London Borough of Sutton

This guide to the conservation areas of the London Borough of Sutton is largely taken from the borough’s document with some sections augmented by street guides from the Wikipedia:

Click to access Part%201.pdf

 

Anne Boleyns Walk, SM3

The area has a typical inter-war suburban form and represents a cohesive example of the historic development and expansion of Cheam district centre. The area has a high townscape value and architectural quality with consistent mock-Tudor architecture and construction detail/materials (tile hanging, magpie work and painted timbers), with few extensions or incursions. The front gardens to the properties also share a consistent landscape quality and style.

Ashcombe Road, SM5

The majority of the houses in Ashcombe Road were built around the 1930s all of which have large sized front gardens used for off-street parking. Mature shrubs give some privacy to the properties.  Mature planting within the properties and on broad verges complements and provides unity with the Park.

AVENUE ROAD

Belmont village primary school, with 150 places, was built in 1902, in Avenue Road, on part of the site originally designated for a church. The present Avenue School was established in 1956 and progressively enlarged. The original building ceased to be used around 1970, and became a private nursery.

In the 1920s and 1930s, new development started to fill the gaps between Belmont and Sutton. From 1923, detached houses were built in Avenue Road.  The construction of Sutton bypass – Belmont Rise – in 1927 cut through the Belmont Estate.

BALMORAL WAY

The South Metropolitan District Schools, built in 1852-3 on the site of Balmoral Way and Homeland Drive, provided vocational (‘industrial’) education for up to 1500 poor children from Greenwich, Camberwell, and Woolwich.

The original schools closed in 1902. After a brief period as a hospital and asylum they became Belmont Workhouse in 1908. Conditions for inmates were harsh, and in November 1910 three hundred of them staged a riot. In 1915 the buildings became a hospital for German prisoners of war and a house of internment for enemy aliens. After reverting in 1922 to a workhouse for unemployed men, in 1930 they were taken over by the London County Council as a training centre for the unemployed. They became the Sutton Emergency Hospital in the Second World War. In 1946 they were turned over to psychiatric medicine and became known as Belmont Hospital. Part of the site is still used as the Henderson Hospital and for nurses’ homes. The main blocks were demolished in the 1980s and redeveloped for housing.

BEDDINGTON

The Saxon place name is apparently derived from ‘Bedda’s settlement’. The Domesday Book refers to two mills and a church, probably the original foundation of St. Mary’s. Two stone sarcophagi found in the churchyard of St. Mary’s reveal the presence of a Roman cemetery on the rising land south of the Roman Villa. The two manors of Beddington were united before 1390 under Nicholas Carew, and the Carews subsequently dominated the parish and built Carew Manor House within extensive grounds. An exceptional number of large 17th and 18th Century houses are recorded in the 1820 plan of Beddington, located to the east of Carew Manor near the River Wandle. Camden House survives but most have been demolished.

Beddington Corner includes nearby roads of Percy Road, Seymour Road, Wood Street and York Street. Most of the area there is a made up of late Victorian terraced and semi-detached dwellings. To the south are blocks of cottage garden style terraced houses varying in age, style and finishes and with limited street planting.

BEDDINGTON PARK AND THE GRANGE

Beddington Park was originally part of the deer park attached to Carew Manor which survived as a deer park until the Estate was sold in 1859. Later, the canal-like lake was filled in and the avenue of trees was replaced. There was planting in this period including the round spinneys. Most of the older trees in the park date from this time. A kidney-shaped pond in the centre of the park was created and several buildings were also erected.

The Grange was created into an elaborate garden in the 1860s and although has been altered since, the stone bridge, adjacent rockery and many trees date from this time. In 1935 the gardens were acquired by the Council and turned into a public park.

Beddington Park and The Grange are characterised by specimen parkland trees, ornamental water courses and associated bridges, well maintained pedestrian access and recreational facilities, panoramic views and heritage features.

BELMONT ROAD

In 1865 Marshall N Inman, an architect and surveyor, acquired rights to acquire and develop land between the railway and Burdon Lane and called his project The Belmont Estate. It extended on the south to the edge of Banstead Downs and on the north as far as Dorset Road.

The scheme amounted to a new suburb, with its own church and a Royal Hotel (never built). The housing layout provided for terraces in Belmont Road and Kings Road, semi-detached houses in the lower part of The Crescent and Redcliffe Road (never built – roughly on the line of Belmont Rise), and detached houses in Queens Road, the southern end of The Crescent, and Burdon Lane. There was no provision for a school (primary education did not become compulsory until 1880).

The scheme is comparable in scale to the 1920s-1930s Stoneleigh Estate. But unlike Stoneleigh, it was delayed for thirty years. The 1897 OS map shows merely eight semi-detached houses (nos 17-31) and Ayott Lodge (no 38) in The Crescent, and terraces on the east sides of Belmont Road (which was initially called Queen’s Road) and of Kings Road. Yet although the estate was never completed as planned, it shaped the area. Later building followed Inman’s road layout and freehold plots were sold as set out in his original plan.

