Borough of Sutton, UK
Sutton is a borough and the main town in that borough. The town is a vibrant place with a theatre, lots of public art ranging from murals to sculpture to an armillary, a very large library and many restaurants and coffee houses. The centre has a lot of attractive period architecture, and there are four conservation areas to keep it that way. There is a lush little town centre park called Manor Park, complete with a fountain as its centrepiece. Sutton benefits from very low crime by London standards.
The town has a sizeable business sector and one of the biggest shopping areas in London, centred around Sutton High Street. It's not as big as Kingston or Croydon though, being a bit more compact. But you will find many well-known names, including a large Waterstones bookshop, complete with a nice coffee area upstairs.
Most areas of present South London were once towns and villages in the counties of Surrey and Kent outside London, which were assimilated by London as it expanded rapidly in the 19th & 20th centuries. Surrey and Kent are still used as part of the official postal addresses for some areas of south London.
Sutton has the largest library in the borough, several works of public art and four conservation areas. It is home to several large international companies and the sixth most important shopping area in London, centred on Sutton High Street. Sutton railway station is the borough's largest, with frequent services to central London and other destinations, including Horsham.
Plan and Book:
Sutton: See and Do
The High Street near the top was known as Cock Hill until the 1880s – the shops on the east side were built in 1880, ten years after those on the west side. The grand and decorative London and Provincial Bank building (now home to Barclays Bank) was built overlooking the historic crossroads in 1894. Designed in the French Renaissance architectural style, it is four storeys tall and forms a prominent local landmark. There is a series of arches at ground level, and an ornate entrance where the roads meet.
Sutton town centre's range of restaurants has expanded greatly in recent years, and there are now culinary offerings of French, Spanish, British, Mexican, Malaysian, Thai, Pakistani, Portuguese and Turkish cuisine, as well as the more longstanding presence of Italian, Indian and Chinese eateries. You can't miss them, as they are mainly concentrated in the area to either side of the mainline station.
An ancient parish originally in the county of Surrey, Sutton is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having two churches and about 30 houses. Its location on the London to Brighton turnpike from 1755 led to the opening of coaching inns, spurring its growth as a village. When it was connected to central London by rail in 1847, it began to grow into a town, and it expanded further in the 20th century.
Carshalton
Situated 15.3 km south-southwest of Charing Cross, Carshalton is nestled in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton Ponds in the middle of the village. Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, Carshalton was in the administrative county of Surrey. The town centre of Carshalton is 2 km east of Sutton, its east–west central street can be considered a continuation of Carshalton's own main street.
Carshalton consists of a number of neighbourhoods. The main focal point, Carshalton Village, is visually scenic and picturesque that had retained a village character. At its centre it has two adjoining ponds, which are overlooked by the All Saints Church on the south side and the Victorian Grove Park on the north side. The Grade II listed Honeywood Museum sits on the west side, a few metres from the water. There are a number of other listed buildings, as well as three conservation areas, including one in the village. In addition to Honeywood Museum, there are several other cultural features in Carshalton, including the Charles Cryer Theatre and an art gallery in Oaks Park. It is also home to the Sutton Ecology Centre, and every year an environmental fair is held in Carshalton Park to the south of the village.
Carshalton-on-the-Hill is the residential area on the high chalk upland ground to the south of Carshalton Park from Boundary Road in the east, Crichton Road/Queen Mary's Avenue/Diamond Jubilee Way in the west and the smallholdings of Little Woodcote to the south. In the heart of Carshalton-on-the-Hill is Stanley Park (which is often used as a term to describe the area).
Carshalton Beeches is the area to the west of Carshalton-on-the-Hill. It grew up around the railway station which was named after Beeches Avenue, a street near to its location; which, in turn, is named after the beech trees which line it.
The Wrythe
The area is commonly referred to as Wrythe Green, a reference to the old village green at the centre of the neighbourhood. It shares its name with a tributary of the River Wandle, which runs through the east of the area from the Carshalton ponds. The Wrythe had a population of 10,163 in the 2011 Census. The Wrythe Green, traversed by short roads and surrounded by shops is centred 400 metres north of Carshalton railway station, the area is within walking distance of Hackbridge railway station and Mitcham Junction providing access to London Trams.
The Wrythe lies between Carshalton village to the south and St Helier to the north-west. Its name is thought to derive from the rye that was once grown in this area, or from the Anglo-Saxon word rithe which means a small stream. During the time of the Roman occupation of the British Isles, a small spring was situated near the green, now adjacent to a BP garage. Roman activity in the area is confirmed by the fact that there was once a Roman Villa built in Beddington, just a few kilometres away, and a number of roads in the vicinity of Roman origin. The spring has since disappeared under ground and the culvert it feeds flows into the Wandle near Hackbridge.
