Merstham
St Katharine's Church
Merstham Location withinSurrey
Area	9.38 km2 (3.62 sq mi)
Population	8,123 (2011 census)[1]
• Density	866/km2 (2,240/sq mi)
OS grid reference	TQ295535
Civil parish	n/a
District	Reigate and Banstead
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Redhill
Postcode district	RH1
Dialling code	01737
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	East Surrey
List of places UK England Surrey 51°15′50″N0°09′11″W / 51.264°N 0.153°W /51.264; -0.153

Merstham/ˈmɜːrstəm/ is a town in the borough ofReigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 17 miles south ofCharing Cross just beyond theGreater London border. Part of theNorth Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town.^[2] Merstham has community associations, an early medieval church anda football club.

Old Merstham forms the north and north-west of modern Merstham and is the original village centre. There is a small day school by the railway station, a pub, a few barbershops and a small number of other shops.

After World War II theLondon County Council built the Merstham Estate,^[3] originally entirely public housing, to a geometric layout in the eastern fields. This area has its ownparade of shops, the Brook recreation ground, three schools, and a youth/community centre along Radstock Way. Oakley, a small country house, islisted and has Victoriangothic architecture features.^[4]

South Merstham is made up of mainly Victorian and Edwardian terraces. It provided a workforce for Albury Manor and nearby chalk quarrying and brickworking.^[5] Nutfield Road has a long parade of shops.

South Merstham is home to Connevans Limited, who, in April 2016 became holders of theRoyal Warrant, by Appointment to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Supplier and Manufacturer of Audio Equipment.

The area has been settled since pre-Roman times.

The village lay within theReigatehundred, anAnglo-Saxon administrative division. Its name was recorded in 947 asMearsætham, which seems to beAnglo-SaxonMearþ-sǣt-hām = "Homestead near a trap set formartens orweasels".

TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle for 851 states that a Viking army 'went south over the Thames into Surrey; andKing Aethelwulf and his sonAethelbald with the West Saxon army fought against them atAclea, and there made the greatest slaughter of a heathen raiding-army that we have heard tell of up to the present day, and there took the victory.'^[6]According to Stenton, the name Aclea nearly always appears in modern times as 'Oakley'.^[7] There is an Oakley in Merstham close to 'Old Way' prehistoric trackway. There is also a Battlebridge Lane in Merstham.^[8] The identification of the battle of Aclea with the site at Oakley in Merstham rather than Ockley in Surrey was in an article published in the Surrey Archaeological Collection for 1912.^[9]

Merstham appears inDomesday Book of 1086 asMerstan. It was held by Archbishop Lanfranc ofCanterbury. Its domesday assets were: 5hides; 1 church, 1mill worth 2s 6d, 10ploughs, 8 acres (3.2 ha) ofmeadow,woodland and herbage worth 41hogs. It rendered £12.^[10]

The area has long been known for its quarries, with the first mines at Merstham recorded in theDomesday Book of 1086, and 'Reigate stone' quarried there used to build parts ofWestminster Abbey,Windsor Castle and Henry VIII'sNonsuch Palace.^[11] It was to serve the quarries that the village became the terminus of the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway, an extension of the horse-drawnSurrey Iron Railway of 1803, the world's first public railway,^[12] albeit only for goods. A small section of the railway is on display at the entrance to Quality Street, Old Merstham. Unfortunately, this section has now been taken.

Mercers Lake was a former sand quarry, and is now used for water sports and fishing.

The use ofdynamite was first publicly demonstrated byAlfred Nobel in Price's Grey-lime Stone chalk quarry in July 1868.^[13] The site is now partly covered by the route of theM23 motorway just east of where it passes under the Shepherd's Hill bridge.

The original parish church, St Katharine's, dates from around 1220; it replaced an earlier church built c. 1100, although it is believed there has been a church of some form on the site since c. 675 AD.

