Worcester Park

Worcester Park
Christ Church with St. Philip, Cheam Common Road, Worcester Park.
Population	11,655 (Worcester Park ward 2011)
OS grid reference	TQ225655
• Charing Cross	10.2 mi (16.4 km) NE
London borough	Sutton Kingston
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 South West

Worcester Park is in South West London, England covering both the extreme north west of the London Borough of Sutton in Greater London (east of the railway line that runs through the area)and part of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey (west of the railway.) The area is 10.2 miles (16.4 km) south west of Charing Cross. Part of the suburb comprises Worcester Park ward, an electoral area of the London Borough of Sutton with a population in 2011 of 11,655.

The Worcester Park post town, which is coterminous with the KT4 postcode district, covers all of the suburb and extends also into the south eastern periphery of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. While Worcester Park is part of Greater London, the postal address remains as Surrey which it formed part of before the creation of Greater London in 1965.

The Beverley Brook runs through Worcester Park and alongside Green Lane down past Green Lane Primary School. Green Lane itself appears in the Domesday Book. The Huntsmans Hall (now Midas Touch) was situated on what was the far boundary of hunting ground for Henry VIII.

Demographics

As of 2001, around 90% of residents of Worcester Park ward are White, with 1.9% mixed race, 4.8% Asian or British Asian, 1.3% Black and 2% Chinese or of another ethnic group.

Economy

A high street roughly half-a-mile in length forms the focal point of Worcester Park. It hosts a number of shops, banks, estate agents, building societies, restaurants, pubs and coffee bars. These include both multiples and independents. The largest store is a branch of Waitrose.

Transport

Bus

Worcester Park is well served with regular bus services:

• 151 - this bus route runs into Worcester Park and terminates at Worcester Park railway station before returning though Sutton to Wallington.
• 213 - 24-hour bus, which runs through Worcester Park, Central Road, via Cheam to Sutton, and in the opposing direction via Old Malden, New Malden and onwards to Kingston upon Thames.
• 613 - operates during term time mornings and afternoons to Cheam and Sutton
• 627 - operates during term time mornings and afternoons to Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton and Wallington
• E16 - Stoneleigh Circular service to and from Epsom which travels through residential parts of Ewell and Stoneleigh
• S3 - Monday to Saturday service usually every 20 minutes from Malden Manor Station, via Worcester Park to Sainsbury's in North Cheam and then onwards to Sutton and terminating at Sutton Hospital. Transport for London plans to re-route a section of this Service in 2012 to serve Sutton Tesco and the Kimpton Industrial estate.
• X26 - express bus. A Half hourly service to Heathrow Airport and Croydon.

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. Worcester Park station is Category C station (provides important rail feeder services on a busy trunk route with between £2m - £20m ticket revenues per annum).

The Worcester Park line runs from London Waterloo, via Wimbledon and through Worcester Park to Epsom, Dorking and Guildford. Worcester Park is approximately a 25-minute journey to London Waterloo by train with services typically running every 15 minutes during the day and additional services at morning and evening peak times.

There are plans to improve station facilities and rail services at Worcester Park during 2012-13. Network Rail has notified Kingston council of its intention to extend the length of platforms at Worcester Park Station. This will allow extra passenger capacity as trains can be increased from 8 carriages to 10 in length.

Also under the Department for Transport’s Access for All scheme – a disabled access fund to create obstacle-free routes to, from and between trains – Worcester Park station will be made accessible to wheelchair users and those with pushchairs etc. on both platforms.

Sport and recreation

• Worcester Park Cricket Club is located on Green Lane.
• Worcester Park Athletic Club on Green Lane.
• Auriol Park in the Borough of Epsom & Ewell
• Worcester Park Football Club is based at Skinner's Field, on Green Lane. The club was founded in 1908.

• Cazbar FC based from the Cazbar in Central Road play at Manor Park. Cazbar FC was founded in 2008 and now plays out of the Malden Manor Pub under the same name Cazbar FC.

• Wandgas Football Club is located on Grafton Road and also have cricket teams.

The nearest indoor swimming pools are located in Epsom, North Cheam, New Malden and Sutton. Between 1934 and 1980 the nearest open air swimming pool was Surbiton Lagoon.

