Cheam

Post to the west Nonsuch

The London/Surrey/Sutton boundary goes round the edge of the playing field and to the end of Peaches Close. It then turns north west up the east side of another playing field

Anne Boleyn’s Walk
St.Dunstan’s Church of England Primary School. In 1826 the parish church it founded a school in Malden Road for local children. In 1863 an infants' school was also opened in a cottage on the present Nonsuch High School site. In 1869 the infants moved to the Parochial Rooms.  They were joined by the girls and the school was called the Cheam and Cuddington Girls’ and Infants’ School while the Malden Road School was Cheam Junior Boys' School. In 1907 the girls and infants moved to a new building in Jubilee Road and were joined by boys under eleven. It was called St Dunstan's School from the 1950s. In 1989 it amalgamated with Cheam Junior Boys in and construction of a new building began in was 1991 and occupied in 1993.
Dairy Crest Depot. This has now been developed for housing. This had been the dairy business of Cheam Court Farm bought by United Dairies in 1929 . Dairy Mansions are now on the site.

Belmont Rise
This is part of the A217 and is said to have problems with illegal racing. The road funs from Fulham to near Gatwick Airport.
Hales Bridge. This bridge crosses the railway and is named for Mr. Hales, farmer at Church Farm. It is in reinforced concrete and similar to a steel plate bridge with main beams and cross beams and was built as part of the bypass. The original bridge was in brick.

Broadway
The road was developed in the 1920s and 30s, widened and old buildings demolished for replacement by suburban mock Tudor.
Plough Inn site. This is now a grassed areas at the south-east corner of the cross-roads. The pub was owned by the Cheam Brewery and closed in 1935.
Cheam Brewery. This Brewery, established in the 18th, stood opposite the Plough Inn on the north-west corner of the cross road with Park Lane. It had been owned by John Noakes and was taken over by Edward Boniface in 1876. It was taken over in 1895 by Thunder and Little who also took over the Mitcham Brewery. The name was changed to Mitcham & Cheam Brewery Co Ltd. This was taken over by Page & Overton’s Brewery Ltd, Croydon in 1917. The Cheam Brewery was then closed and was demolished in 1921.
17 Old Cottage a timber-framed house  built around 1500 moved here in 1922 from a site needed for road widening. It is probably the surviving wing of a larger structure and it was thought that it may once have been a house in Cuddington, demolished by Henry VIII,  and could have been the cross-wing of a 'hall house'.  In Cheam it was once part of the Cheam Brewery. The original infill of wattle and rye dough has now been replaced with concrete, and the building raised on a brick plinth.
Cheam House. Built for John Pybus in 1766 and demolished in 1922. The site is now covered by Park Side.
27 Building recently used by HSBC Bank. On the Parkside elevation is an oriel window with a decorative shield and inscription.
42 The Parochial Rooms. These were built to a design by Thomas Graham Jackson on land given by Spencer Wilde of Cheam House. Over the door, with the date 1869, is “Serve God and be Cheerful”, the motto of the John Hacket, Rector here 1624-62. The building was first used an infants school which was part of the local church school.
43-57 Broadway Cottages.  17th weather boarded cottages now altered and used as shops

Burdon Lane
Part of an old drove road

Church Farm Lane
Cottages with date mark of 1881
Boundary Wall . Section of brick wall with battered coping; probably 17th and set on a curve. It includes chalk blocks
The Old Stables. Outbuilding of West Cheam Manor House. This is possibly a stable block. Now in use as offices it was previously the Corporation Yard.

