In 1236, King Henry III convened his barons at Merton Priory to pass the Statute of Merton, considered the first recorded statute of the first recorded English parliament. Today, the site of this foundational moment in British constitutional history lies beneath a Sainsbury's supermarket car park in Colliers Wood.
The Founding of Merton Priory
Merton Priory was founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under King Henry I. Some historical sources suggest 1117 as an alternative foundation date, whilst the foundation charter granted by Henry I is dated 1121. The first stone of the priory church was laid in 1130, and the cloister and other buildings were completed by 1136.
The Augustinian priory, dedicated to St Mary, stood at a strategically significant location where the River Wandle crossed Stane Street, the Roman road to Chichester. Situated approximately ten kilometres outside the City of London, Merton Priory became one of the most important religious houses in medieval England.
The priory educated several figures who shaped English history. Thomas Becket, later Archbishop of Canterbury and martyr, studied there briefly around 1130 and subsequently wore the habit of a Merton canon. Walter de Merton, who studied at the priory in the 1230s, went on to found Merton College, Oxford. Edmund of Abingdon composed some of his Oxford lectures within the priory's peaceful environs.
The Parliament of 1236 and the Statute of Merton
In 1236, during the twentieth year of his reign, Henry III held a parliament at Merton Priory. The gathering brought together the King and the barons of England to address matters of law and governance. This assembly produced the Statute of Merton, also known as the Provisiones de Merton.
The statute, cited as 20 Hen. 3, contained eleven chapters addressing various legal matters. Chapter 4, later known as the Commons Act 1236, established that lords of the manor could enclose common land provided sufficient pasture remained for their tenants. Other provisions addressed illegitimacy, women's property rights, usury, wardship, and trespass.
The statute includes the declaration: "He is a bastard that is born before the marriage of his parents." Regarding women's rights, it established that "A woman shall recover damages in a writ of dower" and that "Widows may bequeath the crop of their lands."
The Statute of Merton holds a unique place in English legal history. It is considered the first English statute and appears as the first statute in The Statutes of the Realm. This status makes the 1236 parliament at Merton Priory the first recorded English parliament, predating the division into Houses of Lords and Commons, which did not occur until 1341.
Dissolution and Disappearance
The priory's existence ended abruptly during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. On 16 April 1538, Prior John Bowles, also known as John Ramsey, surrendered the monastery. At the time of dissolution, the priory housed fourteen canons.
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 had valued Merton Priory at ยฃ960 16s 6d. When the priory surrendered, royal commissioners recorded its assets as including eighteen fat oxen, forty fat sheep, two hundred quarters of malt, and ยฃ30 worth of ling and haberdyne. The dispossessed canons received pensions ranging from ยฃ6 13s 4d to ยฃ10, whilst the prior received 200 marks.
Much of the priory's masonry was transported to Nonsuch Palace, Henry VIII's grand building project in Surrey. The site subsequently passed through various private hands, and the memory of its precise location faded over the centuries.
Rediscovery Beneath the Supermarket
The ruins of Merton Priory remained hidden until the late twentieth century. Between 1976 and 1990, the Museum of London Archaeology Service conducted excavations at the site. The discovery came during preparations for development, when archaeologists realised that a Sainsbury's supermarket and associated roads would be built directly over the medieval remains.
The most significant surviving structure is the Chapter House, which now forms a museum beneath Merantun Way, the road bridge connecting the supermarket to Merton Abbey Mills. A rare knapped flint wall survives from the original priory buildings. Window tracery from Merton Priory is displayed in the Museum of London.
Visiting the Chapter House Today
The Merton Priory Chapter House museum occupies Chapter Way, Merton, London SW19 2RX, accessible via a pedestrian underpass connecting the car parks for Sainsbury's and Pizza Hut. The museum opens on Sundays from 11am to 4pm between April and October.
The site is wheelchair accessible. Visitors can reach it via Colliers Wood or South Wimbledon stations on the Northern Line, or by National Rail to Wimbledon or Haydons Road. Several bus routes serve the area, including the 57, 470, 200, 219, and 131.
The Merton Priory Trust, a registered charity, manages the site and promotes awareness of its historical significance. In 2010, Merton Priory was one of thirty-eight locations in the United Kingdom considered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as potential candidates for UNESCO World Heritage status.
Local Significance and Layers of History
The Merton Priory site contains archaeological evidence spanning more than fifteen centuries. Prehistoric Bronze Age ditches, Roman remains from Stane Street, and Saxon settlement evidence, including the place name Merton itself, which dates to the seventh century, have all been identified.
Following the dissolution, the area became an industrial centre. Calico printing began there in 1724, and in the late nineteenth century, William Morris's company operated workshops at Merton Abbey Mills. Liberty and Company maintained a textile factory on the site from 1904 until 1972.
Today, Merton Abbey Mills operates as a craft market and hosts Abbeyfest, a summer theatre and music festival. Visitors can explore this layered history, from prehistoric settlement to medieval priory, industrial innovation, and modern retail, within a compact area in the London Borough of Merton.
A Site of National Importance
The transformation of Merton Priory from the seat of England's first parliament to a supermarket car park represents more than historical irony. It demonstrates how medieval institutions shaped the landscape of modern London, even where their physical remains have been buried beneath centuries of development.
For residents of Merton, the Chapter House offers a direct connection to a pivotal moment in the development of English law and governance. The 1236 statute passed there established principles of property rights and common land management that influenced English common law for centuries. The site remains a testament to the borough's contribution to national history, hidden in plain sight beneath the everyday infrastructure of twenty-first century south London.
