| Surbiton | |
|---|---|
 Victoria Road, Surbiton'shigh street | |
  Surbiton Location withinGreater London | |
| Area | 7.18 km2 (2.77 sq mi) |
| Population | 45,132 |
| • Density | 6,286/km2 (16,280/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TQ180673 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SURBITON |
| Postcode district | KT5, KT6 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°23′38″N0°18′25″W / 51.394°N 0.307°W /51.394; -0.307 | |
Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South WestLondon, within theRoyal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to theRiver Thames, 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in thehistoric county ofSurrey and since 1965 it has been inGreater London. Surbiton comprises five of the RBK's wards: Alexandra,Berrylands, St. Mark's, Surbiton Hill, andTolworth.[1]
Founded originally asKingston-upon-Railway when the area was first developed in the 1840s,[2] Surbiton possesses a mixture of grand 19th-centurytownhouses,Art Decocourts, and more recent residential blocks blending in withsemi-detached 20th-centuryhousing estates. With a population of 45,132 in 2016, it accounts for approximately 25% of the total population of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.[3] Surbiton extends over an area of 7.18 km2 (2.77 sq mi).[4]
Though Surbiton only received its current name in 1869, the name is attested asSuberton in 1179,Surbeton in 1263,Surpeton in 1486, and finallySurbiton 1597.[5]Sūth Bere-tūn means "southern grange" or "outlying farm" inOld English, as opposed to nearbyNorbiton; both Norbiton and Surbiton were possessions of the royal manor of Kingston.[5]
The present-day town came into existence after a plan to build aLondon-Southampton railway line through nearbyKingston was rejected by Kingston Council, who feared that it would be detrimental to thecoaching trade. This resulted in the line being routed further south, through a cutting in the hill south of Surbiton.Surbiton railway station opened in 1838, and was originally namedKingston-upon-Railway.[6] It was only renamedSurbiton to distinguish it from the newKingston railway station on theShepperton branch line, which opened on 1 January 1869. The present station has anart deco façade.
As a result, Kingston is now on a branch line, whereas passengers from Surbiton (smaller in comparison) can reachLondon Waterloo in as little as 16 minutes[7] on a fast direct service; as well as places further afield, includingPortsmouth andSouthampton.
Surbiton was once home toSurbiton Studios which were owned byStoll Pictures, before the company shifted its main production toCricklewood Studios.
Surbiton falls within theUK parliamentary constituency ofKingston and Surbiton, which is represented in theHouse of Commons bySir Ed Davey, currently the leader of theLiberal Democrats who served asSecretary of State for Energy and Climate Change during theConservative–Liberal Democrat coalition. Davey also represented the constituency between1997 and2015, having been ousted for a short period of time byConservativeJames Berry. In the2017 general election, Davey went on to defeat Berry by 45% to 38%.[8] Both Davey's and Berry's offices were located in Surbiton'sBerrylands ward.
In the2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Kingston and Surbiton voted to remain a member of theEuropean Union by 61.7% of the local vote.[9]
Surbiton is represented in theLondon Assembly byLiberal Democrat politicianGareth Roberts, as part of Greater London'sSouth West constituency.
Surbiton elects 12 of theKingston upon Thames London Borough Council's 48 councillors. As of the2018 local elections, the council is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, and all Surbiton's elected councillors are members of that party.
| Party | Councillors (12) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | 12 / 12 (100%) |  5 |
| Conservatives | 0 / 12 (0%) |  5 |
Surbiton is served by a number of regular bus services.Transport for London bus routes71,281,406,418,465,K1,K2,K3, andK4, as well asHallmark Connections route 458,Reptons Coaches route 513,Falcon Coaches routes 514, 515 and 715 all serve the area. These provide links toChessington,Kingston town centre,Twickenham,Hounslow,Epsom,Leatherhead,Dorking,Cobham,Staines,Weybridge andGuildford.
Surbiton is also close to two of London's largest airports:Heathrow andGatwick.
Railways have served the town since it was founded.Surbiton andBerrylands stations are both served bySouth Western Railway services. It provides rail links toLondon Waterloo, Surrey and Hampshire.
