Thames Tributary Wandle - The Bourne - Smitham
Thames Tributary Wandle.
The Bourne, the Wandle tributary, flows through this area, underground, roughly on the line of the Brighton Road.
Post to the west Coulsdon
Post to the north Reedham
Brighton Road
The track through Smitham, then called Smitham Bottom, was turnpiked in 1803. By 1820 40 coaches a day were going through.
Methodist Church. By Gordon & Gunton. Gothic church in flint and stone, with chequered gable and a tower
Byron Avenue
Named after Edward Byron who lived at Coulsdon Court
Cearn Way
Charles Cearn bought Coulsdon Court when Byron died and developed it as a golf course. The line of the road was the tradesman’s entrance.
Coulsdon Road
Coulsdon Court Road
This was on the line of the main drive to Coulsdon Court.
Coulsdon Court. Built by the Byron family in the 1850s on the site of Hartley House. When Edward Byron died in 1922 it was sold and bought by the Cearn family, and it was laid out as a golf course by Harry Colt and then leased to Croydon Council for a municipal golf course. Coulsdon Court Golf Club was formed in 1938. The first golf buggies in England were used there.
Coulsdon Manor Hotel – in what was Coulsdon Court
Hartley Down
Named for Hartley House which stood on the Coulsdon Court site
Hartley Farm Estate.
New Hartley farmhouse built 1850, now a private house. It was a dairy farm until 1921
Marlpit Lane
Halls maintained a trading depot here from 1923
Petersfield
This was named like this as farmland – part of ‘Old Peter’s Threescore Acres’
Railway Lines
The line to Tattenham Corner from Purley runs parallel to the Brighton Line and then turns west from Smitham Station crossing the Brighton road and up the Chipstead Valley.
Smitham Bottom
In 1331 this was recorded a ‘Smefheden’ 1331, but by 1588 it was ‘Smythden Bottom’ 1588 which means 'smooth valley'.
Station Approach
Site of Coulsdon North Station. Opened in December 1899 by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. Its original name was ‘Stoat’s Nest’ and it replaced an earlier Stoat’s Nest Station, which was further north. The Entrance was on the east side of Station Approach off the Brighton Road There was a bad rail crash here in 110 and in 1911 it was renamed ‘Coulsdon and Smitham Downs’. In 1923 called ‘Coulsdon West’ and month later ‘Coulsdon North’. It had been built both as a terminus and a through station and changed little. When the Brighton Line was reconfigured it was surplus, with two other stations nearby and it was closed in 1983. The Coulsdon by-pass now runs through the site but the footbridge remains.
Stoats Nest Road
Stoats Nest Quarry owned by Halls.
Stoats Nest Village
Laid out for ex-service men 1919 and instigated by Edward Byron of Coulsdon Court
Ullswater Trading Estate
Site of Halls lime works. The Hall family had been active in the Croydon area as coal and lime merchants since the 18th. In the mid-1860s they leased an area of land in Coulsdon and transferred their lime burning works here in 1864 from Redhill. They also quarried for chalk here and had a trade in flints also. The works had its own internal railway system. Experiments were carried out on a gas fired kiln in 1865. One kiln was known as Mrs.Maybrick following a murder. Priest kilns and hydrating plant installed in 1937
Windermere Road
Smitham Station. Opened 1st January 1904. Between Reedham and Woodmansterne South on Southern Trains. No station houses just a wooden building on the down side and a sort of shelter on the up side in Southern Railway ‘country’ style. It took three years to build it and open it. It was only opened because it was required under the act and the requirements of the trustees of John Benjamin Smith.
Goods yard
The Bourne, the Wandle tributary, flows through this area, underground, roughly on the line of the Brighton Road.
Post to the west Coulsdon
Post to the north Reedham
Brighton Road
The track through Smitham, then called Smitham Bottom, was turnpiked in 1803. By 1820 40 coaches a day were going through.
Methodist Church. By Gordon & Gunton. Gothic church in flint and stone, with chequered gable and a tower
Byron Avenue
Named after Edward Byron who lived at Coulsdon Court
Cearn Way
Charles Cearn bought Coulsdon Court when Byron died and developed it as a golf course. The line of the road was the tradesman’s entrance.
Coulsdon Road
Coulsdon Court Road
This was on the line of the main drive to Coulsdon Court.
Coulsdon Court. Built by the Byron family in the 1850s on the site of Hartley House. When Edward Byron died in 1922 it was sold and bought by the Cearn family, and it was laid out as a golf course by Harry Colt and then leased to Croydon Council for a municipal golf course. Coulsdon Court Golf Club was formed in 1938. The first golf buggies in England were used there.
Coulsdon Manor Hotel – in what was Coulsdon Court
Hartley Down
Named for Hartley House which stood on the Coulsdon Court site
Hartley Farm Estate.
New Hartley farmhouse built 1850, now a private house. It was a dairy farm until 1921
Marlpit Lane
Halls maintained a trading depot here from 1923
Petersfield
This was named like this as farmland – part of ‘Old Peter’s Threescore Acres’
Railway Lines
The line to Tattenham Corner from Purley runs parallel to the Brighton Line and then turns west from Smitham Station crossing the Brighton road and up the Chipstead Valley.
Smitham Bottom
In 1331 this was recorded a ‘Smefheden’ 1331, but by 1588 it was ‘Smythden Bottom’ 1588 which means 'smooth valley'.
Station Approach
Site of Coulsdon North Station. Opened in December 1899 by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. Its original name was ‘Stoat’s Nest’ and it replaced an earlier Stoat’s Nest Station, which was further north. The Entrance was on the east side of Station Approach off the Brighton Road There was a bad rail crash here in 110 and in 1911 it was renamed ‘Coulsdon and Smitham Downs’. In 1923 called ‘Coulsdon West’ and month later ‘Coulsdon North’. It had been built both as a terminus and a through station and changed little. When the Brighton Line was reconfigured it was surplus, with two other stations nearby and it was closed in 1983. The Coulsdon by-pass now runs through the site but the footbridge remains.
Stoats Nest Road
Stoats Nest Quarry owned by Halls.
Stoats Nest Village
Laid out for ex-service men 1919 and instigated by Edward Byron of Coulsdon Court
Ullswater Trading Estate
Site of Halls lime works. The Hall family had been active in the Croydon area as coal and lime merchants since the 18th. In the mid-1860s they leased an area of land in Coulsdon and transferred their lime burning works here in 1864 from Redhill. They also quarried for chalk here and had a trade in flints also. The works had its own internal railway system. Experiments were carried out on a gas fired kiln in 1865. One kiln was known as Mrs.Maybrick following a murder. Priest kilns and hydrating plant installed in 1937
Windermere Road
Smitham Station. Opened 1st January 1904. Between Reedham and Woodmansterne South on Southern Trains. No station houses just a wooden building on the down side and a sort of shelter on the up side in Southern Railway ‘country’ style. It took three years to build it and open it. It was only opened because it was required under the act and the requirements of the trustees of John Benjamin Smith.
Goods yard
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