| Esher | |
|---|---|
 Queen's Close | |
  Esher Location withinSurrey | |
| Area | 9.3 km2 (3.6 sq mi) |
| Population | 6,743 (Esher town, 2011 census),[1] or 50,904 (in 2011) for the Esher Built-up Area Subdivision (including East and WestMolesey,Thames Ditton,Hinchley Wood andClaygate)[2] |
| • Density | 725/km2 (1,880/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TQ145645 |
| • London | 14.1 miles (22.7 km) |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ESHER |
| Postcode district | KT10 |
| Dialling code | 01372 |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°22′09″N0°21′54″W / 51.3691°N 0.365°W /51.3691; -0.365 | |
Esher (/ˈiːʃər/ ⓘEE-shər) is a town in the borough ofElmbridge inSurrey, England, to the east of theRiver Mole.
Esher is an outlying suburb ofLondon, close to the London–Surrey border; withEsher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of theGreater London Built-Up Area. Elevations range from 10m to 47m abovesea level.
Esher has alinear commercial high street and is otherwise suburban in density, with varying elevations, few high rise buildings and very short sections of dual carriageway within theward itself. Esher covers a large area, between 13 and 15.4 miles southwest ofCharing Cross.[n 1] In the south it is bounded by the A3Portsmouth Road which is of urban motorway standard and buffered by the Esher Commons.
Esher is bisected by theA307, historically the Portsmouth Road, which for approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) forms its high street.Esher railway station (served by theSouth West Main Line) connects the town toLondon Waterloo.
Sandown Park Racecourse is in the town near the station. In the south,Claremont Landscape Garden owned and managed by theNational Trust, once belonged toPrincess Charlotte and her husbandLeopold I of Belgium. Accordingly, the town was selected to have a fountain byQueen Victoria and has an adjacent Diamond Jubilee column embossed with a relief of the monarch and topped by a statue ofBritannia.Unite, the union, trains representatives at itsEsher Place centre, and the town has the offices ofElmbridge Borough Council in its high street.
Esher lay within theSaxonfeudal division ofElmbridgehundred.[3][4]
Esher appears in theDomesday Book of 1086 asAissela andAissele, where it is held partly by the Abbey of the Cross inNormandy; partly by William de Waterville; partly by Reginald; partly by Hugh do Port; and partly by Odard Balistarius (probably acrossbowman). Its domesday assets were: 14hides, 6ploughs and 2 acres (8,100 m2) ofmeadow. It rendered £6 2s 0d per year to itsfeudal overlords.[5]
In the 16th centuryKing Henry VIII annexed several of the manors to the Honour ofHampton Court, including Esher, to form a royal hunting ground.[6] The town slowly grew as a stagecoach stop on theLondon–Portsmouth road that was later numbered theA3, although it wasbypassed in the mid-1970s when it became the A307.Clive of India built theClaremontmansion[n 2] and this later became a royal residence used byQueen Victoria. In 1841 Esher had 1261 inhabitants across 2,075 acres (840 ha).[3] Queen Victoria lent Claremont to the exiled French KingLouis-Philippe and his consort QueenMarie-Amelie after therevolution of 1848.Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg lived there until he became King of theBelgians.[7]
By 1908, Esher contained the fashionable residences of several important figures includingLady Emma Talbot; Sir Robert Hawthorn Collins,[8][9] theDuchess of Albany andSir Edgar Vincent, K.C.M.G. who was later created 1st Viscount D'Abernon.[4]
George Harrison ofThe Beatles owned a house (namedKinfauns) in Esher, during the 1960s. The other Beatles were regular visitors to the house, and Harrison's primitive homerecording studio.
