Gorringe Park Avenue predates the rest of this area’s development by half a millennium.
Gorringe Park was the old name for this far northern part of Mitcham. As noted by ’Hidden London’, it is an answer to the riddle that there’s no word rhyming with ‘orange’.
Already by the 15th century, the future Gorringe Park Avenue was the track leading to Biggin Farm - a farm and later also a grand house - in the 15th century from the London Road. Also known as Biggin Grove, the fields covered the area east of Figge’s Marsh up to the South London, Peckham and Sutton Railway’s line.
Biggin Grove was pulled down in 1821 and the grounds became largely agricultural. However, in the 1860s, a villa named Gorringe Park had been built, owned by the Wilson family.
In the 1890s and 1900s, the surrounding land owned by the Wilsons was developed with housing.
The Wilsons helped fund the neo-gothic St Barnabas church on Gorringe Park Avenue, designed by architect Henry Burke-Downing.
Gorringe Park became a convalescent home during the First World War and was then demolished around 1930 to make way for more housing.