Most properties in the Belmont Road area comprise uniform development of small terraced Victorian housing which represent an important area of workers housing and consequently an important historic development and style.

BEULAH ROAD

The area comprises mainly late Victorian terraced housing to the west, and semi-detached early Edwardian houses to the east. Front gardens are small with no provision for off-street parking. Newer dwellings within the area have been designed to complement existing housing. Most of the vegetation is within the front gardens.

BISHOPSFORD ROAD

The spacious quality of the St Helier Estate is due to extensive areas of adjacent public open spaces and low rise terraces that are not intrusive within the townscape. When the Estate was originally built, it was the Council’s intention to provide as large an area as possible for recreation and to enhance the environmental quality of the area. It is therefore predominantly the smaller open spaces within the Estate itself that give the area its special character. These open spaces range from small incidental open spaces to ‘village greens’ and linear open spaces along the southern side of Bishopsford Road.

BLENHEIM GARDENS

Most of the area is made up of old late Victorian, early Edwardian semi-detached properties. Some include examples of mock Tudor timber detailing and most have deep front gardens, with mature shrubs.

BRIDGE PATH ROAD

Bridge Path Road has two styles of housing. To the south side are 1930s semi-detached houses with painted pebbledash rendering and tiled porches, with deep front gardens, to the north are terraced houses with small front gardens. Soft landscaping is limited within the area, the only mature tree belts is along the south-west section of the River Wandle and the cubic open space area to the south-east.

BRIGHTON ROAD

Brighton Road was the main north-south route running through the area.

In 1745 Brighton Road became a turnpike. Milestones can be seen at Sutton Green and on the west side of Brighton Road near Basinghall Gardens. Another, marking 14 miles from The Standard in Cornhill, survives in a garden on the east side of The Crescent, well away from the present line of the road. The tollgates near Sutton Lodge were removed in 1882.

By the 18th century Banstead and Epsom Downs were popular for point-to-point racing (The Oaks horserace was named after a former mansion in Oaks Park, on the road from Banstead to Purley.) There was an alehouse used by shepherds and drovers on the site of Belmont Station on the Brighton Road, shown as Little Hell on John & Peter Andrew’s 1762 Surrey map. This had a gambling cellar under a trapdoor and down six steps. John Gibbons, who became rich in the California Gold Rush to California, built the California Arms on the site in 1860.

Before housebuilding took over, Sutton Lodge was an estate on the east side of Brighton Road and the Northey estate (after whom Northey Avenue was named) stood to the west, as farmland.

In 1852-3 an establishment to educate poor children, the South Metropolitan District Schools was built to the west of Brighton Road, on the site of the Balmoral Road estate.

In 1864-5 the London Brighton and South Coast Railway Company built the Sutton to Epsom Downs line under statutory powers. Brighton Road was realigned eastward to facilitate construction of a bridge over the line. Further north, a bridge (rebuilt 1984) carried Homeland Drive over the railway, but at the station, originally called California, there was only a level crossing until 1888.

The stand at the corner of Brighton Road and Downs Road is a long-established terminus for bus services. In 1996 new services were introduced, going through areas away from the main roads and using small single-decker buses.

BURDON LANE

Burdon Lane was originally a droveway running north-south across the area.

Burdon means ‘fort hill’ and it joined the main road close to Galley Hills. Another old trackway, visible on the oldest maps, is on the line of Avenue Road, York Road and Gander Green Lane.

It originally ran on to junctions with Brighton Road but the south end of Burdon Lane was closed and taken into the golf course in the late 1960s.

CALIFORNIA CLOSE

A Mr Belcher had a plant nursery in the wedge of back land between the houses in The Crescent and Queens Road. Around 1939 the frontage was acquired by the Post Office to build a telephone engineering depot. In the 1970s this became redundant and was let as offices. Finally the site, including London and Belcher’s nursery at the back, was redeveloped as flats – California Close – in a style which harmonises with the original Station Road shops.

CAREW MANOR AND BEDDINGTON PARK (Archaeology)

Carew Manor was constructed in 1370 on a large moat island, possibly on the site of an earlier house. The surviving great hall has a hammer beam roof constructed in 1500. The grounds are famous as the first place in England to grow oranges. Formal gardens set out in the 17th and 18th Centuries included waterworks, an orangery and a dovecote (SAM 93). Beddington Park is a remnant of the medieval and tudor deer park formed when a number of medieval estates were combined, and provides a parkland setting for Carew Manor and its more formal grounds.

CARSHALTON

Carshalton probably derives its name from its location as the ‘settlement by the spring’ and has a complex early manorial history. Initially there were five manors, which were combined by the time of Domesday. The sites of later houses can be identified as the likely holdings of the original five manors.

All Saint’s Church appears to have been founded in the 12th Century. During the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries the reputation of Carshalton’s springs resulted in the construction of an exceptional number of large houses, many of which have now been demolished. However, Honeywood Lodge, Strawberry Lodge, and Westcroft House survive.

