Worcester Park

Worcester Park
OS grid reference	TQ225655
London borough	Sutton
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WORCESTER PARK
Postcode district	KT4
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
UK Parliament	Sutton and Cheam
London Assembly	Croydon and Sutton

Worcester Park is a suburb of London, England and a ward in the extreme north west of the London Borough of Sutton. It is 10.2 miles (16.4 km) south west of Charing Cross. It has a population of 9,874 people.

The Worcester Park post town, which is coterminous with the KT4 postal district, is somewhat larger than the Worcester Park ward of the London Borough of Sutton and includes parts of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London and Epsom and Ewell in Surrey.

Demographics

Around 90% of Worcester Park residents are White, with 1.9% mixed race, 4.8% Asian or British Asian, 1.3% Black and 2% Chinese or of another ethnic group. [1]

Transport

Bus

Worcester Park is well served with regular bus services to Kingston and Sutton on the 213 bus route that runs up Central Road. There are also buses to Heathrow Airport and Croydon on the hourly X26 coach service. A local "Hopper" bus service to Sutton and Sutton Hospital runs via Sainsbury's supermarket in North Cheam. The 151 bus route also runs into Worcester Park and terminates at Worcester Park Rail station before returning though Sutton to Wallington. Epsom Coaches operate a Bus service within the Epsom & Ewell area for local services to and from Epsom.

School Buses

The 627 and the 613 run every morning between 7:30 and 8:00. The 627 is from Worcester Park station to Wallington. However the 613 travels from the Station to Sutton Garage.

Rail

Worcester Park railway station is in Zone 4, served by the National Rail services of South West Trains and is on the boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The Worcester Park line runs from London (Waterloo) via Wimbledon through Worcester Park to Epsom and Guildford.

Sport and recreation

Bowls

• Worcester Park Athletic club on Green lane
• Auriol Park in the Borough of Epsom & Ewell

Football

• Worcester Park Athletic club on Green lane has a very good quality pitch and club house also with successful football teams
• Auriol Park in the Borough of Epsom & Ewell

Swimming

• Indoor pools at Epsom, Sutton, North Cheam
• Between 1934 and 1980 the nearest open air swimming pool was Surbiton Lagoon

History

Worcester Park takes its name from the 4th Earl of Worcester, who was appointed Keeper of the Great Park in 1606. (The area was once part of a Great Park surrounding the Nonsuch Palace of Henry VIII.)

Blakesley School

Wall surrounding the Blakesley School site

Blakesley School was a private primary school run by the Headmaster Eric Dudley. It closed in the summer of 1958, when the land was sold for housing. It occupied the land at grid reference TQ214654 bordered by the portion of Delta Road which was then not surfaced, Delta Close (then a gated track and public right of way leading from Delta Road to Salisbury Road), and Grafton Avenue, again not surfaced, heading towards the church.

It occupied a substantial plot of land and was a "modern manor house" style building. The surrounding wall is said to go back to Henry VIII's reign.

Parker's Field

Possibly belonging to T Parker & Sons, Landscapers, who were based at what is now a housing estate at grid reference TQ221662 beside Worcester Park Station, Parker's Field was the best toboggan run until the top half was built on in the 1970s (despite being Green Belt), when it became unusable.

Rowe Hall

The Scout hut next door to Cuddington Primary School in Salisbury Road at grid reference TQ215650 was built in 1958 and named Rowe Hall in honour of a long serving scout mistress, "Miss Rowe", who was a teacher at Blakesley School. This hut was erected after the previous building was destroyed by arsonists and still serves the 2nd Cuddington (Rowe) Scout Group.

Worcester (Park) House

Main article: Worcester Park House

In the 1950s, the ruins of a splendid ornamental lake with a multi-arched bridge (at grid reference TQ211654) and balustrade were still visible in the woodland at the foot of the hill in "Parker's Field" (situated between Grafton Road and Old Malden Lane, and behind the still rather ramshackle stables in Grafton Road).

The house itself was not visible, nor were there any ruins apart from the lake and some mounds of bricks to be found. The lake itself had drained into the river Hogsmill, but no source of incoming water was visible. The lake dried up in the late 1940s following the rechanelling of the river.

Close to the bridge remnant to the southwest of the bridge was a ruined domed structure, all that remains of an ice house. However it was filled with soil and other débris which prevented any investigation.

Locals presumed the house to be named "Worcester Park House", and have suggested that Blakesley School was the original house, while historical sources suggest "Worcester House". However the map of 1871 shows a building labelled "Worcester Park House" to be alongside the lake, to the west of it, on land that was, in the 1950s, overgrown with trees.

Notable residents

• Jimmy Hill - footballer for Fulham Football Club and BBC TV Football commentator lived either at 12 or at 14 Kinross Avenue
• John Major - British Conservative Party Prime Minister lived in Longfellow Road and went to Cheam Common School

• Daley Thompson - British decathlete lived near "The Plough" public house
• Kenneth Wolstenholme - the BBC's original TV football commentator lived at 75 Salisbury Road
• Gary Borrowdale - Coventry City FC defender
• HG Wells - Author - lived in The Avenue
• James Heath - European Tour professional golfer

References

• Sutton London Borough Council information about Worcester Park

External links

• The Worcester Park Blog
• 2nd Cuddington Scout Group
• 4th Worcester Park Scout Group
• Worcester Park Community
• Worcester Park Baptist Church