Kingswood, Surrey

Kingswood or Kingswood with Burgh Heath is a residential area on the North Downs in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. Part of the London commuter belt, Kingswood is just to the east of the A217 separating it from Tadworth and has a railway station. Burgh Heath in its north is combined with it to form a ward. Reigate is south of its centre and London is to the north northeast. Kingswood with Burgh Heath had a population of 6,891 in 2011.Census data

History

Middle Ages The first specific reference to the land which later charters, parish, hundred and county maps state to be Kingswood is in the Domesday Book, where a passage in the entry for Ewell states that "2 hides and 1 virgate were removed from this manor; they were there before 1066, but reeves lent them to their friends; and 1 woodland pasture and 1 croft" – Ewell's Lords of the manor in 1086 were Osbern of Eu (held of King William) and King William himself.Domesday Map – Ewell

Henry II granted it with Shelwood much further detached, in the Weald, as parcel of the manor of Ewell to Merton Priory, who in 1291 were given licence to inclose the wood of Kingswood as "it was their own soil and without the bounds of the royal hunting forest" – see Windsor Great Park.

From Domesday Kingswood, including Lower Kingswood and much of Burgh Heath was a detached part of the parish of Ewell. Between it the Banstead commons of Banstead including what is now Tadworth stretched to Reigate forming a buffer particularly for the parish of Walton-on-the-Hill.Victoria County History, 1911 and other editions, e.g. Index Map The wider Copthorne Hundred was a royal hundred. Kingswood by being a liberty was excluded. That hundred around on all sides but the south was worth almost £48 in the 14th century and £136 16s. 4d. in 1636.

Burgh Heath however was recorded, appearing as Burgh, held in 1086 by Hugh of Port of Bishop Odo of Bayeux, his overlord; its assets were 5 exemption units (large estates) for which it was taxed on 2.5.

Early Chapel There was a chapel in the far-removed hamlet of Kingswood which had existed long before the middle of the 15th century; for when the vicarage of Ewell was endowed in 1458, it is mentioned as of long standing. Mention occurs towards the close of the reign of Edward I of England. A church ruling stipulated that the vicar of Ewell should not be obliged to minister to the hamlet of Kingswood or to celebrate Mass in the chapel there; that when any of the Sacraments of the Church were to be administered to the people of that place, the rectors (Prior and convent of Newark) should provide a priest for the purpose; and in case of the death of any inhabitant of Kingswood and his removal to Ewell for burial, the vicar should meet the body at Provost's Cross, on the south side of Ewell, which had been the custom from ancient time.Winchester Diocese Episcopal Registers kept at Wayneflete, i (2) p52 The subsequent history of this chapel is obscure.

Post Reformation

Kingswood Manor Nonetheless, on the dissolution of the monasteries (1536–8) King Henry VIII seized Kingswood Manor that comprised almost all the land of Kingswood, earlier valued at £14 6s. 8d in 1535, annexing it to the honour of Hampton Court (its purview).

Queen Elizabeth I bestowed it to the first Lord Howard of Effingham for annual service of of a knight's fee, kept until sold by his grandson who was also Earl of Nottingham. As granted to a cavalier by a loyal brother who served Cromwell, a roundhead, the Manorial roll has no mention of Sir John Heydon holding court at the manor; it passed to a relative of Howard's wife Charles Cockayne, another royalist who on in 1656 conveyed it to Thomas Bludworth. Bludworth of Flanchford, Reigate held it on the Restoration until October 1660, holding court for years until 1698, when his son took over, then sold it in 1703 to Lynch and Brandon as trustees for Thomas Harris, who held a court in 1708. Kingswood Manor then descended to his son Thomas, whose nephew John Hughes in 1791 sold the manor to William Jolliffe, whose son Hylton Jolliffe was owning it in 1804, selling it in about 1830 to Thomas Alcock, from whose executors it was bought by Sir John Hartopp, and from his trustees by H. Cosmo Bonsor.

Other occurrences at this time In this era today's Brighton Road through Croydon and Redhill, the A23 replaced the Old Brighton road which came up Reigate Hill, passed through Lower Kingswood and by Upper Kingswood and on into Sutton, which is now the A217, preventing development of the area.

In 1632 and from 1669 to 1812 St Mary the Virgin Church, Ewell maintained separate Kingswood books with all the conformist births, deaths and marriages of Kingswood.

Post Industrial Revolution Kingswood was until the early 20th century the administrative unit of Kingswood Liberty see Liberty (division), of , a completely detached part of Ewell parish, bounded on the west and north by Banstead, on the east by Chipstead and Gatton, on the south by Reigate.

Based on the 1841 census, Samuel Lewis writes of Kingswood in 1848 there were 848 inhabitants and, in brief, consisted of of which 400 were woodland and the remainder almost wholly arable. Kingswood Warren (house) was built about 1850, see Landmarks.

In 1838 an ecclesiastical district was formed from a new church costing over £1100 consecrated 14 January 1836 from Kingswood with a portion of Banstead, and a newer church, St. Andrew's, was built in 1848 by Thomas Alcock. Malden states in 1911 that the old church in 1911 was used as a parish room and the church was still endowed with a glebe of 31 acres. Kingswood Methodist chapel was built by the late H. Fowker however has been converted.The Methodist Church – find a church, the nearest being on the borders of Burgh Heath at Great Tattenhams St Marks Church

Kingswood became in 1899 the terminus of a branch of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, now the Tattenham Corner branch. Writing in 1911, Malden states: the neighbourhood which used to be singularly sequestered and rural is fast becoming residential, especially since the opening of the railway. But the majority of the new houses are in the part of Banstead included in the ecclesiastical parish of Kingswood, not in the old portion of Ewell.

