| Epsom | |
High Street, Epsom |
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Epsom
Epsom shown within Surrey |
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| Population | 27,065 |
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| OS grid reference | TQ205605 |
| District | Epsom and Ewell |
| Shire county | Surrey |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | EPSOM |
| Postcode district | KT17, KT18 & KT19 |
| Dialling code | 01372 |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Epsom and Ewell |
| List of places: UK • England • Surrey | |
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. Small parts of Epsom are in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. The town is located 18 miles (29 km) south-south-west of Charing Cross, within the Greater London Urban Area. The town lies on the chalk downland of Epsom Downs.
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Epsom lies within the Copthorne hundred, an administrative division devised by the Saxons. The name of Epsom derives from Ebba's ham. Ebba was a Saxon landowner. There were a string of settlements, many ending in -ham, along the northern slopes of the Downs, including Effingham, Bookham, and Cheam. The only relic from this period is a 7th century brooch found in Epsom and now in the British Museum.
The early history of the area is bound up with the Abbey of Chertsey, whose ownership of Ebbisham was confirmed by King Athelstan in 933.
Epsom appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Evesham. It was held by Chertsey Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 11 hides; 2 churches, 2 mills worth 10 shillings, 18 ploughs, 24 acres (97,000 m2) of meadow, woodland worth 20 hogs. It rendered £17.[1] The town at the time of Domesday Book had 38 peasant households grouped near St. Martin's Church. Later, other small settlements grew up at the town pond (now the Market in the High Street), and at Epsom Court, Horton, Woodcote, and Langley Vale.
The Epsom Derby, the second leg of the English Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing is run each June on nearby Epsom Downs Racecourse.
The British Prime Minister and first chairman of the London County Council, Lord Rosebery, was sent down (expelled) from the University of Oxford in 1869 for buying a racehorse and entering it in the Derby − it finished last. Lord Rosebery remained closely associated with the town throughout his life, leaving land to the borough, commemorated in the names of Rosebery Park and Rosebery School. A house was also named after him at Epsom College, a public school located in Epsom.
Historically, Epsom was known as a spa town, although there is little to see nowadays apart from a water pump. There were entertainments at the Assembly Rooms (built c. 1690 and now a pub). A housing estate has now been built upon the wells.
Epsom salts are named after the town. Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) was originally prepared by boiling down mineral waters at Epsom.
Owing partly to its position in the London commuter belt allowing easy access to the Greater London conurbation to the north and the rolling Surrey countryside to the south, the borough of Epsom and Ewell was named in August 2005 by Channel 4's Location, Location, Location as the "Best Place to Live" in the United Kingdom, and ranked at numbers 8 and 3 in subsequent years.[2][3]
Epsom and Ewell was ranked in the top ten of the Halifax Quality of Life Survey 2011.[4]
The Epsom Playhouse was opened in 1984 and is run by Epsom and Ewell Borough council.[5]
Epsom Clock Tower was built in 1847, replacing the watchhouse which stood from the 17th century, and was built to 70 feet of red and suffolk brick, with heraldic lions of Caen Stone at the four corners of the tower base. A bell was added in 1867. By 1902 the lions had been replaced by lanterns, (which were replaced by the current globe lights in 1920) and the toilet buildings added either side of the tower.[6]
The Ashley Centre, a shopping mall, was built in the early 1980s and subsequently parts of the high street were pedestrianised as part of the construction of the town's one-way system. In the 1990s, a large multiplex Odeon cinema was built in Upper High Street.
The late 1990s saw the development of the Ebbisham Centre, a community service based development, including a doctors' surgery, Epsom Library, a cafe and a health and fitness centre. The Derby Square expanded and includes a number of franchise chain pubs/bars.
The University for the Creative Arts has one of its five campuses in Epsom. Laine Theatre Arts, an independent performing arts college, is based in the town. Students have included Victoria Beckham. Leisure facilities in and around the town include a leisure centre (the Rainbow Centre) on East Street; Epsom Downs Racecourse; the Odeon cinema; and the Horton Park Children's Farm.