CARSHALTON HOUSE (ST. PHILOMENA) AND GARDENS (Archaeology)

The existing mansion was built in 1696 on what is probably the site of one of Carshalton’s early manor houses. Some evidence of earlier buildings has been found during the construction of classrooms for St. Philomena’s School, which now occupies the house. The grounds were laid out by Sir John Fellows between 1716 and 1720.

CARSHALTON PARK

The earliest features in the park are sweet chestnut pollards which were planted before the end of the 17th Century and are among the oldest trees in the Borough. In the early 18th Century work started on a magnificent garden of which some parts still exist. These include: the grotto and grotto canal, the core of which dates from the 1720s, the Frying Pan which was a circular depression which probably originated as a garden feature and the Hog Pit. The original function of the Hog Pit is unknown but it was probably reshaped to create an amphitheatre.

The landscape quality of Carshalton Park is evident from the many mature specimen trees, including several ancient Sweet Chestnut, and a fenced children’s play area which blends well with the use of trees and shrubs.

A residential area forms the southern boundary and comprises detached and semi-detached housing.

CHALGROVE ROAD

Chalgrove Road is located in the Sutton Highfields area.

This has an exceptionally high townscape value and architectural quality, with little infill compared to other roads. The properties also share similar historic background, and many were built by a local builder Mr Windebank.

CHEAM

The name refers to the ‘village by the stumps’ and probably alludes to woodland clearance carried out by 6th Century. Anglo-Saxon settlers. Two estates are recorded, namely East Cheam Manor, located near Gander Green Road, and West Cheam Manor close to the site of the medieval church of St. Dunstan (founded in 6th Century.). Cheam was an important centre of the north Surrey pottery industry in the 13th to 15th Centuries, based on the availability of clay from local exposures of the Reading beds.

A number of kilns have been excavated south of the High Street. The construction of Nonsuch Palace in 1538 changed the role of Cheam to one of service provider to the Royal Palace. Many 17th and 18th century. Timber-framed cottages survive along the west side of Cheam Broadway and Malden Road and the south side of Park Lane, including the 16th Century timber-framed Whitehall.

CHURCH LANE

A narrow cul-de-sac comprising a new housing estate to the North, Carew Manor to the west and Sherwood Park School on the southern edge. Properties along the north side comprise mixed semi and detached housing. Terraced housing on higher ground runs along the south side of the roads with small front gardens. The new terraced houses is built at three stories with the top floor accommodation integrated into the pitch of the roof. At the end of Church Lane is Orchard Walk where the buildings are of no special importance although this area has historic and archaeological significance. Church Lane has retained its character with typical late Victorian and Edwardian buildings which give an intimate impression.

CLYDE ROAD

Clyde Road stands out because of the cohesive range of Victorian housing which lies along it including some later Arts and Crafts styles.

COMMONSIDE CLOSE

When Banstead Asylum was built in 1873-7, with its own gasworks, coal and other goods were carried to it on a paved cart-track which can still be seen at the edge of The Downs. In 1889 this siding was transferred to the coal yard (on the site of Commonside Close). The siding closed in 1969, and the coal yard (then Charringtons’) went around 1973.

COTSWOLD ROAD

In 1882-3 the South Metropolitan District Schools acquired from the Sutton Lodge estate a site on Cotswold Road for a separate girls’ establishment. This was in six blocks, each housing 100 girls. Some of these remain as parts of Sutton Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research.

Banstead Road primary school, in what is now called Cotswold Road, was the original Belmont school, built in 1897 with 150 places. More recently it catered for pupils with special needs, but the site has now been redeveloped as Baron Close.

CUDDINGTON LANE

Cuddington Lane, a private road but public right of way linking Sandy Lane to Banstead Road in Ewell, is said to have been constructed by Canadian forces stationed there.

DOWNS ROAD

There was an alehouse, The Running Horse, in Downs Road in the 18th century on the future west corner of Clifton Avenue.

An 1871 map shows the three chalk-pits with a limekiln in Downs Road. John Gibbons, grandson of the woman who owned the Little Hell alehouse on Brighton Road, bought eight acres, including these pits, in 1849. Four workers’ cottages were later built in the pits, where California Court now stands.

The map shows Turf Cottage in Banstead Road (now Cotswold Road) and, further up Downs Road, one or more cottages for the shepherds of Overton’s Farm.

Six cottages on the south side of Downs Road were built in 1888 for the use of Sir John Hartopp’s servants. A leaflet issued by Banstead Commons Conservators relates that in 1873 Sir John Cradock Hartopp from Yorkshire bought 1700 acres of Banstead Commons. He planned to purchase the commoners’ rights and enclose and develop the most suitable parts. Turf, top soil and gravel were to be removed and sold from Banstead Heath, and houses built. To stop this, local residents formed Banstead Commons Protection Committee in 1887. Legal action followed, culminating in Sir John’s bankruptcy. In 1893, Parliament passed the Metropolitan Commons (Banstead) Supplemental Act, protecting the downs from further development.

