St. Helier, London

infobox UK place
country = England
map_type = Greater London
region= London
population=
official_name= St. Helier
london_borough= Merton
london_borough1= Sutton
constituency_westminster= Mitcham and Morden
constituency_westminster1=Carshalton and Wallington
post_town= MORDEN
post_town1= CARSHALTON
postcode_area= SM
postcode_district= SM4
postcode_area1= SM
postcode_district1=SM5
dial_code= 020
os_grid_reference= TQ265664
latitude= 51.38256
longitude= -0.18361

St. Helier is a residential estate in the London boroughs of Merton and Sutton. The portion of the estate north of Green Lane and Bishopsford Road is in Merton, the rest is in Sutton.

History

The estate was built between 1928 and 1936 by the London County Council for the re-housing of people from decaying inner London areas. Its development was spurred by the opening of Morden Underground station in 1926, and the Wimbledon to Sutton railway line in 1930, with a station at St Helier. These services provided rapid links into central London for the residents.

The estate was named in honour of Lady St. Helier, who was an LCC Alderman from 1910 to 1927. It was the second largest (after the Becontree-Dagenham estate) of a series of overspill estates and was based on the Garden City ideas of Ebenezer Howard. The area had previously consisted largely of lavender fields, the last remnants of the famous Mitcham lavender industry.

In remembrance of the area's historic ownership by Westminster Abbey, the roads are named in alphabetical order after Monasteries and Abbeys starting in the north-west with Aberconway Road and ending with Woburn Road in the south-east.

The imposing St. Helier Hospital was opened in 1938. John Major, UK Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, was born there.

Today

Today ownership of housing on the estate is split between private and local authority, with many people taking advantage of the right to buy scheme since the 1970s. The hospital still exerts an imposing presence on the estate, both economically and physically. Most of the buildings are original and many are still being used for their original purposes. There has been a little amount of infilling around the outskirts, and the estate now merges into the suburbs of Sutton, Carshalton and Morden.

Nearest places

* Mitcham
* Morden
* Carshalton
* Sutton
* Wallington

External links

* [http://www.sutton.gov.uk/leisure/heritage/st+helier+estate.htm History of St.Helier]
* [http://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/ St.Helier Hospital]
* [http://st-georges-church.co.uk/ St.George's Church, St.Helier]
* [http://www.parishofsthelier.co.uk/ St. Peter's and Bishop Andrewes, St Helier]
* [http://www.lcm.org.uk/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=13722 London City Mission : St Helier Christian Centre]