Edith's Streets

Post to the south Allmners Post to the west Virginia Water. Lyne Lane M25 Old Coach Road. Road from London to Winchester which approaches the hill from the N and directly encroaches on the south east corner of the hill fort. It is now a track which approaches the St Ann's Hill from St Ann's Hill Road. Track . This branches off the Coach Road going north and probably follows the line of the King's Way from Chertsey to the chapel of St Ann. St. Ann's Hill Hill Fort. This has been subject to discussion but its existence is now substantiated. It is below the summit of the hill and circumscribing the hill-top. Its date is not clear but is thought to have been used over a long period.  It was once known as Eldebury or Oldbury Public Park. This is a late 18th landscape on the site of a prehistoric hill fort. The area was used by Chertsey Abbey in the middle ages and is said to have been planted with vines and used for beekeeping. The summit was a viewing point f...

Post to the east Chertsey Station Post to the north St. Ann's Hill Almners Road This is shown as ‘Alm’ners’ on older maps which probably indicate it was the property of the Almoner of Chertsey Abbey. Alm’ners Barns Farm . In the 15th this farm was in the hands of the Wapshott family who claimed it had been granted to their ancestor by King Alfred. Almner Priory. This building is said to have been given to Reginald Wapshott by King Alfred- it was then a wattle and daub house on the same site. Wapshott was his warrener. It was later Chertsey Abbey and became the home of the Almoner and sixteen monks. The entrance hall was erected in 1427, and the in the monks’ dormitory is a ‘king post’, one of the main supports of the house. A priest’s hole was found during the early 19th century. The remaining parts of the house are around 200 years old. The rest of the house is 18th. Recently it has been the headquarters of a computer firm and is now the Rainbow Day Nursery. North and So...

Post to the south Chertsey Green Lane Post to the west Allmners Abbots Way This appears to have been built on the site of a council depot, extant in the 1960s Culverdon . Office block at one time occupied by Microsoft. Barker Road The Kingston Zodiac places this on Cerberus - the dog Barrsbrook Road Barrsbrook Farm. This site which was a piggery in the 1960s, is now laid out as allotments. Bell Bridge Road This is a flyover which is also the boundary of the Green Belt. It crosses the railway and was once called Railway Approach. The original railway bridge here appears to have been upgraded to provide a bypass road here in the early 1990s Cowley Lane Cowley Farm. This stood until the late 19th at the south end of the road. Curfew Bell Road Unither House. This office block is the European headquarters for United Therapeutics Europe, Ltd. This is a research organisation based in America concerned with drugs and other therapies. Fox Lane North Kone. They are a ...

Post to the south Addlestone St. Peter's Way Post to the north Chertsey Station Bittams Lane Woodside Farm Greenacres Stable Bretlands Road Police Centre . This was Chertsey Mobile Support Unit which was a vehicle storage building with office accommodation on the first floor. Fernlands Close Site of Fernlands Villa.. This was designed by T.H.Wonnacott and built in 1870 by Charles Drake using cast concrete using a “patent concrete builder”,to build grand houses for wealthy clients. It had been commissioned by Professor Hayter Lewis. It was demolished in 1955. Guildford Road Salesian School. This is a Roman Catholic co-educational comprehensive school. The original  Salesian College, for boys, was founded in Highfield Road in 1921. St John Bosco's Convent Grammar School, was founded for girls by the Salesian Sisters in 1951. This was in a large private house at Sandgates on Guildford Road. The two schools combined in 1971 but retained two single-sex sites. In 1...

Post to the east Addlestone Post to the north Chertsey Green Lane Bittams Lane M25 Spinney Hill Great Grove Farm. There appears to have been a brick kiln here in the 1840s. Old Oak Farm St. Peters Way Dual carriage way which acts as an access to Junction 11 of the A25 Sources SABRE. Web site

Post to the south Addlestone Coombelands Post to the west St.Peter's Way Post to the east Addlestone Chapel Avenue Chapel Park Church of England Infants School. This was built in 1896 Church Road Bank House , This was originally the London County & Westminster Bank built during the Great War, It is on the site of Kingthorpe. Citizens Advice in The Old Library. This was  built on the site of a house called Kingthorpe,  The library dates from 1953 built by Chertsey Urban District Council. Kingthorpe Gardens . Some of the garden wall of Kingthorpe House remains in the garden., 107 Queens Arms. Pub dates from the mid 19th Salvation Army – their church and local head quarters is in the lane alongside number 106 118 Sally Ann’ s – Salvation Army Charity Shop 121-124 Fremoyle House private nursing home St Paul’s Church . The church was completed in 1838 on a site given by a local landowner and has been enlarged since. Vicarage . This was east of the church ...

