Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/656

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

from the Surbiton Hill Road, or a little below Villier's Path, on the north to the division of Surbiton from the parish of Long Ditton on the south, and from Clay Hill and King Charles's Road on the east to just beyond the houses on the near side of the Ewell Road on the west.

The only house in the district covered by the modern Surbiton marked on the maps of the 18th century was Berrylands Farm. It certainly existed in 1736,[123] and is probably much older, if it can be identified with Berowe, where William Skerne had licence to inclose land called the Fyfteen Acres in 14.39,[124] and Berow or Barrow Hill held by Robert Skerne of Thomas Wyndsore in 1485-6.[125] Early in the 19th century building began in the valley towards Kingston with the original Waggon and Horses public-house, and the Elmers called Surbiton House until 1823 and pulled down before 1888. Maple Farm, afterwards called Maple Lodge, was built by Christopher Terry about 1815 as the Manor House. In 1808 Southborough Lodge, the first house on the hill, was built for Thomas Langley by John Nash, the architect of Buckingham Palace ; this with the three farms and a windmill was the only building here until 1812, when the White House, afterwards known as Hill House, was built [126] where the office of the Urban District Council now stands. Surbiton Hill House was next built in 1826 partly from material from the abandoned palace of Kew. Though still, as in the 13th century, [127] covered with furze and heath, the land was already considered of value as a building site.

The whole position of the neighbourhood was altered when in 1836 the main line of the London and South Western Railway was brought through Surbiton because, tradition says, the inhabitants opposed its original course through Kingston. A small cottage- like structure called Kingston Station was built in the deep railway cutting near the Ewell Road Bridge, and was used until 1840, when Thomas Pooley gave the present site to the company. [128] The i8th- century maps of the neighbourhood mark but one main road as passing through Surbiton. This, the Portsmouth Road, is a continuation of the Kingston High Street and follows the river, though separated from it for some distance by public gardens. There were of course minor roads: Leatherhead Mill Lane, Lower Marsh Lanes, and a road corresponding to the modern Clay Hill and King Charles's Road are mentioned; [129] a lane from the Ewell Road to Berrylands Farm is marked on a map of 1813, as is also the lane now called Villier's Path and Clay Hill. [130] The western side of Surbiton was the first to be developed. After the death of Christopher Terry in 1838 the Maple Farm lands were bought by Thomas Pooley, who began to lay out roads and build houses. Having insufficient capital he mortgaged heavily, principally to Coutts & Co., the bankers, who finally foreclosed. They managed the property well, and the Oakhill and Raphael estates followed, their streets of staid Victorian houses giving this quarter its essentially residential character. Lately, however, this has become the shopping district of Surbiton, a feature emphasized since the opening of the United Tramways Company's electric service in 1905. In the extreme southern corner of this section lay the Seething Wells, yielding an abundant supply of water. The land inclosed under the Act of 1808 was purchased by the Lambeth Waterworks, and reservoirs opened in 1851; they were followed by the Chelsea Water Company, who, in 1852, built the works adjoining these on the north.

The Berrylands or eastern hill section was developed in 1851, the land making £500 per acre at public auction in 1853. In spite of the great change in the character of the neighbourhood, the roads, lighting, and drainage were still those of a hamlet. Under the Surbiton Improvement Act of 1855 [131] the inhabitants secured local government by fifteen commissioners who, with some modifications in 1882,[132] retained their authority until Surbiton became an Urban District. The southern section was a little later in growth. In this district the land attains its highest point, being 120 ft. above ordnance datum on Oak Hill. The lowest point (20 ft. above sea-level) is by the riverside. The soil on the lower levels is chiefly gravel on a subsoil of London Clay; on Surbiton Hill it is clay, and there were brick-kilns near the Fish Ponds in 1838.[133]

Within the last five years an entirely new district has sprung up between the Surbiton Hill Road and Clay Hill, taking the name of Crane's Park from the Cranes, the large house which stood here. The development of this estate has resulted in a continuation of King Charles's Road into Kingston, and has reduced Villier's Path, the traditional scene of the death of Lord Francis Villiers in 1648, to a mere footpath hemmed in with houses. The hillside east of this is now divided into building lots, and it is anticipated that Clay Lane will soon form the back- bone of a further series of streets. On the island in the Thames opposite Surbiton, called Raven's Eyot, are the head quarters of the Kingston Rowing Club, founded in 1858. The population of the urban district in 1901 was I5,017. [134] The development of Surbiton was marked by the formation of the parish of St. Mark's, part of which was assigned in 1863 to Christ Church, Surbiton Hill; [135] and in 1876 another part of St. Mark's parish was assigned to the consolidated chapelry of St. Matthew, which was partly formed from the parish of Long Ditton. [136] In 1854 the Congregationalists built a handsome church in Maple Road. [137] This becoming too small for the congregation a larger church was built in 1864 at the corner of Grove Road. The first Wesleyan services in 1861 were held in a hall and afterwards in an iron chapel ; the church in the Ewell Road was dedicated in 1882. In 1874 the Oaklands Baptist chapel in Oakhill Road was opened. The Baptist chapel in Balaclava Road was opened in 1905. In 1879 the Primitive Methodists built an iron church, now disused, in Arlington Road. The Roman Catholic church of St. Raphael was built by Charles Parker [138] for Mr. Alexander Raphael

Footnotes:

123 Rowley W. C. Richardson, Surbiton, Thirty-two years of Local Self-government. Southborough Farm was also probably standing at this date.

124 Pat. 17 Hen. VI, p ii, m. 21.

125 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. 2), i, 22,

126 Richardson, op. cit.

127 Add. Chart. 17272. 128 Richardson, op. cit. 12.

129 Rocque, London in 1741-5

130 Horner, Map of the Town and Parish of Kingston-upon-Thames.

131 Local Act, 18 Vict. cap. 36. 132 Ibid. 45 & 46 Viet. cap. 61.

133 Richardson, Surbiton, 8. 134 Pop. Ret. 1901.

135 Clergy List, 1910.

136 Lond. Gaz. z May 1876, p. 2719.

137 Richardson, Surbiton, 82 et seq.

138 Dict. Nat. Biof.