Weston Green is a small suburban village and a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

in the Elmbridge borough of

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. This area was, until 1901, a part of

Thames Ditton Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross ...

with which it remains contiguous and associated. Weston Green is also contiguous with

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up ...

, which provides the village's closest railway station. The village forms a rough triangle of land along the west side of the midsection of the Hampton Court Branch Line next to

Thames Ditton railway station Thames Ditton railway station serves Thames Ditton in the Elmbridge district of Surrey, England. It is the only intermediate station on the Hampton Court branch line, down the line from . It is served by South Western Railway, and for the pu ...

and down to

Esher railway station Esher railway station is a station on the South West Main Line operated by South Western Railway in Surrey, England. The station adjoins the north of Esher with two footpaths skirting Sandown Park Racecourse, the town's commercial area being 3 ...

(which is on the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south we ...

), with the split between the two being the part dual-carriageway, the A309.

History

Farm and manors

The name is derived from Westun, a farmstead covering land in the west of Thames Ditton. Weston Green appears in

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as ''Westone'' held by

Barking Abbey Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country". Originally established in the 7th century, f ...

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

). Its domesday assets were: 3

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. It rendered £2 per year to its

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

overlords. The village occupies part of the lands of two manors of medieval Thames Ditton: *the manor of Weston which remained with its ecclesiastical owners (as at 1086) until shortly before the Dissolution, when

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 ...

bought it to add to the honour (set of manors) of

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chi ...

*the manor of Immeworth (or Imworth), which belonged to Ralphe de Imworth in the reign of Henry III. According to the Chancery Rolls of 1212, King John was entertained at a residence of some size in Ditton belonging to Geoffrey Fitz Pierre, the Chief Justice, during a royal journey from

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in t ...

to London. It was likely the house of one of these two manors. A curious reminder of the ancient lordship of Weston is given by a notice board, which used to stand on the common, headed'' 'Manor of Weston otherwise Barking'. '' The alternative name of Barking Manor appears in surveys before the 20th century of Imber Court. The manor of Weston was annexed by Act of Parliament in 1539 and leased in the following year to John Baker. In later times, the Crown usually demised it upon lease to the owner of Imber Court. In the great Onslow sale of Imber Court in 1778, William Speer (who had acquired property in Westminster and Fulham on marrying heiress Katherine Wilson) bought the largest parcel of land, Manor Farm. In 1801 his son William bought the remains of the manor of Weston from the Crown. This comprised waste (infertile land) that was

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has ...

and also came with the Lordship of the Manor of Weston "alias Barking". William passed on the title of Lord of the Manor of Weston to his son Wilfred Speer, and later it was inherited by Wilfred's son Wilfred Dakins Speer and then Hannibal son of Cecilia Speer and Hannibal Sandys, who took the name of Speer to conform with William's will. At about the same time that Speer bought the manor of Weston, he bought extensive 'wastes' or common lands belonging to the manors of Claygate and Imber Court, which has since been treated as part of the manor of Weston. The barn of Weston Manor Farm, built to

's order, was said to be a 'huge and splendid building'. During the reign of his younger daughter

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

the farm belonged to

Thomas Fanshawe Sir Thomas Fanshawe KB (1580 – 17 December 1631) was an English government official and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1629. Fanshawe was the second son of Thomas Fanshawe and first son by his second wife Jo ...

. It was demolished in 1962. Towards the end of the 18th century, an amateur police force of about 80 men was formed at Weston Green. In 1792, a group of

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

s was formed and based at the Harrow Inn. Their backers included William Speer of Weston Grange, Thomas Bracey and William Chauncey. From 1901 until 1939 a plain, red brick, chapel of ease here existed to the church of

. Weston Green was the birthplace of

Felicia Browne Felicia Mary Browne (18 February 1904 – 25 August 1936) was an English artist and leftist. She was the only British woman combatant and first British volunteer to die in the Spanish Civil War.Tom Buchanan, "The Lost Art of Felicia Browne", '' ...

(1904–1936).

Amenities

A green buffer, including the Esher and Thames Ditton Golf Course, separate it from the Littleworth Common part of

Claygate Claygate is an affluent suburban village in Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It is the only civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Surrounded by green belt, it lies inside the Greater London Built-up Area. Claygate was once in ...

that was also once a manor of Thames Ditton.

East Molesey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames. East and West Molesey share a high street, and there is a second reta ...

and

's part of the Imber Court and

Sandown Park Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse r ...

neighbourhoods directly adjoin. Its relatively small green is adjoined by the larger Old Cranleighan (Sports) Club, see

Cranleigh School Cranleigh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. History It was opened on 29 September 1865 as a boys' school 'to provide a sound and plain education, on the principles o ...

. Weston Green has an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

church, All Saints, built in 1939 having been designed by Edward Maufe who designed Guildford Cathedral. and an unusually rounded

Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. Hampton Court Way was built 1928–32. It bisects the village and became the division between the

and

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

s. The three pub-restaurants are joined by a restaurant forming a cluster, indeed a small number of shops (such a motor outlet and an estate agents) form the only non-residential cluster here, all facing or almost facing Hampton Court Way. The cluster comprises: *''The Greyhound''. Owned by pub company Enterprise Inns. *''The Ewe'' closed in 2014 *''Marney's Village Inn'' and *''Tryst Restaurant and Bar'' closed in 2013.

Demography and housing

The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that was apartments was 22.6%. The proportion of households in the settlement who owned their home outright compares to the regional average of 35.1%. The proportion who owned their home with a loan compares to the regional average of 32.5%. The remaining % is made up of rented dwellings (plus a negligible % of households living rent-free).

Local government

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

, one of the 81 representatives represents the area, that for ''The Dittons'' division. At the two tiers levels of local government, to date representatives have been from the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

more often lately a usually allied to the other
Thames Ditton & Weston Green Residents' Association
but sometimes acting independently from the other residents associations, as currently professed at the county level by Nick Darby.Electoral Divisions
Surrey County Council. Retrieved 6 November 2013 At Elmbridge Borough Council the ward is a smaller one than its average and elects two councillors.Your local councillors
Elmbridge Borough Council. Retrieved 14 December 2013

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Surrey Borough of Elmbridge