Motspur Park

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Location
Motspur Park


OS grid reference:	TQ225677
Latitude:	51.41°
Longitude:	-0.25°
Administration
London borough:	Kingston (west side) , Merton (east side)
County level:	Greater London
Region:	London
Constituent country:	England
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county:	Greater London
Historic county:	Surrey
Services
Police force:	Metropolitan Police
Fire brigade:	London Fire Brigade
Ambulance service:	London Ambulance
Post office and telephone
Post town:	NEW MALDEN
Postal district:	KT3
Dialling code:	020
Politics
UK Parliament:	Part in Mitcham and Morden part in Kingston and Surbiton
London Assembly:	South West London
European Parliament:	London
London \| List of places in London

Motspur Park, also known locally as West Barnes is a suburb in South West London situated across the boundary between the London Borough of Merton and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. It owes its identity to the railway station of the same name, which has four trains an hour to London's Waterloo, and to the adjacent parade of small shops. Two prominent gas holders, which are used to store the consumer gas supply for south west London stand just south of the shopping parade and can be seen from a wide area.

Two of London’s minor natural water courses run through the area. The Beverley Brook runs south to north through its centre and its smaller tributary the Pyl Brook runs parallel further to the east. These have in the past given rise to some local flooding.

1 History
2 Trivia
3 Playing fields
4 Nearby places
5 External links

[edit] History

The district was historically known as West Barnes and was rural right up to the end of the nineteenth century when the railway station was built. Two local lanes, West Barnes Lane and Blakes Lane, represent remnants from this rural era. The barns referred to were those at the western end of Merton Abbey's estates and were just north of West Barnes Lane's junction with the modern Crossway.

Large mansions and farms are the only habitation shown on the 1871 map of the district [1] with no station or residential districts.

The railway itself was constructed through the locality in 1859 but the station was not added until the early twentieth century.

In 1906 Mr and Mrs Howlett moved into 138 Seaforth Avenue. They started up a Sunday School in their house for the children in the local area. Soon adults also began to attend these meetings and before long the numbers increased so that the house was full each Sunday. They started saving for a building in which they could meet. In 1925 "West Barnes Gospel Hall" in Seaforth Avenue, now the home of New Malden Evangelical Free Church, was opened.

In 1927 the Kingston Bypass (A3) was opened just to the north forming a distinct northern boundary to the district. This was one of the first purpose built fast motor roads in Britain. The major junction at Shannon Corner was for years a significant landmark in south west London. The building of this road brought speculative house building on open land throughout its length and it stimulated the development of Motspur Park.

The area was developed as a suburb in the years between the first and second world wars. Most houses were of the "terraced" style, typically of six houses joined together, each with three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and two living rooms and a kitchen downstairs. The area also attracted a number of playing fields at the time of its development. These remain and have given the area a large amount of green open space.

The local public house The Earl Beatty celebrates David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty who commanded a large part of the British fleet at the Battle of Jutland in the First World War.

The biggest local employer for decades was the Decca gramophone record company. In 1929 this was employing 700 people, and making up to 60,000 records a day at its factory in Burlington Road, New Malden. The company diversified during World War Two to make radar and the Decca Navigator System.

Other local employers from that era were, at Shannon Corner, the Shannon typewiter company and the Venner timeswitch company, maker of Britain's first parking meters. Also close to Shannon Corner were Carter's Seeds and Bradbury Wilkinson, a security printing company, maker of banknotes for many of the world's smaller countries.

Sydney Charles Wooderson set the then world mile record of 4min 6.4sec at Motspur Park's University of London Athletics ground on August 28, 1938.

During World War Two a single stick of bombs was aimed at the railway station by a German bomber but missed its target and destroyed houses in Marina Avenue (including the six odd-numbered houses from 63 to 73) and Claremont Avenue. On the morning of July 3, 1944, a V1 rocket came down on Motspur Park, the street that takes its name from the town. According to the archives manager at Kingston council, no casualties were reported. But seven or eight houses were completely destroyed.

Caitlin Thomas, the widow of the poet Dylan Thomas lived in Arthur Road for many years in the 1970s and 1980s.

[edit] Trivia

In the Only Fools and Horses episode, "Dates", Del meets Raquel at Waterloo station for the first time. It is while he is waiting that an announcement is made for the next train leaving Waterloo station. Motspur Park is among one of the stations announced.

[edit] Playing fields

The playing fields located at Motspur Park are:

Fulham football club training ground, formerly the University of London Athletics ground.
The BBC F.C. sports club ground
The King's College School sports ground
The Joseph Hood Memorial playing field
The Old Blues rugby club playing field
The Archbishop Tennison School playing field
Plus one other minor ground.