Wallington
Wallington appears in Domesday Book of 1086 and was held by William the Conqueror. The historic village was situated somewhat to the north of the current town centre around what is now Wallington Bridge over the River Wandle. A farmers' market is held on the second Saturday of each month. This is usually located outside the old town hall, but occasionally in the car park at Shotfield.
Since 1902 the town has maintained the tradition of an annual crowning of the Wallington May Queen. The event begins with a procession through the town. Girls join the group at the age of three as "fairies", before graduating to "attendants to the May Queen" a year later. They then go on to become crown bearers before taking on the role of banner bearer. The girls then act as "princes", and become eligible to be a May Queen at the age of nine.
Wallington was an important centre for the production of lavender oil until about the time of the First World War. Lavender and herb growing were very prominent in the area in Victorian times and much earlier, and extensive fields of lavender were to be seen in the Carshalton, Beddington and Wallington areas. Lavender growing was a very prosperous part of the local agriculture hereabouts in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In Wallington the area to the north of the station was chiefly used.
Mitcham Junction
Mitcham Junction Railway Station, served by Southern and Thameslink trains, and a Tramlink stop. Despite its name, Mitcham Junction is no longer a railway junction; one of the lines that crossed here has become a grade-separated tramline, the Croydon Tramlink. Only the Portsmouth Line remains, used by services from Sutton and beyond to London Victoria, and from Sutton to London Blackfriars and beyond. The line still has sharp curves at either end of the station where the junctions were located and speed is limited to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h). Mitcham Junction is not near the centre of Mitcham but on Mitcham Common next to Mitcham Golf Club, and not far from the historic Cricket Green Conservation Area.
Although its name is used to denote the junction of Goat Road, Carshalton Road and London Road (also called Goat Corner), nearby Beddington Corner takes its name from a former location in the north-west corner of Beddington parish which, along with Hackbridge, became part of Wallington when the parish was formed in 1887. The locality was known for its watercress beds and market gardens, a peppermint distillery and several leather tanneries beside the River Wandle.
Hackbridge
Just over 3 km north-east of the town of Sutton and 15 km south-west of Charing Cross, Hackbridge takes its name from Hack Bridge, a bridge over the River Wandle, which serves the area. Early versions include Hakebridge, Hagbridge and Hogbridge. The Borough of Sutton is working to make Hackbridge the "UK's first truly sustainable suburb". There has been a regeneration scheme in Hackbridge which has a number of developments on many sites. A key part of this is a £150m plan to redevelop the former Felnex industrial estate. Hackbridge has a fairly wide range of architecture, but is mainly Edwardian and early 20th century in the central shopping area with surrounding suburbs in Tudorbethan semi-detached style - a number of Post War Modernist social housing schemes have been demolished in recent years.
Beddington Park, through which the River Wandle flows, is 400 metres south of Hackbridge railway station. It was originally part of the Deer Park attached to Carew Manor, a grand country house built in the Tudor period, which stands to this day. It is a large area of open grassland with small clumps of trees, with an area of more formal gardens near the Grange restaurant, as well as the lake and pond.
Cheam
The suburb of Cheam is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to two large parks, Nonsuch Park and Cheam Park. Nonsuch Park contains the listed Nonsuch Mansion. Parts of Cheam Park and Cheam Village are in a conservation area. Cheam is bordered by Worcester Park to the northwest, Morden to the northeast, Sutton to the east, Epsom, Ewell and Stoneleigh to the west and Banstead and Belmont to the south.
The Roman road of Stane Street forms part of the boundary of Cheam. The modern London Road at North Cheam follows the course of the Roman road through the area. It is now the A24. Cheam is mentioned in the Charters of Chertsey Abbey in 727, which mentions Cheam being given to the monastery of Chertsey in 675; the name appears as Cegeham. The Cheam Village Conservation Area was designated in 1970 – it covers historic parkland, housing of varying styles and age and a mock Tudor shopping area with timber detailing and leaded-lights. Heritage buildings include St Dunstan's Church, Lumley Chapel, The Old Rectory, Cottage and Farmhouse, and Nonsuch Mansion, a Grade II listed Gothic revival mansion within Nonsuch Park.
In the 1960s comedy show Hancock's Half Hour, Tony Hancock lived in the fictional road Railway Cuttings, in East Cheam. Though not in existence today, the census of 1841 includes the place-names East Cheam, North Cheam, Garden Green and Cheam Common, which indicates that East Cheam did exist officially and was not fictional.