Up to the end of the 19th century, the commercial centre of the area was the corner of Brighton Road and Downs Road. Pre-dating any shops in Station Road, three were built between The California Arms and the corner. The earliest appears to have been the corner shop, originally the Belmont Post Office belonging to W H Brain. A view shows the pillar box, now in Station Road, alongside this shop. In a 1910 picture a fourth shop has filled the gap and the pillar box is no longer visible.

Round the corner in Downs Road, from around 1875, a number of houses were built beyond the chalk pits, starting with two terraces, each of five houses. Others were built beyond these.

In 1880, an Anglican Mission and Parish Hall was built on Downs Road, under the auspices of Christ Church, Sutton, and St Dunstans, Cheam. After St John’s parish church opened in 1916, the Downs Road building remained the parish hall. It was rebuilt in 1940.

GREEN WRYTHE LANE

Green Wrythe Lane lies in the St Helier Estate. Although the design and layout of the St Helier Estate is based on the Parker and Unwin ‘cottage’ architectural style, in the Ebenezer Howard ‘Garden City’ tradition, the Estate has a more formal character, albeit that local materials are used when possible. There are a relatively limited number of house types within the Estate. The basic house is a 2-storey terrace with a low pitched roof. In addition there are houses designed especially to fit into tight corners sites and acute angled road intersections.

GROSVENOR ROAD

Grosvenor Road lies adjacent to Wallington town centre and consists of a number of residential properties of a similar character. It is a fairly unified area with much historical and architectural interest. The Grosvenor Road area comprises many late Victorian properties and is primarily residential in character.

GROVE AVENUE

The Grove Avenue Conservation Area was built as a private estate in the 1920s or early 1930s. It is situated between Grove Road and Cheam Road, near the Landseer Road Conservation Area. The properties consist of single blocks, each containing four maisonettes, presenting a symmetrical facade to the road. The blocks are alternately built in modernist or half-timbered styles. Many of the details survive, including iron-framed windows, hand-painted number and instruction boards, garage facades, front-garden walls, tree plantings and the estate gate-piers.

The area portrays a distinct continuity of architectural style, with all buildings in the same style finished identically in brick with rendering in natural finish to the first floors. The area has an interesting character with houses dating from around the 1930s. The area has maintained its original character due to the strict control over housing development and environmental improvements.

GROVE PARK

Grove Park was part of the gardens of a house called Stone Court. The layout of the river, the Leonora Bridge and a few trees survive from this period. After Stone Court was demolished the land east of the river became a separate estate. Later the Grove garden was remodelled and a lawn was created between the house and the river. The strip of ground between the lawn and the pond was turned into a shrubbery. The area to the north of the lawn was planted with evergreen oaks and yews. This planting structure has survived to provide the landscape framework of the eastern half of the modern ornamental park.

The Grove is probably the best remaining mid-19th century garden in the Borough of Sutton. Noteworthy features include attractive buildings within and adjacent to the park, many fine trees and the River Wandle which flows over weirs in the park and is traversed by the stunning white stone ‘Leonora Bridge’.

HOLLAND AVENUE

The Cheam Downs Estate consists of Holland Avenue, York Road and Cornwall Road. The roads were built by Andrew Burton during the period between the wars and the estate lies to the east of Belmont Rise.

In 1926 Cheam Lawn Tennis Club opened in Holland Avenue.

HUNDRED ACRES FARM

A farm called Hundred Acres stood on the site which became first Banstead Asylum and is now two prisons.

KING’S ROAD

Many properties in Kings Road area comprise uniform development of small terraced Victorian housing which represent an important area of workers housing and consequently an important historic development and style.

KNOCKHOLT CLOSE

A conservation area, Belmont Pastures, has been created between Knockholt Close and the railway. The Council describes this as a grassland site with some large old horse-chestnut trees and plenty of dead wood, home to a variety of wildflowers, butterflies, and moths.

LANDSEER ROAD

A relatively small Conservation Area, comprising some 138 properties, between Sutton and Cheam Village. The houses are predominantly large detached Victorian Villa properties. The grandeur of the original Victorian houses is a significant feature of the area, surrounded by mature trees and grass verges.

Landseer Road Conservation Area includes Landseer Road itself plus all or most of the nearby Bridgefield Road, York Road, Derby Road, Cecil Road and Salisbury Avenue; and short sections of Cheam Road and Grove Road. It was designated in 1992, is nine hectares in size, comprises 138 properties, and is located between Sutton town centre and Cheam Village. Most of the houses are large detached villas. The grandeur of the houses is a notable feature of the area, which is surrounded by mature trees and grass verges.

The development of these roads began in the late nineteenth century and was fully completed in 1913. The roads are lined with, according to Gordon Rookledge, the “finest, detailed Edwardian detached and semi-detached houses” in Sutton Borough.

LONGFELLOW ROAD

Longfellow Road comprises mainly terraced housing built around the 1860s, interspersed within newer houses along the east side of the road. Although some of the terraced houses have been rendered this does not detract from the character of the area. There is no tree planting along the road and vegetation is limited to that within front gardens.