If approval is granted for the project, Surbiton will be connected with theLondon Underground system viaCrossrail 2. It is expected that the project will relieve pressure on both Surbiton and Berrylands stations.[11]
Surbiton lacks majormotorways, although theA3 road cuts through Berrylands ward at Tolworth Underpass. Parts of the A307 that run along theRiver Thames, Portsmouth Road, have become part of theLondon cycle routes network.
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Until the early 19th century, Surbiton, likeNorbiton, lay in the parish ofAll Saints, Kingston upon Thames. As a result, Surbiton's two town centreparish churches,Saint Mark's andSaint Andrew's, date back only to theVictorian era.[12]
There are two further Anglican parish churches in south Surbiton, Christ Church and Saint Matthew's, both also Victorian.
Christ Church was built in 1862–63, by Charles Lock Luck and lengthened in 1866. The chancel aisles were added in 1864, and 1871. It has no tower, and is built of red brick with stone dressings with some black brickvoussoirs. The east stained-glass window was done byClayton and Bell, the central stained-glass window byBurne-Jones, while the other stained glass was done byLavers, Barraud and Westlake.[13]
Saint Matthew's was completed in 1875, having taken less than 2 years to build. The church and the original vicarage were paid for by one man, William Matthew Coulthurst, who was the senior partner ofCoutts Bank. On the outside of the east end of the church, there is a stone plaque recording this and the fact that it was partly built in memory of Hannah Mabella Coulthurst, the dead sister of William Matthew Coulthurst. Built into the wall behind the plaque, there is a photograph of Hannah, a copy of 'The Times' newspaper of the day and a letter from William Coulthurst stipulating that the church should remain in the evangelical tradition. The church andvicarage cost £26,500. The old vicarage was pulled down in 1939 and a subsequent one was built on the same plot. In 2012, work started on a new vicarage on part of the plot and this was completed in 2013.[14] The East stained-glass window byHenry Holiday was destroyed by aV-1 flying bomb on 23 June 1944. They were replaced in 1953 with windows byHugh Easton, with his maker's mark of a weather vane signed H Easton with a cockerel on the top. The Clayton memorial triptych window was installed in 1921, designed byLouis Davis, 'the last of thePre-Raphaelites', and made by Thomas Cowall (1870–1949) forJames Powell and Sons. The Caporn memorial window was installed in 1970 and designed byW T Carter Shapland who had also designed the West window atSt Mark's. Some of the original windows by Powell & Sons survive, known as Quarry windows because they are made up of pre-stamped diamond-shaped glass known as 'Quarries'.[15]
Other churches in Surbiton include Surbiton Hill Methodist Church on Ewell Road, opened in 1882,[16] and the Roman Catholic church ofSaint Raphael's, completed in 1848 and located to the north of Surbiton, in the Kingston upon Thames postal district.[17]
In recent years, Surbiton has become more diverse in terms of religion, the Surbiton area having aSikhGurdwara[18] and anOrthodox Jewishsynagogue.[19] According to the 2011 Census, Muslims form the largest minority religious community at about 5% of the population; the nearest mosque is located in Kingston upon Thames.
Approximately 74% of Surbiton's residents at the 2011 Census were born in the United Kingdom (73% in Alexandra, 71% in St. Mark's, 75% in Surbiton Hill, 76% in Berrylands). The largest ethnic group, with two-thirds of the population, is "White British", with "White Other" the second largest group at just under 10%.
Surbiton Lawn Tennis Club hosted international tennis from 1900 (Surrey Grass Court Championships - SGCC) until 1981 at the tennis Club inBerrylands. From 1998 to 2008 international tennis returned to Surbiton with an event hosted by theLawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Surbiton Racket & Fitness Club (SRFC).The Surbiton Trophy was part of theATP Challenger Series and in 2009 the event was moved toNottingham as part of a reorganisation by the LTA. The event came back to SRFC in 2015 and continues to be played at Berrylands.
Surbiton F.C. was a short-lived football club that was among the founders ofThe Football Association in 1863. Surbiton is the current home of both male and female football teams, Darkside FC, Surbiton Wanderers and Surbiton Town Ladies FC.
Surbiton Hockey Club, established in 1874, is regarded as one of the best hockey clubs in the country. Its men's and ladies' 1st XIs currently both play in their respective national premier leagues, while its youth section regularly produces players of international quality.
