Caterham Valley
Caterham Bypass
The road was constructed in 1939 and in the Second World War had two different coloured grits as camouflage. In 1970 it became a dual carriageway almost as far as Godstone. For building it a temporary railway was used with a diesel locomotive. It is supposed to be haunted.
Church Walk
Church Walk is the name of a small shopping centre in Station Avenue. It runs alongside a road of the same name,
Drinking fountain, this was donated by local resident Charles Asprey in 1890. It originally stood in Station Avenue. It was removed to White Knobs Sports Ground in 1933 and is now in Church Walk. He was also one of the first directors of the Caterham and Kenley Gas Company hence originally there was a gas lamp on the top of the fountain.
Woollett Nursery. This was at the back of the hotel and dated to at least the 1870s.
Clareville Road
St. John the Evangelist. This was built in 1881 of Bargate stone and designed by W.Bassett Smith. The tower was added in 1892. The church was partly funded by jeweller, Charles Asprey. The organ was built in 1883 by J W Walker & Sons of London. There are eight bells cast by various manufacturers, the oldest by Robert Phelps in 1723 from an original bell of 1672 and came from the redundant church of St. Mary-at-Lambeth. The font is very ancient and comes from St. Lawrence Church, Caterham on the Hill.
St. John’s Church Hall
Croydon Road
10a Caterham Club. This was established in 1908 by local tradesmen and is an independent local social club
33 Greyhound Pub. Closed and demolished.
Quadrant House. Large office block, now flats.
43 The Capitol Cinema opened around 1929, designed to screen sound films with a Western Electric system installed in 1930. In 1955 it changed its name to The Florida but it was not allowed to show new films before they were shown in Purley. It was closed in 1960. The site is now part of Quadrant House.
67-69 Rose and Young. This large garage site was empty from 1994. Since redeveloped for housing. It is in a commercial Art Deco style, and was the head office, showroom and garage of the Caterham Motor Company, founded in 1922. Construction began around 1939 and it was used as a food depot, factory and British Restaurant in the Second World War. Caterham Motor Company sold the site to Rose and Young Mercedes/Volvo dealership specialising in the ‘gull wing’ Mercedes in 1970.
74 Flats on the site of the Salvation Army Hall.
76 The Valley pub. This was once called The Commonwealth, and also The Fountain. Now demolished and flats built.
Library. In the 1950s there was a library to the rear of the pub
76 Valley Cinema. In 1913 this opened next door to the pub in the Assembly Rooms. It closed in 1928. It was constructed of fire proof materials, with an electric lantern to eliminate flickering images on the new silver screen with a small orchestra of a piano, violin, and cello. It was built on the site of a timber yard and saw mill.
85 Orbital House is on the site of the Caterham power station.
Caterham Power Station. This was built 1902/3 by J & L Ward of Warlingham for the Urban Electricity Supply Co. There was a 100ft chimney as well as workshops, and offices . There was an engine room, boiler house, coal store, and showrooms. It opened in 1904. It ceased generation in 1924 and was eventually sold in 1978 and demolished in 1988. There was a siding for coal supply from the railway behind the power station. It is now the site of Orbital house.
Sewer ventilation pipe outside 110.
86 Caterham Christian Centre. There has been a Christian church here since 1888 when Dr Fegan founded a Brethren Assembly. The Brethren’s building for the Assembly use was erected in 1920 of corrugated iron and wood. It was bombed in the Second World War and the roof replaced with roof in the 1960’s. It was then found that the foundations were failing in the front and a brick toilet block was constructed as a faced. The rear was rebuilt in n the 1970’s because of dry rot. A room was added in 2001 in the roof space over the toilets .In 2017 plans were put in place for the merge with Caterham Community Church
Caterham Valley Wesleyan Methodist church hall. This is no longer there
119 Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is no longer there and the site is new flats
Godstone Road
This is now the A22 but was the old Lewes Road, the ancient road into Sussex, once a Roman Road. A new turnpike was laid out in the late 18th and the A22 follows this,
11 RAF Operations Centre. Kenley aerodrome was bombed in 1940 and it was then decided to move the operations building to Spice and Wallis's empty butcher's premises. This building was thus one of the most important sites during the Battle of Britain although it was replaced within a few months. On its site is now a modern shop with a blue plaque about the past of the site at first floor level..
