Tatsfield

Tatsfield
Population	2,000
OS grid reference	TQ415575
Civil parish	Tatsfield
District	Tandridge
Shire county	Surrey
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WESTERHAM
Postcode district	TN16
Dialling code	01959
Police	Surrey
Fire	Surrey
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	East Surrey

Tatsfield is a village of some 1800 inhabitants located in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, and 16.2 miles (26.1 km) south south-east of Charing Cross in London. It is about 2 miles or 3 km north of the Clacket Lane services on the M25 motorway, although the nearest entry points onto the motorway for vehicles are further away.

Geography

The village is located on the North Downs, at an altitude of around 200 metres, and is about 1 mile north of the North Downs escarpment and the North Downs Way. It is in a small salient of Surrey into Greater London which is bordered by the London Borough of Bromley to the west, north and east. Biggin Hill is immediately to the north. The boundary with Kent is also near the village, less than 1 km to the south east, and the village forms part of the Westerham post town, which gives Tatsfield residents postal addresses once associated with Kent although county names are no longer needed in UK postal addresses.

Etymology

The origin of the village name is uncertain. The English Place Name Society suggests it is derived from 'a field or open land belonging to one Tatol' (possibly a nickname meaning the lively one) The word 'field' denotes a clearing in an Anglo-Saxon forest. An alternative explanation is that the earliest community began on the hill with church, manor house and rectory. The name could therefore derive from Totehylefelde – meaning a look-out place in a clearing. The appearance of Tot-hyl in a place name is a reference to a watch hill and quite possibly to the whole system of Anglo-Saxon civil defence involving beacons, watch hill and army roads. Tatsfield appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Tatelefelle.

History

It was held by Anschitill (Ansketel) de Ros from the Bishop of Bayeux. Its Domesday assets were: ½ hide. It had 2 ploughs. It rendered 60 shillings. In Anglo-Saxon times, Tatsfield lay within the administrative division of Tandridge hundred.

During the 14th century the manor was held by Rhodri ap Gruffudd, brother of the last native Prince of Wales, and his descendants.

Transport

A number of ancient routes cross the parish. The best studied is the Roman road which lies to the west of the village. It was constructed about 100 AD and ran 44 miles from London to Lewes. (Part of this Roman road forms yet another county boundary here, with Greater London to its east and another part of Surrey to the west.) One other trackway appears also to be of importance: this is the Biggin Hill to Titsey route, which is straight in places, and apparently provides a direct connection between the Roman road at the entrance to the village and the two villa sites in Titsey Park.

Tatsfield is not located on a railway line. The nearest railway stations are at Oxtedand Woldingham. The 464 bus service, operated by Metrobus for Transport for London, runs every half hour from outside "The Old Ship" on a route from Tatsfield to New Addington for connections on Tramlink to Croydon. Metrobus 411 service (from Redhill to Chelsham Common, near Warlingham) is occasionally extended to Tatsfield, though at most times of the day Tatsfield is not served by public transport into the rest of Surrey. This will change from 19 August 2009, when regular six-days-a-week services will be resumed between Oxted and Westerham via Tatsfield, passing through the village four times a day in each direction.

In the past, Tatsfield was served by the Green Line bus route 706, and was remarkable in that it was the only place in the Green Line network where the bus made a detour, ie the route diverted from the main road (B2024) to serve Tatsfield and then retraced its path back to the main road - none of the local routes down the North Downs escarpment being suitable for buses at that time.

Today

Tatsfield in the snow

There are two shops. "Linda's Stores" is a family-run business that serves as local shop, post office and newsagents. In addition, there is a greengrocers next door. Tatsfield village's one and only public house, "The Old Ship", has recently undergone a period of renovation. (The other pub in the parish is the Grasshopper on the A25 just outside Westerham). There is also the "Tatsfield Village Club" formerly known as the "Working Men's Club", a members only non-profit drinking establishment. What was once the village's bakery is now an upmarket restaurant (suitably named "The Old Bakery").

Little St. Mary's is Tatsfield's local church, which for many years has played host to a dual congregation of Roman Catholics and Anglicans. This small Norman church overlooks the rolling hills of the North Downs, and is a favoured resting point for hikers in the Summer months during which the church puts on tea and cakes in the hall on Sundays. The Village Hall is the focal point for a number of clubs and societies run by the village's inhabitants. Chief amongst these are the Tatsfield Table Tennis Club and the Not So Young Club.

A new school is under construction next to the Village Hall and is due to be completed in the summer of 2010.

Tatsfield's only tourist attraction comes in the form of a Reptile Zoo along the Approach Road into the village. The zoo houses a number of pythons, crocodiles, lizards and alligators. Until its death in 2006, the most famous of these cold-blooded residents was an alligator called "Big Boy", who had a supporting role in the James Bond film "Live And Let Die".

Tatsfield and the world

Visitors to Tatsfield often notice the low temperatures in winter, as well as the frequent low cloud that can surround the area after nightfall. This is due to the village's altitude and position on the escarpment. In fact, it can claim that there is nowhere higher between here and part of the Ural Mountains (but only if you choose the route very carefully to avoid, in particular, the Valdai Hills between Moscow and St Petersburg and the hills of Småland in Sweden).

Outside of England, Tatsfield is not a well known place - except to the people of Vern D'Anjou in France. The two villages have been twinned with one another since the 1970s, and operate a bi-annual exchange to promote ties between their respective countries.

Tatsfield People

Rev Thomas Streatfeild, an antiquarian who devoted much of his time to writing a History of Kent (some 50 volumes of his unpublished material are lodged in the British Museum) was curate at Tatsfield. The following inscription can be found in the porch: "Be it remembered that the masonry of this porch and tower is the free gift of the Rev. T. Streatfeild, of Chart's Edge, Curate, 1838. Thomas Barrett, Timothy Burgess, churchwardens."

Donald Maclean, the British diplomat who defected to Russia in May 1951, lived with his wife and children in the house known as Beaconshaw in the village between December 1950 and May 1951. Maclean often visited The Old Ship public house in Tatsfield during that period.

John Surtees, a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver was born here.

External Links

• Tatsfield Village Website
• [http://www.tatsfieldpc.supanet.com/ Tatsfield Parish Council Website}
• Tatsfield History Project