Tooting

Tooting
Surrey
Tooting Broadway Station
Location
Grid reference:	TQ275715
Location:	51°25’41"N, 0°9’54"W
Data
Post town:	London
Postcode:	SW17
Dialling code:	020
Local Government
Council:	Wandsworth
Parliamentary constituency:	Tooting

Tooting is a town in Surrey, in the depth of the metropolitan conurbation.

The Greater London Authority identifies Tooting in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in their area.

Name of the town

The name "Tooting" is of Old English origin but the meaning is disputed. It appears to come from an earliewr form Totingas, which would mean "the people of Tota", presumably a local chieftain. Alternatively it could be derived from the verb totian, to peep or look out. If there was a watchtower here on the road to London (which we cannot know) then the name might mean people of the look-out post.

History

Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times. The Roman road, later named Stane Street by the English, ran from Londinium (London) to Noviomagus Regnorum (Chichester), passed through Tooting and its route provides Tooting High Street. In Anglo-Saxon times, Tooting and Streatham were given to Chertsey Abbey. Later, Suene (Sweyn), believed to be a Viking, may have been given all or part of the land. In 933, King Athelstan is thought to have confirmed lands including Totinge (Tooting) to Chertsey Abbey.

Tooting appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Totinges. Lower Tooting was held from Chertsey Abbey by Haimo the Sheriff (of Kent). Its Domesday assets were 1 church, 2½ ploughs, 5 acres of meadow. It rendered £4. Later in the Norman period it came into the possession of the De Gravenel family, after whom it was named Tooting Graveney. Upper Tooting, or Tooting Bec, appears as a distinct area and was held by the Abbey of Hellouin Bec, in Normandy, thus acquiring the "Bec" in its name. Its domesday assets were 5 hides. It had 5½ ploughs, 13 acres. It rendered £7.

As with many of the suburbs, Tooting developed during the late Victorian period. Some development occurred in the Edwardian era but another large spurt in growth happened during the 1920s and 1930s.

• 1906 - Tooting Bec Lido opened.
• 1954 - St George's Hospital begins to relocate to Tooting from Hyde Park Corner, taking over the old Grove Fever and Fountain Hospitals.
• 2003 - Redevelopment of St George's Hospital buildings completed.

Cultural references

• Citizen Smith, a BBC comedy series running from 1977-1980 was set in Tooting and popularised the cry "Freedom for Tooting!". The leading character in the series Wolfie Smith (played by Robert Lindsay) was the founder of a revolutionary socialist political organisation, the Tooting Popular Front.
• In 2005, a 28 km diameter crater on Mars was named after Tooting.
• The Kitchens of Distinction (who formed in the area) recorded "On Tooting Broadway Station" on their 1992 album The Death of Cool.
• Tooting Bec appears in the book The Meaning of Liff, defined as the situation in which a driver sounds his or her horn at a car in front, only to discover that the car in front is parked.
• "Ting Tong from Tooting" is a phrase associated with the character Ting Tong from the UK comedy sketch show Little Britain.

Open spaces

A large open area, popularly known as the Tooting Commons, lies at the northern end of Tooting. Historically this was two separate open spaces: Tooting Graveney Common nearer to Tooting, and Tooting Bec Common towards Streatham. The commons are home to Tooting Bec Lido, which is 99 yards long and 33 yards wide.

Outside links

• Tooting Community Website