MANOR ROAD

The area, which has a long history dating back to Roman times, consists of a mixture of residential, retail and light industrial uses. The listed Dukes Head public house provides a focal point for the area, in addition to the row of cottages on Wrights’ Row and Whitehall Place. The area comprises a diversity of architectural styles. The residential terraced houses along Manor Road have a distinctive unity of character. Most of the retail outlets along Manor Road still retain their original timber frontages.

MASCAL (CARSHALTON PARK HOUSE) AND CARSHALTON PARK

Probably one of Carshalton’s original manorial estates. The earlier buildings were replaced in the 18th Century by a modest new house which was demolished in 1926. Formerly a medieval deer park attached to Mascall, Carshalton Park includes the remains of early 18th Century. garden design and early industrial features. A canalised water course and grotto are dated 1720, whilst earthworks known as the Frying Pan and Hogpit appear to be fishponds or quarries respectively, later used to control the flow of water to the canal and mills lower down stream.

MELBOURNE ROAD

Melbourne Road includes the most concentrated group of Victorian properties in Wallington. The houses are generally semi-detached in nature.

MORDEN ROAD

Much of Morden Road can be found in the Cheam Village Conservation Area, designated in 1970.

A large proportion of this relatively large conservation area comprises open parkland of historic significance, namely Cheam Park. The residential properties vary across the area, including small flats over shops to large semi-detached houses near the Park. There is a diversity of styles and ages with many notable listed properties, including the gabled Whitehall and the old rubble stone Church of St. Dunstans. Many of the buildings in this historic area date back to the 17th Century, especially in Morden Road. The core shopping area has a historic character and the majority of the shops are decorated with timber detailing and leaded-light windows which give the area its distinctly Tudor appearance. Recent office developments have been designed in-keeping with this style and scale. The residential areas between the Park and The Broadway have a quiet and intimate feel, which is helped by traffic management measures. New housing has been built to conform to the existing scale.

NORTHWAY

Northway, Southway and Eastway form the Bute Road Estate. The majority of the area comprises semi-detached housing to the west with rows of terraced housing to the east. The overall appearance constitutes the impression of a cottage garden style estate. The terraced housing is finished in exposed brick or rendering, interspersed with terraces finished in mock Tudor detailing. Front gardens are generously wide with mature hedging and shrubs. Grass verges are present along each side of most roads. Mature trees line the central roads.

OAK CLOSE

The first houses to be built in Sutton Garden Suburb were at Oak Close in 1912, followed by Meadow Close, Hawthorne Close and Horseshoe Green.

OAKS PARK

Oaks Park was created for the 12th Earl of Derby in 1788. The walled kitchen garden still exists on the north side of Croydon Lane opposite Oaks Farm. The lawns, scattered trees and the remains of the greenhouse in the south-west corner of the park date from the 19th Century. The tree-lined avenue which runs from the Woodmansterne Road gate (now used as a car park) was added between 1868 and 1895.

Although damaged in the 1987 storms, Oaks Park still displays distinct characteristics such as a walled ornamental garden, formal entrance lawn, woodland walks, nature areas and mature trees.

ONSLOW GARDENS

A major style of local development is inter-war housing which are typically pebble-dash rendered. Many roads are lined with mature trees of London Plane and Lime. The majority of gardens include gardens with mature trees, conifers and shrubs.

PALMERSTON ROAD

William Road, Palmerston Road, Myrtle Road, Vernon Road, Warwick Road and other adjacent streets form an area called Newtown. It is an area which largely made up of two storey Victorian terraced housing, the majority of which have small front gardens. Terraced houses fall into two types, those with bay ground floor windows and those finished in a traditional terraced design. Most of the original brick work has been painted or rendered. Houses have maintained their character with most window replacements following the original designs. The only vegetation is small shrubs which have been cultivated within some of the front gardens.

PARK CLOSE

The houses in Park Close all have painted rendered finishes, some with timber detailing to the apex of the roofs.

PARK HILL

This area is dominated by large detached and semi-detached, quality-build Victorian houses. There is great diversity of design and finish to the properties. Mature trees run along the pavement on the east side, while mature evergreens encroach over the road from private gardens. This combination of foliage gives Park Hill its attractive identity.

PARK HILL ROAD

Park Hill Road, developed between 1898 and 1913, forms the central spine of the area. Generally the area is characterised by large late Victorian and Edwardian detached and semi-detached well maintained two storey family housing typical of that period and in a variety of styles. Park Hill Road itself contains predominantly semi-detached houses, whilst off Park Hill Road a number of streets, lined with mature trees, are characterised by detached houses of a similar age set in slightly wider plots.

Mock Tudor facade treatment and clay tiled roofs, together with mature landscape and well maintained gardens, are common features throughout.

PARK ROAD

This area abuts and is partly incorporated into Wallington District Centre. It has a rich variety of architectural styles and has examples of good quality Edwardian and Victorian architecture. The area also includes the most concentrated group of Victorian properties in Wallington. In the Park Road area houses are mostly detached.

