Surbiton

Surbiton
Surbiton  Surbiton shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ180673
London borough	Kingston
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SURBITON
Postcode district	KT6, KT5
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Kingston & Surbiton
London Assembly	South West
List of places UK England London

Surbiton, is a suburban area of south west London within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated next to the River Thames, 11.0 miles south west of central London (12 miles by rail from London Waterloo). Surbiton was formerly within the County of Surrey, but became part of Greater London in 1965 following the London Government Act 1963, together with many areas including neighbouring Kingston and Richmond. Surbiton possesses a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates.

History

See the article on Thomas Pooley for his rôle in the establishment of the present-day town of Surbiton.

See also the article on the Municipal Borough of Surbiton for the period 1855 – 1965.

Surbiton railway station with its Grade-II listed art deco architecture

The present-day town came into existence after a plan to build a London-Portsmouth railway line through nearby Kingston was rejected by Kingston Council, who feared that it would be detrimental to the coaching trade. This resulted in the line being routed further south, through a cutting in the hill south of Surbiton. Surbiton railway station opened in 1838, and was originally named Kingston-upon-Railway. It was only renamed Surbiton to distinguish it from the new Kingston railway station on the Shepperton branch line, which opened on 1 January 1869. The present station has a fine art deco façade.

As a result, Kingston is now on a branch line, whereas passengers from Surbiton (smaller in comparison) can reach London Waterloo in about 15 minutes on a fast direct service; as well as places further afield, including Portsmouth and Southampton. This has made Surbiton a convenient and attractive location from which to commute into Central London, reflected in the size of its population. Surbiton station is located within Zone 6 of the London Transport Zones.

Resident artists and writers

The Pre-Raphaelite painters John Everett Millais (1829–1896) and William Holman Hunt (1827–1910) came to Surbiton in 1851, 26 years before Richard Jefferies (1848–1887). Millais used the Hogsmill river, near Tolworth Court Bridge, as the background for his painting Ophelia. Holman Hunt used the fields just south of this spot as the background to The Hireling Shepherd.

In the mid-1870s the novelist Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) lived in a house called 'St. David's Villa' in Hook Road, Surbiton for a year after his marriage to Emma Gifford. H.G.Wells, in his comic novel The Wheels of Chance, describes the cycle collision of 'Mr Hoopdriver' and a 'Young Lady in Grey'; the young lady approaching 'along an affluent from the villas of Surbiton'. The writer Enid Blyton (1897–1968) was governess to a Surbiton family for four years from 1920, at a house called 'Southernhay', also on the Hook Road. C.H. Middelton (1886-1945), who broadcast on gardening during the Second World War, lived in Surbiton, where he died suddenly outside his home.

In popular culture

A 1972 episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus featured a mock documentary which investigated whether the residents of Hounslow, another London area suburb, had long ago been descendants of the people of Surbiton "who had made the great trek north."

Surbiton's main claim to popular fame is as an icon of suburbia in such British television programmes as The Good Life (starring Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, Paul Eddington and Felicity Kendal), though location filming was done in Northwood, North-West London), and John Sessions' comedy series Stella Street, which has on occasion led to the town being nicknamed "Suburbiton". Other names for the town include "the 'Surbs" and "the 'Tron" in reference to '80s movies The 'Burbs and Tron.^{[citation needed]}

Surbiton station features in the 2009 film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Blood Prince with actors Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter and Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore. Filming took place in November 2007. The station also appears in Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Adventure of the Clapham Cook, a TV adaptation of the short story by Agatha Christie and the first episode of the 1989 ITV series. Having been set in the 1930s Art Deco period and external shots of Hercule Poirot's fictional residence Whitehaven Mansions being filmed at Florin Court, the station assists in maintaining the authenticity of the programme and was built within a year of Florin Court.

Surbiton additionally receives an offhand mention in the seventh chapter of the James Bond novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963) by Ian Fleming, whilst Sable Basilisk is discussing heraldry with Bond.

The guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Clapton purchased one of his first guitars from a shop in Surbiton called Bells; although the shop has since closed.

In the episode of Eastenders broadcast on the 23rd November 2012, Ava Hartman daughter of Cora Cross refers to her difficulties of being a black woman growing up in Surbiton in the late 60's and 70's adopted by white parents.

Transport links

London bus services through Surbiton

A London bus travelling through Surbiton

• 65 – (Chessington to Ealing Broadway via Surbiton, Kingston, Richmond and Brentford) Night Service
• 71 – (Chessington to Kingston via Surbiton)
• 281 – (Tolworth to Hounslow via Surbiton, Kingston, Teddington, Twickenham and Whitton) 24 Hour
• 406 – (Epsom to Kingston via Tolworth and Surbiton Hill Road)
• 418 – (Epsom to Kingston via Ruxley Lane, Tolworth and Surbiton Hill Road)
• 465 – (Dorking to Kingston)
• K1 – (New Malden to Kingston via Tolworth Hospital and Surbiton)
• K2 – (Hook to Kingston Hospital via Tolworth, Berrylands, Surbiton and Kingston)
• K3 – (Roehampton Vale to Esher via Kingston Hospital, Surbiton and Claygate)
• K4 – (Mansfield Park to Kingston Hospital via Hook, Surbiton and Villiers Road) Not on Sundays

Education

For education in Surbiton see the main Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames article.