Maurice Gibb of theBee Gees owned a home called The Firs in Esher, during 1970s–2004 and sold after his death. This is where the hit single "Juliet" was written and recorded by Maurice andRobin Gibb in the Studio at The Firs for brother Robin's solo album project in the 1980s.[10]
SirArthur Conan Doyle placed the murder of fictional character, Mr. Garcia, in and around Esher in his Sherlock Holmes mystery, "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge". In the mystery, Dr. Watson described his and Sherlock Holmes' arrival in Esher by stating, "It was nearly six o'clock before we found ourselves in the pretty Surrey village of Esher, with Inspector Baynes as our companion."
Esher is within theEsher and Walton parliamentary constituency which is represented byMonica Harding, a member of theLiberal Democratic party, since July 2024.[11] The predecessorEsher parliamentary constituency was replaced on boundary changes before the1997 general election.[12]
Esher is part of theEast Molesey and Esher ward ofSurrey County Council. The ward is represented by aResidents' association councillor.[13]
The town is covered by the Esher ward ofElmbridge Borough Council, which has elections in three years out of four (is elected in thirds).Esher Town Hall has reverted to its original name of Sandown House and has been converted into apartments.[14]
Esher has a mix ofstate andprivate schools. There are four state primary schools across the area of Esher,Esher Church School,Cranmere,Hinchley Wood andClaygate.[15]Esher Church of England High School is the state secondary school in the town of Esher.[15]Hinchley Wood School in Hinchley Wood has been anAcademy since February 2012.[16] Hinchley Wood is also one of theFurther education establishments in the area.[17]Esher College is in nearbyThames Ditton.Esher is also home to the West End Playgroup & Forest School, a pre-school for 2-5 year olds.
The Everyman (formerly Odeon) cinema is a central feature of Esher's High Street with four screens.
Esher Cricket Club was established in 1863.[18] They play matches in the Esher Park private estate, in New Road and have a youth cricket training and playing squad. The members of the cricket club also wanted to play tennis and established the Esher Lawn Tennis Club in 1889.[19] A second cricket club arrived in 1875 as West End (Esher) Cricket Club.[20]
Esher has a history with horse racing since the purpose-builtSandown Park race course opened in 1875.[21]
In 1881 Esher Leopold football club was established which was formed out of the ashes of the dissolvedWeybridge Swallows club. The club played at Sandown Park, close to theracecourse.[22] The club's sole contribution to the national game was its one appearance in theFA Cup, a 5–0 home defeat to the holders,Old Carthusians, in1881–82,[23] although the club did reach the semi-finals of theSurrey Senior Cup, losing toReigate Priory.[24] The club continued into the 1883–84 season.[25]
Esher Rugby Club was established in 1923 and play on theHersham borders at theMolesey Road stadium, where they have several training grounds there.[26]
A smaller football club AFC Westend was established in 2003.[27]
Esher Theatre is a 300 seat performing arts venue on Esher High Street, which opened on 4 September 2021.[28]
Esher West End hosts an annual flower show and theHampton Court Flower Show is nearby. Similarly,Surrey Wildlife Trust manage Wisley and Ockham Commons, partly within the borough of Elmbridge and Esher is approximately midway between the two leading Surrey and International Gardens, theRoyal Botanical Gardens, Kew andRHS Garden, Wisley.
A weekly newspaper,Esher News and Mail, closed down in 2009. Current newspapers include theSurrey Herald: Cobham, Esher and Claygate edition andLiving Within monthly magazine/newspaper.
Vantage points include various outcrops ofEsher Commons close to Hersham,Cobham andOxshott for free public use; Esher Place (national training centre of Unite, the union) where a grass garden amphitheatre was built byLutyens for what was themanor house; the facilities at Sandown Park racecourse andClaremont Landscape Garden.
| Output area | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flats and apartments | Caravans/temporary/mobile homes | Shared between households[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (ward) | 1,341 | 417 | 332 | 542 | 0 | 6 |
The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.
| Output area | Population | Households | % Owned outright | % Owned with a loan | hectares[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (ward) | 6,743 | 2,638 | 39 | 33 | 930 |
The proportion of households in the settlement who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).
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