Major employers in the town include Epsom and Ewell Borough Council and WS Atkins.
As part of Epsom and Ewell, the town is twinned with Chantilly in northern France.
As well as Epsom's NHS General Hospital, Epsom was also known for having a large number of psychiatric hospitals, although only one remains (St. Ebba's Hospital). Before their closure in the 1980s and 1990s, there were five major such hospitals in the area, known as the Epsom Cluster
These were (in order of date of build):
These were all built in very close proximity to each other on a 1,096-acre (4.44 km2) site on Epsom Common, which the London County Council bought to solve the overcrowding problems in its other hospitals. Some of these hospitals (Horton and Manor especially) were built quickly and on limited budgets, and were identical in layout to other asylums designed by the architects G.T.Hine and William Clifford-Smith who were employed by the LCC. The hospitals shared a central 'engineering works' next to Long Grove, which supplied all five establishments with water (hot and cold) and electricity. Of the asylums that have closed, three have been converted into housing (Horton, The Manor and Long Grove Hospital) and two have been run down, with only limited usage in West Park and St Ebba's, including day services and a cottage hospital.[12] These were formerly served by the Horton Light Railway.
These days Horton Country Park is home to the Horton Park Children's Farm.[13]
Epsom railway station has frequent rail services to London (running to Waterloo, Victoria and London Bridge), and also to Leatherhead, Dorking, Guildford, Horsham, West Croydon and Wimbledon where it connects with the London Underground. The town's other station, Epsom Town, was closed in 1929; and although most of the listed buildings remain they have apparenty been left to rack and ruin, and incorporated into fast food and shop storage areas on the Upper High Street. This is a real shame as the station is of much historic interest being the arrival point for Queen Victoria and her entourage prior to taking a carriage up to Epsom Downs. The deriliction is even more evident from the train line from Ewell East railway station).
Two other railway lines were built to serve the Epsom Downs Racecourse, with termini at Epsom Downs and Tattenham Corner.
The Horton Light Railway was built around 1905, as a branch from the main line near Ewell West Station, to deliver building materials to the mental hospitals (see above) being built on what is now Horton Country Park.
There is a train station at tattehnam corner, which is just located of the downs.
Bus services connect Epsom to Sutton, Kingston, Redhill and other neighbouring areas, and a regular service connects with the London Underground at Morden. Some bus services are commercial, some run with the support of Surrey County Council, and others under contract to London Buses (part of TfL). Coach company Epsom Coaches and their bus division Quality Line are based in the town.
State schools include Blenheim High School, Epsom and Ewell High School,[14] Glyn Technology School, North East Surrey College of Technology (NESCOT) and Rosebery School for Girls and also The Beacon School Banstead.[15] There is also a campus of the University for the Creative Arts.
Primary schools include Southfield Park Primary School, Epsom Down Primary School and Children Centre and Danetree Junior School
Independent schools include Epsom College, Kingswood House School, St. Christopher's School and Ewell Castle School.[16]
Epsom is served by these emergency services.
Notable people who were born in Epsom include television personalities Jeremy Vine, Mel Giedroyc and Michaela Strachan (born in Ewell) as well as artist Simon Starling, actor Warwick Davis and the current Austrian Ambassador to the United Nations, Thomas Mayr-Harting. People who have lived in Epsom at some time include writer Isabella Beeton, comedian Norman Wisdom, author and charity-founder David Charles Manners, snooker player Jimmy White and football commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme. Magnum Photographer Martin Parr was born in Epsom. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame is also a famous son of Epsom and his father owned the Page Motors garage, adult film star Nici Sterling, Jody Morris - Footballer, Played for Chelsea, Leeds United, Millwall and is now the captain for St Johnstone in the Scottish Premier League. Popular singer Petula Clark was also born in Epsom.
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