Merton Abbey Works: Where Morris Printed and Wove

An Old Printing Works on the River Wandle

The Victoria and Albert Museum describes how, throughout the 1870s, Morris relied on outside contractors to produce the quantities of material required commercially by his company. His search for a site to consolidate his workshops and take full control of production ended in 1881 when he found Merton Abbey, an old textile-printing works near Wimbledon.

The site itself explains the choice. According to the V&A, Merton Abbey offered a supply of soft water in the River Wandle and acres of ground necessary for the washing and drying of cloth. For a firm whose output depended on dyeing and printing textiles, those physical conditions were not incidental but central to what the works could do.

The V&A also notes that Merton Abbey gave Morris the room to build the huge indigo vats that eventually helped him to create the 'right' blue dye. Dyeing, washing, drying and printing could therefore happen on one site, under one management, rather than being scattered across outside contractors.

1881: Production Comes In-House

The Victoria and Albert Museum identifies the acquisition of Merton Abbey in 1881 as the point at which production moved in-house. This follows directly from the situation of the 1870s described above: a firm dependent on outside contractors acquired the means to control its own making.

The move consolidated company production at the site, and, as the V&A records, tapestry weaving was established there as part of that consolidation. The works near Wimbledon, found at the end of Morris's search for a site, became the place where printing, weaving and tapestry were carried out under the firm's own roof.

Rugs, Looms and Design Collaboration at the Works

Tapestry weaving was established at Merton Abbey when company production was consolidated at the site in 1881, and the V&A records that Morris appointed John Henry Dearle to manage production. Dearle's role was operational as well as creative, a combination that shaped the works' output over the following years.

The V&A also describes how large tapestry commissions were often designed by Morris, Dearle and other artists in collaboration, and executed by the company's experienced weavers on Flemish-style looms that Morris had built. Design and weaving were separate trades, and the looms were Morris's own construction.

Rug making arrived at the same time. The looms used for hand-knotted 'Hammersmith' rugs were moved to Merton Abbey in 1881, where the V&A records that Morris & Company produced large Hammersmith rugs for a series of interiors commissions.

Taken together, these records show a works organised around several crafts at once: tapestry on Flemish-style looms, hand-knotted rug making on moved looms, and the textile printing for which the site had originally been used. Each depended on the conditions the site offered, from soft water to space for the vats.

Designs associated with this period of the firm can be compared in the William Morris Original Designs collection, which gathers patterns alongside the works where they were made.

Objects That Came Out of the Works

Several documented objects connect directly to Merton Abbey. The Victoria and Albert Museum records that in 1889 Morris & Company made a carpet for John Sanderson, a wool trader who lived in a house called Bullerswood in Chislehurst, Kent. The commission shows the kind of large interiors work the firm was undertaking from the site.

The V&A also records 'The Forest', a tapestry designed by William Morris, Philip Webb and John Henry Dearle, made by Merton Abbey Workshop in 1887 in England. Its three named designers fit the collaborative pattern the museum describes for large tapestry commissions of this period.

Woven design at the works also looked backwards. In 'Granada', a design of 1884, the V&A notes that Morris attempted to reproduce complex historical structures such as the brocaded Flemish velvets of the 15th and 16th centuries. The design belongs to the period when Morris was still drawing woven textiles himself.

Dearle Takes Over the Design Work

The Victoria and Albert Museum dates Morris's last identifiable designs for woven textiles to 1888. After that time, the museum records, John Henry Dearle was responsible for this aspect of the company's output.

That handover matters for attribution. Woven textile designs dated after 1888 should be credited to Dearle rather than to Morris, even when both men were working at Merton Abbey. The V&A records that Dearle had been appointed by Morris to manage production when the company consolidated at the site in 1881, so the change was a continuation of an existing working relationship rather than a new appointment.

What the Records Do Not Tell Us

This account is built from museum records about the works' history, and they leave several questions open. Rather than guess, it is clearer to list them.

The following points are not established by the sources used here:

• Who owns or operates the Merton Abbey Works site today.
• Whether the public can visit, and what the current visiting details are.
• Which Morris objects remain at the Merton Abbey site itself. 'The Forest', for example, is held by the V&A, not on site.
• What other activities took place at the works besides textile printing, weaving, tapestry and rug making.

If you are planning a visit, check current information directly rather than relying on this page.