Belmont is a village in the

London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is a London borough in south-west London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to ...

, in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, ...

, England. It is located off the

A217 road The A217 is a road in London and Surrey in England. It runs north–south. It runs from Kings Road in Fulham, London, crosses the Thames at Wandsworth Bridge, then passes through Wandsworth, Earlsfield, Summerstown, Tooting, Mitcham, Rosehi ...

and near to

Banstead Downs Banstead Downs is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Banstead in Surrey. There are Saxon burial mounds on the site and they are a Scheduled Monument Today, with wooded areas and wide open fields, Banstead Downs are predominant ...

in Surrey. It is a suburban development situated 10.8 miles (17.4 km) south-southwest of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

History

Belmont did not exist until the late 19th century.Sparkes, Roland (2009) ''Belmont: A Century Ago''. Belmont railway station opened in May 1865 and was originally called 'California Station', named after the California Arms

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

on the opposite side of Brighton Road which was built by John Gibbons in approximately 1858. The station was renamed 'Belmont' in 1875, and the name was attached to the village that emerged subsequently. The original pub was heavily damaged by German bombing in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The new building, built on the site in 1955, was known as "The California" later changed to 'The Belmont', but in 2014, under new management, reverted to its original name of 'The California'. St. John's Church (C of E) stands in Queens Road, near the end of the small High Street ("Station Road").

Banstead Hospital and the emergence of Belmont

The village of Belmont strongly owed its development to the presence of

Banstead Asylum Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, south-west of Croydon, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four ...

. Although located in the parish of

Banstead Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, south-west of Croydon, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four ma ...

, the asylum was much closer to the village and railway station of Belmont than those of Banstead. The site is now occupied by HM Prison High Down.

Belmont Hospital and the South Metropolitan District School

Belmont Hospital was a psychiatric hospital. It closed and was demolished in the 1980s. The site is now occupied by the 'Belmont Heights' housing development, which is situated to the west of Brighton Road, to the north of Belmont village. Belmont Hospital opened after the Second World War. The premises had previously fulfilled a number of different institutional purposes. For example, during World War II it was used as an emergency hospital for military and civilian casualties, including psychiatric cases. The oldest buildings on the site, built in the early 1850s, had originally been a large

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of h ...

residential 'district' school belonging to the South Metropolitan Schools District. This institution catered for pauper children from several parishes in south-east London. Along with its nearby annex site, built in 1884 in Cotswold Road (formerly Banstead Road), this establishment closed in 1902. The premises at both sites were then acquired by the

Metropolitan Asylums Board The Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) was established under Poor Law legislation to deal with London's sick and poor. It was established by the Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 and dissolved in 1930, when its functions were transferred to the London Coun ...

. Some of the buildings of the Cotswold Road site still exist.

Public institutions

*The

Royal Marsden Hospital The Royal Marsden Hospital (RM) is a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London based in Kensington and Chelsea, next to the Royal Brompton Hospital, in Fulham Road with a second site in Belmont, close to Sutton Hospital, High Down and D ...

is a specialist cancer treatment hospital. It is an

NHS Foundation Trust A foundation trust is a semi-autonomous organisational unit within the National Health Service in England. They have a degree of independence from the Department of Health and Social Care (and, until the abolition of SHAs in 2013, their local st ...

, and operates facilities on two sites, including one in Belmont, Sutton. The original buildings on the site were first used as the

Road branch of the South Metropolitan District School, which was a 'district' school for children of

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

inmates in south London. In the 1890s, girls were kept at the Banstead Road site and boys were kept at a site in Brighton Road, which was built in 1851. The Brighton Road site later became Belmont workhouse and Belmont Psychiatric hospital, before being demolished in the 1980s. The Banstead Road site later became a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are ofte ...

, before the southern half of the site was acquired by Royal Marsden in 1962. *The

Institute of Cancer Research The Institute of Cancer Research (the ICR) is a public research institute and a member institution of the University of London in London, United Kingdom, specialising in oncology. It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the Royal M ...

is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

research institute and university located on two London sites and specialised in

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

. It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the

. It established its Belmont, Sutton campus site in 1956. It joined the University of London in 2003. *Sutton Hospital

Green Space

In addition to Belmont Park, Belmont contains two Local Nature Reserves. *

Cuddington Meadows Cuddington Meadows is a 1.4 hectare Local Nature Reserve and Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade I, in Belmont in the London Borough of Sutton. It is owned by Sutton Council and managed by the council together with Sutton Na ...

is a Grade I Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation. The site was shown as two enclosures on the open Banstead Downs on an early nineteenth century map, and it was later part of Walnut Tree Farm, which became Cuddington Hospital in 1897. The hospital closed in 1984, and in the late 1990s the land was transferred to Sutton Council to be managed for nature conservation. It is mainly chalk grassland with some scrub. Its most important feature is a variety of unusual flowering plants, including

greater knapweed ''Centaurea scabiosa'', or greater knapweed, is a perennial plant of the genus ''Centaurea''. It is native to Europe and bears purple flower heads. Greater knapweed is found growing in dry grasslands, hedgerows and cliffs on lime-rich soil. Upri ...

lady's bedstraw ''Galium verum'' (lady's bedstraw or yellow bedstraw) is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Israel, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kamchatka. It is ...

and

field scabious ''Knautia arvensis'', commonly known as field scabious, is a herbaceous perennial species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. Description It is a perennial plant that grows between . It prefers grassy places and dry ...

