For many centuries it had village status and extended far to the south, to include East Sheen and part of what is now Richmond Park.

Its Stuart and Georgian history was economically one of malting, brewing, farming, watermen and the Mortlake Tapestry Works (1617–1704), Britain's most important producer.

John Barber, Lord Mayor in 1733, a suspected Jacobite opposed to the 'Georgian' House of Hanover but Member of Parliament for the City on the strength of his opposition to Walpole's protectionist excise scheme, was buried in Mortlake in 1741.

[10] Sir John Barnard, Lord Mayor of London in the year 1737 and also an MP, used public addresses and private campaigns to outstanding effect in supporting the government against the Jacobite movement in 1745.

[13] Apart from Archbishops of Canterbury, Mortlake's most famous former resident is John Dee (1527–1608/09), mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, alchemist and adviser to Queen Elizabeth I.

[15] Edward Colston, the English merchant, philanthropist and Tory Member of Parliament who was involved in the Atlantic slave trade, lived at (old) Cromwell House (demolished 1857) from about 1689 until his death in 1721.

[16] The cemetery of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church Mortlake contains the tomb of the Victorian explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Burton (1821–1890).

[19] Mortlake is mostly a residential commuter town with a strong history of self-employed trades as it has traditionally centred its commerce on its foreshortened boundary, the Upper Richmond Road, arguably half part of East Sheen.

[20] East Sheen was once a manor in the parish of Mortlake and since early times an economic forum, and now a dining and convenience hub of the two districts.

[23] In November 2015, it was announced that the site had been sold for £158m to Reselton – part of Singapore's City Developments, which also bought the former Teddington Studios.

The two large pubs at either end of the riverside promenade are not listed buildings: Places of worship include: These are minor stops on the Waterloo–Reading line which has four branch lines: to Windsor Riverside station, to Weybridge and back to the London terminus via Kingston upon Thames or Brentford.

Adjacent to Mortlake Station is Queen Victoria's old Waiting Room – now occupied by a classic car showroom – built for her and Prince Albert as they frequented White Lodge in Richmond Park, where their family and later their son, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII ) lived.