26 The single storey building at the north end of the shop is former workshops of the Caterham Motor Company.
30 The Miller Centre. This was St John’s National School built in 1883, replacing a church. There is an attached Bourne Society Blue Plaque. It is named after Dorothy Miller, founder of the local theatre and was opened in 1977. It is now a day centre and theatre.
32 Harp Steakhouse. This was until recently The Pilgrim Pub
34 Telephone Exchange. Built in 1953 by the Ministry of Works. In 1912 Caterham was chosen as a pilot for the Lorimer scheme of exchange, but, following delays, the system was not installed.
67-69 Government Offices
91 Caterham Drill Hall. Built in 1886 as a public hall. It was acquired by the War Department in 1913 and used by the 4th Battalion, Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment during the Great War. It has subsequently had other uses, for youth groups and by the Salvation Army. It has now been demolished
Pit. Behind the Drill Hall was a sunken area – an old chalk pit, with 3 ‘Woodlands Cottages’ and a lime kiln. It was later partly the Crudace car park. This has now been destroyed along with the buildings and the hall.
97 Maybrook House. Office building from the 1970s.
105 Headquarters of the 3rd Caterham St John’s Scout Group.
106 Surrey Hills Place. This was the Caterham Sanitarium and Surrey Hills Hydropathic. In 1898 was set up here and purchased by the Seventh-Day Adventists in 1903. The Caterham Sanitarium and Surrey Hills Hydropathic opened in 1903 under Good Health Association Ltd American, Dr Alfred B. Olsen, son of the President of the British Union Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventists, was Medical Director. It was run in the same way as Dr J.H. Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. Patients had a fruitarian diet, daily and Swedish medical-gymnastics. There were prayers at 8 am, After the Great War it began to decline and closed in 1921. In 1923 it was sold and became a hotel by the 1930s. It was later by the Department of Employment as a Job Centre It was acquired by Croudace builders who demolished it and built flats.
106 Royal Mail Delivery Office.
Harestone Hill
1 United Reform Church. This was built in 1875, and repaired 1951 after bombs damage. It was designed by John Sulman, son-in-law of one of the deacons,. A Congregational Chapel had been 0pened in Stafford Road in 1865 and in 1868 a site for a permanent church acquired on Harestone Hill. The lecture hall was added in 1878. It became a United Reformed Church in 1972 when the Congregational Church in England and Wales united with the Presbyterian Church.
Harestone Valley Road
Soper Hall. This was built, in 1911, as Council Offices for Caterham Urban District Council and included a Memorial to William Garland Soper, a politician and businessman of the time. It was used as a civic centre and a public hall.
Fire Station. This was opened in 1928 when the Brigade became known as Caterham & Warlingham Joint Fire Brigade. It closed when new station opened in Godstone in 1970 . It stood until 1988 when it was demolished to make way for the Church Walk Shopping Centre
Eothen School. The school was founded by sisters Catherine and Winifred Pye. It began with eight girls. The main school was built in 1897 providing some boarding accommodation as well as classrooms. The Pye sisters retired in 1938. The school closed in 1995 when it merged with nearby Caterham School. The main building was demolished and the site now accommodates houses, flats and a health centre. The present Health Centre was built from the former Science block of the school.
2 Court Lodge, This is a 19th flint Gothic lodge house. It was originally a lodge house to Caterham Court, when Church Hill was the entrance drive.
Stafford Road
1 East Surrey Museum, The Cottage. This dates from the 1860s and is in flint and red brick and there are flint boundary walls. The museum is situated on the ground floor. It was bought by the Council in 1975, and housed homeless families. The Bourne Society Archaeological Group, wanted to use it as a museum and conversion went ahead by L. A. Long. The museum was opened in 1980. Until 2003 it was run by volunteers but a Heritage Lottery Fund granted allowed employment of a curator but this has now ended.
Station Avenue
Caterham Station. This was opened in 1856 and is the terminus from Whyteleafe South on Southern Trains
40 Caterham 7 Garage. This had been a garage and filling station through the 1950s run by Anthony Crook. He left to join Bristol Motors and it was taken over by Graham Nearne. Thee they set up a production centre for it designed by Colin Chapman for the Lotus Super Seven and the Elite. In 1962 the filling station was sold to Esso and the garage at the rear became Caterham Coachworks. Nairne had sole selling rights from 1967 for the Lotus Seven and bought out all the rights in the 1970s. The produced the car here from 1974. In 1984 the Jubilee Seven was produced but production was moved to Crayford in 1987. In 2000 the Roadsport V was introduced and in 2003 the Tracksport. .
