During 2014 and 2015, The Building Exploratory worked alongside 28 local volunteers to research and map over 60 historical, industrial and natural treasures of the River Wandle.
Along with visiting the borough archives and heritage centres, the Treasures Team gathered information from the V&A Museum, William Morris Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Wandle Industrial Museum and Merton Priory Chapter House. Treasures include William Morris’s “Wandle Print”, an 18th Century Snuff Mill in Morden Hall Park and a Grade II listed brewery at the Wandle Delta.
Following talks in 2014 at Wandsworth and Croydon Heritage Festivals, a celebration was held in August 2015 at the Wheelhouse in Merton Abbey Mills, where a beautiful hand-drawn map displaying the treasures was presented.
The Wandle Treasures map was re-launched at Wimbledon Arts Space during the 2017 Merton Arts Festival before going on a tour of public libraries, art spaces and museums across Croydon, Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth during 2018.
This project was part of a wider industrial heritage recording scheme coordinated through the Living Wandle Partnership including Mapping the Mills and History Under Our Feet.
Each treasure can be viewed in the Wandle Treasures Collection and in our Wandle Library.
This project was part of the wider Living Wandle Landscape Partnership Scheme, supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.
