Village2

As a follow up to Judy Parfitt's article, which appeared in our September 2001 issue of Village News, we are pleased to be able to reproduce a map of the village dating from 1874.

The Liberty of Lower Kingswood in 1874

Many of the present day roads are shown - even though the Brighton Road isn't named as such. Interestingly in 1874 Buckland Road was a Lane and Smithy Lane was a Road! 'The Park' occupied the area now covered Rookery Way, Josephine Avenue etc., and obviously 'The Rookery' was to give its name to Rookery Way.

The 'Common Fields' were generally ploughed in the Middle Ages and derive from the surplus land of a Manor upon which the Villains (or Freemen) had rights inherited from Saxon times. This map (just) pre-dates the period of litigation commencing in 1877, when the then Lord of the Manor, who lived at Warren House, Kingswood - located just to the north of Chipstead Lane - attempted (along with his supporters) to buy-up and enclose 1,300 acres of common land at Banstead Downs and sell it off for vast profits for building. Fortunately he was - after 17½ years of litigation - defeated and bankrupted (again along with many of his supporters!) by the legal costs involved.

Among the latter day owners of Warren House was Sir Henry Cosmo Bonsor who, in 1892 in conjunction with Dr Edwin Hanson Freshfield, built the Church of the Wisdom of God Church. A year later the original building of the present Kingswood Primary School was opened in Buckland Road.

'The Fox' (PH) is shown on the 1874 map, as is the milestone (MS) - giving distances to London, Sutton, Brighton and Reigate ( 18, 7, 33 and 3 miles respectively); both still remain although the former was renamed a few years back to 'The Fox on the Hill' and the milestone is now sadly marooned and neglected in the middle of the dual carriageway opposite the recreation ground.

Ruffet Wood is no more, being now occupied by houses along the Brighton Road and Lyonsdene; but the name lives on in the house name of 'The Ruffets' (by the Babylon Lane roundabout). As Judy mentioned in her article Cheasley Town occupied the Buckland Road/Stubbs Lane area around 'The Mint Arms'. (NB. The word "mint" appears in the name of a number of buildings in Banstead and the surrounding area and is a reminder of the crop which was grown in the vicinity from the late 18th century and whose oil went to sweet factories in Mitcham.)

We can imagine that the population of Lower Kingswood in 1874 was probably only a few hundred; according to the results of the 1991 Census the population was 2,759. (NB.This latter figure can be compared with similar figures published for the surrounding villages of: 2,058 in Chipstead, 2,569 in Kingswood, 4,316 in Tadworth and 1,783 in Walton on the Hill.)

Editors note: the map is copyright © and/or Database Right Landmark Information Group and Ordnance Survey Crown Copyright and/or Database Right 2001. All Rights Reserved.

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--- Mugswell Memories ---

Lower Kingswood isn't just the area either side of the A217 round the Wisdom of God Church and The Fox On The Hill public house - its frontiers are rather more distant. I should know because I live on one. At the top of Monkwell Lane is a group of eight cottages on one side of the hill and another cottage on the other; the remaining fourteen houses and The Mission Hall are in Chipstead - our frontier is the Parish boundary.

We seem to be in 'no-man's land', Chipstead Residents' Association (although we joined) never seemed to consider us and, until we discovered the newsletter at David's Kingswood News, we weren't even aware of a Lower Kingswood one!

In 1958, when we first moved in, our links with the village were quite strong. Lower Kingswood was still a village then, with at least two butchers, two general grocers (the Co-operative and Roberts), greengrocer/fishmonger, delicatessen/bakers, hairdresser, post office/newsagents, woolshop/haberdashers, and the wonderful Dunns, who could show you exactly how to make/repair anything in the house and garden - and Loddy. Dear Loddy, the fount of all wisdom and Welsh cheer, in the chemists. His own cough mixture was so wonderful - its base was sherry!

In those days Roberts delivered on Saturdays, the butcher twice a week, milk was delivered every day and the baker every other day - so we didn't feel isolated.

Then along came 'road improvements' and the beautiful avenue of beeches (mentioned in Cobbett's Rural Rides) from St. Andrews to Chipstead Lane bit the dust. The A217 was widened and Lower Kingswood as a village almost vanished. Both sides of the village were virtually cut off from each other as it became more and more dangerous to cross the road. It hasn't improved over the years either. Even with the pedestrian crossing it is still wiser to wait until ALL the traffic has stopped before venturing across, even if the 'green man' is showing in your favour.