Church Road.
Library. Designed by P. Masters & A. Pereira and built in 1962 when it got a Civic Trust award for the design. It is on the site of West Cheam Manor House.
Library Car Park. This large parking area appears to once have been the site of the local authority depot.
Lychgate. The Gothic lychgate to the church dates from 1891. It is bargeboarded with three archways
St.Dunstan’s Church. This is the parish church built in 1864 and designed by F. E. Pownall replacing and north of an 18th building with Saxon or Norman church origins. The spire was added in 1870.  It contains windows of 1872 by Clayton and Bell and scenes from the life of St. Dunstan.
Lumley Chapel. Standing in the churchyard is the chancel of the medieval parish church, built of flint and possibly 12th.  It is named for John, Lord Lumley, once owner of Nonsuch Palace, and his alabaster tomb may show interiors of the palace.
War Memorial, This is in front of the library. It was designed by the architect and local historian, Charles Marshall. It has a three-stepped base rising to a Celtic cross. There is an inscription which says “Our glorious dead, Their names shall endure for evermore. To the Glory of God and in memory of the men who fell in the Great War 1914 - 1918 and those men and women of Cheam who gave their lives in defence of freedom in the World War 1939 – 1945. It also records one death in the Falklands War.  Stone seats alongside the memorial were removed because of graffiti
The Old Farmhouse. This is a 15th house which had been used as separate dwellings called Church Cottages. In 1973 it was returned to single use and timber marks investigated.  A chimney is now thought to have been added in 1550 and there were also 17th additions. It is also thought to have been called Home Farm. The name ‘Old Farmhouse’ dates to the 1970s. Brick cellars have since been discovered, one of which has a 16th brick hearth.

Dallas Road
St.Christopher's Chapel. This Roman Catholic church was built in 1937 for Cheam School and included an earlier chapel built in 1867-8 for the school by Slater & Carpenter. It now functions as a parish church.
Cheam School. Site of Cheam School. This stood between here and Belmont Rise. It was a private school here 1719- 1935 and was founded by Revd. George Aldrich. The school moved to Berkshire and Tabor Court is now on site.
Tabor Gardens. These flats were named after Robert and Arthur Tabor, father and son, successively Headmasters of Cheam School 1856 - 1920, the belfry was once part of the school buildings.

High Street
Road widening in the 1930s changed the nature of the village. Some old buildings were demolished and one moved.
1-2 Old Farm House.  Used to be called Church Cottages.  A timber-framed house with rendered front and old tiled roof. The front part around a central chimneystack is probably of 1600.
109 Harrow Inn. This dates from 1935, replacing a predecessor which was allegedly 16th and had a brewery at the back

Love Lane
This is an old path part of a route between Sutton and Cheam

Malden Road
The section of the road north of the hilltop was once called Pond Hill – hence the side turning, Pond Hill Gardens,
1 Whitehall. This is a timber-framed house built using local oak and elm, dating from around  1500  It is now in use as a museum., It is thought to have originated as a wattle and daub yeoman hall house with weather boarding added in the 18th.  It is a two-storey continuous jetty building with a deep overhang at the front and back.  There are two brick chimneystacks with two recesses and to the rear is a 17th wing when the house is believed to have been used by Cheam School. A marble 18th fireplace in a downstairs room original came from West Cheam Manor. It is thought it was the home of James Boevey from 1670 to his death and later the Killick family, until 1963, when it was purchased by the borough. It was renovated by John West & Partners in 1975-6.  A modern sundial from the Friends of Whitehall is on the 16th staircase tower. As a museum the house contains exhibits from the past four centuries. There is also the Roy Smith art gallery - once the scullery. There is also a display about nearby Nonsuch Palace.
Medieval well in the garden of Whitehall which may have been used by predecessor buildings.
3 Nonsuch Cottage. This is a 17th house with a partly 18th frontage and weatherboarding.
5 timber house which included an underground room used to store food for Whitehall
White Lodge. This was on the corner with Park Road. It dated from 1740 and demolished in 1964. Behind it was a complex of brick-lined 17th vaults.
The Baptist Church. This is on the corner with Park Road. Charles Spurgeon, came to Cheam in 1857 or 1858. Rrepresentatives from the Metropolitan Tabernacle came to preach on the village green and in 1862 Cheam Baptist Church was constituted in a cottage in Malden Road . in 1871, they bought a site in Malden Road and built a chapel. In 1905 they replaced this with a church 100 yards nearer the centre of the village position at the junction with Park Road . Thomas Wall sausage and ice-cream maker, who lived locally, laid the foundation stone.  Halls were added in 1923 which are currently used by the Pre-School. More halls were built in 1971 . An adjacent printing works was purchased in 1997 and converted into a coffee shop.
West Cheam Manor House. This stood here between what are now Church and Park Roads and was demolished in 1796. Cheam School, also originally called Manor House School may have been in this building before 1719. It is now the site of Cheam Library
15 The Rectory. This is 16th building redone in the 18th used as the Rectory until the 1990s. It has a timber frame partly covered in mathematical tiles. The south-west corner is timber-framed with a covering of mathematical or simulated brick tiles.  Five 16th and 17th Cheam rectors became bishops. Since 1638 rectors have been appointed  by St. John’s College, Oxford.
Apple Store. This was in the grounds of the Rectory.  It was used later as the Rover Scout Den but hot summers dried it out and in the summer of 2006 it collapsed.
18 This was the original Cheam Baptist Church which had been set up a cottage in Malden Road . In 1871 they bought a site opposite the cottage for £100 and built this chapel . It has been used as an  auction room and is now a private house.
Fire Brigade Stables. This appears to have stood where Mickleham Road now joins Malden Road. The pound had once been here and by the 1930s a mortuary
23 1st Cheam Scouts Hall. In 1928 four boys met here when it was the St. Dunstan’s Institute. As a result a scout troop was set up. This has continued today and then became   the permanent home and Headquarters of the 1st Cheam. It is a green ‘tin tabernacle’ building.
St. Dunstan’s Institute. This was once the Cheam Working Men’s Club
28 Prince of Wales pub. The association of Prince Charles with Cheam School is co-incidental.

