Streatham's early history- Anglo Saxon and Roman times
Streatham was once part of a largely wild belt on London’s southern edge. Marshy ground and streams lay to the west and south, the Great North Wood crowned the higher land to the east, and between them a ridge of drier ground supported settlement. Over time, this small community grew into today’s London suburb.
Evidence of prehistory is limited—mainly Stone Age tools found on Streatham Common—though earlier people may have lived or travelled through the area.
Local history becomes clearer with the Roman period. A minor roadside settlement may have existed near today’s parish church of St Leonard, linked to the Roman road running south from London through Kennington, Brixton, Streatham and beyond. Finds such as 3rd–4th century coins in the churchyard, a small bronze statue, and possible building material suggest Roman activity, although the settlement’s size and form are unknown.
As Roman rule declined, trade and organisation fell away, and any small roadside community would have struggled. Streatham next appears in written records in a document dated 727 AD, referring to “Totinge cum Stretham”, suggesting a Saxon community had formed by or near the old Roman road.
It is unclear when Christianity first arrived, but a small church or chapel was probably established during the Saxon period on or near the present parish church site. For centuries the village’s religious life was linked to Chertsey Abbey, and records mention Streatham in 787, 827 and 933 AD.
On the eve of the Norman Conquest (1066), Streatham was likely a small village clustered around the church, with scattered homes along the road. Trackways later becoming Mitcham Lane and Tooting Bec Gardens linked it to nearby settlements, while the old Roman road remained the main route to the wider world.
Most people lived by farming and grazing the surrounding land, with hunting in the woods and fishing in the River Graveney. Homes were typically simple timber structures, while the church may have been built more solidly as the centre of village life.
