This pub is closed permanently. Your nearest Wetherspoon pub: The Wibbas Down Inn
In 1868, the West Barnes Park Estate was bought by Richard Garth, lord of the neighbouring manor of Morden. It was at his request that a railway station was built, to serve the suburb he had envisaged. The suburban development of Raynes Park began in 1871 with the opening of that railway station, named after Edward Rayne because it crossed land which he once owned and farmed.
Text about The Edward Rayne.
The text reads: John Middleton, from an old Durham family, moved to Lambeth some time in the 1760’s, and worked as a surveyor. In 1787 he bought a 200 acre estate in West Barnes at auction. In 1822 he offered his nephew, Edward Rayne, who had been farming his parents farm in Durham, the tenancy of the West Barnes estate, on the strength of which Edward was able to marry Margret Arrowsmith and move south in 1823.
Margret died the next year, after the death of a baby girl, and then a boy. Edward re-married to Mary Fletcher, Margret’s first cousin, in 1826. They were to have three daughters and three sons. John Middleton, his uncle and landlord, died in 1833, and placed the West Barnes estate in the hands of trustees, effectively ‘robbing’ Edward of the money he had put into improvements to the farm and the main house. The trustees then put the estate up for sale, but Edward was able to buy it. He was then master of his own destiny until his death in 1847. Mary stayed on at West Barnes Park House until the Rayne family sold up in 1867.
During the 1830’s the Nine Elms, Southampton Railway Company bought some of Edward’s land for their new line. Stations were opened at Wimbledon and Maiden, which Edward enthusiastically made use of. Then, in 1842, the Wimbledon Dorking line took land along the eastern edge of his estate. After his father’s death, Edward Rayne jnr. sought to persuade the railway company to open a station at West Barnes, but it was after the estate had been sold to Richard Garth in 1867 that an agreement was reached, and it was Garth who funded it. The adoption of the Rayne name is something of a mystery, but it was most likely due to Edward’s co-operative approach towards the railway companies during the negotiation and construction of the two lines through his estate.
Prints and text about John Innes.
The text reads: John Innes arrived in Merton in around 1865, and lived at Manor Farm, in Watery Lane. Innes rebuilt the old farmhouse and over the next 40 years developed the area east of this public house.
Innes is better known as the originator of the famous potting compost. Under the terms of his will, he set up the John Innes Horticultural Institution, in 1910, in the grounds of Manor House and his ornamental garden became John Innes Park. His institution moved out of the area after the Second World War.
Carters Seeds moved in a few years before World War One. The firm built offices, laboratories and workshops in West Barnes Lane and became a leading local employer. The land was sold for housing in 1967. Several of the new roads have ‘garden’ names.
Photographs and text about the Rayne family.
The text reads: John Middleton moved from Durham to Lambeth some time in the 1760’s, and in 1787 he bought a 200 acre estate in West Barnes. In 1822 he offered his nephew, Edward Rayne, also from Durham, the tenancy. John Middleton died in 1833, and Edward was able to buy the estate. He died in 1847, and his second wife Mary stayed on at West Barnes Park House until 1867.
During his lifetime Edward sold strips of land to the Nine Elms, Southampton Railway Company and the Wimbledon Dorking line. However, the station was not built until the estate had been sold to Richard Garth in 1867. The adoption of the Rayne name was most likely due to Edward’s co-operative and enthusiastic approach to the lines when they were built.
Photographs and text about Dorset Hall.
The text reads: After his first wife died childless, Thomas Lamartine Yates, a London Solicitor, married Rose Emma Janau, a highly educated woman less than half his age. Rose studied law to be able to help her husband. They were both enthusiastic cyclists, and advocates of female emancipation. In 1906 the couple leased Dorset Hall.
Rose succeeded in being the first woman to be elected to the council of the Cyclists Touring Club. Backed by the National Union of Women Teachers, she was a successful independent candidate in the 1919 LCC elections for the North Lambeth Division.
In January 1909 the Wimbledon Branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union was set up, with Rose on the committee. In February she was arrested for obstructing the police, and tried, with Tom as her lawyer. She received a one month sentence. On release she threw herself into the cause of women’s suffrage with even greater commitment.
Tom died in 1829, and Rose sold Dorset Hall to Merton and Morden Council for offices in 1935. She died in Putney in 1954.
Prints of Edward Rayne and family.
Prints of Rayne’s Park.
Mixed media on canvas entitled Landscape Study I, by Rebecca Appleby.
Mixed media on canvas entitled Landscape Study II, by Rebecca Appleby.
External photograph of the building – main entrance.
If you have information on the history of this pub, then we’d like you to share it with us. Please e-mail all information to: pubhistories@jdwetherspoon.co.uk