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| eandehistory |
Posted - 30 Mar 2005 : 03:50:16 AM
Before the suburban development of West Ewell, Chessington Road was known as Marsh Lane. Many of the inhabitants would have been employed at the gunpowder mills when they were in operation, othes would have worked at the local farms. Gravel for making roads was dug in the area of Ewell Marsh. The area was often refered to as “the mash”
Plough Road had a number of wooden cottages at the top, these have been replaced with modern houses. The terraced further down Plough Rd were built in two blocks Ewhurst Terrace (1905), and Woodley Terrace (1906. You could stand in front of these terraces and look accross open country to the railway. There were once 2 shops in the terraced houses in Plough Rd. One closed in the 1970's. The other closed in the 60's. This shop was owned by a Mr Wilde who also had cows on a nearby field. The new Plough pub was built on the site of some old cottages and the original pub sometime between 25 - 34 by a well known local family called the Turks.. A House there cost less than £800. South-ville and Kingsmead were built first by a builder called Turner who then went on to build the south side of Northcroft Road Kingsmead Close was built in 1929. All the roads had gas street lights up until 1931/2 when they were replaced by electric lights.
Building at Belfield road (Year?) continued towards & beyond the river Belfield was the first of the "modern roads" to be built (obviously some disagreement with the last paragraph here, where did the building start There were no houses between there & the railway so people who lived there who travelled to London on the train could wave home from the train. The road was built in 2 parts, the top half (Chessington Rd end) was built first the second part was built after the war. The road was not made up, nor was there any drainage until 10 years after the houses were built, car axles were level with the road in the winter mud. The different styles of house and the change of road surface indicate the 2 periods of building. Electricity became available around 1926. Northcroft Road was built up to what is now the new end of Belfield road then there was all fields and allotments including the site of the future bottom of Belfield Road.
In Northcroft Rd, which was then called Plough Lane there were 4 black cottages which had been built around 1800. The Root family lived here. Mr Root was a builder and built many houses in the locality including two at the junction of Plough Rd & Northcroft Road. The Plough Road [extension] was called "Wilderpath" because it went down to the "Wilders". There were more black cottages called Vine Cottages there with a well by the side and still more on the other side set back (nearer top of running track). The area between Plough Lane (now top of Northcroft) and Chessington Rd was a cabbage field. The area that is now the allotments was the cricket field for the locals.
Memories differ, because whilst wives in Belfield Road were waving to husbands commuting to London on the train; those living in Station Avenue boast of being able to walk to Chessington Zoo accross open fields. It would seem that the first part of Belfield Road was build before Station Avenue and then houses were built fairly rapidly over the next few years to fill the gap between the railway and Plough Road.
When Station Avenue was being built a perfectly straight row of around 30 Elms had to be blasted down. (may have been more than one row) The field had previously been pasture for cows, some were retained at the end of the road until the maisonette's were built and would come to the back gates of the houses to feed. The house owners took a dim view of the new flats opposite which at that time were all rented. They were called "The Brummels" but were given sequential numbers in the early 50's. Around the same time they were offered to the tenants for sale for £850. (rent was 22 and sixpence) There was an area at the Chessington Road end of Station Avenue (Evens side) which was not built on until some time after the war. It was all overgrown. Some of the shops at Station Ave/Meadowview were built before war and the remainder after, there was a hedge in front on the grass. The area formally occupied by Highways House was the site of a tarmac factory, they ground the stone and mixed it with tar. There was a regular appearance by a steam roller. There were two cottages opposite (now Station Ave) that were so smelly and smothered in tar that they were pulled down.
The end of what is now Longmead was curved with the brook which has an S bend in it around where the shops are now. It was often foggy there. The south side of Chessington road here only had fields except for a bungalow and two houses and the council depot. The field nearby is still known locally as “Bakers Field” as Mr Baker, a local shopkeeper lived in the house next to it, although he did not own it.
The area of land to the south of West Ewell which is now Longmead Estate and beyond was the Epsom Council Sewerage plant. Effluent was dried and ploughed into the ground and potatoes grown there. These were used by Marshall's fish and chip shop next to the Epsom Odeon who were renowned for their excellent chips.
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