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1 – Railway Station
2 – Aviator Park
3 – Victory Park
4 – The George
5 – Hatch Farm
6 – The Crouch Oak
7 – Crouch Oak Green Estate
8 – Baptist Chapel
9 – Churchill House
10 – Dukes Court
11 – Bank House
12 – High Street
13 – Simplemarsh Road
15 – St. Augustine’s irfield
16 – Simplemarsh Farm
17 – St Paul’s Close. St. Paul’s School
18 – St Paul’s Church
19 – Addlestone Park
20 – Sayes Court Lodge
21 – Crockford Bridge
22 – Crockford Bridge Farm
23 – Coxes Lock Mills
24 – Wey Navigation
25 – Weybridge Business Park
26 – St George’s College
27 – Albert Road
1 –
Railway Station
Originally built in 1848 when the L&SWR completed the Weybridge-Chertsey branch railway, with the platform originally on the south side of the crossing. Note the fine cast-iron pillars on the present platforms. The journey to London at first took 50 minutes. In 1973 the original manually operated level crossing gates were replaced by the present continental-style barriers.
2 –
Aviator Park
Originally the site of the Bleriot Aeroplane Factory demolished in 2002. After World War I the factory made the Bleriot-Whippet Cycle-Car, Eric Longden small car and various light aircraft. Weymanns Motor Bodies from 1927 built buses, ambulances and, later on, military vehicles. In the late 1960s after Caddy (coachbuilders of Chertsey), Plessey Radar leased the site and developed it until 1990 when Marconi took over. The buildings have been demolished and in 2001 Aviator Park was developed. See “Air-Road-Sea Addlestone” by J.H. Rowe (1992) for a fuller story.
3 –
Victory Park
This land was once part of Captain’s Farm, owned by Lt. Col. de Visme (who fought in the Peninsula War). Gen. Sir James Brunker of Fairoaks, Liberty Lane, opened the floral gardens and football field opened in 1919. The gates and entire park are a dedicated war memorial thus making it the largest in the UK and unique, all thanks to the generosity of Councillor Constantine Doresa. In the 1930s the cricket field and bowling green areas were added with tennis courts purchased from Addlestone Hard Courts Club.
4 –
The George
Addlestone’s oldest inn. The building is probably of 16th century date with 18th century additions and has been an inn of the same name since at least 1775. Addlestone at that time consisted mainly of a cluster of cottages around The George and some more between the Crouch Oak and Simplemarsh Road. Some, dating from arouond 1800, still survive and, like The George, are Listed Buildings. In the early to mid-19th century the landlord also operated from the inn as a butcher…It closed in August 2019.
5 –
Hatch Farm
North of the railway bridge, the oldest parts date from the 17th century, including a four-bay barn with some original queen post trusses and tie beams. The farm was the home for many years of the Roake family who were yeoman farmers and brick makers.
6 –
The Crouch Oak
Traditionally said to be one of Britain’s oldest trees and erroneously said to be a boundary marker of Windsor Forest, its name derived perhaps from either its low, crouching form produced by pollarding; from a crutch holding up a main branch; or from a cross placed on it as a marker. For long known as Wycliffe’s Oak after the medieval scholar reputed to have preached here, it was definitely the scene of a sermon by the Reverend Spurgeon in 1872. It was fenced in c1810 by de Visme to prevent village maidens stripping the bark to make a love potion! A section from the main branch has been dated by dendrochronology for the Addlestone Historical Society. This revealed that the central ring of this branch was formed in 1670 and so the main (but hollow) trunk is very much older. A new oak was planted a short distance from the Crouch Oak to celebrate the start of the new millenium.
7 –
Crouch Oak Green Estate
Once the site of the Princess Mary Village Homes, only its iron gates indicate this once extensive “refuge for daughters of convict mothers, girls from destitute families or otherwise in need of protection”. It was set up in 1871, pioneering the family type of residential home. It later became an Approved School, named after Queen Mary’s mother, the Duchess of Teck. The turret clock and and an iron arch from the gateway are preserved at Chertsey Museum. The buildings and chapel were demolished in 1978. Note the fine gates, the posts of which were madeby the foundry of Herring & Son of Chertsey.
