Surbiton Park is an area in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London, United Kingdom. It was the southernmost part of the pre-1965 Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey and corresponds roughly to the southernmost part of the present-day Kingston upon Thames postal district.Geographers' London Atlas (A-Z); various editions.
It lies between Portsmouth Road, Kingston and Maple Road, Surbiton and includes Surbiton Crescent, Anglesea Road, Palace Road and Uxbridge Road. It is largely residential, but there are office buildings and a school on the eastern side.
The Surbiton Park estate was established after the arrival of the railway in the mid 19th century. It occupies much of the grounds of a minor stately home, which survived until the 1930s.
Surbiton Park was developed as a residential area in the middle of the 19th century after the opening of the London and Southampton Railway. However, by the first decade of the 21st century the name was fading from the public consciousness. It appeared to survive principally in the wording Surbiton Park Terrace on the 20th-century row of shops on the south-west side of Surbiton Road, just to the north of the original park.
During that decade Surbiton Park sub-post office was closed and the bus stop formerly known as Surbiton Park Terrace was renamed Surbiton Road/Penrhyn Road.
History
The original park
From the mid 18th century until the early 1930s a large house stood on the south-west side of what is now Surbiton Road, Kingston, close to the junction with what is now Maple Road, Surbiton.Sampson, p.16ff; Statham, p.16f. To the south and west of the main building there was an extensive park.
The house was known at different times as Surbiton Place, Surbiton HouseFor this name, see later (Shrubsole period). and Surbiton Hall. It was built for William Roffee, a wealthy distiller, at the south-eastern end of Surbiton Street, now known as Surbiton Road, the principal thoroughfare of a hamlet of Kingston parish known as Surbiton (or Surbeton).Butters p.91(top) and map on front endpaper.
When Roffee died in 1785, Surbiton Place was bought by Thomas Fassett, who extended both the house and the grounds.Sampson, p.16
In 1809 Fassett sold the house to Henry Paget, originally Bayly, who became Earl of Uxbridge. His son, also Henry Paget, inherited it in 1812. This Henry was the Earl of Uxbridge who distinguished himself at Waterloo. Not long after the battle, he became the first Marquess of Anglesey.Sampson, p.16ff.
After his mother died in 1817, Anglesey sold the house to John Garratt, a prominent local politician, who later sold it to Alexander Raphael, a wealthy Roman Catholic.For 19th-century views of Surbiton Place, see Statham, p.19, McCormack, picture 39, Sampson p.viii.
Raphael paid for the building of a Roman Catholic church on land in the north-western part of his estate. This is the Italianate church on Portsmouth Road known as St Raphael's.
Changing times By the time Raphael died in 1850, major changes had begun to take place to the south of Kingston. The railway had reached the area in the late 1830s and the present-day town of Surbiton had started to grow up near the station.
Raphael's heir, his nephew Edward Raphael, sold most of the estate for housing development. Just three acres of land remained with the house, which was occupied by the family of John Shrubsole, a banker and draper, until the death of his widow in 1914.
Generally speaking, the house was known as Surbiton Hall during the Shrubsole period,Sampson, p.20. but there is evidence that it was also referred to as Surbiton House. Adjacent to a 20th-century residential block in Surbiton Road called Garrick House, there is a wall on which is a plaque bearing this inscription:
The name Surbiton House was used for the house on the Elmers estate before 1823, but this was on the other side of Terry's Lane, which ran roughly where Maple Road does today.Statham, pp.16&18. Both the date and location of the plaque suggest that it does not refer to that house.
In the 1861 census return there is an entry for Surbiton House and Coach House, Surbiton Road.RG 9/456 fo.59. See Your Archives website. The coach house was across the road, where Surbiton High School junior school now stands.Statham, p.17. The 1865 edition of the Ordnance Survey 25in. map also describes the building as Surbiton House.
Ten years later, in the 1871 census return, the house is described as Surbiton Hall.RG 10/861 fo.18. See above website. The coach house is not mentioned, neither does it appear on the 1865 O.S. map.
William Woods
Most of Raphael's estate was bought by William Woods, a speculative builder. He laid out the four principal streets of Surbiton Park in what had been the grounds of the house. He built large houses for the well-heeled, including some fine pairs of semi-detached houses, as well as some substantial mansions.
The estate included a considerable amount of land south of the park, but not abutting to it. Woods built houses in several streets in this area, including Cadogan Road, which he named after Anglesey's second wife, Charlotte.Sampson, pp.18 & 20.
A little later he created Grove Road, which was extended eastwards to connect with Claremont Crescent (now The Crescent).Pink, Grove Road section. The stretch of the road east of Maple Lane (now Maple Road) was originally called Claremont Road.It became part of Grove Road after Railway Road was renamed Claremont Road. See wording in conveyance KX 89/3/3, also Sampson, p.10.
A legal document dated 20 Feb 1860 describes Woods as "William Woods late of Swan Lane, Hampton Wick, Mddx., now of Surbiton Park South, Kingston, gent".Conveyance KX 89/3/1, concerning a property in "Maple Lane, Surbiton" (now Maple Road). This suggests that he had moved into one of his new houses, and the inclusion of the word South suggests that he made a distinction between the park proper and the more southerly development.