Post to the north Addlestone Caxton Avenue The houses a t the north end this road date at least from the early 1930s and were adjacent to Coombelands Printers – some houses are described as ‘printers cottages’ and thus this was probably company housing. Coombelands Lane Company houses – some houses in the lane were built for employees at The Press at Coombelands in 1926, Coombelands Farm . The farm was, or is, owned by DEFRA and used in conjunction with the Animal and Plant Health Agency. M25 Milton Rise Ongar Place Infant School Ongar Hill Holy Family Primary School. This is part of some Brighton and Arundel Catholic ‘multi academy trust’. Redwoods Printing works . This was The Press at Coombelands which covered the area now Redwoods and was set up around 1926. It is described as “a two acre mock Tudor facaded printing factory with 41,000 sq ft of space” surrounded by company housing. (see comment below about ownership of the press) In 1987 it was taken over by U...

Post to the south Byfleet Wey Navigation Abbott Close Trading and light industrial area Basingstoke Canal Woodham Junction . This is where the Basingstoke Canal leaves the River Wey Navigation. Footbridge – this footbridge dates from 1996, the original having become derelict and collapsed. Byfleet Road Byfleet and New Haw Station . This opened in  1927 and lies between West Byfleet and Addlestone and also Weybridge on South Western Trains. It is on the original South Western Mainline of the London and Southampton Railway opening in 1838. The station was designed by architect James Ribb Scott and catered to a rapidly increasing population. It was then called West Weybridge and changed to the current name in 1962. Byfleet Road electricity switching station , owned by National Grid Heathervale Recreation Ground Local authority sports ground and amenity space . The site borders on the Basingstoke canal and appears to have been laid out pre-Second World War. It was prev...

Post to the south  Byfleet West Hall Post to the north New Haw Abbott Close Trading estate and industrial area . This was developed as an industrial area post-Second World War. Industries include: Brewhurst Health Food Supplies, Acoustic Engineering Services, Newman Turner Publications, Electron Beam Processes, Metal Pretreatments, Henshalls Air Aviation, Southborough Ironworks, etc etc Basingstoke Canal The Basingstoke Cana l dates from 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the Thames, to which end it joins the Wey Navigation at Byfleet – in the square to the north. This stretch goes through the boggy valley of the Rive ditch. It was never a commercial success and from 1950 became derelict. From 1977 it was restored for leisure users and reopened from the Wey to the Greywell Tunnel in 1991. Woodham Bottom lock. This is the first lock on the canal from the junction with the Wey Navigation. It was unworkable from 1968 until repaired in 1987. Berrys Lane New housin g ...

Post to the east Byfleet Byfleet Wey Navigation Broad Ditch This is said to be the original course of the River Wey. It is followed by the Parish boundary and now the borough boundary. Dodds Lane Footpath which runs to the Navigation from Pyrford Lane Traditions Golf Club, This is an 18 hole public, parkland golf course designed by Peter Allis in 1999 West Hall The buildings at West Hall are reached by a long private drive from Parvis Road to the north. West Hall. Large house now a care home. In it was used as by land girls and refuges and also as an overflow auxiliary hospital. It was later used as offices by the Swiss Bank and eventually by Mouchel, consulting engineers. West Hall was built in the 1890s by local benefactor Frederick Stoop. It replaced West Lodge which dated at least from the mid 18th when West Lodge was owned by a Richard West. Another later owner was Robert Murray. West Hall Farm Orchard . At West Hall the George Carpenter and garden staff develppe...