Sport

From 1998 to 2008 Surbiton hosted the first round of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) season. The Surbiton Trophy was part of the ATP Challenger Series and in 2009 the venue was moved to Nottingham as part of a reorganisation by the LTA.

Surbiton is the current home of both male and female football teams, Darkside FC, Surbiton Wanderers and Surbiton Town Ladies FC.

Surbiton is most famous for Surbiton Hockey Club, which was established in 1874, and is regarded as one of the best hockey clubs in the country with its colts, men and ladies teams all regularly being in the top leagues.

Surbiton is also the home to Surbiton Croquet Club, which is amongst the strongest croquet clubs in the country, and with seven lawns, one of the largest.

Community organisations

Surbiton Caledonian Society was formed in 1948, by Scots for the benefit of Scots living in the area, and the first dance took place on 11 March 1948 to the music of a band called Jock and his Blue Kittens. From those early days, social dancing formed the Society’s primary activity, but it was then made up of both ballroom and Scottish country dancing. Eventually, Scottish country dancing came to predominate and has been the mainstay of the Society ever since. The Society is affiliated to the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS). By 1966, the Society had found a permanent base at St Mark’s Church Hall, Church Hill Rd, Surbiton, to which it has returned in September 2012 after a brief absence during the rebuilding of the church hall. Nowadays club members are not all Scots, and the society welcomes new members who would like to try Scottish country dancing. Mayor of Kingston 2012-13, Mary Heathcote, and her consort, Dr Roger Heathcote, attended the Society's annual Burns' Night dinner and dance at Claygate Village Hall on 25 January 2013.

Surbiton Festival and Regatta takes place in September each year.

Maple Village WI is a new, fun branch of the WI in Surbiton. Meetings are usually held in the Rubicon on Maple Rd. Contact maplevillagewi(at)gmail(.)com for further details.

In recent years, a group called Homage de Fromage has taken it upon themselves to improve Community Spirits by holding several crazy events. Some of these are now celebrated annually like Surbiton Ski Sunday, held in October each year, and the British Bread Golf Open.

Notable people

• George Best — a footballer who died there (having been born in Belfast and lived much of his life in Manchester)
• Alfred Bestall — illustrator of the Rupert books
• Charlie Brooks — actress
• Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton — equality and human rights champion
• Julian Clary — comedian and novelist
• John Cooper — car maker
• Edward Davey MP — Cabinet Minister
• Phyllis Dixey — singer, dancer and impresario
• David Essex — musician, singer-songwriter and actor (Lived on Ditton Road for 16 years until 2002)
• John Foxx — musician and digital artist (Former Resident)
• Lefi Ganderson — legendary goat boy who lived on Mount Seething
• Eileen Gray — cyclist
• Jennifer Guy — actor, Cavegirl
• Thomas Hardy — author (while completing and for the publishing of Far from the Madding Crowd)
• Eamonn Holmes — television presenter
• Saskia Howard-Clarke — Big Brother 6 (UK) contestant and glamour model.
• Art Malik — actor
• S.E. Martin — novelist
• John McCririck — horse racing pundit, Celebrity Big Brother (2005), and Ultimate Big Brother (2010)
• James McQuillan — contestant on television series The Apprentice, 2009
• C.H. Middelton — gardener, writer and BBC broadcaster
• Elizabeth Norton — historian and author
• Betty Nuthall — amongst other major titles, winner of the 1930 Women's US Singles Tennis Championship. Ranked number 4 in the world.
• Andy Parsons — comedian, Mock The Week
• Jon Richardson — comedian, 8 out of 10 Cats, Stand Up for the Week
• Helen Sharman — first Britain in space, first woman to visit Mir space station.
• David Spinx — actor

Gallery

• 

  The clock tower at Surbiton was built to celebrate the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII.

• 

  Claremont Road in Surbiton.

• 

  Shops in Victoria Road, Surbiton.

• 

  Surbiton War Memorial

• 

  St Andrew's Road in central Surbiton, with St Andrew's Church in the background

• 

  The roundabout outside Surbiton railway station

• 

  The bus shelter outside Surbiton railway station.

• 

  Surbiton Branch Post Office, subsequently redeveloped by CNM Estates.

• 

  Surbiton Fire Station

External links

• Kingston Borough Council
• Surbiton - 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article
• Surbiton People