Belmont is a village in the

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

, in

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

, England. It is located off the

A217 road The A217 is a road in Greater London, 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, London, Sum ...

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 predominantly ...

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. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

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 in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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. 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, London, Sutton, south-west of Croydon, north of Reigate, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Dow ...

, 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 hel ...

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

Public institutions

*The

Royal Marsden Hospital The Royal Marsden Hospital is a specialist National Health Service oncology hospital in London based at two sites in Brompton, in Kensington and Chelsea, and Belmont in Sutton. It is managed by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and supp ...

is a specialist cancer treatment hospital. It is a

foundation trust An NHS 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 loc ...

, 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 and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

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'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

, 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 Ma ...

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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

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 Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

. 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 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 flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Palestine, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kam ...

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 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, north of Reigate, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on thr ...

. Banstead Downs is a large

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, 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 List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

Nearest places

to the north *

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, southwest 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 around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

to the east

Transport

Belmont railway station is on the

Epsom Downs Epsom Downs is an area of chalk downland, chalk upland near Epsom, Surrey; in the North Downs. Part of the area is taken up by the Epsom Downs Racecourse, racecourse; the gallops are part of the land purchased by Stanly Wootton in 1925 and are ...

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 Service ...

services of the Southern 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 Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and se ...

buses also run in this area.

Former residents

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English academic, botanist, television presenter, author and prominent environmental campaigner in the UK and globally. His distinctive, energetic style of presenting became wel ...

(1933–2019), botanist, author and academic. *

Robin Hull Robin Hull (born 16 August 1974) is a Finnish former professional snooker player. For some time, he was the sole Nordic countries, Nordic player on the game's Snooker world rankings, main tour. He is known as a solid -builder, having compiled o ...

(1905-1960), music critic *

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and wo ...

(1947–1993), World

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

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 boar ...

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

Don Lusher Gordon Douglas "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 numbe ...

(1923–2006), trombonist and jazz band leader * Lord Ritchie-Calder (1906–1982), journalist and environment expert *

Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English viola, violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame, and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born ...

(1876–1975), viola-player *

Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948) is a British conductor. Biography Wordsworth was appointed assistant conductor to the touring orchestra of The Royal Ballet in 1972. In 1973, he became principal conductor of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ba ...

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

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