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The Charm of
Wimbledon
The village
of Wimbledon, at the top of Wimbledon Hill, is just under 10 miles from the
centre of London yet, at times, one could be in the heart of the country. The
old medieval High Street which included the Church, the Old Rectory and several
pubs, wound its way from the Common to the top of Wimbledon Hill. Today little
has changed and the handsome buildings in this charming village offer a first
class selection of shops, pubs, restaurants, wine bars, pavement cafes,
boutiques and businesses. |
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The area has a
fascinating history and is one of the major reasons why its houses are so
sought after today. Certainly there are many traces of early British people.
The most important of these is Caesars Camp, an iron age bill-fort covering
some seven acres on the south-west side of the common. Before its destruction
in 1870 the ramparts were 10 to 20 feet high, with the ditch averaging some 12
feet deep.
The Doomsday Book Survey of
1086 showed Wimbledon as part of the Manor of Mortlake, which was owned by the
Archbishops of Canterbury, and a small hamlet started to grow over the years to
house the workers on the estate.
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