Post to the south Wisley Lane Post to the west Byfleet West Hall Bourne Close This was the site of Halford's Farm which dated from the 18th Brewery Lane Sewage Pumping Station . This is at the junction with Church Road and is owned by Thames Water. It replaces an earlier building. Vanners Parade is at the junction with the High Road and is on the site of Vanners Farm which was here until the early 1900s. Thomas Vanner was an 18th landholder in the area. Church Road St. Mary’s Church. This was a medieval church in flint and puddingstone with a 15th shingled tower and belfry. It had a number of 19th additions and a major reordering. On the wall of the nave is part of a medieval wall painting of a king. There is some important modern stained glass, a bassoon in a glass case and the Royal Arms. Among the monuments is a brass of a 15th rector. There is a war memorial made up of wooden crosses brought here from the battlefields of the Great War. Churchyard . This includ...

Post to the east Wisley Common Post to the north Byfleet Chittenden Cottages Housing built for Royal Horticultural Society workers in the late 1950s. Frederick Chittenden was the first director of the gardens here and the cottages were built after his death Common Meadows These lie along the Wey M25 Wey The river Wey winds through this square. In the north running east west through common meadows to pass under the M25 then to run south to Wisley Bridge (in the square to the west) and then to turn south east. Weybank Houses built for the superintendants at the Royal Horticultural Gardens. Wisley Lane Royal Horticultural Society Cottages Old School House – timber-framed and brick building with steeply pitched tile roof. 16th with 18th and 20th- alteration Deers  Farm Close. Royal Horticultural Society Trials Site. Woking Archery Club is on part of this site. Sports Ground. This includes a pavilion and pitches Sewage works. This is run by Thames Water and appea...

Post to the east Chatley Post to the west Wisley Lane Buxton Wood Deciduous wood , on the north side of the M25. Clearmount Clearmount was part of arable farmland, There is a boundary bank between this and Wisley Common.  The area has now merged into the common. The bank itself is about a metre high, with a ditch on the common side. On it are some old and stag headed oaks – at least 200 years old. Cockcrow Hill Bronze Age Bell Barrow – this is an authenticated site. There are also some linear earthworks in the area. Foxwarren Park. Foxwarren Park. House buit in 1860, by Frederick Barnes of Ipswich for Charles Buxton in harsh 19th Gothic style. It has polychrome brickwork and terracotta dressings. It in includes an octagonal tower with corbels and a decorated band. Said to have an ‘eerie intellectual atmosphere’. M25 Junction 10 Wisley Interchange. This is the junction with the A3 Portsmouth Road. Pond Farm Pond farmhouse. This was built as a cottage by Lord Kin...

Post to the east Hatchford Park Post to the north Chatley Chatley Heath Chatley Heath is part of Ockley Common and is registered common land, previously in the area of Cobham. It was enclosed in 1793. As a common it was heathland but as use of it for grazing declined trees began to take over the heath.  Birch colonises  heathland very quickly and Scots Pine was introduced to Surrey for timber and readily seeds itself. The rangers cut invading shrubs and tree seedlings, and clear some of the woods that were once heathland and the bare soil is soon covered with purple heather and, the rare heathland wildlife returns. Breach Hill Common and Wood are part of Chatley Heath and Telegraph Hill, part of Breach Hill Common Semaphore Tower.   In 1815 an Act of Parliament allowed for the establishment of a permanent semaphore communication system. Stations were brick with on top a mast with two signal arms with an arrangement of cranks, bevel gears and rods driven from an ...

Post to the east Downside Bookham Road Post to the north Chilbrook Goose Green This tiny strip of land alongside the motorway is registered common land and part of Downside Common.  Was it used for pasturing geese?  There was medicinal well here apparently discovered in 1670. This well is shown on 19th maps and was apparently still extant in the 1930s. At the bottom of the well were ‘stones like Bristol diamonds’. Horsley Road Bull Riding Farm. The farm now includes a vet’s practice Oakdene Farm Highway Farm Peaked Rough . This is now a paintball games establishment. There is an American military vehicle displayed in the entrance on the road M25 Cobham Service Area. This includes the ‘back gate’ to these services which is in the square to the east, Old Oak Common This is a small stretch of woodland Sources International grotto directory. Web site Guildford Council Web site Tayor. Cobham. A History

