Sanderstead is a village and medieval-founded church parish at the southern end of
Croydon in south London, England, within the
London Borough of Croydon, and formerly in the
historic county of
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, until 1965. It takes in Purley Downs and Sanderstead Plantation, an area of woodland that includes the second-
highest point in London. Sanderstead sits above a
dry valley at the edge of the built-up area of
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality
*Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
*Greater (song), "Greate ...
. Cementing its secular identity from the late 19th century until abolition in 1965 it had a
civil parish council. The community had a smaller farming-centred economy until the mid 19th century.
All Saints' Church's construction began in about 1230 followed by great alterations and affixing of monuments including a poem attributed to
John Dryden, the first
Poet Laureate nationally; it is protected under UK law as
Grade I listed.
Sanderstead station is at the foot of the dry valley and has frequent, fast trains to
East Croydon
East Croydon is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, Greater London, England, and is located in Travelcard Zone 5. At from , it is one of the busiest non-terminal stations in London, and in the United Kingdom as a whole. It is one of t ...
, connected to a range of
London terminals and interchanges. Sanderstead is claimed to an origin of the English
Sanders
Sanders may refer to:
People
Surname
* Sanders (surname)
* Bernie Sanders, US presidential candidate and senator
* Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary and daughter of Mike Huckabee
* Colonel Sanders, founder of KFC (Kentuc ...
surname, noting at least four separate geographical clusters formed by the 19th century, two of which were by 1881 far more populous.
Sanderstead's
Interwar
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...
growth coincided with the electrification of the
Southern Railway leaving largely a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
an community of households having at least one commuter to central London or
Croydon.
History
![Sanderstead church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Sanderstead_church.jpg)
There is evidence of prehistoric human activity in and around Sanderstead. In 1958–60 the Sanderstead Archaeological Group excavated in the vicinity of Sanderstead pond and revealed the presence of man as far back as the Mesolithic Period nearly 12,000 years ago, as well as pottery fragments dated between 100 AD and 1300 AD and a bronze belt from the end of the Saxon era. North of the village at
Croham Hurst, upon a wooded hill, are circular barrows believed to be from a
Bronze Age settlement. This is now part of a public open space and the site is marked by a brass monument. A
Romano-British homestead (small farming settlement) was discovered during the construction of the Atwood School. During the 1980s, when the school was extended, further excavation revealed the remains of several round huts, hearths, a brooch, and pottery, some of which hailed from
North Africa.
An
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
reference to Sanderstead can be found in the will, dated 871, of Alfred, an ealdorman. The village lay within the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
administrative division of
Wallington hundred. It later appears to have been given to St Peter's Abbey, Winchester (
Hyde Abbey) by Æthelflæd, the wife of
Edgar the Peaceful and mother of
Edward the Martyr, where it remained after the
Norman Conquest.
Sanderstead appears in the
Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Sandestede'', and belonging to St Peter's Abbey, Winchester. It had a noted population (probably of just the adult males) of 26 including 21 villagers, 4 slaves and 1 cottager. Its Domesday assets were assessed as 5
hides, and 10
carucates of arable land. It had 9
plough
A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
s and wood worth 30
hogs. Its Domesday entry records that in the time of
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
it was valued at 100 shillings, and now 12 pounds; and yet it produces 15 pounds.
The village was granted to
Sir John Gresham by
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
following the
Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was passed to his son Richard who subsequently sold it to John Ownsted, the transfer being ratified in 1591. Ownsted died without issue in 1600, and devised his estates to his two sisters and cousin Harman Atwood, with Atwood subsequently purchasing the shares of his joint legatees. The Atwood family had a long association with Sanderstead, with inscriptions at the local church indicating a presence in the village from the reign of
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
.
The
manor house, known as
Sanderstead Court
Sanderstead Court was a country house in Sanderstead, Surrey, England, dating from at least the 17th century. It was destroyed by fire in 1944, and its ruins are Grade II listed.
History
The building is located next to the All Saints' Parish ...
, was substantially remodelled by Harman Atwood. This large country house was probably first constructed in the early sixteenth century. The Atwoods continued to occupy the house until 1778, when it was devised to Atwood Wigsell. It was turned into a hotel in 1928, and before the
Second World War it was used by the
Royal Air Force (RAF). It was very badly damaged by fire (not a bomb) in 1944 and was demolished in 1958. One very small part of the hotel building does however still stand. On the site now stands "Sanderstead Court", a three-storey block of flats.
One of the more curious aspects of Sanderstead is that it has no pub, unlike nearby
Warlingham which has around six.
On the edge of the village lies the site of the Old Saw Mill now home to a number of private residences and the picturesque setting for Sanderstead Cricket Club. Cricket has been played in the area since the 18th century, with matches recorded in 1731 and 1732. The ground itself has been in use since 1883 and continues to the present day with four teams playing in the Surrey Championship and a number of other Colts and friendly teams.
Located between Limpsfield Road and Kingswood Lane is the large ''Kings Wood''.
It derives its name from a small wood to the north of Kings Wood Lodge. In 1823, Ordnance Survey Maps called the wood Sanderstead Wood, but this might be due to a mistake.
It covers some 147½ acres, criss-crossed by ancient rides and is on relatively flat ground. It was purchased in 1937 under the Green Belt Act by the local council and is now public open space. There is the site of a Romano-British settlement on the northern boundary, a small farmstead undisturbed for 2000 years.
Education
Sanderstead has four schools, namely; Atwood Primary Academy, Gresham Primary School, Kingsdown Secondary School and Ridgeway Primary School. It is also conveniently placed for a number of others located within a couple of miles from the village including
Croydon High School
Croydon High School is an Independent school (UK), independent day school for girls located near Croydon, London, England. It is one of the original schools founded by the Girls' Day School Trust.