PINE WALK

The Pine Walk area has unique landscape characteristics although its overall character and high townscape value also make an important contribution. The area contains the only example of this kind of road layout in the borough and the landscape setting is of exceptional quality. The spacious layout of the development allows views into, and frames, the northern boundary of the Green Belt. Historic maps show that the area formed part of another Warren and a field called The Gallop.

QUEEN MARY’S HOSPITAL

Late Bronze Age enclosure on outlier of Thanet Sand on dip slope of chalk downs near Carshalton. This is one of the largest known Late Bronze Age circular enclosures in south-east England and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Evidence exists that its importance extended beyond a mere domestic site. Nearby is an early Iron Age settlement.

QUEEN’S ROAD

The Edwardian townscape qualities of Queen’s Road are of a uniform style and are distinctive. The road comprises well-maintained detached and semi-detached housing.

RICHMOND ROAD

This area has a rich heritage with considerable historic and architectural value constituting terrace cottages from the 1800s, concentrated along the western side of Richmond Road, portraying idyllic scenes. The condition of the terraces are reasonable with front gardens of varied style. Most have low walls and shrub planting. South of the River Wandle is old Forge House, a block of flats built around the 1960s.

RIDGE PARK

The Drive, Ridge Park and Great Woodcote Park are roads within an area generally known as The Ridge. This mainly comprises detached houses around three large open areas comprising the Park, the playing fields and the school. There is some new housing, the most notable being a small estate in the centre of the area. The detached houses are large two storey with timber detailing, hung tiling and white rendering. All properties have large front gardens. Mature specimens of birch, sycamore, poplar and some pine and spruce grow along the grass verges. The large front gardens allow for mature shrubs and further ornamental trees giving the area its lush green appearance.

ROSS ROAD

An area was built by a Mr Hinton on two fields which laid adjacent to Stafford Road. This included the most semi-detached houses of Ross Road.

ST JOHNS ROAD

A Victorian Terraced housing area with small front gardens. Many have some form of rendering, although the St Johns Road area has maintained its original brickwork. There is little or no green space other than in front of the bungalows in St Johns Road.

ST MICHAEL’S ROAD

The area was built by a local architect (Hinton) on two field plots either side of Mill Lane (now Stafford Road). The area consists of a mix of housing sizes but the predominant form is semi-detached. A number of roads stand out in terms of their architectural cohesiveness and well-landscaped nature, particularly St Michael’s Road and Clyde Road. The fine Victorian detailing is clear and St Michael’s Road stands out because the houses are alike. Whilst there has been some encroachment of parking into front gardens, this has been managed more sympathetically than elsewhere locally with a proportion of gardens having been retained.

ST PHILOMENA’S SCHOOL (CARSHALTON HOUSE GARDENS) GRADE II (Historic Parks and Gardens)

The grounds of St. Philomena’s School are an important early example of the landscape style with an avenue drive placed off-centre from the house, naturalistic lake and ornamental buildings. The grounds are enclosed by walls built in the late 17th Century/ early 18th Century although their layout has been significantly modified. The Lake was created in the late 18th Century although it is now dry. There is a grotto at the southern tip of the lake made before 1721 and an ancient yew tree. Within the boundary walls and beside the lake there are winding paths with lawns and scattered mature trees.

SANDY LANE

Sandy Lane, along with Burdon Lane was one of the original routes running across the area. The “Downs” end of Sandy Lane was never more than a track.

Housing was built and the area now comprises large terraced Victorian/Edwardian houses. To the west side the roads are heavily lined with mature lime trees and the front gardens have mature shrubs.

SPRINGFIELD ROAD

Springfield Road is in Wallington and consists of a number of residential properties of a similar character. The area also benefits from having a number of individual buildings which are currently being considered for listing.

STAFFORD ROAD

This was formerly known as Mill Lane.

STATION ROAD

Originally, there were fields growing peppermint, lavender, and strawberries near Station Road, and cornfields on the way north to Cheam village. There  were two windmills: at Hundred Acres and at three cottages on a site by the corner of Station Road and The Crescent. This site is called The Folly on an 1871 map, and was surrounded by a wall. One outbuilding remains, on a different alignment from Station Road.

Like that which goes to Tattenham Corner, the railway built in 1865 was designed to be a link to Epsom Racecourse, but local passenger services were provided. A shuttle service – an engine and two coaches – ran between West Croydon and Belmont, and on later to Epsom Downs.

The railway also carried goods traffic. There were sidings on both sides of the track at ‘California’. That on the west served the South Metropolitan District Schools, which had their own narrow-gauge railway link, but was taken up around 1890. That on the east was resited twice, before ending up in Mr Jones’s coal yard.

The name California is alleged to have caused confusion, with goods being misdelivered to America. In 1875, the station was renamed Belmont, after the new estate.

The line was electrified in 1928, but was reduced to single track in 1982. The station then became an unstaffed halt, with one service an hour in each direction (two in the rush-hours), and none on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

When the Belmont Estate finally took off, local temporary churches needed permanent sites, and these were available in Station Road. A public meeting in 1908 set up a building committee for a parish church and the site was purchased in 1910. The Belmont Estate plan envisaged a church, with a vicarage behind, near the south end of Avenue Road. The eventual site closes the western vista up Station Road. Architects were appointed, and the foundation stone was laid in July 1914. There were not sufficient funds to built the tower originally planned, and the west end was a temporary structure, not finished until 1967.

