Belmont, Surrey
| Belmont | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
_(September_2020)_(2).jpg) St John The Baptist, Belmont | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ253620 |
| Location: | 51°20’36"N, 0°12’9"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 10,048 (2011) |
| Post town: | Sutton |
| Postcode: | SM2 |
| Dialling code: | 020 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Sutton |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Sutton and Cheam |
Belmont is a village to the south of Sutton in Surrey, at the edge of the metropolitan conurbation. It is found off the A217 road near to Banstead Downs.
This village is a suburban development of the railway age.
Station Road is the main commercial street of the 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.
The parish church, St John's, stands in Queens Road, near the end of the small high street (Station Road).
History
Belmont did not exist until the late 19th century.[1] Belmont railway station opened in May 1865 and was originally called 'California Station', named after the California Arms public house on the opposite side of Brighton Road .built by John Gibbons in about 1858. In 1875 the station was renamed 'Belmont' and the name was attached to the village that grew up around the station.[1] The original pub was heavily damaged by German bombing in the Second World War. 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'.[1]
Hospitals and school
The village of Belmont strongly owed its development to the presence of Banstead Asylum.[1] Although in the parish of Banstead, 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.[2]
Belmont Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, opened after the Second World War. The premises had previously fulfilled a number of different institutional purposes:[1] during the First World War 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 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.[1]
The hospital 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.
About the village
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Belmont Park is a public park in the village.
Belmont contains two Local Nature Reserves: Cuddington Meadows and Belmont Pastures.
Cuddington Meadows 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. It is mainly chalk grassland with some scrub. Its most important feature is a variety of unusual flowering plants, including greater knapweed, lady's bedstraw and field scabious.
Belmont Pastures form 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, Banstead Downs extend for around a mile further south towards neighbouring Banstead. It is a large Site of Special Scientific Interest, covering 430 acres. Banstead Golf Course is on the northern slopes.
Outside links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Sparkes, Roland (2009) Belmont: A Century Ago.
- ↑ "Banstead Hospital". Lost Hospitals of London. https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/banstead.html. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- Sparkes, Roland:
- 'Belmont: A Century Ago' (2009) ISBN 978-0-9563424-0-9
- Various articles for the Belmont Local History group
- 'Splendid the Heritage: the story of Belmont and its Methodist Church' (Craig, 1965)
- 'A Village Church: the story of the first 75 years of St John’s with Belmont Methodists' (Reed, 1992)
- George, Charles: 'The Brighton road; the classic highway to the south' (Harper, 1863-1943}