Merton, Lower, a village of Surrey, 10 miles SW. of London by rail, stands on the Wandle, and has several factories. Only a fragment remains of the Augustinian priory (1115) in which the parliament met which passed, in 1235, the Statute of Merton (see LEGITIMATION). Here were educated Thomas Becket and Walter de Merton, Bishop of
Rochester and Chancellor, who in 1264 founded Merton College, at Oxford. The church is mainly of the same date as the priory. Pop. of parish, 2480.