Church Walk Shopping Centre. This is a small shopping mall situated opposite Caterham railway station in Caterham Valley. Church Walk was built on the site of the Valley Hotel, which was demolished in 1988. Long before the Valley Hotel was built (to cater for visitors arriving on the new railway trains) there used to be a tennis court, croquet lawn, rose garden, fountain, and Mr. Woollet's nursery. The griffins found on the top of the entrance to the centre are originally from the old hotel.
The Square
1 Old Surrey Hounds, pub.. This is one of the earliest public houses in the area although it was rebuilt in the present mock-Tudor style after a major fire in 1916.
Rotary Clock. Installed by the local rotary clubs to mark a centenary in 2005.
Tillingdown Hill
Roman road. This run south from Wapses Lodge roundabout in straight line up Tillingdown Hill, is believed to mark a Roman road. The line of the road can be traced as an earthwork around the hill contour above Commonwealth Road, and Crescent Road. This strip of woodland contains archaeological features and many old trees. It continues to cross the bypass on a footbridge (which is where the ghost is said to lurk).
Tillingdown Hill. Open space here used to be part of Tillingdown Farm but is now public space. There is grassland, benches and an interpretation board.
Tillingdown Farm. Thus was a medieval manor house and farm becoming a place for commuters’ horses. It may be remains of a hamlet depopulated in the middle ages. It was Owned by Albert Davison who and used it to house and train racehorses since the 1970s up until 2011 when he died and the farm was sold. It now appears to be derelict
Tillingdown Farm Cottages, Tillingdown Farm
Tillingdown Hill Farm Cottages, Tillingdown Farm
Reservoir . Undergound reservoir grassed over with tracks to the Bypass. There is a group of buildings on the east side. It is surrounded by woods and wooded open grassed areas
Timber Hill
Recreation Ground. Chidren’s playground and open space
Police station
Ambulance station
Sources
Caterham Christian Centre. Website
Caterham URC, Web site
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
East Surrey Museum. Web site.
Knowles. Surrey and the Motor
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
Miller Centre. Web site
Pevsner & Cherry. Surrey
Surrey County Council. Web site
Tandridge District Council. Web site
Village Hall cinemas, Web site
The road was constructed in 1939 and in the Second World War had two different coloured grits as camouflage. In 1970 it became a dual carriageway almost as far as Godstone. For building it a temporary railway was used with a diesel locomotive. It is supposed to be haunted.
Church Walk
Church Walk is the name of a small shopping centre in Station Avenue. It runs alongside a road of the same name,
Drinking fountain, this was donated by local resident Charles Asprey in 1890. It originally stood in Station Avenue. It was removed to White Knobs Sports Ground in 1933 and is now in Church Walk. He was also one of the first directors of the Caterham and Kenley Gas Company hence originally there was a gas lamp on the top of the fountain.
Woollett Nursery. This was at the back of the hotel and dated to at least the 1870s.
Clareville Road
St. John the Evangelist. This was built in 1881 of Bargate stone and designed by W.Bassett Smith. The tower was added in 1892. The church was partly funded by jeweller, Charles Asprey. The organ was built in 1883 by J W Walker & Sons of London. There are eight bells cast by various manufacturers, the oldest by Robert Phelps in 1723 from an original bell of 1672 and came from the redundant church of St. Mary-at-Lambeth. The font is very ancient and comes from St. Lawrence Church, Caterham on the Hill.
St. John’s Church Hall
Croydon Road
10a Caterham Club. This was established in 1908 by local tradesmen and is an independent local social club
33 Greyhound Pub. Closed and demolished.
Quadrant House. Large office block, now flats.
43 The Capitol Cinema opened around 1929, designed to screen sound films with a Western Electric system installed in 1930. In 1955 it changed its name to The Florida but it was not allowed to show new films before they were shown in Purley. It was closed in 1960. The site is now part of Quadrant House.
67-69 Rose and Young. This large garage site was empty from 1994. Since redeveloped for housing. It is in a commercial Art Deco style, and was the head office, showroom and garage of the Caterham Motor Company, founded in 1922. Construction began around 1939 and it was used as a food depot, factory and British Restaurant in the Second World War. Caterham Motor Company sold the site to Rose and Young Mercedes/Volvo dealership specialising in the ‘gull wing’ Mercedes in 1970.