History
The school was founded in 1874 in Welles ...
,
Harris Academy Purley,
Riddlesdown Collegiate,
Royal Russell School
Royal Russell School is an independent school in the Shirley area of Croydon, South London. It is a co-educational day and boarding school. The motto of the school is ''Non sibi sed omnibus'' meaning "Not for one's self but for all". The school ...
,
The Quest Academy,
Thomas More Catholic School,
Warlingham School
Warlingham School is a large secondary school with pupils aged 11–16, and also has a sixth form for 16- to 18-year-olds. The school is located in the village of Warlingham, in Surrey, England. It is one of three other secondary schools in the ...
, and
Whitgift School.
Demography
In the
2011 census, Sanderstead was
White or
White British (80.3%),
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
or
Asian British
British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian people, Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as As ...
(9.5%),
Black or
Black British
Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–7 ...
(4.4%),
Mixed/multiple ethnic groups (3.8%), and Other ethnic group (0.9%). The largest single ethnicity is White British (76.2%).
The crime rate in 2014/15 in Sanderstead was 29.6, the 7th lowest out of the 628 wards of Greater London.
Politics
Sanderstead has consistently returned
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
MPs to the local seat of
Croydon South and has also returned Conservative members to the local council. Since the north of Croydon tends to return
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
councillors, a near-identical split in representation follows. The current MP for Croydon South is
Chris Philp.
Sanderstead is one of the twenty-four
wards constituting
Croydon London Borough Council. Three councillors are elected every four years to represent the ward on the Council. The current elected Councillors are:
Notable residents
In alphabetical order:
*
John Atwood (1576–1644), was the Assistant Governor of the
Plymouth Colony, in the US state of
Massachusetts, in 1638. His childhood was spent at
Sanderstead Court
Sanderstead Court was a country house in Sanderstead, Surrey, England, dating from at least the 17th century. It was destroyed by fire in 1944, and its ruins are Grade II listed.
History
The building is located next to the All Saints' Parish ...
.
*
Margaret Bondfield
Margaret Grace Bondfield (17 March 1873 – 16 June 1953) was a British Labour Party politician, trade unionist and women's rights activist. She became the first female cabinet minister, and the first woman to be a privy counsellor in th ...
(1873–1953), the first woman to sit in Cabinet in the United Kingdom (1929–1931), died in Sanderstead.
*
Ruth Ellis
Ruth Ellis ( née Neilson; 9 October 1926 – 13 July 1955) was a British nightclub hostess and convicted murderer who became the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom following the fatal shooting of her lover, David Blakely.
In her t ...
(1926–1955), the last woman to be executed in the UK, lived on Sanderstead Hill.
*
Charlie Kray (1933–1995), criminal and elder brother of gangsters Ronald and Reggie Kray, lived for a time in Limpsfield Road in the 1990s.
*
Laurier Lister
George Laurier Lister, OBE (22 April 1907 – 30 September 1986) was an English theatre writer, actor, director and producer, best known for a series of revues presented in London in the late 1940s and 1950s. He was later associated with Laurence ...
(1907–1986), theatre director and producer, was born in the village.
*
Stephen Rumbold Lushington (1775–1868), lived for a time at
Sanderstead Court
Sanderstead Court was a country house in Sanderstead, Surrey, England, dating from at least the 17th century. It was destroyed by fire in 1944, and its ruins are Grade II listed.
History
The building is located next to the All Saints' Parish ...
, and his daughter was born there in 1816. He was Joint Secretary of the Treasury (1824–7), Governor of Madras (1827–32), and MP for Rye (1807–12) and for Canterbury (1812–30).
*
Kate Moss
Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...
(born 1974), model, lived at Church Way as a child and teenager. She went to Ridgeway Primary School, then Riddlesdown High School.
*
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) was born in Broomhall Road on 24 March 1903.
*
Hilary Page (1904-1957) was born in Sanderstead. Invented the interlocking plastic brick Kiddicraft.
*
David Rippingale, aka William Hung, lead singer of I, Ludicrous, spent his formative years in Sanderstead (1958–71).
*
Tony Sewell
Cleveland Anthony Sewell, Baron Sewell of Sanderstead, (born 1959) is a British educational consultant and founder and chair of the educational charity Generating Genius. In July 2020, Sewell was appointed chair of the Commission on Race and ...
(born 1959), educationalist, lives in Sanderstead.
Nearest places
*
Selsdon
*
South Croydon
*
Hamsey Green
Hamsey Green is a place on the plateau of the English North Downs between the villages of Sanderstead to the north and Warlingham to the south. It is split almost across the centre into north and south so is in part in the Tandridge district of ...
*
Warlingham
*
Kenley
*
Purley
*
Riddlesdown
Nearest railway stations
*
Sanderstead railway station
*
Purley Oaks railway station
Purley Oaks railway station is in the London Borough of Croydon in south London, on the Brighton Main Line measured from . All trains serving it are operated by Southern and it is in London Travelcard Zone 6. The station has four platforms: a d ...
*
Riddlesdown railway station
References
;Notes
;References
External links
Local guide covering SandersteadSanderstead Village CommunitySanderstead Parish (Church of England)Sanderstead Evangelical Church* A gallery o
{{Authority control
1731 establishments in England
Areas of London
Cricket grounds in Surrey
Defunct cricket grounds in England
Defunct sports venues in Surrey
Districts of the London Borough of Croydon
English cricket venues in the 18th century
Sports venues completed in 1731
Villages in Surrey