Mickleham Gardens
Retirement homes built in the 1960s have been rebuilt
British Legion Memorial Hall
Girl Guides Hall

Park Lane
Once called Pudding Lane This is an old path which is part of a route between Sutton and Cheam
1-3 Giddings Design
Park Lane Cottages. These were once part of the Cheam House estate. The brick cottages on the south side are mostly late 18th while the timber cottages date from the 16th and 18th.
Two carpenters’ workshops built in the 17th and 18th.
Elizabeth House. This was built as sheltered accommodation in thr 1970s and clad with white plastic weather-boarding to match the nearby weatherboarded buildings. It was demolished in 2015 and rebuilt using timber,
Lodge. Single storey lodge to the park dating from around 1820.

Park Road
Once called Red Lion Street This is an old path part of a route between Sutton and Cheam
17 Red Lion, Pub built around 1600 and much altered. weather-boarding at the front was removed in the 20th. Original well near the door.
Site of Stafford House. This was a boys’ school in the early 19th
38 site of Cheam Cottage. This was a 17th building used in the 18th as the home of the Headmaster of  Cheam School

Park Side
This is on the site of the Cheam House estate built after its demolition in 1922, The houses date from 1923.
5 Site of Cheam Kiln 1. in 1923, a medieval kiln and a large number of pottery fragments were found behind here. These are exhibited in Whitehall along with fragments from the garden there and from Cheam Kiln 2.

Peach’s Close
This appears to be a modern road running along the edge of the sports ground. It does however date from at least the 1820s when there is a report of beans grown there. It was named after Henry Peach, rector of Cheam 1760.
Cheam Cricket Club. This dates from 1864 and largely consisted of local traders. Originally they played in Cheam Park. In 1921  land in Peach’s Close was purchased.  52 poplar trees were donated and planted alongside the railway – 35 still survive. There is now a sight sceen along the railway extended in 1987. Originally a Nissen Hut was the bar and canteen and a New Pavilion was built in 193 wjich remains with some additions. The ground was bombed in 1940 and 1944 and trenches were dug to prevent the landing of enemy aircraft
Cheam Sports Club. This is a private sports club founded in 1920. It has many other sports clubs associated with it and which use its facilities. It has a social club and bar facilities on site.

Quarry Park Road
The east/west section of this road, to the north, was part of Love Lane, cut off by the A217.  There were a number of quarries in this area – presumably extacting chalk
The Quarry – this is shown as a house with a plant nursery attached.