The shops gradually closed, customers acquired cars and went elsewhere. I used to push a pram the mile to the shops two or three times a week when my son was small. I even did it with my foster children some time later. Our last one was surprised that everyone knew each other, and that we were greeted with smiles everywhere we went. Mind you she was the teensiest bit worried when Dr. Ursula stopped us to ask "have they started stringing you up by your thumbs yet?". Only to be bested by her brother Dr. Paul who said (with a wicked twinkle) "you're getting better with the make-up, I can't see the bruises any more."

Now few people recognise us 'frontiers people' - only a couple of us Golden Oldies manage to stagger to the village each week to collect our pensions from David.

How times have changed!

Audrey Day

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--- Some Historical Notes... ---

Mugswell is the location of one of the 10 remaining windmills in Surrey; of these, one is derelict, six have been converted - usually into houses (including the one at Mugswell), two have been restored and one is still in working order. Mugswell was a 'post windmill' where the whole body of the mill (not just the sails) pivoted on a vertical post enabling the sails to be brought into the wind. The rotating body of the mill was typically made of wood.

The Mugswell post mill - located off Monkswell Lane - was built in 1821, ceased grinding in 1895 and was partially demolished in 1912. Only the roundhouse remains and bears the inscription 532 (its height in feet above sea level). If you want to see what this type of windmill might have looked like in its working days, a visit to the Outwood post mill is a must as it is still in working order. Alternatively both the mills at Charlwood and Reigate Heath have been restored and are accessible to the public.

Just over the 'frontier' in Chipstead Lane is the Well House Inn. The Inn itself dates from the 14th century (and has three bars each with a log fire), but the garden contains a well, which is known as St. Margaret's Well or Mag's Well. The name of Mugswell is derived from the latter and this well is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Even today this 100-foot deep well still enables our local Sutton and East Surrey Water company to regularly monitor the water levels in the underground aquifers which provide 85% of its supplies.

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-- BBC Kingswood Warren --

The Kingswood Warren mansion was originally built in the 1830s by Thomas Alcock, who also built nearby St Andrew's church. Some features of his house survive, but it has been much altered by subsequent owners, amongst them Sir John Cradock Hartopp (who fought and lost a long legal battle to enclose the commons); Cosmo Bonsor (a financier who was Chairman of the Southern Railway and was responsible for the building of the Tattenham Corner line) and Joseph Rank (founder of the Rank milling empire).

Until early in he 20th century most of Lower Kingswood belonged to the Kingswood Warren estate, which at one time stretched from Burgh Heath to the top of Reigate Hill. The estate was broken up and sold in 1912 by Sir Cosmo Bonsor, and the Kingswood Warren mansion is now the home of the BBC's technical Research and Development department.

The house with its surrounding grounds was bought by the BBC after the Second World War, and its Research Department moved there from Bagley Croft near Oxford. Since then, engineers at Kingswood have led many advances in broadcasting technology - the choice of a colour TV system for the UK, the first electronic TV standards converter, teletext, NICAM stereo, digital radio and - most recently - digital TV.

In the last few years, the main reception rooms of the mansion have been restored (one of them was a laboratory for many years) for use as a conference suite for national and international technical meetings and demonstrations.

On the weekend of 11th/12th September, Kingswood Warren will open its doors to members of the public as part of the national weekend of Heritage Open Days. Organised by the Civic Trust, the weekend opens up the doors of buildings of historical or architectural interest that are normally closed to the public.

The grounds of Kingswood Warren and the main reception rooms of the old mansion will be open between 10:00am & 4:00pm on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September, with small exhibitions on the architecture and history of the mansion, and on the BBC at Kingswood. There will also be an opportunity to guess what is behind the secret door in the panelling in the drawing room - and to visit the virtual reality studio to see if you were right! Entrance is free.

Kingswood Warren is off the southbound carriageway of A217, just south of the Tadworth roundabout. Parking is available in the grounds. Drinks and light refreshments will be on sale.

Open Days organiser Andrew Oliphant, Head of Transmission Group at BBC R&D, said “We look forward to welcoming local people to Kingswood Warren on Heritage Open Days. We hope visitors will see not only a building that has played its part in local history, but also how R&D helps the BBC deliver quality and value for money to the licence payers, our viewers and listeners”.

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