8 –
Baptist Chapel
The first Baptist chapel on this site was an existing building converted in 1840 afterthe loss of the earlier chapel and owned by Rev. R. Bowyer in 1812. The present chapel was built in 1872 to seat 330 people. Note the foundation stone laid by the Rev. Spurgeon.
Churchill House now stands on the site of “The Railway Arms” public house which opened in the 1850’s but was known as “The Magnet” by 1870. For a long time the pub sign was a horseshoe shaped magnet. This was replaced by a picture of Billy Bunter when “The Magnet” comic became popular.
In the 1990’s the name changed to “The Station House”, with a sign depicting a steam train, a reflection of its original name. The Station House eventually closed and was unoccupied for several years leading up to its demolition.
Churchill House – a new residential development began shortly after demolition of The Station House and was completed in 2011.
9 –
Churchill House
Originally the site of “The Railway Arms” which opened in the 1850s but was known as “The Magnet” by 1870. For a long time the sign was a horse shoe-shaped magnet. This was replaced by a picture of Bill Bunter when “The Magnet” comic became popular. In the 1990s it changed its name to “The Station House” referring to its origins. It was demolished in 2010.
10 –
Dukes Court
“The Duke’s Head” was built following the enclosure of the Chertsey Beomonds manor which covered most of modern Addlestone. This pub was constructed at the new crossroads in 1815 by John Drewett, Inn keeper of Chertsey. It was probably named after the Duke of York, then a major local landowner resident at Oatlands Park.A single storey extension was formerly a billiard room opening onto a bowling green on which the establishment prided itself in the 1880’s.For a long time The Duke’s Head was the main residential hotel, with a clientele of “tradesmen and respectable working class” (according to Rawlings Directory). The pub is now demolished and replaced by apartments. In the latter part of the 20th Century it became the headquarters of the Chertsey and Addlestone Band. The adjacent bus stop is still referred to as “The Dukes Head Coach Stop”
“Bank House” was constructed opposite “The Duke’s Head”. It originally opened as The London County & Westminster Bank in the First World War (and previously at No.3 High Street). Both this and the current Citizens Advice Bureau (dating from 1954) in Church Road were built on the site of Kingthorpe, home of Mr. T. Weeding, JP, a local dignitary. Part of the original boundary wall can be seen in Kingthorpe Gardens to the rear of the Citizens Advice Bureau.
11 –
Bank House
“Glendinning House” is now on the site once occupied by Tavener’s, also known as “The Bentalls of Addlestone”. Demolished in December 1995. Developed from two cottages, the original shop was occupied by Fox, later Wyles. From 1921 to 1950 it became Taverners, a large draper’s, and finally, in 1988,Brouder & Wilshire, a carpet and furniture shop.
Opposite, the dry cleaner’s building hides an earlier post office while the row of small shops of 1870 on the west side were known as Devonshire Terrace.
A pub stood on the Holly Tree site as early as 1841
Opposite is the light cream brick fronted house (24-24A, High Street) built for his son by John Cree, who owned a nursery where the Bank House now stands. In 1829 Cree published a catalogue Hortus Addlestonensis, giving local gardening information. This site later became Kingthorpe: part of its boundary wall can be seen near the Citizens Advice Bureau in red brick.
12 –
High Street
(unavailable)
13 –
Simplemarsh Road – Chapelfields
The name of this road may come from Schimpe (small marsh) and Pul (pool), or may refer to where “simples” (medicinal herbs) were gathered. In the 1840s John Mitchell Kemble, Anglo-Saxon scholar and brother of actress Fanny Kemble, lived here Chapelfields. This name and that of streets to the north comes from land owned by a chapel of Chertsey Abbey. No. 47 (Keighley Cottage) looks like a church , and indeed was the Methodist centre from 1885-1897, when the present church was completed in Station Road. The Waggon and Horses pub was originally a corrugated iron shack of a beerhouse next to No.45; hence the nickname “The Tin House”. Just south of the road can be seen Tipton Cottages, a row of back-to-backs c1840. No.39 with its crooked eaves and Gothic style, dates from 1886 (though its chimneys were reduced in 1981) – survivor of a popular villa style in Addlestone.
