Ashtead

All you want to know about Ashtead

Coordinates: 51°18′36″N 0°17′55″W / 51.3101, -0.2986

Ashtead
Ashtead (Surrey)
Ashtead

Ashtead shown within Surrey
Population 13,494 [1]
OS grid reference TQ1858
District Mole Valley
Shire county Surrey
Region South East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Ashtead
Postcode district KT21
Dialling code 01372
Police Surrey
Fire Surrey
Ambulance South East Coast
European Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Epsom and Ewell
List of places: UK • England • Surrey

Ashtead is a large village situated within the Green Belt of Surrey, England, and is part of the suburbia of London. It is separated from Leatherhead by the M25, and from Epsom by Ashtead Common.

Contents

History

There has been settlement in Ashtead since at least Roman times, with a Roman villa excavated in what is now Ashtead common.[1] Ashtead lay within the Copthorne hundred, an administrative division devised by the Saxons.

Ashtead appears in the Domesday Book as Stede. It was held by the Canons of Bayeux from the Bishop of Bayeux. Its Domesday Assets were: 3 hides and 1 virgate; 16 ploughs, 4 acres (16,000 m2) of meadow, woodland worth 7 hogs. It rendered (in total): £12.[2] Its main source of water at the time seems to have been the Rye.

St Giles Church in Ashtead Park dates from the 12th century, and Ashtead is mentioned twice in Samuel Pepys' diaries. Part of his entry for 25 July 1663 reads:

Towards the evening we bade them adieu and took horse, being resolved that, instead of the race which fails us, we would go to Epsom When we come there we could hear of no lodging, the town so full, but which was better, I went towards Ashsted, and there we got a lodging in a little hole we could not stand upright in While supper was getting I walked up and down behind my cosen Pepys's house that was, which I find comes little short of what I took it to be when I was a little boy.

Ashtead is frequently misspelt, examples being "Ashsted" and "Ashstead". Until 1967, Ashtead Railway Station had both "Ashtead" and "Ashstead" displayed on station name plates hanging on opposite platforms.

The Ashtead Psalms were commissioned by Ashtead Choral Society to mark their fiftieth anniversary in the year 2000 from composer Robert Steadman.

The Village

Ashtead Common entrance sign

Locals commonly refer to three areas of Ashtead: The Village (The Village Centre, around The Street); Lower Ashtead; and The Common. There is also Ashtead Park, Ashtead Heath and Ashtead Downs.

The village is the oldest part of Ashtead and has the main shopping and social area of the village, with two pubs and the Ashtead Village Club which is a C&IU affiliate.

The area north of the railway line is Ashtead Common, managed by the City of London Corporation and subject to a long standing preservation order. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Lower Ashtead is a flat area leading to Ashtead Common, where there is a park, a youth club, a pub and large housing estates, all built near the railway station.

Business

Ashtead Pottery was produced in the village from 1923 until the company ceased trading in 1935.

Schools

Ashtead has several schools, including:

Transport

Rail

Ashtead has a small modern railway station on the London to Horsham, Dorking and Guildford lines.

Road

The London to Worthing road, the A24, runs through the village.

Emergency services

Ashtead is served by these emergency services:

Famous People

References

  1. ^ "Ashtead Common cultural heritage". City of London. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
  2. ^ Surrey Domesday Book
  3. ^ "Barnett Wood Infant School". Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
  4. ^ "St. Giles' School". Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
  5. ^ "The Greville School". Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
  6. ^ "West Ashtead Primary School". Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
  7. ^ The Six Visits of Mr. Pepys

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtead"

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