Morden College

Morden College is a charity which has been providing residential care in Blackheath, south-east London, England for over 300 years.

'[1] Morden College was built (to a design sometimes attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, but largely carried out by Edward Strong, his master mason)[2] on the north-east corner of the Wricklemarsh estate.

It was described by Daniel Lysons in Environs of London (1796): It is a spacious brick structure, with stone coins and cornices, forming a quadrangle, which is surrounded by piazzas.

Lady Morden, finding her income not sufficient to continue her husband's bounty to twelve merchants, was obliged, during her life, to reduce the number to four.

Lysons recorded those donors and the totals of their gifts:[3] The first British East India Company Trustee was William Astell.

Today, Morden College is a Grade I listed building (designated 19 October 1951),[6] and functions as a retirement home.

English Turkey merchant and Morden College benefactor Francis Levett, attired in Turkish costume, circa 1750