74 Flats on the site of the Salvation Army Hall.
76 The Valley pub. This was once called The Commonwealth, and also The Fountain. Now demolished and flats built.
Library. In the 1950s there was a library to the rear of the pub
76 Valley Cinema. In 1913 this opened next door to the pub in the Assembly Rooms. It closed in 1928. It was constructed of fire proof materials, with an electric lantern to eliminate flickering images on the new silver screen with a small orchestra of a piano, violin, and cello. It was built on the site of a timber yard and saw mill.
85 Orbital House is on the site of the Caterham power station.
Caterham Power Station. This was built 1902/3 by J & L Ward of Warlingham for the Urban Electricity Supply Co. There was a 100ft chimney as well as workshops, and offices . There was an engine room, boiler house, coal store, and showrooms. It opened in 1904. It ceased generation in 1924 and was eventually sold in 1978 and demolished in 1988. There was a siding for coal supply from the railway behind the power station. It is now the site of Orbital house.
Sewer ventilation pipe outside 110.
86 Caterham Christian Centre. There has been a Christian church here since 1888 when Dr Fegan founded a Brethren Assembly. The Brethren’s building for the Assembly use was erected in 1920 of corrugated iron and wood. It was bombed in the Second World War and the roof replaced with roof in the 1960’s. It was then found that the foundations were failing in the front and a brick toilet block was constructed as a faced. The rear was rebuilt in n the 1970’s because of dry rot. A room was added in 2001 in the roof space over the toilets .In 2017 plans were put in place for the merge with Caterham Community Church
Caterham Valley Wesleyan Methodist church hall. This is no longer there
119 Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is no longer there and the site is new flats
Godstone Road
This is now the A22 but was the old Lewes Road, the ancient road into Sussex, once a Roman Road. A new turnpike was laid out in the late 18th and the A22 follows this,
11 RAF Operations Centre. Kenley aerodrome was bombed in 1940 and it was then decided to move the operations building to Spice and Wallis's empty butcher's premises. This building was thus one of the most important sites during the Battle of Britain although it was replaced within a few months. On its site is now a modern shop with a blue plaque about the past of the site at first floor level..
26 The single storey building at the north end of the shop is former workshops of the Caterham Motor Company.
30 The Miller Centre. This was St John’s National School built in 1883, replacing a church. There is an attached Bourne Society Blue Plaque. It is named after Dorothy Miller, founder of the local theatre and was opened in 1977. It is now a day centre and theatre.
32 Harp Steakhouse. This was until recently The Pilgrim Pub
34 Telephone Exchange. Built in 1953 by the Ministry of Works. In 1912 Caterham was chosen as a pilot for the Lorimer scheme of exchange, but, following delays, the system was not installed.
67-69 Government Offices
91 Caterham Drill Hall. Built in 1886 as a public hall. It was acquired by the War Department in 1913 and used by the 4th Battalion, Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment during the Great War. It has subsequently had other uses, for youth groups and by the Salvation Army. It has now been demolished
Pit. Behind the Drill Hall was a sunken area – an old chalk pit, with 3 ‘Woodlands Cottages’ and a lime kiln. It was later partly the Crudace car park. This has now been destroyed along with the buildings and the hall.
97 Maybrook House. Office building from the 1970s.
105 Headquarters of the 3rd Caterham St John’s Scout Group.
106 Surrey Hills Place. This was the Caterham Sanitarium and Surrey Hills Hydropathic. In 1898 was set up here and purchased by the Seventh-Day Adventists in 1903. The Caterham Sanitarium and Surrey Hills Hydropathic opened in 1903 under Good Health Association Ltd American, Dr Alfred B. Olsen, son of the President of the British Union Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventists, was Medical Director. It was run in the same way as Dr J.H. Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan. Patients had a fruitarian diet, daily and Swedish medical-gymnastics. There were prayers at 8 am, After the Great War it began to decline and closed in 1921. In 1923 it was sold and became a hotel by the 1930s. It was later by the Department of Employment as a Job Centre It was acquired by Croudace builders who demolished it and built flats.
106 Royal Mail Delivery Office.
Harestone Hill
1 United Reform Church. This was built in 1875, and repaired 1951 after bombs damage. It was designed by John Sulman, son-in-law of one of the deacons,. A Congregational Chapel had been 0pened in Stafford Road in 1865 and in 1868 a site for a permanent church acquired on Harestone Hill. The lecture hall was added in 1878. It became a United Reformed Church in 1972 when the Congregational Church in England and Wales united with the Presbyterian Church.