Quarry Rise
Quarry Park, This was laid out as a public park after the death in 1932 of Mrs Seears. Several mature trees survive from this date. The site was part of Chalk Pit Field and a quarry is shown here, around which the park was laid out

Sandy Lane
Coldblow. This house is on the corner with Peaches Close . It was built in 1889 for Edward Boniface the local brewer and uis now flats.

Springclose Lane
Church Farm House. This is partly a 17th timber framed building with an early 19th stucco front. It was the home of Mr Hales the last farmer here.
Extension for nurses' home by Thompson & Gardner, 1970s

St Dunstan's Hill
Part of the A217
Seear's Park – the Love Lane footpath runs along the edge of the park. The land was owned by the late John Seear. He left it to his wife who bequeathed to the local people of Sutton - as the Charity of John Seears for Open Space and Recreation Ground. Sutton Council is the sole trustee of this charity. The park lies near areas of scrub and grassland so the wood merges into hawthorn and elder scrub with some regenerating elm. There are some mature ornamental trees from the 19th including a monkey puzzle, redwoods and firs plus some broken statuary. A drinking fountain of 1932 is a memorial to the Seears.
Quarry Cottage. This is in the park grounds and was the Park Keeper's cottage.

Stafford Close
Named for Stafford House which stood nearby

Station Approach
Cheam Station. Opened in 1847 it lies between Sutton and Ewell East Stations on Southern Rail, In 1844 Cheam was on the planned route for the London to Portsmouth atmospheric railway as part of the London & Croydon Railway  When this failed Cheam station became part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The station expanded, and was rebuilt but the Great War prevented plans going ahead. The through lines remained in place until 1978 and a wide space between the tracks still remains and shows where the fast lines were laid.

Station Way
The Old Forge. A smithy was established here from 1860 by Moses Barnes and closed in 1926. It was earlier in a pit which was behind the Railway Inn, plus with ten cottages in use 1936.
Railway Inn
Cheam Court Farm. This was in the corner with Ewell Road. It had a 16th farmhouse which was demolished in 1929 for the access road to the station. The farm’s dairy business was bought by United Dairies in 1929 who ran a depot here.
Barn, St. Alban’s Church in Sutton was built of materials from the farm and its barns.
Century House. Offices  on the site of the Century Cinema.  Which opened in 1937,; It was  with actor Tom Walls appearing in designed by Granada Theatres architect James Morrison. It had a plain brick exterior, with three windows surrounded in white stone and a vertical fin sign with the name ‘Century’.  It played mainly second run and foreign films. It was bombed in March and closed for several months. It was bombed again and re-opened in 1945.. Later the frontage was demolished and the auditorium became a car showroom. It has since been completely demolished.

Tudor Close
Cheam Park The majority of the park is in the square to the west.
Site of Cheam Park House. It was built in 1820 for Archdale Palmer, a London tea merchant and was sited left of the drive, where it turn to the stable yard. The House and Park had been were acquired by the Borough on the death of Mrs. Bethell, in 1936, and was first known as Bethell Park. In the Secind World war it was used as a factory to assemble Gas Masks and also used as a first aid station and a wardens post. It was demolished in 1945 after an attack by a flying bomb.

Upper Mulgrave Road
38 Old Westminster House. Converted bank in use by a ceiling manufacturer

Sources
Cheam Cricket Club. Web site
Cheam Sports Club. Web site
Cheam Tourist Information. Web site
Cheam Village
Cinema Treasures. Web site
Field. London Place Names
Friends of Whitehall. Web site
Heritage Walk
Historic England. Web site
Imperial War Museum. Web site
London Borough of Sutton. Web site
London Encyclopedia
London Gardens Online. Web site
Nairn. Nairn’s London
Penguin. Surrey
Pevsner and Cherry.  South London
Pevsner and Cherry. Surrey
Sabre. Web site
St.Christopher’s. Web site
St. Dunstan’s. Web site
St Dunstan’s School. Web site
The Kingston Zodiac