14-20 Station Road were built between 1879 and 1884, new terraces were built in Belmont Road with the dates 1884 and 1888, and on the north side of Station Road shops were built around 1890 on the east corner of Kings Road and the west corner of Belmont Road.  Deeds show that Belmont estate owner Marshall Inman’s heir acquired parts of the estate in 1898 with a view to developing them.  Semi-detached houses were built at the lower end of The Crescent from around 1900, and in 1904 Mr Alfred Belcher was employed ‘to cut out’ The Crescent and Queen’s and Northdown Roads and ‘plant their verges with trees’. His greengrocery shop at No 31 Station Road, now part of the Conservative Club, was built in the same year.

Most of the shops and terrace houses in Station Road, and the terrace round the corner in Avenue Road, were built by the first World War.   The first Station Road shops were The Parade circa 1900, on the south side between the bridge and the corner of The Crescent. A picture shows one of these as a dairy and post office. The shops at the end opposite the church appear to be of similar date.

On 15 April 1941 a bomb destroyed the original California Inn and Belmont Station. Ten people were killed and many injured. Private Gibb was awarded the BEM for holding up debris in the inn for three hours until buried women were rescued. (Another bomb fell in London’s nursery behind Station Road.) The station building was replaced with a prefabricated ticket office. The California was rebuilt in 1955 and became The Belmont, a carvery restaurant and pub.

STONE COURT AND THE GROVE

The Grove was constructed between 1820-1840 on the site of the medieval Stone Court. Remains of the 18th Century gardens are likely to occur along with the extensive 19th Century gardens which included heated glasshouses, a fernery, a brick-built water cress bed and a mushroom house.

SUTTON

The place name refers to an Anglo-Saxon ‘southern farmstead’ and was held by Chertsea Abbey from the 7th or 8th Century. St. Nicholas Church was probably founded in the early medieval period. In 1537 the estate passed from Chertsea Abbey to Nicholas Carew of Beddington, but subsequently changed hands frequently. There may also have been a sub-manor known as Hall in the late middle ages.

SUTTON GARDEN SUBURB

Thomas Wall, famous for his sausages and ice cream, developed the Sutton Garden Suburb between 1912 and 1914. Sutton Garden Suburb is in Benhilton in north Sutton.

Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, it was the first of the Sutton conservation areas to be designated as such, in 1989. This suburb contributed to the garden city movement that was originally conceived by Ebenezer Howard and was similar to the development of the Hampstead Garden Suburb in north London. The houses are designed in the vernacular revival style.

Designed by Frederick Cavendish Pearson for Rose Hill Park Limited, which sold out its rights in 1913 to Sutton Garden Suburb Limited, it has an integrated house and landscape design, some secreted around small greens and others along well-planted avenues. The original plans would have provided for 1,000 houses, to be built around greens and woods including a recreation ground and a clubhouse for members of the Suburb.

Tennis courts and a clubhouse were built at the centre of the Suburb, and the remnant of a post of one of the courts can be found on the land, but during the Second World War most of the land was put to use as a victory garden instead. Local residents continued to use the land as allotments until they were evicted by the then landowner in 1997. The Sutton Garden Suburb Residents Association was formed soon after, principally to oppose residential development of the site. The land has since fallen into disuse and been taken over by local wildlife. The site is designated as Urban Green Space.

Between 1912 and 1914, 79 houses to Cavendish’s plans and elevations had been started on site. However, Sutton Garden Suburb Limited failed to obtain permission from the Local Government Board to borrow further money in the winter of 1914. The government also intervened and put a stop to all house building in 1915 following the outbreak of the First World War. After the war, financial difficulties meant that the remaining plots envisaged for development were sold off to local builders for as little as £2 per footing. This is visually evident in the different styles of housing in the area, with most of the semi-detached properties and bungalows being built on those plots waiting to be developed before the First World War. Cavendish Pearson was later employed by private individuals to design houses in the Suburb, and notably became involved in designing the nearby St Helier estate for London County Council. Cavendish Pearson is known to have lived at two houses he designed in the Suburb, 12 Woodend in 1914-15, and 20 Meadow Close from 1920-63.

The Suburb comprises a variety terraced and semi-detached houses around small central greens. The residential areas are provided with a generosity of space along the roads, which is predominately utilised by wide grass verges with the planting of mature trees and old shrubs. The quality of the area lies not only with the layout of the gardens and green spaces, but also the high quality of its ‘cottage style’ architecture.

SUTTON HIGH STREET

The heritage assets of Sutton town centre include the historic highway network at the crossroads of Cheam Road/ Carshalton Road and the High Street, as well as the associated buildings and spaces.