Harestone Valley Road
Soper Hall. This was built, in 1911, as Council Offices for Caterham Urban District Council and included a Memorial to William Garland Soper, a politician and businessman of the time. It was used as a civic centre and a public hall.
Fire Station. This was opened in 1928 when the Brigade became known as Caterham & Warlingham Joint Fire Brigade. It closed when new station opened in Godstone in 1970 . It stood until 1988 when it was demolished to make way for the Church Walk Shopping Centre
Eothen School. The school was founded by sisters Catherine and Winifred Pye. It began with eight girls. The main school was built in 1897 providing some boarding accommodation as well as classrooms. The Pye sisters retired in 1938. The school closed in 1995 when it merged with nearby Caterham School. The main building was demolished and the site now accommodates houses, flats and a health centre. The present Health Centre was built from the former Science block of the school.
2 Court Lodge, This is a 19th flint Gothic lodge house. It was originally a lodge house to Caterham Court, when Church Hill was the entrance drive.
Stafford Road
1 East Surrey Museum, The Cottage. This dates from the 1860s and is in flint and red brick and there are flint boundary walls. The museum is situated on the ground floor. It was bought by the Council in 1975, and housed homeless families. The Bourne Society Archaeological Group, wanted to use it as a museum and conversion went ahead by L. A. Long. The museum was opened in 1980. Until 2003 it was run by volunteers but a Heritage Lottery Fund granted allowed employment of a curator but this has now ended.
Station Avenue
Caterham Station. This was opened in 1856 and is the terminus from Whyteleafe South on Southern Trains
40 Caterham 7 Garage. This had been a garage and filling station through the 1950s run by Anthony Crook. He left to join Bristol Motors and it was taken over by Graham Nearne. Thee they set up a production centre for it designed by Colin Chapman for the Lotus Super Seven and the Elite. In 1962 the filling station was sold to Esso and the garage at the rear became Caterham Coachworks. Nairne had sole selling rights from 1967 for the Lotus Seven and bought out all the rights in the 1970s. The produced the car here from 1974. In 1984 the Jubilee Seven was produced but production was moved to Crayford in 1987. In 2000 the Roadsport V was introduced and in 2003 the Tracksport. .
Church Walk Shopping Centre. This is a small shopping mall situated opposite Caterham railway station in Caterham Valley. Church Walk was built on the site of the Valley Hotel, which was demolished in 1988. Long before the Valley Hotel was built (to cater for visitors arriving on the new railway trains) there used to be a tennis court, croquet lawn, rose garden, fountain, and Mr. Woollet's nursery. The griffins found on the top of the entrance to the centre are originally from the old hotel.
The Square
1 Old Surrey Hounds, pub.. This is one of the earliest public houses in the area although it was rebuilt in the present mock-Tudor style after a major fire in 1916.
Rotary Clock. Installed by the local rotary clubs to mark a centenary in 2005.
Tillingdown Hill
Roman road. This run south from Wapses Lodge roundabout in straight line up Tillingdown Hill, is believed to mark a Roman road. The line of the road can be traced as an earthwork around the hill contour above Commonwealth Road, and Crescent Road. This strip of woodland contains archaeological features and many old trees. It continues to cross the bypass on a footbridge (which is where the ghost is said to lurk).
Tillingdown Hill. Open space here used to be part of Tillingdown Farm but is now public space. There is grassland, benches and an interpretation board.
Tillingdown Farm. Thus was a medieval manor house and farm becoming a place for commuters’ horses. It may be remains of a hamlet depopulated in the middle ages. It was Owned by Albert Davison who and used it to house and train racehorses since the 1970s up until 2011 when he died and the farm was sold. It now appears to be derelict
Tillingdown Farm Cottages, Tillingdown Farm
Tillingdown Hill Farm Cottages, Tillingdown Farm
Reservoir . Undergound reservoir grassed over with tracks to the Bypass. There is a group of buildings on the east side. It is surrounded by woods and wooded open grassed areas
Timber Hill
Recreation Ground. Chidren’s playground and open space
Police station
Ambulance station
Sources
Caterham Christian Centre. Website
Caterham URC, Web site
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Clunn. The Face of London
East Surrey Museum. Web site.
Knowles. Surrey and the Motor
Lost Hospitals of London. Web site
Miller Centre. Web site
Pevsner & Cherry. Surrey
Surrey County Council. Web site
Tandridge District Council. Web site
Village Hall cinemas, Web site
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