Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, for local government purposes, Morden was in the administrative and historic county of Surrey.

Morden's name may be derived from the Common Brittonic words Mawr (great or large) and Dun (fort), or possibly "The Town on the Moor".

The route of Stane Street through Morden followed the current A24, London Road up Stonecot Hill from the south west crossing Morden Park to the west of the current dual carriageway road and passing through the pitch and putt golf course and the grounds of St Lawrence's Church.

The road then descended the other side of the hill towards the town centre passing west of the Underground station and crossing the north corner of Morden Hall Park heading in the direction of Colliers Wood and Tooting.

Small Roman artifacts, mainly coins and pottery, have been found at various locations within the area although there is no evidence of any settlement.

Ethelstan the Etheling, son of Ethelred the Unready, left "land at Mordune" to the abbey of Christ and St. Peter in his will of 1015, which became the site of the first Saxon parish church of St Lawrence.

[6] Under the Local Government Act, 1894, the parish of Morden formed part of the Croydon Rural District of Surrey.

Around the station, which, itself, had several shops built into the building, a new adjacent commercial centre grew quickly as shops sprang up along London Road and Crown Lane, including a rebuilt and enlarged Crown Inn public house (opened in 1932)[8] and a large Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) department store (opened in 1940).

[8] Away from the new commercial centre of Morden, the existing rural roads were widened and rebuilt and the fields were rapidly divided into building plots and laid out for new housing.

The area retains a good provision of parks and green spaces, many of them created from former country estates.

The concaved frontage of the building lends it some distinction, as does the "chessboard" style juxtaposition of its light and dark facade features.

[citation needed] At around the same time, Morden Underground Station, originally a single storey building, with shops, had three-storey office accommodation incorporated above it.