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'Mysterious Mitcham' is the online sequel to 'Strange Mitcham':
Second (2011) edition now available.
'MYSTERIOUS
MITCHAM'
Contents:
Front Cover
Introduction
Receive Updates
Map
Part 1 - Mitcham:
The Phantom Cyclist
of Mitcham Common
(update to Strange
Mitcham)
A Dark Figure on
Mitcham Common
Tales from the Vestry
Hall
'Calico Jack': The
Playful Ghost of
Lacks the Drapers
The Faces on the
Walls: Hancock's
Cottages
The Haunted Cottages
in Tramway Path
The 'Haunting' of Hall
Place
The Legend of
Mitcham Fair
Remember the Grotto
The Phantom of the
'Folly'
An Apparition at
Woof & Sabine
Haunted Rooms at Fry
Metals
The Phantom Cat
Mitcham's (not so)
Haunted Mansion
The Kingston Zodiac
The 'Ghost Tree'
Ghostly Gardeners,
Medicinal Plants and
A Magical Tree
The 'Thing'
The Wrath of God
A Ghostly Experience
in Morden Road
Mitcham Clock Tower:
When Time Ran
Backwards
The Rosier Family
Legend
The 'Ball of Fire'
UFO over Mitcham
Common, 2004
UFO over Tooting
Bec Common, 1990
Part 2 - South of
Mitcham Common:
Carew Manor
The Ghosts of
Beddington Park
Beddington Parish
Church & Churchyard
The Figure in the
Alley
Under Beddington
A Spectral Cavalier
Other Information:
Author's website
The Mitcham Ghost
Ride
Strange Mitcham
(2002): Errata
Strange Mitcham
(2011)
Haunted Wandsworth
(2006)
Covers the London Borough of Wandsworth (Balham, Battersea, Putney, Tooting & Wandsworth):
Haunted London
(2007)
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A Spectral Cavalier
Just behind Carew Manor lies Mallinson Road and it was in one of the houses here that a phantom soldier was seen in around November of 1972. The following account comes from local resident Sue Chester:
"When John and I married, we lived in his parents' house in Mallinson Road [...] There had always been things going on in his house. His dad had always heard breathing, etc. But the worst thing was when we had been married for about six weeks and one night John woke me up and told me not to look, but to turn over the other way.
"He saw, and will swear to this day that he was wide awake, a Cavalier in full dress, right down to the feather in his hat. He was standing with his arm resting on the door handle, just staring at me and him in bed! John was really scared and this was in his prime when he was supposed to be the 'provider & protector'!"
Above: 'The Wounded Cavalier' by William Shakespeare Burton, painted 1855.
The experience prompted John and Sue to research the area's history and they discovered that the houses in Mallinson Road had been built on the site of the old workers' houses attached to Carew Manor.
The description of the ghost fits that of a Royalist soldier of the English Civil War, and as noted in Carew Manor, the Carew family is known to have been loyal to the Royalist cause. It is tempting to wonder if one of the Carews still lingers around the old family estate, wondering at the many changes that have been made.
Then again, might there be a connection with the stories of the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh that have long circulated this area? (See the chapters about Beddington Parish Church and the alley nearby, and Beddington Park.)
[Source: personal communication with Sue Chester, 2000-2001.]
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