Worcester Park

Infobox UK place
official_name= Worcester Park
region= London
country= England
latitude= 51.375264
longitude= -0.239047
map_type= Greater London
post_town= WORCESTER PARK
postcode_area= KT
postcode_district= KT4
dial_code= 020
os_grid_reference= TQ225655
london_borough=Sutton
constituency_westminster=Sutton and Cheam

Worcester Park is a suburb of London, England and a ward in the extreme north west of the London Borough of Sutton. It is 10.2 miles (16.4 km) south west of Charing Cross. It has a population of 9,874 people.

The Worcester Park post town, which is coterminous with the KT4 postal district, is somewhat larger than the Worcester Park ward of the London Borough of Sutton and includes parts within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London and Epsom and Ewell in Surrey.

Demographics

Around 90% of Worcester Park residents are White, with 1.9% mixed race, 4.8% Asian or British Asian, 1.3% Black and 2% Chinese or of another ethnic group. [http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/AreaProfile1.do?tab=2]

Transport

Bus

Worcester Park is well served with regular bus services to Kingston and Sutton on the 213 bus route that runs up Central Road. There are also buses to Heathrow Airport and Croydon on the hourly X26 coach service. A local "Hopper" bus service to Sutton and Sutton Hospital runs via Sainsbury's supermarket in North Cheam. The 151 bus route also runs into Worcester Park and terminates at Worcester Park Rail station before returning though Sutton to Wallington. Quality Line (owned by Epsom Coaches) operate the E15 and E16 bus services to and from Epsom. The 213 bus service runs through Worcester Park via Cheam to Sutton, and in the opposing direction via Old Malden, New Malden and onwards to Kingston Upon Thames.

School Buses

The 627 and the 613 run every morning between 7:30 and 8:00. The 627 is from Worcester Park station to Wallington. However the 613 travels from the Station to Sutton Garage.

Rail

Worcester Park railway station is in Zone 4, served by the National Rail services of South West Trains and is on the boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The Worcester Park line runs from London (Waterloo) via Wimbledon through Worcester Park to Epsom and Guildford. Worcester Park is approximately a 25 minute journey to London Waterloo by train.

port and recreation

Cricket

*Worcester Park Cricket Club on Green lane

Bowls

*Worcester Park Athletic club on Green lane
*Auriol Park in the Borough of Epsom & EwellAuriol Park is a King George's Field. See also List of King George V Playing Fields (Surrey) under the entry for Worcester Park]

Football

*Worcester Park Athletic club on Green lane has a very good quality pitch and club house also with successful football teams
*Auriol Park in the Borough of Epsom & EwellAuriol Park is a King George's Field. See also List of King George V Playing Fields (Surrey) under the entry for Worcester Park]
*Worcester Park Town F.C, Playing in the Leatherhead & District Sunday League [http://www.wptfc.org.uk/ WPT F.C Website]

wimming

*Indoor pools at Epsom, Sutton, North Cheam
*Between 1934 and 1980 the nearest open air swimming pool was Surbiton Lagoon

History

Worcester Park takes its name from the 4th Earl of Worcester, who was appointed Keeper of the Great Park in 1606. (The area was once part of a Great Park surrounding the Nonsuch Palace of Henry VIII.)

Blakesley School

Blakesley School was a private primary school run by the Headmaster Eric Dudley. It closed in the summer of 1958, when the land was sold for housing. It occupied the land at Gbmapping|TQ214654 bordered by the portion of Delta Road which was then not surfaced, Delta Close (then a gated track and public right of way leading from Delta Road to Salisbury Road), and Grafton Avenue, again not surfaced, heading towards the church.

It occupied a substantial plot of land and was a "modern manor house" style building referred to on local maps as . The surrounding wall is said to go back to Henry VIII's reignFact|date=February 2007.