Merstham's conservation area is centred on its High Street which winds in the village centre to the northwest, forms part of theA23 road and includes many listed buildings; the street with the greatest number, Quality Street, arcs off at atangent from this curve of the High Street. This was named afterJ.M. Barrie's play of the same name, in honour of two of the actors in the play, Ellaline Terriss and Seymour Hicks, who for a time lived in theOld Forge at the end of the street.^[14] 1 High Street partly dates to the 17th century.^[15]

The earlier of the twoMerstham railway tunnels was the scene of a murder on 24 September 1905. The mutilated body of Mary Sophia Money was found in the tunnel and was first thought to be a case of suicide. On inspection, however, a scarf was found in the victim's throat, and marks on the tunnel wall showed that she had been thrown from a moving train. The crime was never solved, but suspicion rested on her brother, Robert Money.

In 1943 a petroleum pipeline was constructed from the Thames through to Dungeness (designated the T/D pipeline) to supply fuel to thePLUTO cross-channel pipelines that were to run from Dungeness to Boulogne, code named DUMBO. A section of the T/D pipeline ran through Merstham and the T/D was part of the then secret government pipeline network later known as the Government Pipeline and Storage System (GPSS).^[16]

AfterWorld War II, the Merstham Estate was gradually built over a period spanning to the early 1970s.

The old village thus became generally known as Old Merstham, and is occasionally known as Top Merstham.

Rockshaw Road, on the hilltop above the conservation area of Old Merstham, was developed at the very end of the 19th century, and between the World Wars was home to many nationally notable people, among them senior Army and Navy figures, financiers and politicians.^[17]

At the junction of Battlebridge Lane and Nutfield Road is All Saints' church, the original building of which was destroyed in World War II. Volunteers from the Canadian Army worked to build a temporary church for the village, which became known as Canada Hall and is used as a village hall and weekly meeting hall for some Merstham branches of the Girl Guides.

In 1951 thecivil parish had a population of 3568.^[18] On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished.^[19]

The parish of Merstham contains various historic estates including:

• Withyshaw, in 1937 the seat of a junior branch of the Passmore family, which originated before the 15th century at Passmore Hayes nearTiverton in Devon.^[20]

London Buses run toCroydon,Coulsdon,Purley andRedhill town centre.Metrobus operates buses toReigate,Caterham andWarlingham.

The village is served byMerstham railway station on theBrighton Main Line, with services toLondon Bridge,London Victoria andGatwick Airport.

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%.

The proportion of households 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).

Merstham has anon-League football club,Merstham F.C., which plays at the Moatside. It also has a cricket club which plays in Fullers league division two.

Merstham Mines, an abandoned mine, is a popularcaving destination.^[21]

• John Anderson, Viscount Waverley (1882–1958), civil servant and politician, owned a house in Rockshaw Road 1938–1945, although he mainly lived in central London.^[17]
• Henry, Lord Benson (1909–1995), accountant, partner ofCoopers & Lybrand and president ofInstitute of Chartered Accountants lived here from circa 1950 to the 1970s.^[17]
• GeneralSir Walter Campbell (1864–1936),Quartermaster-General to the Forces, lived in Rockshaw Road from 1925 until his death in 1936.^[17]
• Seymour Hicks (1871–1949) and his wifeEllaline Terriss (1871–1971), stage actors, lived in theOld Forge in Quality Street prior to theFirst World War.^[22][14]
• Keble Howard, pen name of John Keble Bell, (1875–1928), writer and journalist,^[22] lived in Rockshaw Road from 1912 to 1920.^[17]
• SirGeoffrey Howe (1926–2015), Conservative politician and MP forReigate, thenEast Surrey, lived here from 1973–74.^[17]
• SirHarold Webbe (1885–1965), member of theLondon County Council, then MP forWestminster Abbey, lived here from 1928 until his death in 1965.^[17]

• List of places of worship in Reigate and Banstead

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