Surbiton is also the home to Surbiton Croquet Club, which is amongst the strongest croquet clubs in the country and, with seven lawns, one of the largest.
TheCooper Car Company was based in a garage on Hollyfield Road from 1946 to 1968, celebrating wins in the Formula One Constructors Championships in 1959 and 1960 and developing the iconicMini Cooper in 1961.
The Pre-Raphaelite paintersJohn Everett Millais (1829–1896) andWilliam Holman Hunt (1827–1910) came to Surbiton in 1851, 26 years beforeRichard Jefferies (1848–1887). Millais used theHogsmill River, in Six Acre Meadow,Tolworth, as the background for his paintingOphelia.[20] Holman Hunt used the fields just south of this spot as the background toThe Hireling Shepherd.[21]
In the mid-1870s the novelistThomas Hardy (1840–1928) lived in a house called 'St. David's Villa' in Hook Road, Surbiton for a year after his marriage toEmma Gifford.[22]H.G.Wells, in his comic novelThe Wheels of Chance, describes the cycle collision of 'Mr Hoopdriver' and a 'Young Lady in Grey'; the young lady approaching 'along an affluent from the villas of Surbiton'. The writerEnid Blyton was governess to a Surbiton family for four years from 1920, at a house called 'Southernhay', also on the Hook Road.[23]C. H. Middleton (1886–1945), who broadcast on gardening during theSecond World War, lived in Surbiton, where he died suddenly outside his home.[24] The artist who broughtRupert the Bear to life for a whole generation,Alfred Bestall, sketched out his cartoons from his home in Cranes Park, Surbiton Hill.
Surbiton was the setting ofKeble Howard's novelThe Smiths of Surbiton, published in 1906. The novel proved successful and led to two sequels,The Smiths of Valley View (1909) andThe Smiths in War-Time (1918), both also set in Surbiton.[25]
A 1972 episode ofMonty Python's Flying Circus featured a mock documentary which investigated whether the residents ofHounslow, another London area suburb, had long ago been descendants of the people of Surbiton "who had made the great trek north".[26]
Surbiton is popularly remembered as an icon ofsuburbia in such British television programmes asThe Good Life (starringRichard Briers,Penelope Keith,Paul Eddington andFelicity Kendal), though location filming was done inNorthwood, North-West London,[27] andJohn Sessions andPhil Cornwell's comedy seriesStella Street.
Surbiton station features in the 2009 film version ofHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, with actorsDaniel Radcliffe asHarry Potter andMichael Gambon asAlbus Dumbledore. Filming took place in November 2007.[28] The station also appears inAgatha Christie's Poirot:The Adventure of the Clapham Cook,[29] a 1989ITV adaptation of the short story byAgatha Christie. The station reflects the 1930sArt Deco style that often featured in locations used in the series.[30]
The guitarist and singer-songwriterEric Clapton purchased one of his first guitars from a shop in Surbiton calledBells; the shop has since closed.[31]
According to the cassette insert for the 1980s computer gameManic Miner, the mine complex in which the game action takes place was located "while prospecting down Surbiton way..."[32]
The terrain of Surbiton is relatively flat, except for a small hill near its centre. It is part of theRoyal Borough of Kingston upon Thames inGreater London, and borders theBorough of Elmbridge inSurrey. Surbiton consists of several smaller areas, including much ofSeething Wells.
Surbiton is apost town in theKT postcode area, consisting of the KT5 and KT6 postcode districts. KT5 includes Berrylands, Tolworth and part of Surbiton; and KT6 includes Tolworth, Long Ditton and part of Surbiton.
Destinations from Surbiton | |
|---|---|
Suberton 1179, Surbeton 1263, Surpeton 1486, Surbiton 1597, that is 'the southern grange or outlying farm', from Old English su ̄th and bere-tu ̄n, so called in relation to Norbiton; both were granges of the royal manor of Kingston.
A township developed on the hill near the railway. This was named New Kingston, New Town and Kingston-upon-Railway before becoming Surbiton
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Newsletter of the Old Tiffinians' Association No. 235", March 2008| Districts |   | |
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