Sutton, London
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Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated 10.6 miles (17 km) south south-west of Charing Cross. It is one of ten major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.
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[edit] Geology
Sutton is one of several towns located on a narrow bed of Thanet sands which extends from Croydon in the east, to Epsom in the west. To the south of this belt is chalk of the North Downs, and to the north is clay. The belt of Thanet sands allowed wells to provide clean water, whereas the clay to the north mostly offered surface water of unsuitable quality. This feature attracted settlements to the sand belt from a very early date. The most notable of these were Epsom, Ewell, Cuddington, Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Wallington, and Waddon.
[edit] History
When the Saxons were settling England, their preferred method was to divide the country into square parishes centred around the church, manor house and village, with cultivated fields around these, and common grazing ground on the outside. The settlements that had squeezed onto the belt of Thanet Sands were too close together to allow for this arrangement, so the parishes in this area were made long and narrow, with the church, manor and village still the centre, but with cultivated fields next to these, and common grazing ground beyond. Consequently, Sutton's parish is about three miles long, and about a mile wide.
Archaeological finds in the region date back over ten thousand years, but the first substantial evidence of habitation comes from the excavation of a Roman villa in Beddington. The Roman road of Stane Street forms part of the northern boundary of the parish of Sutton. The course of Stane Street through the area is now followed by the modern roads Stonecot Hill and London Road, and designated A24 on road maps.
Sutton was recorded as Sudtone in a charter of Chertsey Abbey believed to have been drawn up in the late seventh-century when the Manor was granted to the Abbot of Chertsey by Frithwald, Governor of Surrey. Some sources state the early name as Suthtone or Sudtana instead. Other place names that appear in this charter are Bedintone, Cegeham (Cheam), and Aeweltone (Carshalton).
The name Sutton is often assumed to have meant "south town", but Sudtone probably meant "south enclosure", from the Anglo-Saxon "ton" for enclosure. In Surrey, an early enclosure was usually a farm, and in Sutton it most likely refers to Oldfields farm, which lay on the southern slope from Rose Hill to the Angel. It was a "south" enclosure because it lay south of the Roman road Stane Street.
William The Conqueror's Domesday Book of 1086 assesses Sudtone:
In the time of King Edward it was assessed at 30 hides; now at 8½ hides. There are 2 carucates in the demesne, and 29 villains and 4 cottars with 13 carucates. There are 2 churches, and 2 bondmen, and 2 acres of meadow. The wood yields 10 swine. In the time of King Edward it was valued at 20 pounds, now at 15 pounds.
The Domesday Book also states that the Abbot of Chertsey held the Manor. This remained so until 1538 when the Manor was sold to King Henry VIII, along with the manors of Ebisham (Epsom), Coulsdon, and Horley. They were all then granted to Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington in that same year. When Sir Nicholas was sentenced to death for treason, the King seized the manors, and they remained possessions of the Crown until King Edward VI granted part of them to Thomas, Lord of D'Arcy of Cliche, but kept the Manors of Sutton, Ebisham and Coulsdon. Queen Mary later restored the whole of these manors to Francis, only son of Sir Nicholas Carew. At a later date, and for unknown reasons, the Manor once more became possession of the Crown until King Charles II granted it to the Duke of Portland in 1663, who sold it in 1669 to Sir Robert Long, who sold it that same year to Sir Richard Mason. The Manor has regularly changed hands since.
In 1755, a turnpike road from London to Brighton was constructed, intersecting with a turnpike road from Carshalton to Ewell which was constructed at the same time. The toll bars for Cheam Road and Brighton Road were originally located at right angles to each other by the Cock Hotel, an inn that sat on the south-east corner of the intersection of the turnpikes. The toll bar for Carshalton Road was where the police station is now, though the existence of this toll bar is disputed. All three of these toll bars moved further away from the intersection after a number of years to account for the growth in Sutton's size. The northmost toll bar was situated where Rosehill is now. The toll bars remained in effect until 1882.
Sutton railway station was opened on 10 May 1847. Likely due to the new, fast link to central London, Sutton's population more than doubled between 1851 and 1861. New housing to accommodate this growth was constructed in the Lind Road area, and called the "New Town". Today, a pub on the corner of Lind Road and Greyhound Road is named The New Town.