15 –
St. Augustine’s Home/Convent
Built on the site of “Firfield”. Previously owned by J.A. Tulk (after whome Tulk Hall in Addlestone Community Centre is named). In the 1850s Firfield was the residence of authors Samuel Carter Hall (who edited an art journal) and Anna Maria Hall (who wrote many novels and The Book of the Thames). Both were benefactors of St. Paul’s Church and School. The lady’s portrait is in Chertsey Museum along with a copy of her popular book. Charles Dickens was part of their extensive literary circle of friends and is said to have visited their home.
16 –
Simplemarsh Farm
A small housing development was approved in 2004 saving the site from being developed for a motorway service complex. The farm is now demolished and replaced by a small residential gated community. The farm was originally part of Chertsey Abbey estate with a long list of occupiers, including Viscount Castlemaine, Thomas la Coste (a Chertsey banker) and Joseph Vincent (a member of the first Chertsey Urban District Council of 1894).
17 –
St. Paul’s Close/St. Paul’s School
These houses were built in 1991/2 on the site of the original St. Paul’s School, which was started in 1841 with 67 boys and 60 girls; enlarged in 1851; and demolished in 1990. In 1901 a boy’s school (demolished in 1989) was built opposite. (Read the AHS Monograph on these schools for more detail). The photograph shows small semi-detached cottages in front were for the schoolmaster and schoolmistress.
18 –
St. Paul’s Church
The church was completed in 1838 at a cost of £3,760, and altered and enlarged several times, especially 1883 and 1903. Memorials and windows inside are well worth study including a plaque dedicated to Anna Maria Hall and Samuel Carter Hall of Firfield. Addlestone became a separate parish in 1857. Subsequently damaged by fire in 2003 it is now restored. To the west (towards the M25) lies the new vicarage, built in 1986 to replace the original building of 1838 that was built for £986, including piggeries to the back. The present vicarage being adjacent to the church. To the east lie the Gardens to mark the 1953 Coronation, laid out in the former Burial Ground. Nearby, and forming part of the RAOB Club building is the “Red Room”, a late Victorian parish reading room that was later used as a workshop by St. Paul’s School.
19 –
Addlestone Park
Two nearly life-sized stone knights, now in safe storage by Runnymede Borough Council, used to stand on brick pedestals at the entrance to Addlestone Park until 1972. Various theories regarding their origin exist including being located by Sir Charles Wetherell of Sayes Court in 1823, or later by Daniel Thorne, antique dealer of Addlestone Park House, or come from Tudor House (Darley Dene) on the site of the Civic Offices in Station Road (extended in 1985). Their style suggesting a mid Victorian date.
20 –
Sayes Court Lodge
This building, variously dated to the 16th and 17th century, was probably here in 1772 and became the entrance lodge to Jacobean-style Sayes Court, approached via an avenue of lime trees. Walter de Saye owned land south of the Thames in 1276; among later occupiers were Sir Bartholemew Reed (Lord Mayor of London), Sir Richard Weston (whose family constructed the Wey Navigation) and James Paine (architect of Chertsey Bridge). The last owners of the house, the Rastricks, allowed it to decay till its demolition in 1928.
21 –
Crockford Bridge
The Bridge connects Brighton Road and New Haw Road. In 1926 the present structure replaced a narrow bridge with wooden sides. The new bridge also straightened the direction of the road, covering the watersplash (ford) previously there. Crockford may mean “crooked ford”. Some kind of bridge must have existed here since 1666 because records state that Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I and Lady of the Manor, was liable for its repair in that year.
22 –
Crockford Bridge Farm
Follow the bending footpath and some parts of the farmhouse may be seen, including 500-year-old buildings and the Granary (which is listed). A bomb damaged the Dutch-style gable during World War II. The Locke-King family (of Woburn Park and Brooklands fame) owned this farm c1900, then known as Pyle’s Farm.
23 –
Coxes Lock Mill
Beyond the extensive mill pond that used to power the machinery with a good head of water, the footpath passes by this mill complex, possibly named after a lock-keeper called Coxe. From 1777 its water was used to power an iron mill, originally built by the Wealden ironmasters Raby and Rogers, which operated on the site until 1832 and was rebuilt as corn and silk mills by 1835. The massive mill and silo buildings were erected during the first decade of the 20th century. Flour milling ceased in 1983 and the site was redeveloped as a residential complex and the concrete building demolished.
