Merstham

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Merstham
Merstham (Surrey)
Merstham

Merstham shown within Surrey
Population 7,385[1]
OS grid reference TQ295535
District Reigate and Banstead
Shire county Surrey
Region South East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Redhill
Postcode district RH1
Dialling code 01737
Police Surrey
Fire Surrey
Ambulance South East Coast
European Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Reigate
List of places: UK • England • Surrey

Coordinates: 51°15′35″N 0°09′25″W / 51.2598, -0.1569

Merstham is a village in the Reigate and Banstead borough of Surrey, England, in the London commuter belt. It is just north of Redhill, near the intersection of the M25 and M23 motorways, on the edge of the North Downs and on the North Downs Way.

Contents

[edit] History

The area has been settled since pre-Roman times.

A piece of the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway near Quality Street
A piece of the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway near Quality Street

The village lay within the Reigate hundred, an Anglo-Saxon administrative division.

Merstham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Merstan. It was held by Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury. Its domesday assets were: 5 hides; 1 church, 1 mill worth 2s 6d, 10 ploughs, 8 acres of meadow, woodland and herbage worth 41 hogs. It rendered £12.[2]

The area has long been known for its quarries, and it was to serve these that the village became the terminus of the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway, an extension of the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway of 1803, the world's first public railway. A small section of the railway is on display near Quality Street.

The village's oldest church, St. Katharine's, dates from approximately 1100, and the current building originates from approximately 1220.

Merstham's most historic street is called 'Quality Street'. This was so named after the male and female lead actors in J.M. Barrie's play of the same name lived in the 'Old Forge' at the end of the street.

Merstham railway tunnel was the scene of a murder on 24 September 1905. The mutilated body of Mary Money was found in the tunnel and was first thought to be a case of suicide. On inspection, however, a scarf was found in the victim's throat, and marks on the tunnel wall showed that she had been thrown from a moving train. The crime was never solved, but suspicion rested on Miss Money's brother, Robert Money.

After World War II, a large housing estate was built to the south-east of Merstham village. This area has its own shops and amenities, and is usually known as Merstham Estate. South Merstham is south of both mentioned areas and is made up of mainly Victorian and Edwardian terraces, which served Albury Manor. There is currently a new development underway in South Merstham close to Mercers Park, called Water-Colour. The old village is sometimes known as Old or Top Merstham.

Rockshaw Road, in Top Merstham, was developed at the very end of the 19th century and between the World Wars was home to many notable people, among them senior Army and Navy figures, financiers and politicians.[3]

At the junction of Battlebridge Lane and Nutfield Road is All Saints church, the original building of which was destroyed in the war. Volunteers from the Canadian regiments worked to build a temporary church for the village, which became known as Canada Hall and is used as a village hall and weekly meeting hall for some Merstham branches of the Girl Guides.

[edit] Transport

Buses run to Croydon, Coulsdon, Purley and Redhill town centre.

The village is served by Merstham railway station on the Brighton Main Line, with services to Croydon, London Bridge and London Victoria, and Gatwick Airport is a few miles to the south.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Census data
  2. ^ Surrey Domesday Book
  3. ^ The history of Edwardian houses at the Rockshaw Road

[edit] External links