Wander on Mitcham Common

During one of your author's regular aimless wanders in South London, he stumbled across Mitcham Common as part of a survey of large green spaces in the A to Z and was not disappointed.


Once dominated by oak woodland, the massive 460 acres of common land are thought to have been cleared as early as neolithic times for grazing, and today the common has a real gritty suburban charm, and is wilder than many green spaces in London, with overgrown scrubland and ponds dominating, and living alongside a full 18 hole golf course.

We are told that the soil here is acidic, and has also suffered from frequent rubbish dumping, but yet the views across the surrounding neighbourhoods and patches of trees and scrubland make it an interesting environment.

For more, see http://mitchamcommon.org/.