History

St. Mary the Virgin, The Avenue, Worcester Park

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 the Great Park which covered around 1100 acres and surrounded the Little Park which contained Nonsuch Palace of Henry VIII. Both parks were originally used as deer parks. Henry VIII had obtained the land from Sir Richard de Cuddington.

During the ownership by Sir Richard de Cuddington, there was a manor house on a site which was later replaced by Worcester House and is now the site of Worcester Close. There was also a church of St. Mary on roughly the same site where the church of St. Mary the Virgin, Cuddington, now stands. The diarist Samuel Pepys visited the district and in his diary commented on Worcester House.

In 1809 Worcester Park was acquired by William Taylor. He used a mill on the banks of the Hogsmill to continue the manufacture gunpowder which had been carried out on and off in the area for several centuries. Manufacturing continued until the 1850s when the mill blew up.

Cheam Common Infants and Junior schools

Cheam Common Infants and Junior schools are pre World War II school buildings. Air raid shelters were found underground during an extension to the main building of the junior school. The school is located at the top of the high street.

Blakesley School

Worcester Court, shown on 1930 map

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 referred to on local maps as Worcester Court. 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 HQ 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 headquarters 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 Hogsmill River, but no source of incoming water was visible. The lake dried up in the late 1940s following the rechannelling 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.

Documents from H M Land registry show that the name of the building for Blakesley School was Worcester Court.

Outer London Fund

During 2011/12 Worcester Park and neighbouring North Cheam won nearly £2m from the Mayor of London’s Outer London Fund for improvements to the local area. Sutton Council has begun a collaborative project, steered by Councillors and community stakeholders, to spend the money on making improvements to the public realm and supporting the development and growth of businesses in the town centres.

Sutton Council’s bid for the money stated that: “In The London Plan, London's Mayor recognises the strategic importance of supporting town centres as key locations for a diverse range of activities. Town centres are key nodes for effective land use and transport integration, a focus for local communities, enhance quality of life, and are key focal points for regeneration initiatives. Both Worcester Park and North Cheam are recognised as part of a network of District Centres in London by the Mayor. In this way, they play an important role in the Borough [of Sutton]. Their development is also strategic: the long term growth strategy for Sutton identified in Sutton's Core Strategy, identifies both as ‘Centres for Intensification’ where renewal will largely be achieved through residential and mixed use development.” It also notes that: “Network Rail are willing to build on plans to make enhancements to Worcester Park Station, working with the Council to make a welcoming and distinctive arrival to Worcester Park.”

The Hamptons

The Hamptons

The Hamptons is a development of New England style housing in Worcester Park, created by St James Homes, part of the Berkeley Homes Group. The Hamptons is constructed in 30 acres (120,000 m²) of parkland on the former site of sewage works at the top of Green Lane. The site includes a conservation wetland area, amphitheatre, community centre and gym, tennis courts (for residents) and a viewing platform with views across to the City of London.

Part of the development is a large ( 31 acres) new green space called Mayflower Park which includes a grass amphitheater for performances and an area of 5 wetlands as a nature reserve. The official public opening of the park was at the end of July 2006.

There has also been controversy over the curfew placed on younger residents of the social housing element of the development by the landlord, Thames Valley Housing.

The Hamptons was named the "Best New Large Development" by the Evening Standard's New Homes Awards 2011. It also won awards for "Best Urban Landscape" from New Homes and Garden and "Best Landscaping" from What House?

Notable residents

• Gary Borrowdale, footballer
• James Heath, professional golfer.
• Jimmy Hill, footballer for Fulham Football Club and BBC TV Football commentator.
• William Holman Hunt, 1827–1910, Pre-Raphaelite artist, painted The Light of the World at Worcester Park Farm, while staying there in the early 1850s with John Everett Millais.
• John Major - Conservative Party leader and prime minister from 1990 to 1997, was born at Worcester Park in 1943 but spent most of his early life in Brixton.
• Roger Mayer (engineer) - sound engineer, most notable for his development of the fuzz box.
• Daley Thompson, British decathlete, lived near "The Plough" public house.
• HG Wells, author, lived in The Avenue.
• Kenneth Wolstenholme, the BBC's original TV football commentator.
• Jack Reeve, Most consecutive pogo stick jumps (257,067) Guinness world record holder.

References

• Sutton London Borough Council information about Worcester Park

External links

• Worcester Park Life Magazine
• Worcester Park Community
• Worcester Park Baptist Church