how book conservators repair historic books and manuscripts. Materials provided for children to make their own origami book structures. 

Mitcham Cricket Club
10.30am to 4.00pm cricket pavilion open.
12.00pm walk the boundary for a talk on the history of cricket on the Green. Starts and ends at the cricket pavilion.
Exhibition A Mitcham Man’s 1876 tour of Australia & New Zealand with Lillywhite’s XI including viewing the “lost” painting of the Incident at the Otira Gorge.
Refreshments.

The Canons
12.00pm to 4.00pm house open for visitors.
Activities.
Exhibition.

Mitcham Methodist Church
10.00am to 4.30pm church open.
Volunteers available throughout the day to tell visitors about the church and show them around.

Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church
11.00am to 2.00pm church open.
11:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm guided tours of church and garden.
Exhibition Photographs of the Consecration in the parish room.
Exhibition provided by Merton Council’s Heritage and Local Studies service A Time of New Beginnings : Images of Mitcham during its 1930s heyday.
Refreshments.

The Small Quarter
The Ravensbury, 260 Croydon Road, CR4 4JA. About 5 minutes walk from No10 on the Mitcham Heritage Day flyer map.
12.00pm to 3.30pm open to visitors.
The Small Quarter is a rapidly developing garden that aims to become a sustainable community asset for Mitcham and heritage for the future.
Informal tours, including information about the Blue House Cottages that used to sit on the site (dating back to the 18th Century) and also the new rainwater harvesting system.

Mitcham Community Choir
Look out for impromptu pop-up singing at different locations from Mitcham Community Choir throughout the day.

Melanie’s Walk
1.30pm start at Mitcham Junction Railway Station Carshalton Road, CR4 4HN. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours.
A walk around Mitcham and Mitcham Common, visiting various heritage sites.
Finishes at the Wandle Industrial Museum.

Mary Tate’s Almshouses
Event cancelled
1.15pm talk on the history of Mary Tate, her almhouses and her almswomen.
2.00pm talk about Croydon Almshouses Charities (owner of the cottages) and future plans.
Crafts area with competition for the best Mitcham Heritage Day poster, winner announced 1.15pm
Exhibition on the history of the cottages.
Refreshments and sweet cart.

 

Celebration evening concert at Mitcham Parish Church
7.00pm Mitcham Heritage Day Opera Gala.
The Merry Opera Company presents popular operatic classics from Nessun Dorma to Gilbert & Sullivan.
Tickets £16 (£10 under 18s) from 020 8646 0666.

 

 

Mitcham Heritage Day is part of Wandle Fortnight 2022 and Heritage Open Days.

Thanks go to Wandle Fortnight and The Canons (via the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund) for their financial support.