. *

Belmont Pastures Belmont Pastures is a 1.3 hectare Local Nature Reserve and Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation, Grade II, in Belmont in the London Borough of Sutton. It is owned by Sutton Council and managed by the council together with Sutton Na ...

is a Grade II Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation. It is a long narrow triangle north of Belmont railway station. It is an old meadow which formerly belonged to Belmont Hospital. Just to the south of the village is Banstead Downs, which extends for around a mile further south towards neighbouring

Banstead, Surrey Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, south-west of Croydon, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four mai ...

. Banstead Downs is a large Site of Special Scientific Interest, covering 430 acres (170 ha). Banstead Golf Course is on the northern slopes.

Economy

Station Road is the main commercial street of Belmont Village, containing a range of mainly independent shops and restaurants. It runs for about a quarter of a mile from Belmont Station in the east to St John's Church in the west. One mile to the north lies the larger economic centre of

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a location * Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire * S ...

. Nearby,

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai As ...

's Belmont Garage is located in here and many shops like Charlies Sweet Shop, Best-one, Eclipsehair, The

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, Belmont Conservative Club, The Good Home, London and Belcher Florlist, Belmont Food and Wines, Modern Mortgage Solutions, May May House, Zest, Kirkby Pharmacy, SnowStar Dry Cleaners, Belmont Barbers, Curryzma, UK Windows Limited, Ann Charles Property Services, The Little Ironing and Dry Cleaning Shop, Belmont Chiropody Practice, Hair Studio, FM & LJ Stenning, Cafeina Cafe, Belmont Dental Practice,Village Bakers and Haweli.

Nearest places

Belmont War Memorial, looking north-west

to the north *

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to t ...

to the west *

to the south *

Carshalton Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshal ...

to the east

Transport

Belmont railway station is on the

Epsom Downs Epsom Downs is an area of chalk upland near Epsom, Surrey; in the North Downs. Part of the area is taken up by the racecourse, the gallops are part of the land purchased by Stanly Wootton in 1925 and are open to users such as ramblers, model ...

branchline and the London Victoria to Epsom Downs line. It is part of the

Sutton & Mole Valley Line The Sutton and Mole Valley lines were constructed between 1847 and 1868 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, the London and South Western Railway and the LBSCR-sponsored Horsham, Dorking and Leatherhead Railway. Services Services ...

services of the

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

rail operating company, and is in London

Travelcard Zone 5 Fare zone 5 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail Nation ...

. TFL Buses also run in this area.

Former residents

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...

(1947–1993), World

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

motor-racing champion 1976. *

Lord Judd Frank Ashcroft Judd, Baron Judd, (28 March 1935 – 17 April 2021) was a British Labour politician. He was a Senior Fellow of Saferworld NGO from 1994 to 2002, and from 2002 to 2015, a trustee. In 2007, he became a member of the Advisory Board ...

(1935-2021) former director of Oxfam. As Frank Judd he was MP for constituencies in Portsmouth from 1966 to 1979. *

Don Lusher Don Lusher OBE (6 November 1923 – 5 July 2006) was an English jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he played trombone with a number of jazz orchestras ...

(1923–2006), trombonist and jazz band leader *

Lord Ritchie-Calder Peter Ritchie Calder, Baron Ritchie-Calder, (1906 – 1982) was a Scottish socialist writer, journalist and academic. Early life Peter Ritchie Calder was born on 1 July 1906 in Forfar, Angus, Scotland. Career Calder first worked as a journ ...

(1906–1982), journalist and environment expert *

Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrant ...

(1876–1975), viola-player *

Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948, Worcester Park, Surrey, U.K.) is a British conductor. Wordsworth is Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Ballet and has had a long relationship with company. He was first appointed as Assistant Condu ...

(born in Cheam 1948), orchestral conductor – music director. *

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English botanist, television presenter, author and environmental campaigner. Early and personal life Bellamy was born in London to parents Winifred May (née Green) and Thom ...

(1933–2019), Botanist, author and academic.

References

External links

* Belmont Local History group

* Map of Belmont area, Streetmap website, Streetmap.co.u

{{LB Sutton Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Sutton