The Conservation Area focuses around the historic crossroads and stretches from the Station down to Trinity Square. The area has a fascinating history, starting as a rural community which grew rapidly during the Victorian era. By the mid 19th Century, the High Street was a wealthy Victorian shopping parade and many of the original buildings can still be seen today. The buildings, particularly at upper storeys, are worthy of preservation and enhancement.

The Sutton Town Centre High Street Crossroads Conservation Area was designated on 9 May 2011, following a review of the town centre, which highlighted the historic importance of the highway network at the crossroads of Cheam Road/Carshalton Road and Sutton High Street, as well as the associated buildings and spaces. The Conservation Area focuses on the area around the historic crossroads, and stretches from the station down to Trinity Square. It also takes in part of Grove Road, in particular the late 19th century masonic hall. It includes two churches, Sutton Baptist Church and Trinity Church. The Carshalton Road section includes the Edwardian era police station. The local authority noted that the buildings, especially their upper storeys, were worthy of preservation and enhancement. Its report concluded that conservation status was warranted on the basis of the historic importance of the area together with its architectural and aesthetic merit. The designation would enable the provision of guidance to landowners and developers on maintaining and improving the historic aspects of the area.

Gordon Rookledge in his “Sutton Architectural Identifier” remarks on the “vivid, Victorian, polychrome brick and stone façades” in his description of Sutton High Street.

THE AVENUE

Given the historic importance and the architectural qualities of the buildings and associated landscape of the Burton Estates it is considered to be one of the best examples of inter-war suburbia.

Cheam was a village until the end of the WWI. There was little Victorian or Edwardian development as the land was rather in large individual landholdings, principally the Northey Estate. However, the interwar period saw the breakup of the Northey Estate due to finances. Noted local builder Andrew Burton built three estates: the Northey Estate (Golfside), Cheam Warren Estate (The Avenue) and Cheam Downs Estate (Holland Avenue, York Road and Cornwall Road).

THE CRESCENT

The detached and semi-detached rather uniform Edwardian development of The Crescent represents a significant period of the development of the area. The road is characterised by mature street trees.

THE GRANGE, WALLINGTON

The Grange was built in 1879 by Alfred Smee within extensive grounds designed to created a natural effect. This was a major Victorian garden described by Smee in “My Garden” (1872). It included extensive water features, a fernery and vinery.

VICTORIA ROAD

An area predominantly comprising Victorian terraces with small walled front gardens. The majority of the gardens are small but provide some form of planting, with mature trees and shrubs within the curtilage of the semi-detached houses.

WALLINGTON

The Wal element of the Saxon place name suggests a Celtic enclave, which, along with the fact that Wallington is adopted as the name to the local Hundred of the County of Surrey and its status as a former Royal Estate, raise the significance of what otherwise appears to be a modest historic settlement. The early medieval settlement appears to occur on land enclosed by two converging tributaries of the Wandle, a location also possibly favoured by an earlier Iron Age community. There is evidence of several medieval buildings, including two mills, three major houses including the Manor House and Old Manor House, and a chapel. The remains of several 17th Century cottages have also been found.

WARREN AVENUE

By the 17th century Banstead and Epsom Downs were a popular area for coursing. In the 17th century, a warren was built in the land between Burdon Lane and Sandy Lane. A keeper bred hares which were released for hunting through hatches which can still be seen at the base of the brick walls. Entry to the warren was by the keeper’s cottage. There is a kink in the line of Warren Avenue at this point and it continues westward on the inside of the wall. The cottage was demolished in 1930. Gaps were made in the wall when Warren Avenue, Onslow Avenue and Wilbury Avenue were developed. The substantial remains are protected by Grade II listing.

WOODCOTE AVENUE

The medieval village at Woodcote was part of the Beddington estate established on the Downland plateau. By the 16th century the village had been abandoned. Surviving historic farm estates might prove important residual aspects of this abandoned settlement.

Woodcote Avenue is now a residential area comprising Edwardian and Victorian housing, built in the grounds of Woodcote Hall. The landscape is characterised by large gardens containing mature trees with front boundaries defined by low level walls and mature hedgerows. Properties are spacious giving great separation between houses. Gardens are well maintained to a high standard in both hard and soft landscaping with mature trees and shrubs. The recent extension to the area incorporates similar characteristics of the original area although housing has a wider variety of architectural styles with marginally smaller plot sizes.

WOODEND

Houses for Sutton Garden Suburb were started at Woodend in 1914, and in 1915 a further 55 houses were under construction in Greenhill and Aultone Way, with footings already set out.

WRYTHE GREEN ROAD

The general impression of the Wrythe Green area is its five small village greens, reflected by the style and scale of domestic and retail uses which surround the greens. Woodcote House overlooks the area on the north, south and west boundaries. The area focuses strongly around the old buildings along Wrythe Green Road and The Greens. The roads are in an exposed aggregate texture, with block edging. Street lighting is uniformed and comprises of pointed metal conservation style column types. The timber posts and chains which surround the three greens gives the area unity.

YORK ROAD

York Road forms part of The Cheam Downs Estate, mainly built in the 1930s and 1940s.

Along York Road, there were previously fields where Colmans of Norwich grew garlic.

Leave a Reply