Kingswood, Surrey

For other places with the same name, see Kingswood (disambiguation).

Kingswood
Kingswood  Kingswood shown within Surrey
Population	<6,000
OS grid reference	TQ248559
District	Reigate and Banstead
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Tadworth
Postcode district	KT20
Dialling code	01737
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Reigate
List of places: UK • England • Surrey

Kingswood is a village in Surrey just to the east of the A217 near Tadworth. Other nearby villages are Lower Kingswood, Chipstead, Burgh Heath and Walton-on-the-Hill. The village forms a ward with Burgh Heath in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The census area of Kingswood with Burgh Heath has a population of 6,219.

There are several independent shops, a large mock-Tudor public house, called the "Kingswood Arms", and a railway station along the northern side of the main street, Waterhouse Lane. The southern side is not built up and looks out onto open fields.

The first specific reference to Kingswood is in the Domesday Book, where a passage in the entry for Ewell states that ‘2 hides and 1 virgate were removed from this manor; they were there before 1066, but reeves lent them to their friends; and 1 woodland pasture and 1 croft’.

Kingswood is today characterised by housing which is described as Arcadian, which implies it is 'spacious and tree-dominated'.^{[citation needed]}

Notable buildings

Kingswood Warren is a battlemented Gothick mansion to the south of the village, much enlarged in the early nineteenth century by the architect, T.R. Knowles, for its owner, Thomas Alcock M.P. From 1948 until 2010 it was used to house the BBC's Research and Development department. Octagon Developments completed the purchase of Kingswood Warren on 1 March 2010.

The original church of St Andrew was built in 1835, in a "Norman" style of architecture, accommodating a congregation of 150. It was consecrated in 1836 and became a parish church in 1838. It soon proved too small for the growing population and in 1848 work began on a larger building on another site. The present St. Andrew's Church was built between 1848 and 1852 at the expense of the then owner of Kingswood Warren, Thomas Alcock. It was built in imitation of the fourteenth century church at Shottesbrooke, Berkshire under the supervision of the architect Benjamin Ferrey. In younger years Thomas Alcock had been a frequent house guest of the Vansittart family at Shottesbrooke Park in Berkshire and worshipped at the church there. The old church served as a parish hall until its demolition in the early twentieth century.

The financial services company Legal & General has one of its largest offices (not its registered office) at a site on the northern outskirts of Kingswood. Its corporate training centre, known as St Monica's, was once a girls' boarding school of the same name. A notable former student was the author Vera Brittain. It was used as the fictional St Trinian's in the comedy films of that name.

Transport

Kingswood railway station is on the Tattenham Corner Line, close to the centre of the village. No bus services pass through the village. The nearest bus stop is on the A217, on the side of the Tadworth roundabout, for services to Reigate and Redhill; or for services to Epsom and Sutton the stop is across the A217 opposite Tadworth Children's Hospital.

Famous residents

• Chris Coleman - former manager of Fulham Football Club
• Ben Thatcher - Charlton Athletic footballer
• Mark Pembridge - former Fulham Football Club
• Danny Murphy - Fulham Football Club footballer
• Simon Jordan- Owner of Crystal Palace Football Club
• Nigel Reo-Coker - Aston Villa Football Club
• Steve Sidwell - Aston Villa footballer
• Arjen Robben - Chelsea footballer

External links

• Kingswood Village Website
• BBC Kingswood Warren
• BBC Research & Development
• Kingswood Warren photos