Post to the east Bookham Lodge Post to the north Downside Post to the west Downside Horsley Road Beaumont Plantation Bookham Road New Barn Farm Chasemore Farm .  This was Dodewyck which means Dudda’s dairy farm. It is now a stud farm. There is an 18th house which was the home of the Freke family from the 14th . The family were woodmongers of London.   Bookham Brook flows through the farm site Chasemore Wood Down Wood. The wood has been cut in half by the motorway. It has boundary defined by the remnants of an earth bank and ditch, with coppiced hazel and other species. A bank surrounding a wood is usually associated with medieval woodland management. This is an Ancient Woodland, with oak, silver birch and coppiced hazel plus wild cherry, red oak, field maple and ash. At the edges is planted rhododendron and Leylandii on the motorway embankment. M25 This section dates from 1986 and cuts through Down Wood. This western section is in a cutting but rises to grade le...

Post to the east Lower Ashstead Post to the south Leatherhead Post to the west Pachesham Post to the north Leatherhead Aperdele Road Apedele appears to have been the family name of early medieval landowners in this area. Leatherhead Trinity School. This Church of England Primary School was the result of an amalgamation of three existing schools t St. Mary's, All Saints and The Woodville. This was supported by local churches – Anglican, Methodist and United Reform. Leatherhead Children's Centre was on a site here which was previously All Saints School. This includes a nursery and reception class as well as day care for younger children and an after school family project All Saints School . This opened in 1877 using the disused railway engine shed which was also used as a mission church and a Sunday School. In 1900 it moved to new premises in a building  which later became the North Leatherhead Community Centre. From 1953 it was an infant school only. Barnett Woo...

Post to the south Leatherhead Fortyfoot Post to the north Lower Ashtead Post to the west Leatherhead Industrial railside Agates Lane Merry Hall.  This is a late 18th house with 1788 on the chimney. It was the home of writer Beverley Nichols. Barn – this is near Murray’s Court. This is now used as a stable. It is probably 17th with a timber frame on brick plinth, with weather-board on the front Barnett Wood Once a large area of woodland now reduced to a few trees on verges. Bypass Road The Bypass. This section is the remains of a road which ran from the Knoll Roundabout (in the square to the south) to the Plough roundabout and a junction with Kingston Road (in the square to the west). It is now the A243 and having reached Junction 9 with the M25 now continued north instead of curving west. Highways Agency Depot.  This is in an island between the Bypass Road and the M25. Duckworth Drive Appears to be new housing on the site of Ashstead Grange, and the sub...

Post to the east Leatherhead Ermyn Way Post to the west Leatherhead Post to the north Lower Ashstead Beechwood Park Housing on part of the site for the Royal School for the Blind. By pass road This is divided by the roundabout at The knoll. North of the roundabout it is the A243, south is the A24 which continues that road which has joined it from the east and which originally continued in to the town centre. Epsom Road Downsend School. Pre-‘preparatory’ department in a building originally called The Rowans. Christ Church. This dates from 1829 when it wass an independent Congregational church, joining the United Reformed Church in 1972. The current church was built in 1935 about to replace building in the town centre Cottage Hospital. This was opposite the end of Garlands Road on the site now covered by Victoria House. The Leatherhead and District Victoria Memorial Cottage Hospital was opened in 1904 and enlarged in 1927. Later a house opposite, Fairmead, was added as th...

Post to the east Stane Street Post to the west Leatherhead Fortyfoot Ermyn Way Rayon Manufacturing Company. From 1926 artificial silk was made here by the Rayon Manufacturing Company. It closed because of a shortage of water on site and because of complaints about smell. Goblin . Goblin took over the Rayon Company site in 1938, having moved from Fulham. Cecil Booth had designed and patented the prototype cleaner in 1901, setting up what became Goblin where the first portable cleaner was made in 1904, electrically driven from 1911. In the Second Wold War they made munitions and other equipment. Post war they made vacuum cleaners and large fixed plants for major buildings and ships.  In a market now dominated by Hoover they also diversified into gadgets like the Teasmade. By the 1970s the factory needed modernising and the site was sold and the company moved to Hampshire. The factory was demolished in 1984 Esso House. This is a headquarters for Esso opened in 1990. They ar...