Sanderstead

infobox UK place
country = England
region= London
population=
official_name= Sanderstead
london_borough= Croydon
post_town= SOUTH CROYDON
postcode_area= CR
postcode_district= CR2
dial_code= 020
os_grid_reference= TQ337613
latitude= 51.3358
longitude= -0.0818
constituency_westminster= Croydon South

Sanderstead (pronEng|ˈsɑːndɚstɛd) is a village in London Borough of Croydon, located on high ground at the edge of the built-up area of Greater London. From 1915 to 1965 it formed a parish in the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District of Surrey. [Vision of Britain - [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10147232 Sanderstead] ( [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/bound_map_page.jsp?first=true&u_id=10147232&c_id=10001043 historic map] )] Having been a farming community in previous centuries, Sanderstead is now essentially a dormitory village for commuters to London and Croydon. All Saints' Church dates from the 13th century but was extensively altered in later periods. Sanderstead station is lower down the hill and has trains to East Croydon and London, and to East Grinstead and Uckfield.

History

An Anglo Saxon reference to Sanderstead can be found in the will of Alfred, an ealdorman, which is dated 871.

The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Wallington hundred.

Sanderstead appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as "Sandestede". It was held by St Peter's Abbey, Winchester (Hyde Abbey). Its domesday assets were: 5 hides. It had 9 ploughs, wood worth 30 hogs. It rendered £15. [ [http://www.gwp.enta.net/surrnames.htm Surrey Domesday Book] ]

There is evidence of prehistoric human activity in Sanderstead. North of the village at Croham Hurst on a wooded hill are circular barrows believed to be from a Bronze Age settlement. This is now part of a public open space and the site is marked by a brass monument. A Romano-British homestead (small farming settlement) was discovered during the construction of the Atwood School. This was further excavated during the 1980s when the school was extended revealing the remains of several round huts, hearths, a broach and pottery, some of which hailed from North Africa.The manor house, known as Sanderstead Court, was home to the Atwood family. This large country house was probably first constructed in the early sixteenth century. The Atwoods and their descendants occupied the house for about three hundred years. It was turned into a hotel in 1928, and before the second world war it was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was very badly damaged by fire (not a bomb) in 1944 and was demolished in 1958. One very small part of the hotel building does however still stand. On the site now lies "Sanderstead Court", a three-storey block of flats.

One of the more curious aspects of Sanderstead is that it has no pub, unlike nearby Warlingham which has around six. The reason for this is that some time ago, both the Atwood family (the Lords of the Manor) and the Rector of the church were against drinking. At the British Library there is a letter from the rector writing to both the parishes of Sanderstead and Warlingham (which lies to the south of the village) calling the latter "sinners" as they visited the pubs.

Notable Residents

* John Atwood (1576-1644) was the Assistant Governor of the Plymouth Colony, in the US state of Massachusetts, in 1638. His childhood was spent at Sanderstead Court.

* Rt. Hon. Stephen Rumbold Lushington (1775-1868) lived for a time at Sanderstead Court and his daughter was born there in 1816. He was Joint Secretary of the Treasury (1824-7), Governor of Madras (1827-32), and M.P. for Rye (1807-12) & for Canterbury (1812-1830)

* Kate Moss, an English model, originally lived near Sanderstead. She lived in Addiscombe and then moved to Sanderstead as a teenager. She went to Ridgeway Primary School on Southcote Road in Sanderstead and then to Riddlesdown High School on Dunmail Drive.

Nearest places

*Selsdon
*South Croydon
*Hamsey Green
*Warlingham
*Kenley
*Purley
*Riddlesdown

Nearest railway stations

*Sanderstead railway station
*Purley Oaks railway station
*Riddlesdown railway station

References

External links

* [http://www.founditguide.co.uk/ Local guide covering Sanderstead]
* [http://www.sanderstead.com/ Sanderstead Village Community]
* [http://www.sanderstead-parish.org.uk/ Sanderstead Parish (Church of England)]
*A gallery of [http://rhaworth.ucoz.net/tq/sanders.htm images of Sanderstead]