Sutton Water Company was incorporated in 1863, and the provision of water mains finally allowed houses to be built outside of the area defined by the water-yielding Thanet Sands. The Lord of the Manor at the time, Mr Alcock, sold land that was previously unsuitable for residential buildings, making it available for new construction. Sutton's population more than doubled between 1861 and 1871.
The Sutton parish formed Sutton Sanitary District in 1882. In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, it was replaced with Sutton Urban District. The district was renamed Sutton and Cheam Urban District in 1928 and in 1934 gained the status of municipal borough. In 1965 the Municipal Borough of Sutton and Cheam was abolished by the London Government Act 1963 and its area transferred to Greater London to be combined with that of other boroughs to form the London Borough of Sutton.
In 1955 a local resident George Alcock started a campaign to preserve a unique avenue of Copper Beech trees. This led to the formation of the Sutton & Cheam Society one of the first civic amenity groups in Greater London. A plaque commemorating his life is situated on the corner of Christchurch Park with Brighton Road.
In 1945 the Sutton and Cheam (UK Parliament constituency) was constituted.
[edit] Modern Sutton
Sutton is now a big town in the London area. It is provided with good public transport links through buses and tains, and has a one-way system around the High Street as well as three car-parks. Many people come from around the town to shop at Sutton- who currently hosts two big shopping centres in the town centre, which are called St. Nicholas Centre and the Times Square as well as a long High Street with a variety of shops. The new Barratt Developments appartment block, Aspects, is seen from across Sutton In Sutton town centre, there are three main churches which are the Sutton Baptist Church, Trinity Church and St. Nicholas Chuch- as well as a Salvation Army in Benhill Road. The town has two main supermarkets, one at the top of Sutton, Asda and one at the bottom Morrisons as well as a newly opened Tesco Express futher down. There is also one park in the town centre, called Manor Park- which situates opposite the newly designed Police Station and B&Q. Sutton Library sits at the bottom of the town next to the Civic Offices, home of the Sutton Council. The ODEON owned UCI Cinema stands underneath the St. Nicholas Centre Car Park. In the north of Sutton, there is a Matalan store, and the Benhill Estate.
[edit] Shopping
Many people see Sutton as an ideal place to shop. The town centre has over 200 shops in it, in which many are open daily. The offers a 'Shopmobility' service to disabled people, and wheel chairs are provided.
[edit] High Street
Both Sutton's two shopping centres are in Sutton High Street. Down Sutton High Street, there are many well known stores around such as Marks & Spencer, BHS, Topshop, HMV, JD Sports, Argos, and Woolworths. The High Street starts at the top, by Burger King and Matalan, in Marshalls Road and extends down to by the station, in Grove Road. It is accesable by car in the evenings, but in the day is shut off and only pedestrians can access it.
[edit] St. Nicholas Centre
There are many shops in the town's biggest shopping centre, the St. Nicholas Centre. There are three levels in the shop, and five in the Debenhams department store which is accessed through the shopping centre. In the St. Nicholas centre, well known across-nation stores such as Debenhams, Primark, Mothercare and JJB Sports are in business. Other stores such as Blue Inc., Robert Dyas, Model Zone, New Look, Spoil's and Anne Summers also are in the shopping centre. Levels one and two of the shopping centre have only shops, with the exception of a pretzel store on level 2. Level 3 is known as the food court, where Burger King and Upper Crust are.
[edit] Times Square
The Times Square has fewer shops than the St. Nicholas Centre, but still recieves thousands of shoppers per year. The most well-known across-nation store is Next, but other stores including T.J. Hughes- which retreats right the way through the back of Sutton, TK Maxx and the Early Learning Centre also appear. H Samuel and Starbuck's Coffee are either side of the shopping centre.
[edit] Food and Drink
Sutton has many bars and restuarants There are many places to eat in Sutton, including bakeries, restaurants and fast-food chains including McDonalds and KFC, Subway, Burger King, Nando's chicken restaurant, Pizza Hut, Pizza Express and two Gregg's.
[edit] Education
Education is to a high standard in Sutton. There are several primary schools in and around the borough.