24 –
Wey Navigation
From the footbridge across the railway can be seen the first true canal built in England since Roman times, today lined with small craft. An Act of Parliament in 1651 approved the canal’s course from Weybridge to Guildford (later extended to Godalming) and it opened to traffic in 1653, bypassing the River Wey’s meander to the south. The Pelican public house beside the canal, appears to be middle 19th century and was rebuilt in 1922. Originally being built to serve the bargees.
25 –
Weybridge Business Park
The Park was redeveloped in 1998 and was the site of Airscrew Howden, where some 80% of propellers used by British World War II aircraft (up to 2,000 blades a week) were produced. Nearby, the World War I Lang Propeller Factory, now demolished, wasalso a large scale enterprise. Aero engines were tested in this area during World War 1, some by Gordon Watney, who also tuned early cars here.
26 –
St. George’s College
The College was opened here in 1884 by Roman Catholic Brothers of the Josephite order from a core of school buildings previously owned by Baron Petre around Woburn Park House. Some 61 boys moved over from the St. George’s College, Croydon (formed in 1869). Woburn (it means “crooked stream”) is named after the Bourne crossing Chertsey Meads, and gave its name to the medieval family living on the estate. In 1735 Philip Southcote purchased the land and created an “ornamental farm” with grotto and follies, arches and gateways – some of them designed by William Kent. The original rustic entrance can still be seen from the main road.
27 –
Albert Road
The footpath across the Bourne leads into the 1880s period Albert Road. In 1882 the second school in Addlestone was built here, St. Augustine’s School, which was also the first St. Augustine’s, the second school in Addlestone, built here in 1882, closed in 1983 and was demolished in 1987. the school building also served as a church until the “tin church” of St. Augustine’s was constructed near the St. George’s College entrance in 1891. The present building, now the SurreyMuslim Centre, dates from 1939 and has a foundation stone on its north side. (Read AHS monograph on St. Augustine’s School). The Albert Dairy used to stand on the corner with Station Road, which became Steadman’s builders. It is now demolished and replaced by flats; the school was demolished in 1986 and replaced by Regency Court. The allotments by the footpath are now St. Augustine’s Green, a small public open space.
28 –
Alexandra Road
Note the late-Victorian terrace cottages with glazed tiles over the windows. The new business park buildings at the far end are on the site of a linoleum works built in the late 1870s (with associated cottages opposite). By 1904 the property was taken over by Sunbury Leather Co. and from 1946 was occupied by Taylor & Penton, part of the John Lewis Group.
29 –
The Broadway
Beyond the railway crossing, look across to the sign above No. 155 Station Road, which became a cycle shop in 1913 and was known from 1950 to 1988 as Berry Dicker’s. These shops were built around 1884
30 –
The Old Fire Station
The building in Corrie Road was built in 1890 to house the Volunteer Fire Brigade’s horse drawn engine. There was a serious fire here in 1903 after a member of the brigade, it was alleged, carelessly threw a lighted cigarette into a sawdust filled spittoon!
31 –
The Crouch Oak Pub
This public house was built in the 1860s and was known until 1959 as the Railway Tavern. The garden originally extended as far as corrie Road.
32 –
Gleeson Mews
A London Transport bus station and garage stood here from early 1933 until demolition in 1999. (There was an earlier bus garage on or near Weymann’s site (see 2) from 1930). Named after Gerry Gleeson, once landlord of the Duke’s Head and later Mayor of Runnymede.
33 –
Tesco Store
A new store was built for TESCO and opened here in 2001 on the former site of the Co-op store built in 1902 and enlarged in 1904. This store was originally the Addlestone and District Industrial Co-op. It was redeveloped during the 1980s and 1990s until it was finally closed and demolished immediately prior to the building of TESCO.
34 –
The Methodist Church
The church was built in 1898/9 at a cost of £2,454 to replace the outgrown chalel in Simplemarsh Road (see 14). It was located next to the Village Hall, (built 1887), which was converted into a cinema, later the Plaza, in 1924: it closed in 1953 and was demolished in 1972. Osprey House now stands on this site.
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