New Close

New Close is a residential road in Merton, London SW19, England.

In April 1932, at a lavender distillery factory in nearby Batsworth Road, a 300-gallon vat of methylated spirits exploded. This resulted in the death of a 12-year old boy and the demolition of houses in Belgrave Road. Only commercial premises, such as the Bath tavern pub and small shops, were insured. The then Municipal Borough of Mitcham sought help from the Ministry of Health to rehouse the homeless and New Close was the culmination of these efforts when the houses were built there in 1936. Arranged as a narrow oval, the road consists of separate terraces of six or more two and three bed single family homes. A single detached house, near the Phipps Bridge Tramstop, was originally an "isolation house" for the sick.

The name of the road derives from an area that, in 1633, consisted of 5 1/2 acres. In the 1870s "New Close" was a large Victorian house was occupied by local property owner Robert Mann, with his family and servants. After his death in 1894, the land was bought by the Clarkson family who, in the early part of the twentieth century, ran a cartage and waste collection business. They sold the land to Mitcham Council in January 1936.

References

*cite web | title=Deeds 827 Lease, 1633, January 19. 8 Charles I | work=Harvard Law School English Deeds Collection | url=http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/collections/special/manuscripts/deeds/deeds10.php | accessdate=July 1 | accessyear=2007

*cite book | title=Mitcham Histories: 8 - Phipps Bridge | author=E. N. Montague | isbn=1903899532