[edit] List of Primary Schools
- Abbey Primary
- All Saints Benhilton Primary
- Bandon Hill Primary
- Barrow Hedges Primary
- Camden Junior
- Cheam Common Infant & Juniors
- Cheam Fields Primary
- Cheam Park Farm Infant & Juniors
- Devonshire Primary
- Highview Primary
- Manor Park Primary
- Muschamp Primary
- Nonsuch Primary
- Robin Hood Infant & Juniors
- St. Dunstan's Primary
- Stanley Park Infant & Juniors
- The Avenue Primary
- Westbourne Primary
[edit] List of Secondary Schools
- Carshalton Boys Sports College
- Carshalton Girls High School for Girls
- Cheam High School
- Glenthorne High School
- Greenshaw High School
- Nonsuch High School for Girls
- Overton Grange School
- St. Philomena's School
- Stanley Park High School
- Sutton Grammar School for Boys
- Wallington County Grammar School
- Wallington High School for Girls
- Wilson's School
[edit] Links to School Sites
- Nonsuch High School
- Overton Grange School
- Sutton High School
- Sutton Grammar School for Boys
- Greenshaw High School
- Robin Hood Infants School
- Robin Hood Junior School
[edit] Parks & Greenery
Sutton has the most parks and green areas out of all of the London Boroughs. Being on the boarder of the Surrey district and Greater London, it has green areas spaced out around the borough. It has main parks, which are Cheam Park, Nonsuch Park, Manor Park, Overton Park, Sears Park, Collingwood Park, Oakes Park and Rose Hill Park.
[edit] Nearest places
[edit] Transport
Local bus services that stop at Sutton are opperated by London General, Epsom Coaches (Quality Line), Arriva London and Metrobus. Routes 80, 151, 154, 164, 213, 280, 407, 413, 420, 470, S1, S3, S4 and the X26 Express to Heathrow Airport all stop in Sutton, as well as two school routes which are 613, opperated by London United and 627 opperated by Arriva London. A list of all Sutton bus routes and their destinations are listed below.
- 80 (Belmont Prisons - Hackbridge Reynolds Close)
- 151 (Worcester Park Station - Wallington Shotfield)
- 154 (Mordern Tube Station - West Croydon Bus Station)
- 164 (Wimbledon Station - Sutton Station)
- 213 (Kingston Fairfield Road Bus Station - Sutton Bus Garage)
- 280 (Tooting St. Georges Hospital - Belmont Station)
- 407 (Sutton Marshalls Road - Caterham Station)
- 413 (Mordern Tube Station - Sutton Bus Garage)
- 420 (Sutton Bus Station - Redhill Bus Station)
- 470 (Epsom Town Centre - Colliers Wood Tube Station)
- S1 (Mitcham Cricketers - Banstead Victoria)
- S3 (Worcester Park Station - Sutton Hospital)
- S4 (St. Helier Station & Hospital - Roundshaw)
- X26 Express (Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station - East Croydon Station)
Within the town of Sutton, there are three railway stations. Sutton station is the town's major station, where frequent trains to London Victoria and London Bridge run, as well as services to Horsham, Dorking, Epsom Downs, Wimbledon, and Luton. West Sutton and Sutton Common are both on the First Capital Connect lines to Wimbledon.
Sutton also has a taxi rank, which can be picked up from outside the station. The taxi's queue along Lower Mulgrave Road.
[edit] Sport
Association football club Sutton United F.C. are based in Sutton, who play in the Nationwide Conference South.
Sutton Pumas basketball club are based in the Westcroft Lesiure Centre, Carshalton.
[edit] Trivia
- Scenes from an early episode of television comedy Mr. Bean were filmed at department store Allders on its previous site, which is now occupied by Waterstones book shop.
- Episodes of The Bill television programme have often been filmed in Sutton, and nearby Merton.
- The Channel 4 T.V show 'The Games' training is filmed at Sutton Arena
[edit] References
- Charles J. Marshall (1971). History of Cheam & Sutton. S.R. Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85409-649-3.
- Robert P. Smith (1970). A History of Sutton AD 675–1960. Published by Derek W. James, no ISBN.
- Martin Andrew (2001). Around Sutton. Frith Book Company Ltd. ISBN 1-85937-337-2.
- Sutton Guardian: Our Town: History Retrieved 2005-10-12.
- London Borough of Sutton, Heritage Retrieved 2005-11-16.
[edit] External links
- London Borough of Sutton local government official website.
- Sutton - 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article
- Sutton, London - history and old photographs