Lower Kingswood School was built in 1893 and enlarged in 1903. Tadworth and Kingswood School (in Banstead parish) was built in 1875. Both are County Council Schools.

Kingswood is today characterised by housing which is described as arcadian, which implies it is 'spacious and tree-dominated'.Kingswood Warren, now Kingswood Warren Park, an Octagon Development

Kingswood was formerly a liberty and chapelry, in 1866 Kingswood became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished. In 1951 the parish had a population of 3606.

Geography

Elevation, geology and soil The entire ward sits on top of the North Downs and, taken as a whole, slopes gradually from 200m AOD in the south to 170m AOD in Upper Kingswood in the north. Kingswood is rectangular, less than 3 miles from north to south, and is under a mile broad.

Upper watercourses cut gentle valleys in this ward including between Lower Kingswood and Upper Kingswood where the land dips from 174m AOD in Lower Kingswood to 144 along Chipstead Lane that divides Lower and Upper Kingswood and is closer to Lower Kingswood – three residential streets around Chipstead Lane form Hogden Bottom, Lower Kingswood including Chipstead Lane itself. This ravine is accompanied by another, along which the Kingswood railway runs towards London, further down this joins the Hogden stream at Chipstead Bottom in a short distance at the east edge of the ward: here the elevation is only 111m AOD.

Upper Kingswood is lower than much of Lower Kingswood, however its gradients are less steep than the depths of Hogden Bottom between the two, fractionally closer to the developed southern part of Lower Kingswood and possibly considered part of it therefore. The main street is on average at a modest 166m AOD, with the central, station section at 147-152m AOD. Below to the northeast and northwest are Sutton and Epsom at 30-40m at their centres. The folding landscape around both explains the misnomer among the names.

Its geology is that of the North Downs, see Surrey – Geology; as to soil Chipstead, Banstead and Tadworth have the first free draining slightly acid loamy soil that tops the wider downs to Guildford and is found around Dorking.Cranfield University National Soil Resources Institute

Localities

Upper Kingswood or Kingswood This area had a population of 2,839 forming 1,055 households at the time of the 2001 Census. A garden residential estate bounded on the west by a narrow woodland green buffer separating the A217, which can only be accessed in both directions at the "Tadworth" roundabout, Kingswood Park, Garden Farm and the International School of Minting occupies the northwest; Kingswood Warren garden estate, the southwest.Map created by Ordnance Survey, courtesy of English Heritage Reigate is south of its centre and London is to the NNE.Grid reference Finder measurement tools

Kingswood village centre has several independent shops, a large mock-Tudor public house, the "Kingswood Arms", and Kingswood railway station in the dip of the main street, Waterhouse Lane. To the south side of the shopping parade is part of the undeveloped Green Belt giving views of the open fields of Garden Farm and meadows of Kingswood Park.

Lower Kingswood This settlement had a population of 2,099 forming 1,067 households at the time of the 2001 Census - the locality slopes down the A217, accessible to many properties and side-roads. Built-up side roads include: Buckland Road which has Kingswood Primary School; Stubbs Lane (the two meet at a high point of 191m AOD); Babylon Lane (by Kingswood Grange and Kingswood Manor); Smithy Lane and Green Lane. Kingswood recreation ground is here with tennis courts, playground and a pavilion for football pitches, bowls, park and woodland.Reigate and Banstead BC. Directory of local parks and countryside in the Borough, including details about facilities at each

Burgh Heath

Burgh Heath is a residential area (neighbourhood) with remnant part of the Banstead Commons of the same name. Immediately north of Upper Kingswood on the A217 road, it adjoins Banstead. Nork, Banstead is the neighbourhood directly north. The dual carriageway has meant that today there are two separate areas of housing: a larger part with shops on the main road and surrounding Canons Lane to the east and the other to the west close to the ponds, facing Burgh Heath and to distinguish it from the built up section, known to its residents as The Green. Burgh Heath had a population of 2,099 forming 839 households at the time of the 2001 Census.

Burgh Heath has a large supermarket store, a luxury sports car garage and Toyota's UK headquarters are located in the north of the area at Great Burgh. There is a parade of shops along the A217 of small independent retailers and several small restaurants. However, the majority of residents in the area are commuters out of the area.

Open areas of Burgh Heath The residential area is bordered to the south by the Burgh Heath itself, one of four parts of Banstead Commons, managed by the Banstead Commons Conservators and its byelaws. It is bordered east and north by farmland leading to Banstead Woods, managed by local authority Reigate and Banstead borough council.H.E. Malden, Victoria County History 1911 – Burgh Heath

Beside the supermarket is a triangular wood in part of which is Burgh Heath BMX Track.

Mugswell On a very sparsely built upon part of the southern part of the same crest of the North Downs, traditionally in Banstead parish also, hence in the Banstead Heath protected area, is a small hamlet named Mugswell. It is separated by a narrow green buffer south of Kingswood and another, ENE of Lower Kingswood.

Transport