However, there is evidence that Woods lived in Palace Road, in the park proper.Letter of 16/3/89 from Kingston Director of Development concerning Cadogan Road Conservation Area. Perhaps he moved within the area or maybe the punctuation of the quoted document is incorrect; "Surbiton Park, South Kingston" would make perfect sense.
Woods played a part in the creation of Queen's Promenade, which runs along the Thames on the other side of Portsmouth Road from Surbiton Park.Sampson, p.124ff.
Surbiton Park Terrace
This shopping parade was built in 1851 on the north-east side of Surbiton Road to serve the new residential area. A wide variety of traders occupied the shops.Sampson O&N, p.42. For example, Samuel Fry set up a photographic studio at 9, Surbiton Park Terrace in 1865.
The words Surbiton Park Terrace are visible on the façade of the 20th century parade of shops built opposite the original Terrace.
Surbiton Park Congregational Church
This striking neo-Gothic building was completed in 1866 and stood on the south-west corner of the junction between Grove Road and Maple Road for more than a century.Statham, pp.43 & 44, McCormack, picture 41. Its site is now occupied by a row of houses.
Since the demolition of this church there has been no tangible connection between the southern part of the Woods development and the name Surbiton Park.
The later 19th century
In 1855 the new town of Surbiton was placed in the hands of Improvement Commissioners and this ensured that it was independent of Kingston.Statham, p.36. The Commissioners were replaced by an Urban District Council in 1894.Statham, p.64ff.
The boundary between Kingston and Surbiton ran down the middle of Maple Road to a point a little south of Uxbridge Road, and then turned abruptly west and ran behind the houses on the south side of Uxbridge Road towards the Thames. Thus a large part of the original Surbiton, including the big house and its park, remained inside Kingston and was not subject to the Commissioners.Statham, p.51 (map). A wall between Maple House and Home Court, both in Maple Road, runs along the line of this former boundary.
In 1884 Surbiton High School was founded by Anglican clergymen and it is still in existence.
The 20th century
In 1906 Surbiton Park became a great deal noisier with the coming of the tramway. The route between Kingston and Surbiton town centre passed along Surbiton Crescent, although this necessitated the demolition of a shop at the junction with Surbiton Road.Statham, p.83.
Mrs Shrubsole died in 1914 after four decades of widowhood. The next occupant of Surbiton Hall was also its last, Sir Sidney Pocock. He had an adventurous life and there is a biography of him, including a history of the house, on the UK Genealogy Archives website.
Sir Sidney died in 1931 and soon afterwards Surbiton Hall was demolished. Semi-detached houses were built in Surbiton Road, Maple Road, Surbiton Crescent and a new cul-de-sac called Surbiton Hall Close.
During the Second World War a V-1 flying bomb, or doodlebug, destroyed houses on Portsmouth Road between Palace Road and Uxbridge Road.Statham, pp.69 & 113. This led to the creation of a new road called Home Park Walk.
The post-war period has not been kind to Surbiton Park. Many of the Woods mansions and houses have been demolished and replaced piecemeal with blocks of flats and houses of various designs. Only in Uxbridge Road does there remain a substantial group of Victorian houses.
In 1965 the Greater London area was created and Surbiton, which had been granted a Borough Charter in 1936,Statham, p.104. was incorporated into the new Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.Statham, p.126. The old borough boundary remained for some time as constituency and ward boundaries, but these have now been moved.
During the last two decades of the 20th century attitudes changed towards buildings of historical interest. Steps were taken to protect the architectural heritage of the area and Cadogan Road and Claremont Road Conservation Areas both include parts of Surbiton Park.See Kingston Council website. Retrieved 5/11/10.
Rough chronology
(For references, see History section.)
No later than 1773. Surbiton Place built for William Roffee. Before 1812. Thomas Fassett and then 1st Earl of Uxbridge buy Surbiton Place. 1812. 2nd Earl of Uxbridge inherits Surbiton Place. 1815. Battle of Waterloo. Uxbridge becomes 1st Marquess of Anglesey. No earlier than 1817. John Garratt buys Surbiton Place. 1830s and 1840s. New town of Surbiton growing to south of original hamlet. No later than 1846. Alexander Raphael buys Surbiton Place. 1848. St Raphael's Church completed. 1850. Raphael dies. 1850 or later. Shrubsole family moves into Surbiton Place, now Surbiton House or Hall. 1850s. William Woods buys most of Raphael estate. Surbiton Park estate created. 1854. Anglesey dies. 1866. Surbiton Park Congregational Church completed. 1884. Surbiton High School founded. 1906. Tramway opens through Surbiton Park. 1914. Mrs Shrubsole dies. 1914 or later. Sir Sidney Pocock at Surbiton Hall. 1931. Sir Sidney dies. 1931 or later. Surbiton Hall demolished. Second World War. V-1 flying bomb falls on Surbiton Park. Second half of 20th century. Much redevelopment in Surbiton Park. 1970s. Surbiton Park Congregational Church demolished. Late 20th century. Conservation areas established. Early 21st century. Surbiton Park Post Office closes.
Streets
Surbiton Crescent
This gently curving road is the principal thoroughfare of the area. The main bus route between Kingston and Surbiton town centres passes along it, as did the tram and then trolleybus routes in earlier times.
Just one Victorian mansion survives, at the northern end of the western side.
The greater part of the eastern side is taken up by Surbiton High School, a well respected independent Church of England school, mainly for girls.