Talk:Surbiton

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I removed the stuff from freelist.com as it is copyright according to their website: FreeLists.com established 1996 © online 1998 All rights reserved. Mrsteviec 06:57, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Some mention should be made of the constantly shifting unofficial boundaries of Surbiton. I've just read in an Estate Agent's window 'Beautiful Apartment on the outskirts of Surbiton - directly opposite Tolworth Station'!!

Well technically all the towns around here are part of the borough of Kingston, so technically it's actually on the outskirts of Kingston, but split hairs, etc. --62.49.128.77 05:14, 12 March 2006 (UTC) Andreus

I agree about the shifting boundaries. I've got an idea that the name "surbiton" actually means "southern grange", and on the earliest Ordnance Survey maps of the early 19th century, the built-up area of Surbiton extended no further south than the northern end of what is now Maple Road. There was definitely a village at Long Ditton, and at Tolworth, but the area around Waitrose and the railway station was just fields.
It seems that Surbiton was simply a farm at the south of Kingston, which belonged to the manor of Kingston, and unlike Tolworth, it was not a separate village from Kingston. Although the name "Surbiton" has been around since medieval times, it appears that Surbiton did not develop an identity as a separate community from Kingston until the railway came along in the 1830's.
So it seems odd that Tolworth might be considered an outskirt of Surbiton! Although I think the name of Surbiton pre-dates the name of Tolworth - I think the current location of Tolworth predates the current location of Surbiton by several hundred years. I'll try to nose out more sources, though. Squashy 23:50, 15 April 2006 (UTC)