Parker's Field

Possibly belonging to T Parker & Sons, Landscapers, who were based at what is now a housing estate at Gbmapping|TQ221662 beside Worcester Park Station, Parker's Field was the best toboggan run until the top half was built on in the 1970s (despite being Green Belt), when it became unusable.

Rowe Hall

The Scout hut next door to Cuddington Primary School in Salisbury Road at Gbmapping|TQ215650 was built in 1958 and named Rowe Hall in honour of a long serving scout mistress, "Miss Rowe", who was a teacher at Blakesley School. This hut was erected after the previous building was destroyed by arsonists and still serves the 2nd Cuddington (Rowe) Scout Group.

Worcester (Park) House

In the 1950s, the ruins of a splendid ornamental lake with a multi-arched bridge (at Gbmapping|TQ211654) and balustrade were still visible in the woodland at the foot of the hill in "Parker's Field" (situated between Grafton Road and Old Malden Lane, and behind the still rather ramshackle stables in Grafton Road).

The house itself was not visible, nor were there any ruins apart from the lake and some mounds of bricks to be found. The lake itself had drained into the river Hogsmill, but no source of incoming water was visible. The lake dried up in the late 1940s following the rechanelling of the river.

Close to the bridge remnant to the southwest of the bridge was a ruined domed structure, all that remains of an ice house. However it was filled with soil and other débris which prevented any investigation.

Locals presumed the house to be named "Worcester Park House", and have suggested that Blakesley School was the original house, while historical sources suggest "Worcester House" [ [http://www.cheamandworcesterpark.co.uk/history.htm Brief local history] ] . However the map of 1871 shows a building labelled "Worcester Park House" to be alongside the lake, to the west of it, on land that was, in the 1950s, overgrown with trees.

Documents from H M Land registry show that the name of the building for Blakesley School was Worcester Court.

The Hamptons

The Hamptons is a development of New England style housing in Worcester Park. Created by St James Homes, The Hamptons is constructed in 30 acres of parkland on the former site of sewage works at the top of Green Lane. The site includes a conservation wetland area, amphitheatre, community centre and gym, tennis courts (for residents) and a viewing platform which affords views across to the City of London.

Controversial plans to extend The Hamptons were defeated at a special meeting of Sutton Council's Development Control Committee. The application was for permission to begin 'phases 4B and 5C' of the development of The Hamptons which would have brought at least a further 184 dwellings to the Green Lane site. Residents and local Conservative Party councillors argued that the development would have a profoundly negative impact on the local area infrastructure and the community at large, particularly citing increasingly difficult traffic problems.

Notable residents of the Hamptons includes professional snooker player David Gray (snooker player).Fact|date=June 2008

Notable residents

*Jimmy Hill - footballer for Fulham Football Club and BBC TV Football commentator lived either at 12 or at 14 Kinross Avenue
*John Major - British Conservative Party Prime Minister lived in Longfellow Road and went to Cheam Common School

*Daley Thompson - British decathlete lived near "The Plough" public house
*Kenneth Wolstenholme - the BBC's original TV football commentator lived at 75 Salisbury Road
*Gary Borrowdale - Coventry City FC defender
*HG Wells - Author - lived in The Avenue
*James Heath - European Tour professional golfer

Notes

References

* [http://www.sutton.gov.uk/councilanddemocracy/council+wards/worcesterpark.htm Sutton London Borough Council information about Worcester Park]

External links

* [http://www.ourkt4.com/ Worcester Park Life Magazine]
* [http://www.worcesterparkblog.org.uk/ The Worcester Park Blog]
* [http://www.2ndcuddingtonscouts.org.uk/ 2nd Cuddington Scout Group]
* [http://www.4wp.org.uk/ 4th Worcester Park Scout Group]
* [http://www.worcesterpark.org.uk/ Worcester Park Community]
* [http://www.wpbc.org.uk/ Worcester Park Baptist Church]
* [http://www.wptfc.org.uk/ Worcester Park Town F.C]